Once she got to the hospital she asked Tony, her security detail, to wait for her outside. But she didn’t go into the ward, and instead walked along the corridor to the other side of the building. She tugged on the cap and headed out to the private hospital garden. She needed to steel herself for the polite questions from the patients she’d come to help entertain. But she’d been lying all day, every day for the last few weeks and it was taking its toll. Telling people over and over again how excited she was at the prospect of marrying Prince Xander was exhausting. And horrible. But the bigger the lie, the more believable it apparently was.
She leaned over the wrought-iron railing, looking down at the river. She was going to have to go back and front up to Giorgos. Her gut churned, but it wasn’t the pregnancy hormones making her nauseous now. How did she admit this all to him?
I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.
Sorry wasn’t going to be good enough. She dreaded sinking so low in his eyes. Never had she regretted anything as much as her recklessness that night at the ball.
A prickle of awareness pressed on her spine—intuition whispered she was no longer alone. Warily she turned away from the water.
‘You okay?’ The man stood only a couple of paces away. ‘Or are you feeling a little blue?’
The bitterness in that soft-spoken query devastated her. It was him. Her blood rushed and the edges of her vision blackened as she shrank back. Something grasped her elbow tightly, the pain pulling her from the brink of darkness.
‘It’s okay, I’m not going to let you fall.’
He was there and he was too close, with his words in her ear and his strength in his grip and his heat magnetic.
Oh, no. No.
‘I’m sorry.’ Eleni ignored the sweat suddenly slithering down her spine and snapped herself together.
He released her the second she tugged her arm back, but he didn’t step away. So he was close. Too close.
‘I don’t know what came over me.’ She leaned against the railing, unable to stop the trembling of her legs or the jerkiness of her breathing.
‘Yeah, you do.’ He leaned against the wrought iron too, resting his hand on the rail between them. Not relaxed. Ready to strike.
Tall, dark and dangerous, he looked like some streetwise power player in his black trousers, black jersey, aviator sunglasses and unreadable expression.
‘There’s no point trying to hide any more, Eleni,’ he said. ‘I know who you are and I know exactly what your problem is.’
She froze. ‘I don’t have a problem.’
‘Yeah, you do. You and I created it together. Now we’re going to resolve it. Together.’
All strength vanished from her legs. They’d created it? The full horror hit as she realised he knew.
‘I’m sorry,’ she repeated mechanically. ‘I don’t know who you are and I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ She willed her strength back. ‘If you’ll forgive me, I need to go.’
‘No.’ He removed his sunglasses. ‘I won’t forgive you.’
Her heart stuttered at the emotion reflected in his intense blue eyes. Accusation. Betrayal. Anger...and something else.
Something she dared not try to define.
She clenched her fists and plunged them into the pockets of her jacket, fighting the paralysis. ‘I have to leave.’
‘Not this time. You’re coming with me, Eleni. You know we need to talk.’
‘I can’t do that.’ Why had she thought it wise not to tell her security detail where she was going?
‘Yes, you can. Because if you don’t...’
‘What?’ She drew in a sharp breath as a sense of fatality struck. ‘What will you do?’
Of course it would come to an ultimatum. The determination had been on his face from the second she’d seen him. He was livid.
‘You come with me now and we take the time to sort this out, or I tell the world you’re pregnant from screwing a stranger at the palace ball.’
His tawdry description of what they’d done stabbed. It hadn’t been a ‘screw’. It had meant more than she could ever admit to anyone.
‘No one would believe you,’ she muttered.
‘You’re that good at lying?’ He was beyond livid. ‘You want this scandal dragged through the press? That you’re going to marry a man without telling him that you’re pregnant, most probably by another?’
She flinched at his cruelly blunt words but she latched onto the realisation that he wasn’t sure the baby was his.
‘You want the whole world to know that you’re not the perfect Princess after all?’ he goaded her relentlessly. ‘But a liar and a cheater?’
‘I’ve never been the perfect Princess,’ she snapped back, defensive and hurt and unable to stay calm a second longer.
‘Come on.’ The softness of his swift reply stunned her.
Her heart thundered. He’d echoed the forbidden words from weeks ago. Heat flared. So wrong.
‘I can’t,’ she reminded him—and herself—through gritted teeth. ‘My fiancé is arriving in Palisades tonight.’
‘Really?’ He glared at her. ‘That cheating life is what you really want?’ His frustration seeped through. ‘That’s why you’re standing by the river looking like you’re about to throw yourself in? You’re lost, Eleni.’
‘You don’t know what I am.’
He knew nothing about her and she knew as little about him—not even his damn name.
Except that wasn’t quite true. She knew more important things—his determination, his strength, his consideration.
And her guilt.
‘The one thing I do know is that you’re pregnant and the baby very well might be mine. You owe me a conversation at least.’
He wasn’t going anywhere and he was perfectly capable of acting on his threat, she knew that about him too. She tried to regain her customary calm, and decided to bluff. ‘So talk.’
‘Somewhere private.’ He glanced up at the multi-storeyed hospital building behind her. ‘Where we can’t be seen or overheard.’
That made sense but it was impossible. She shook her head.
‘My car is just around the corner,’ he said, unconcerned at her latest refusal.
Her heart thudded. She shouldn’t go anywhere alone with any man and certainly not this one.
‘I’ll go straight to the media,’ he promised coolly. ‘And I have proof. I still have your underwear.’
She was aghast; her jaw dropped.
‘You wouldn’t,’ she choked.
‘I’m prepared to do whatever is necessary to get this sorted out,’ he replied blandly, putting his sunglasses back on. ‘I suggest you walk with me now.’
What choice did she have?
She hardly saw where she was going as she moved back through the hospital, then to the right instead of the left. Away from her guard. Hopefully Tony wouldn’t notice for a few minutes yet—in all her life she’d never caused trouble for him.
She slid into the passenger seat of his car.
‘Five minutes,’ she said just as he closed the door for her.
He was still laughing, bitterly, as he got in, locked the doors and started the engine. ‘You might want to put on your seat belt, because it’s going to take a little longer than that this time, sweetheart.’ He pulled out into the road. ‘We have a lifetime to work out.’
‘Where are you taking me?’ She broke into a cold sweat.
‘As I said, somewhere private. Somewhere where we won’t be disturbed.’
‘You can’t take me away from here.’ Frantically she twisted in her seat, terrified to see the hospital getting smaller as they moved away from it.
‘I know how quickly you can move, Eleni. I’m not taking the risk of you running from me this time.’
Surprised, she turned to face him.
‘Relax.’ He sent her an ironic glance. ‘I’m not going to hurt you, Princess. We just need to talk.’
Sure, she knew he wouldn’t hurt her physically. But i
n other ways? She tried to clear her head. ‘You have the better of me. I don’t even know your name.’
‘So you’re finally curious enough to ask?’ His hands tightened on the steering wheel. ‘My name is Damon Gale. I’m the CEO of a tech company that specialises in augmented reality. I have another company that’s working on robotics. Most women think I’m something of a catch.’
Damon. Crisp and masculine. It suited him.
‘I’m not like most women.’ She prickled at his arrogance. ‘And a lot of men think I’m a catch.’
‘You definitely took some catching,’ he murmured, pulling into a car park and killing the engine. ‘Yet here we are.’
Eleni looked out of the car window and saw he meant literally. He’d brought her to the marina. ‘Why are we here?’
‘I need the certainty that you won’t do one of your disappearing acts, but we can’t have this argument in the front seat of a car and...’ He hesitated as he stared at her. ‘We need space.’
Space? Eleni’s heart thundered as she gazed into his eyes. Beneath her shock and fear something else stirred—awareness, recognition.
This is the one I had. This is the one I want.
Suddenly that forbidden passion pulsed through every fibre of her being.
Unbidden. Unwanted. Undeniable.
CHAPTER FIVE
HE’D KNOWN HER eyes weren’t that unnaturally intense indigo they’d been at the ball, but the discovery of their true colour had stolen a breath that Damon still hadn’t recovered. They were sea green—a myriad of bewitching shades—and he couldn’t summon the strength to look away.
She lies.
He reminded himself. Again.
The alluring Princess Eleni Nicolaides had used him and he couldn’t possibly be considering kissing her. He’d not been completely certain before but he was now—she was pregnant. To him.
Grimly he shoved himself out of the car and stalked around it to open her door. Impatiently he watched the emotions flicker across her too-expressive face—wariness, curiosity, decision—and beneath those? Desire.
His body tightened. More than anger, this was possessiveness. So off-base. Rigid with self-control, he took her arm, steeling himself not to respond to the electricity that surged between them. It took only a minute to guide her down the steps and along the wooden landing to his yacht. She stopped and stared at it.
‘Eleni,’ he prompted her curtly. ‘We need to talk.’
‘You have to take me back soon.’ She twisted her hands together. ‘They’ll be wondering where I am.’
‘They can wonder for a while yet,’ he muttered.
He hustled her past the cabin and through to the lounge. The windows were tinted so no one on deck could see them, and his sparse crew were under strict instruction to stay out of sight and work quickly. He remained in front of the only exit to the room. He couldn’t be careful enough with her.
‘Take off the cap.’ He could hardly push the words past the burr in his throat, but he needed to see her with no damn disguise.
She lifted the cap. Her hair wasn’t long and blue, it was cut to a length just below her chin and was blonde—corn silk soft, all natural and, right now, tousled.
‘How did you figure out who I was?’ she asked in that damnably raspy voice.
He shook his head.
Once he’d realised who his mystery lover was, he’d been lame enough to look online. But she was more perfect in the flesh. Tall and slender, strong and feminine, with those curves that caused the most base reaction in him. Her complexion was flawless and her sweetheart-shaped face captivating. But her beauty was a façade that apparently masked a shockingly salacious soul. He was determined to get to the truth.
‘You knew I was going to be at the hospital,’ she said after he didn’t reply to her first question. ‘How?’
Her fingers trembled as she fidgeted with the cap, but he’d not brought her here to answer her questions.
‘Were you going to tell him?’ he asked.
He glared as she didn’t answer. She was so good at avoiding everything important, wasn’t she?
He felt the vibration beneath the deck as the engines fired up. About time. Icily satisfied, he silently kept watching. Now she’d be tested. Sure enough, as the yacht moved she strode to the window.
‘Where are you taking me?’ she asked, her volume rising.
‘Somewhere private.’ Somewhere isolated. Triumph rushed at the prospect of having her completely alone.
‘This is private. We don’t need to move to make it more so.’ Panic filled her voice and turned wide eyes on him. ‘This is abduction.’
‘Is it?’ he asked, uncaring. ‘But you agreed to come with me.’
‘I didn’t realise you meant...’ She paled. ‘I can’t just leave.’
He hardened his heart. ‘Why not? You’ve done that before.’
This was the woman who’d had sex with him when she knew she was about to announce her engagement to another man. Who’d then run off without another word. And who was now pregnant and concealing it—apparently from everyone.
The betrayal burned like no other. He hated being used. His father had used him as cover for his long-term infidelities. His mother had used his entire existence to promote her political aspirations—hell, she’d even told him she never would have had him if it weren’t for the possible benefit to her career. His father had not only agreed, he’d expected Damon to understand and become the same. A parasite—using anyone and anything to enhance success. He’d refused and he’d vowed that he’d never let anyone use him again.
But Eleni had.
Yet that look on her face now was torture—those shimmering eyes, the quiver of her full lips.
Desire tore through his self-control, forcing him closer to her. Furious, he locked it down, viciously clenching his fists and shoving them into his trouser pockets. It was this uncontrolled lust that had got him into this mess in the first place.
It was insane. Once more he reminded himself he knew nothing of importance about her other than her shocking ability to conceal information. But as he watched, she whitened further. Whitened to the point of—
‘Eleni?’ He rushed forward.
‘Oh, hell.’ She pressed her hand to her mouth.
Oh, hell was right. He reached for a decorative bowl just in time.
* * *
Oh, no. No.
Eleni groaned but the sickness couldn’t be stopped. Of all the mortifying things to happen.
‘Sit down before you fall down,’ he muttered.
‘I’m not used to being on the water,’ she replied.
‘If you’re going to lie, at least try to make it believable. It’s well known you love sailing, Princess. Your illness is caused by your pregnancy.’
She was too queasy to bother trying to contradict him. What was the point? ‘I need fresh air.’
‘You need to stay in here until we’re away from the island.’
‘You can’t be serious.’ Aghast, she stared up at him. ‘You’re going to cause an international incident.’
‘Do you think so?’ He stared at her grimly. ‘I think the spectacle is only going to get even more insane when they find out I’m the father of your unborn child.’
She closed her eyes and groaned. ‘At least let me use a bathroom.’
‘Of course.’
He guided her to a small room. He opened a drawer and handed her a toothbrush, still in its packet. She took it, silently grateful as he left her in privacy.
But he was just outside the door when she opened it again a few minutes later.
She walked back into the lounge just as a uniformed crew member was leaving. The man didn’t say a word, didn’t meet her eyes. He simply melted from the room.
‘Who was that?’ she asked.
‘Someone extremely discreet and very well paid.’
He’d left fresh water in a tall glass and a few crackers on a plate. She turned away; there was no way she could e
at anything right now.
‘You’re naive if you think he won’t sell your secrets.’ The man had recognised her. It was only a matter of time before people came to her rescue.
‘I’ve been betrayed before, Eleni. I know how to make my business safe.’
Eleni looked at the hard edge of Damon’s jaw and wondered who had betrayed him. ‘Your business?’
‘My baby.’
Her blood chilled. ‘So you planned this.’
There’d been a crew ready and waiting on this boat and no doubt he paid them ridiculously well. He’d gone to huge trouble to get her away from the palace. Maybe she ought to feel scared, she barely knew him after all, but she didn’t believe she was in danger. Rather, in that second, the craziest feeling bloomed in her chest.
Relief.
His eyes narrowed. ‘You know this isn’t about rescuing you.’
His words hit like bullets. She shrank, horrified that he’d seen her selfishness. Guilt brought defensiveness with it. ‘I don’t need rescuing.’
His smile mocked. ‘No?’
Damon was more dangerous than she’d realised. She couldn’t cope with her reaction to him. It was as if everything else in the world, everything that mattered, simply evaporated in his presence. His pull was too strong.
But then she remembered he wasn’t certain she was pregnant to him. Perhaps her way out was to convince him he wasn’t the father. Then he’d return her to Palisades. She’d go to Giorgos. She should have gone to Giorgos already.
‘I can’t stay here,’ she pleaded.
‘Give in, Eleni,’ he replied indifferently. ‘You already are. The question is, can you be honest?’
Not with him. Not now.
But she burned to prove that she didn’t need ‘rescuing’—not from her situation, or from herself. He strolled towards her but she wasn’t fooled by the ease of his movement. He was furious. Well, that made two of them.
‘How many other possibilities are there?’ he asked too softly, his gaze penetrating.
‘Excuse me?’ She tensed as he came within touching distance.
‘Who are the other men who might be the father of your child?’ He watched her so intently she feared he could see every hidden thought, every contrary emotion.
‘Can you even remember them all?’ he challenged.
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