‘No, please, there is nothing to forgive.’ Then, taking the bull by the horn, she did what she knew she had to do. ‘If anyone needs forgiveness it is me. I should have tried to get in touch with you sooner.’ There, she had said it. Willow took a deep, steadying breath and lifted the cup of coffee to her lips and drained the contents in one go.
‘Go and find your father, Stephanos, and tell him to dress you properly before coming back or you will burn.’
‘Oh, I’ll do that.’ Willow made to rise. ‘I forgot too much exposure to the sun is so harmful.’ Judy must think she was the world’s worst mother.
‘No.’ Judy laid a restraining hand on her arm as Willow went to follow Stephen’s quick departure from the table. ‘No, stay. Let Theo learn a little of what is involved in looking after a child. Plus, I want to talk to you.’
Willow settled back in the chair, her blue eyes wary. Here it came—question-and-answer time; she was not looking forward to it one bit.
‘There is no need to look so fearful, dear. Theo has told me everything.’ Not everything, surely, Willow thought, turning scarlet with embarrassment. ‘And you have nothing to be ashamed of. He told me how you went looking for him in London when you knew you were pregnant, and how the house he and Anna had shared was in the process of being converted to offices. He also said that he had never given you his home address or even a telephone number,’ she said, disapproval evident in her tone.
‘I love my son, Willow, but I am not blind to his faults. I know that when he was in his twenties he had many women, with no thought of commitment. If anyone was at fault it was Theo. He had no right to seduce you and then marry another woman only six months later, and you pregnant with his child. No girl should have to suffer such indignity, and you took the only course of action open to you. I would have done the same myself in your position. So let us say no more about it; the matter is closed.’
‘That is very generous of you,’ Willow said softly. Her blue eyes met with Judy’s shimmering brown and there was no doubting the sincerity in the older woman’s compassionate gaze. ‘But I doubt if Theo thinks the same way.’
‘Someone taking my name in vain?’
Willow jerked upright in her seat at the sound of Theo’s deep drawl. He came to a stop a foot away, and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle in instant awareness. Reluctantly she turned her head to look up at him. He was dressed in a casually cut linen suit and a white open-necked shirt and he was pulling out the chair next to hers.
‘So?’ he prompted with a brief smile for her and a brilliant one for his mother as he sat down. Stephen, now dressed in khaki shorts and a crisp white tee shirt, had been following along behind his father and quickly scrambled back into his seat.
‘What does in vain mean, Mum?’ Stephen asked, grabbing her attention.
‘It usually means,’ Judy responded, with her gaze narrowed on Theo, rather than Stephen, ‘that when you listen in to other people’s conversation and hear your name mentioned, invariably the people concerned are not speaking well of you.’
Willow turned puzzled eyes back to Theo, and to her utter amazement she watched as a dull tide of red swept along his high cheekbones. He was actually embarrassed. That had to be another first…
‘I was just reassuring Willow that I don’t hold her responsible for keeping me apart from my grandson. She must have been very young and very frightened.’
‘Mum was eighteen when she had me,’ Stephen cut in, and for once Willow wished he were not quite so bright or so inquisitive.
‘Eighteen?’ Judy gasped and the look she gave her son could have stripped paint. ‘Oh, you poor child,’ she said, her sympathetic gaze settling on Willow. ‘But no doubt your family helped you?’ she prompted.
‘We don’t have any family. My grandmother and my great-grandmother both died the year before I was born,’ Stephen continued. ‘We live in Great-grandma’s house now and we have tons of photographs of them and things.’
It was getting worse by the second. ‘Really, Stephen, I don’t think anyone is interested,’ Willow admonished.
‘Yes, do go on, son,’ Theo encouraged him, his attention suddenly fully arrested.
‘Well, Tess, our neighbour, knew them both; in fact everyone in the village knew them. Isn’t that right, Mum?’
‘Yes.’ What else could she say?
‘It is sad to lose one’s grandmother, but to lose your mother at the same time must have been devastating. Was it an accident?’ Judy asked quietly.
‘No, well, yes. Half and half,’ Willow said, clenching her hands tightly on her lap. She wished everyone would drop the subject.
‘Half and half is no answer,’ Theo opined flatly and, flicking him a sidelong glance, she saw the distaste in his dark eyes.
What had she expected from the man—sympathy, compassion or at the very least some tact? She must be mad; the man hadn’t a grain of sensitivity in his soul.
‘You’re right, Theo, of course.’ She smiled thinly. ‘My grandmother died of natural causes at Easter time and if you remember I visited my mother in India the same summer.’ The bitterness in her blue eyes was only for him. To the other two at the table she was still smiling. ‘Mum got caught up in a riot in India, the week before she was due to come home in the September, and she was killed by a stray bullet.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Theo murmured.
She tore her gaze away from his. Too little, too late, she thought scathingly, and she did not see the colour drain from his face or the shock in his dark eyes.
‘Oh, you poor girl,’ Judy murmured.
‘Yes, well, it was a long time ago, and Stephen and I manage very well on our own.’ She reached out and touched her son’s arm, more for her own comfort than his. Then to her amazement Judy directed what sounded like a tirade in Greek at Theo.
‘Forgive my lapse in manners.’ Judy finally resumed speaking in English. ‘But you understand, Willow, you are a mother yourself—sometimes a son needs to be lectured, whatever their age.’ With a lingering glance at Theo’s stony face, she smiled at Stephen and added, ‘Now, young man, how would you like to visit the biggest toy shop in Athens?’
‘Not so fast, Mother,’ Theo said firmly. ‘Stephen.’ He turned his dark gaze on the boy, and at the same time he curved his arm around Willow’s shoulder. His touch caused a jolt of awareness through her slender body but what followed left her speechless.
‘If you agree, Stephen, you and your mum will never have to manage on your own again.’ He was throwing her own words back in her face, Willow thought incredulously. ‘You see, your mother and I want to get married, as soon as possible, so we can all live together as one happy family.’
‘Really?’ Stephen questioned. ‘We will be just like a proper family.’
Willow tried to jerk away from Theo’s hold, but his long brown fingers merely shifted to curve around the nape of her neck. His dark head bent towards her. ‘Isn’t that right, darling?’
Stephen was incandescent with joy. It was his dream come true, and, leaping out of his chair, he flung his arms around Willow’s waist. She looked down into her son’s eyes, and saw the hope and longing there. With a sinking heart she realised that, while she had no trouble at all in refusing Theo’s proposal of marriage, she could not bear to disappoint Stephen. She was left with no choice.
‘Yes, Theo.’ She bared her teeth in a smile, her blue eyes fastening on him, cold fear and fury in the sapphire depths. The ruthless devil had done it again, used her son and emotional blackmail to get exactly what he wanted. Well, he might think he had forced her into marriage, but if he thought for one second she was going to play the obedient little wife, he was in for a rude awakening. ‘Eventually,’ she qualified.
But her ‘eventually,’ was drowned out by Judy’s shouting. Marta and Takis appeared with glasses and a bottle of champagne, and Judy proposed a toast to long life and happiness. Willow smiled and pretended she was happy, but inside she was fuming, her mind
racing to find a way out of her dilemma.
But the biggest problem was Stephen. One glance at his beaming face and there was no mistaking his sheer delight at the thought of having his mother and father together, in his own words, a proper family…
CHAPTER NINE
‘NO,’ WILLOW said, and stopped in the middle of the plush boutique. ‘I am not trying on another thing,’ she stated emphatically. She was hot, she was sweaty, and she was fed up.
Theo had driven them all into Athens. At Judy’s suggestion it had been arranged that she would take Stephen to look for toys and to buy a wedding present for his mum and dad. Stephen had quite happily gone off with his grandmother and Willow had been left with Theo with Judy’s last instruction ringing in her ears. ‘Take her shopping, Theo, and make sure she has something fabulous to wear; I feel a party coming on.’
Willow glanced across at him. He was lounging on a velvet sofa looking perfectly relaxed. Obviously he was used to buying women clothes, she thought dryly. Even the sales lady was drooling over him as he instructed her on what garments his fiancée should try on with all the arrogance of some Eastern potentate decorating his favourite choice from his harem.
Willow felt like a clothes hanger, and the last gown he had picked was the final straw. She had had enough. Elegant suits, designer casuals, three evening gowns—she was sick to death of taking her clothes on and off, and she had no intention of buying any of them.
Marching over to where Theo sat, she frowned angrily down at him. ‘I don’t know about you, but I am leaving,’ she snapped. ‘And I am not buying anything here—they are over-priced and pretty useless. So, if you want some woman to try on that green slip—’ she gestured wildly with her hand to the slither of silk that the assistant was holding ‘—then ask her, I am sure she will oblige for you,’ she said snidely.
Leaping to his feet, Theo smiled and said something in Greek to the sales lady. Gripping Willow’s arm, he swung her around to face him, his back to the rest of the shop.
‘As my wife you have a position to uphold,’ he stated, his cool gaze narrowing on her flushed and furious face. ‘And beautiful though you are, Willow, your dress sense leaves a lot to be desired. Didn’t you know the hippy look went out over forty years ago?’ he prompted sarcastically.
For some inexplicable reason his words hurt, and she fought hard not to let her feelings show. ‘Maybe that is true in your world of designer clothes and the latest fashion fad, but not in mine,’ she said flatly. ‘Cheap and cheerful is much more practical.’ She stiffened her shoulders, her blue eyes boldly meeting his. He was an insensitive jerk; why should she care about a word he said? ‘And once more I am not going to marry you!’ she said defiantly.
Theo’s jaw clenched. He saw the flicker of hurt in her expressive eyes and he felt like the world’s worst heel. Willow was a proud, capable woman who had made a success of her life with no help from anyone, and certainly not him. She had given birth to his son when she was still a teenager with only a stranger to help her. All this while still grieving for her mother and grandmother at the same time, as he had learned to his horror this morning. A guilty conscience had turned his stomach and torn at his heart ever since. Even his own mother had lashed into him when she had found out, and he didn’t blame her.
He was a man who had never wanted for anything of monetary value in his life, but he was sure Willow had not had the same advantage eight years ago and he was the only one to blame.
‘Okay, leave the green,’ he instructed. ‘But you are taking the rest; I insist. And unless you want to tell Stephen that you lied this morning and therefore break his heart, you will marry me on Thursday.’
His eyes narrowed on her face, his tone determined. She felt his fingers flexing on her arm, and she didn’t want to feel anything. Her eyes lifted to his, the silence between them charged. Willow could feel it in every nerve in her body, a curious pulsing awareness; it was the ultimate moment of truth. Could she break her son’s heart, or risk her own?
She swallowed hard, her black lashes flickering down to hide the expression in her eyes. There was only one answer she could give him… ‘Yes, Thursday it is,’ she said finally, resigned to the inevitable.
‘Good.’ His face immediately altered, his eyes smiling down at her. ‘I knew you would eventually see sense,’ and he let go of her to pay for the purchases.
If he wanted to waste his money, let him. It was all he had to give a woman anyway, Willow thought bitterly, and walked out into the sunlight. That and great sex, an imp of devilment whispered in her brain just as a strong hand closed around her arm and stopped her in her tracks…
‘I have had just about as much as I can take for one day,’ Theo snarled. ‘I am sorry if I upset you, but don’t you ever walk out on me again.’
‘Upset? I’m not upset.’ Her finely arched brows rose in query. ‘Why would I be? After all, it is not every day a girl gets relocated to the lap of luxury in Greece, showered in designer clothes and gets a rich husband thrown in,’ she said with biting sarcasm.
‘Well, I damn well am.’ Theo swore, losing his superb control. Spinning her around, he trapped her against the building with his hands on the wall either side of her head. ‘If you want to make me feel guilty, then consider it done. How the hell did you think I felt this morning when I discovered, not only had I got you pregnant, but that an ambulance driver delivered our son? And, worse still, that you were totally on your own, having lost both your mother and your grandmother. I was disgusted.’
‘So I noticed,’ Willow cut in bitterly.
‘Not with you, with myself,’ Theo declared adamantly. ‘My own mother was ashamed of me when she discovered how young and alone you were and tore into me as she has never done since I was a child.’
‘I did wonder why she was yelling at you. Why didn’t you just tell her the truth? It was only a one-night stand and after I left you,’ Willow snapped back.
‘I would never discredit the mother of my son in such a way,’ he said between gritted teeth. ‘And you were never just a one-night stand to me, whatever you may think. I asked you to stay with me, remember.’
‘You said so the other night,’ she reminded him bluntly.
‘Theos! Must you question every damn thing I say?’ Theo struggled to retain his temper. ‘I can’t do right for doing wrong where you are concerned. The only reason I bought you a few clothes was because I thought you might enjoy them and because it was the least I could do.’ He had thought she would be delighted with a new wardrobe of clothes; every other woman he had ever known would have been all over him like a rash. But Willow was not like any other woman. Now his action just seemed crass, a sop to his conscience, and an insult to Willow.
Wide-eyed, she stared up at him, shocked by his outburst, and stunned that he had actually admitted to feelings of guilt. Then she gave a little mocking laugh. ‘Thanks, I think.’
His eyes became bleak with bitterness. ‘With hindsight I should have tried harder to keep in touch with you, but you lied to me and didn’t give me the opportunity. When you knew you were pregnant with my child, one trip to an old address was not much of a search.’
It was all her fault again… She might have guessed his guilty feelings would not last long, and they had almost taken her in.
‘I made more than one attempt,’ she said, her own temper rising. ‘Seven months pregnant, I boarded the train for London with the address of your London office in my pocket. In the magazine I bought to read on the journey were the pictures of your wedding to Dianne. I got off at the next stop and went home. Is that good enough for you?’ She wanted the swine to feel guilty; it was the only way she could lash out at him. He had blocked all her other avenues of escape. ‘Or maybe I should have followed you on your honeymoon,’ she gibed.
For an interminable moment Theo just stood there regarding her in total silence, his face an inscrutable mask. ‘No, and I am sorry you had to find out that way,’ he finally said quietly. ‘Obviou
sly talking about the past is a futile exercise. It is the future we have to look forward to.’ With a quick dip of his dark head, his mouth covered hers and he kissed her. She couldn’t believe it, but a long moment later when he raised his head and allowed her to breathe again she was too shaken to care.
How did he do that? she asked herself again. He managed to reduce her to a quivering mass of jelly with one kiss. And in the middle of the day on a crowded pavement where the world and his wife could watch, she realised with dawning embarrassment. Lifting her eyes, she stared up into his darkly handsome face. ‘What was that for?’ she asked dazedly.
‘To shut you up,’ he said with a wry smile. ‘You infuriating madam. I have not argued in the street since I was a schoolboy, and I’ve had enough guilt for one day. I am declaring a truce.’ And tucking her arm in his, he set off along the street.
Five minutes later, when Theo stopped outside a very elegant black door with the name in gold lettering, she pulled her hand from his arm. ‘Oh, no! Not more shopping.’
He slid an arm around her shoulder and a slow smile curved his wide, sensual mouth as she looked stubbornly up at him. ‘Humour me, Willow. Last stop, I promise, and then we can meet the others for lunch.’
A moment later as Theo ushered her through the door, and into the shop, it was with a grim lack of humour that she looked around and saw it was a jeweller’s.
‘As my fiancée you must wear my ring.’ She opened her mouth to object but he pressed a finger over her lips. ‘And don’t argue—truce, remember?’
So far he had got all his own way. His finger was still on her mouth and, unless she could get over this terrible disability of losing her mind whenever he touched her, he was likely to continue doing so.
But she got her revenge when it came to choosing the ring. Forced into agreeing to marry him, and still smarting from his crack about her dress sense, she picked the biggest platinum-mounted solitaire blue diamond the jeweller could provide. To add to the ostentatious engagement ring she chose an equally ostentatious diamond-studded platinum wedding band.
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