She looked down at the menu again and tried to concentrate.
‘What would you like to eat?’ he asked.
She closed the menu again and put it to one side. ‘I’ll just have the soup of the day.’
‘Is that all?’
‘I’m not very hungry. Besides, I have to cook a proper meal when I get home, so…’
‘So?’
Charlotte inwardly gulped.
‘Why do you have to cook when you get home?’ he asked. ‘You could have a main meal now and just have a snack later.’
‘I l-like to cook.’
‘What is your speciality?’
She blinked at him vacuously. ‘Speciality?’
‘Your favourite dish.’
Her eyes fell away from his. ‘Um…it’s kind of hard to choose…’
‘I did not know you were so domesticated,’ he commented. ‘When we met four years ago you lived on take-aways or frozen meals.’
‘I have since learnt the error of my ways,’ she said with a strained effort to smile. ‘Thank God for celebrity chefs. Cooking is so hip now.’
‘Would you cook a meal for me?’ he asked.
Her eyes flared in panic. ‘Oh, I’m not that good…really…I can just about manage one of those just add chicken and frozen vegetables…’
‘It sounds a whole lot better than hotel food,’ he said. ‘So how about it? What about you cook for me tomorrow night?’
‘I’m busy.’
‘The night after?’
‘I—I don’t cook on weekends.’
‘Then I will cook for you,’ he said. ‘I will bring the ingredients to your house and cook a meal that will totally stun you.’
‘My kitchen is tiny…and my oven and cook top doesn’t work.’
He gave her a narrow-eyed look. ‘You do not want me to come to your house, do you?’
‘It’s not a house, it’s just a rented flat and I haven’t had time to clean up for weeks.’
‘If your goal is to put me off, let me assure you it is doing the very opposite,’ he said.
Charlotte could feel the rising panic beating like a drum in her chest. She could ask Caroline to babysit one more time but the flat was full of little kid stuff. It even smelled like Emily.
‘I’m not sure it’s such a good idea that we see each other again,’ she said, actively avoiding his eyes.
The small throbbing silence should have warned her he was preparing a lethal comeback.
‘You are forgetting our agreement,’ he said in a tone that was ridged with steel. ‘I have paid for your company and I intend to get my money’s worth.’
She raised her worried gaze back to his, desperately trying to find a way out. ‘You’re here for a short time and I have…I have someone else.’
‘You said there was no one in your life at present.’
She forced herself to resist the urge to look away. ‘I was lying.’
‘You seem to be rather good at that,’ he observed.
‘I don’t want to complicate my life with the past,’ she said. ‘What we had is over.’
He grasped her hand once more, his long fingers entrapping hers. ‘It’s not over, Charlotte. You know it is not. How can you say it is over when there is this incredible pulse between us? I felt it that first night. As soon as our eyes met across the room, I knew you felt it too.’
‘It has to be over. You think I’m a thief.’
‘What’s in the past is best left there. This is here and now,’ he said, his dark gaze intent on hers. ‘We have the chance to explore our attraction again. Let us not waste it.’
She shifted her gaze again, her insides twisting in anguish. ‘Don’t ask this of me, Damon.’
‘Are you in love with this other person?’
She let out a wobbly breath. ‘It’s not that kind of love…’
‘What sort of love is it?’
‘It’s hard to describe.’
‘I am sure they will understand if we spend an occasional evening together,’ he said. ‘You can tell them you are spending time with an old friend.’
She was so tempted—so very tempted.
‘I guess a couple of nights here or there would be OK,’ she conceded.
Had she really said that? What was she thinking? It was madness to dance with such danger.
‘When we met the first time around, we rushed headlong into a physical relationship,’ he said. ‘I guess that was really my fault. I saw you and I wanted you. But who knows? This time around we might become both lovers and friends.’
Charlotte swallowed the scratchy contents of her throat. ‘Friends?’
He gave her another spine-loosening smile. ‘You find it hard to see me as a friend?’
‘No…I’m sure you’d make a very good friend.’ And a deadly enemy, she reminded herself.
‘Let us start by seeing each other on Monday evening,’ he suggested. ‘How about dinner and some dancing? I’ll send a car to pick you up.’
‘No.’
One dark brow rose over his eye. ‘No?’
‘I—I can make my own way,’ she said, lowering her eyes once more.
‘All right,’ he said after a tiny pause. ‘Meet me at my hotel at seven.’
‘OK…’
He smiled and raised his glass to hers. ‘To us being both friends and lovers.’
Her glass didn’t quite make the distance to his. ‘To being friends,’ she said and, hoping she wasn’t courting disaster, downed the contents.
CHAPTER SEVEN
‘AREyou serious?’ Caroline gaped at Charlotte. ‘How could your own sister do that to you?’
‘I know.’ Charlotte sighed sadly as she watched Emily bend down with Janie to watch a bug climb up a stem of grass. ‘I still can’t quite believe she’d go that far, but I guess that’s drugs for you. Our father was exactly the same. One taste and he was lost.’
‘I can lend you some money if you’re short,’ Caroline offered.
‘No, I’ll be fine. I got paid yesterday, but thanks anyway.’
Caroline gave her hand a squeeze. ‘You’ve never really given up hope on her, have you?’
Charlotte’s mouth twisted. ‘She’s all I have, apart from Emily.’
‘But stealing is a crime whether it’s your family you’ve stolen from or not. What if she’s taking other people’s money to feed her habit?’
‘She already has,’ Charlotte said, her expression now grim. ‘But she couldn’t have picked a worse person to steal from.’
‘What do you mean?’
She turned to look at her friend. ‘Stacey took a man’s wallet the other night, but it wasn’t just any ordinary everyday sort of man.’
Caroline’s eyes widened with intrigue. ‘Uh-oh, this is sounding scary. Who was it? Somebody famous?’
‘Even worse.’
‘Who?’
Charlotte took an uneven breath and said, ‘It was Emily’s father.’
‘Emily’s father?’ Caroline almost fell off the park bench. ‘You mean he’s here in Sydney? I thought you said he lived in Greece.’
‘He does, but he’s here for a month. He’s one of the major sponsors for the exhibition. I was going to tell you, but didn’t know how to broach the subject.’ She let out a despondent breath and continued, ‘Stacey gate-crashed my function the other night and of all people happened to choose Damon Latousakis’s wallet to steal.’
‘Oh, no…’ Caroline gave her a concerned look. ‘Are you going to tell him about Emily?’
‘If you had asked me that a couple of days ago I would have said a resounding no…but now I’m not so sure.’
‘Why?’
‘I didn’t think he deserved to know after the way he treated me back then. He refused to believe me when I told him I suspected I was pregnant. I called him several times when I found out I knew for sure but he hung up on me every time. I tried writing to him but the letters came back unopened. I even emailed him but he must have deleted each one
without reading it. But now I can’t help feeling I should have tried harder…I gave up after a few weeks but maybe I should have kept in contact until I finally got through to him.’
‘Do you think he’ll make trouble?’
‘He’s a billionaire, Caroline. He would only have to lift his little finger to make trouble. He could have a top-notch legal team assembled before I could even say the word custody.’
‘Oh, God, this is terrible.’
Charlotte’s expression was wry. ‘Believe me, it gets worse.’
‘How can it get any worse?’
‘He wants to see me.’
‘You mean like on a date or something?’ Caroline asked, then as realisation dawned she added, ‘Oh, my God! You went out with him the other night!’
‘I had to, Caroline,’ she said. ‘He practically blackmailed me into it. He knew it was my sister who took his wallet and threatened to press charges if I didn’t agree to see him.’
‘You should have told me.’
‘I’m sorry…I wanted to but I was so upset I couldn’t think straight. I thought it best to keep things as quiet as possible. I thought I could handle it better that way, but now…’
‘Now?’ Caroline probed.
Charlotte checked on the girls before she turned to look back at her friend. ‘Damon wants us to spend some time together, as friends.’
‘Yeah, well, didn’t anyone ever tell you that you can’t truly be friends with an ex?’ Caroline said. ‘There are always issues, the biggest one, of course, being sex.’
‘I know and I don’t believe him for a moment but I thought if I spent some time with him I might be able to somehow build up enough courage to tell him about Emily. I need to establish trust between us. He still thinks I’m guilty of theft and Stacey certainly hasn’t helped my cause, but if I can show him I’m worthy of his trust he might not be so angry when he finds out he has a child.’
‘You’re going to have to work damned hard to build enough of a bond between you now to deliver that sort of bombshell.’
‘I know…’ Charlotte felt her stomach quake at the thought.
‘But I guess if he fell in love with you, you might be in with a slim chance,’ Caroline mused.
‘I’m not sure what he feels but I do know he wants to resume our affair. He’s been very up front about that.’
‘What about you? Do you still have feelings for him?’
Charlotte looked back at her little daughter and sighed. ‘I think I hated him for several months after I left Santorini, especially when he stubbornly refused to acknowledge my attempts to contact him. But as soon as Emily was born I’ve thought about him every day since. I look into her eyes and I see him. And now that I’ve met him again it’s made me realise I’ve been in denial about my feelings all this time. I don’t think I’ve ever stopped loving him, not for a moment.’
‘Then you’d better get him to fall in love with you again and fast,’ Caroline advised. ‘Otherwise you stand to lose not just your heart but your daughter as well.’
‘Can’t I come wif you, Mummy?’ Emily asked as Charlotte prepared to leave Caroline’s house on Monday evening to meet Damon. ‘Please? I’ll be berry good.’
‘No, not this time, darling.’ She bent down to her daughter’s level and kissed the tip of her nose. ‘You and Janie need an early night.’
‘But I’m not tired.’ Emily pouted at her.
Charlotte brushed a fingertip underneath her little daughter’s dark-as-night eyes. ‘You’ve got shadows bigger than saucers under here.’
‘But I miss you.’
Charlotte felt her heart contract. ‘I know, baby, but I have to see a special person tonight.’
‘Who?’ Emily’s thumb crept up to her mouth. ‘Auntie Stacey?’
‘No…someone I knew a long time ago.’
‘Is it my daddy?’
Charlotte stared at her daughter speechlessly. How on earth had she guessed?
‘I want to see him too,’ Emily said. ‘Janie sees her daddy lots and lots and he gives her presents and everyfing.’
‘I know but Janie’s daddy lives nearby. Your daddy lives in another country.’
‘Why doesn’t he send me a present?’
‘Your mummy is going to be late.’ Caroline came to her rescue as she wandered past with an armful of folded towels. ‘How about you and Janie have a nice warm bath with lots of bubbles?’
Emily’s face brightened as she followed Caroline down the hall. ‘How many bubbles?’
‘Oh, gosh, trillions and trillions.’
Charlotte gave her friend a grateful smile. ‘I’ll pick up the girls tomorrow from crèche.’
‘Have a good time and don’t forget to wear something outrageously sexy,’ Caroline said with a little wink as she shouldered open the bathroom door.
As soon as Charlotte opened the door of her flat she knew her sister was inside.
‘OK,’ she said, shutting the door with a snap. ‘Come and face the music. You’ve really done it this time. I swear to God, Stacey, I could throttle you.’
Stacey slunk out from the bathroom, her hollow face and darkly shadowed eyes sending a shockwave of concern through Charlotte in spite of her bristling anger.
‘I’m in trouble…’
‘Damn right you are,’ Charlotte said, pushing her concern aside. ‘How could you do that to me? Stealing from your own sister, for God’s sake! How can you do this after what Dad put us all through? Mum gave up all hope because of what he did and now you’re doing the very same thing!’
‘There are people after me.’
‘I assume you mean the police?’
‘No…’ Stacey folded her stick-thin arms across her sunken chest. ‘I owe money to some people…a lot of money. I paid back what I could—that’s why I transferred the funds from your account into mine. I’m sorry, but I had no choice. I’m frightened, Charlie. If I don’t pay it all back they’re going to come after me.’
Charlotte swallowed against her rising fear to stiffen her resolve. ‘I can’t give you any more money. I want to help you but I don’t trust you. For all I know, this could be another ploy of yours to get your hands on more drugs.’
‘I don’t want any more money from you,’ Stacey said. ‘I just need to lie low for a few days. Can I stay here? Please?’
Charlotte blew out a sigh. She knew she was going to regret it but what other choice was there? ‘All right, but you know the rules. No shooting up, no men and no smoking inside. Got that?’
‘I’m sorry, Charlie…about the clinic…I really wanted to go, but the dealer was making threats…’
‘I’m not even going to waste my time pleading with you to go. I haven’t got the money now, in any case.’
‘I’ll go back on a methadone programme. I promise.’
‘I wish I could believe you, I really do, but I haven’t got time to even listen to your empty promises. I’m meant to be meeting a friend at seven and here it is a quarter to and I’m not even dressed.’
‘Sorry…’ Stacey slumped to the sofa and stared down at her hands.
Charlotte could feel her anger melting. ‘Try and get some rest and we’ll talk in the morning,’ she said gently. ‘Emily’s staying at Caroline’s. I might be late, so don’t wait up.’
‘Is this the same guy as the other night?’
‘Yes…but we’re just friends.’
Stacey gave a cynical little grunt. ‘That’s what they all say.’
Damon was waiting for her in the bar when she arrived, flustered and with heightened colour, her chestnut hair half up and half down as if she’d just got out of bed, but somehow on her it looked incredibly sexy, not the least bit messy.
‘I’m sorry I’m late,’ she said, meeting his eyes briefly. ‘It was one of those days.’
‘How about a drink to settle your nerves?’ he suggested.
She lifted her chin at him. ‘I’m not nervous.’
He smiled and watched as the colour i
n her cheeks delicately spread. He lifted a finger and stroked it along the rosy curve of her face. ‘Yes, you are.’
Her mouth twisted ruefully as she slipped on to the bar stool beside him. ‘All right, I admit it. I am.’
‘You do not need to be nervous, Charlotte,’ he said. ‘This evening is to re-establish a friendship between us.’
She looked at him with wide uncertain eyes. ‘Do you think ex-lovers can ever truly be friends?’ she asked.
He looked down at her upturned face, his gaze lingering on the soft bow of her mouth. ‘Who knows?’ he said, meeting her gaze once more. ‘I had every intention of giving it a try, but as soon as you walked in I wanted to take you upstairs and—’
She put a finger up to his lips to stall his speech. ‘Don’t, please…this is hard enough without you tempting me like that.’
He captured her finger and, bringing it up to his mouth, pressed his lips against it. ‘So you are tempted?’
She drew in a husky little breath. ‘A bit…’
‘Only a little bit?’
Her lips curved upwards in another twisted smile. ‘OK, a lot.’
He brought her finger back up to his mouth and sucked on it, his eyes still holding hers.
Charlotte felt the tug of desire between her legs, heat exploding like a burst of fuel-driven flame. How could she have ever thought they could simply be friends? It was impossible with this need pulsing between them. She could feel it in the air as it tightened around them. She could see it in his eyes as his pupils flared and she could feel it in his touch. The touch her body remembered so well it positively ached to feel it again.
‘Damon…’
‘No.’ He used the same tactic she had done to stop her from speaking, his finger making her lips buzz with sensation. ‘Listen to me. We have a past that will not go away. I can feel it like a living breathing entity between us.’
‘I can’t give you what you want.’
‘Yes, you can,’ he insisted. ‘You can relieve me from this torment of longing. We were so good together. We can be so again. I know it. I feel it every time I touch you.’
Bought for Her Baby Page 7