by Lynne Graham
* * *
Grace was stacking her luggage in the hall when the front door opened again. She had been frantically struggling to get herself out of the apartment as fast as possible while accepting the demeaning truth that she could not afford to call a taxi to ferry her and her possessions away in one go. No, she would have to leave stuff to be collected at a later date. But most threatening of all was the awareness that she had absolutely no place else to go because a return to Matt’s flat, Matt, who had been constantly texting her with revealing urgency since her departure, was definitely not an option.
As Grace straightened Leo stepped through the door and snapped it shut behind him without removing his glittering dark eyes from her once. ‘Going somewhere?’ he asked shortly.
Grace hadn’t seen Leo leave earlier. In a navy pinstripe suit that screamed designer elegance and a plain white shirt teamed with a jazzy red tie, Leo looked absolutely stunning. Her heartbeat quickened as she remembered running her fingers through his black hair the night before and the unforgettable taste of his mouth. Heat was beginning to stir inside her when she shut down hard on that response, fighting that potent physical pull with all her might, reminding herself of what he was and denying it until she was back in control again.
Grace lifted her chin. ‘Yes, somewhere as far as possible from you,’ she answered.
‘Marina told me she’d come to see you.’ His beautiful shapely lips compressed, a muscle pulling tight at the corner of his unsmiling mouth. ‘She shouldn’t have done that.’
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ Grace fielded in a tremulous driven undertone that mortified her, frankly bemused by a relationship that crossed the expected boundaries. It was inconceivable to her that Marina would’ve told Leo she had been to see Grace. ‘Considering the way you’ve behaved I thought she was remarkably restrained in what she had to say.’
‘My relationship with Marina is not as straightforward as you probably assume it is. Nor does what it entailed matter now because I broke off our engagement earlier today.’ Leo studied her with screened intensity, expecting an immediate lessening of the tension in the atmosphere.
Grace refused to react in any way because that announcement did not lessen her sense of betrayal in the slightest. ‘You said you were single...you lied,’ she condemned with quiet simplicity.
‘Let’s move this out of the hall and talk like grown-ups,’ Leo suggested grittily.
‘I’ve got nothing to say to you, Leo, so I suggest we stay where we are and you let me leave.’
‘Diavelos...’ Leo ground out, his frustration finally bubbling over in response to her pale composed expression and cold light green eyes. He had expected to find Grace distraught. Somehow he had expected her to shout and sob because he knew, or he had thought he knew, that like some chocolates she had a soft inner centre and would be hurt about what she had learned about him. Instead he was looking at a disturbingly controlled young woman, who refused to either shout or sob, and he didn’t know how to deal with that at all. ‘In the circumstances you must have something to say to me.’
‘But I doubt very much if you want to hear it.’ So great was the strain of maintaining her tough, unfeeling façade, Grace could barely speak. Pain and disillusionment sat like a massive block inside her chest, radiating toxic, wounding rays of insecurity, hurt and rejection. He had devastated her, shattered her heart into a hundred pieces, but on another level she was grateful for Marina’s visit because at least she had found Leo out for the rat he was before she became any more deeply involved with him.
Leo thrust the door of the sitting room so wide that it bounced back noisily. ‘I do want to hear it!’ he challenged.
Reckoning that he was going to make it difficult for her to leave without a muck-raking confrontation and marvelling that he could even want that, Grace trudged into the big room where Marina had faced her with the truth that had destroyed her dreams. Silly, sentimental, romantic dreams, utterly inappropriate dreams for a woman of her age, intelligence and background to have cherished: the dream that a man could be decent and honest and trustworthy.
With her parents’ history before her, she should’ve known better, Grace thought painfully. Even her own father had lied and cheated rather than keep his promise to marry her mother. Soon after Grace’s birth, her father had begun working with the woman who would eventually become his first wife and he had kept his infidelity a secret while continuing to live with Grace and her mother. She had the vaguest possible memory of her father because he had walked out on her mother before Grace reached her second birthday.
Grace spun round to face Leo, her arms folded defensively across her slightly built body. ‘Right, exactly what do you want from me? Forgiveness? Understanding? Well, sorry, you’re not getting either!’ she told him roundly.
‘I want to explain.’
‘No, I don’t want to hear any explanations...a bit pointless at this stage!’ Grace pointed out curtly. ‘You lied to me and there’s no getting round that. Don’t waste any more of my time, Leo. Let me go.’
‘To go where?’
‘I don’t know yet.’ Grace was distracted by the buzzing of her mobile phone in the back pocket of her jeans and she dug it out and switched it off, noticing in forgivable surprise that it was her aunt calling her. Considering her aunt had told her never to bother her family again, what could she possibly want? Unless her uncle Declan, who had visited Grace at Matt’s flat, had persuaded his wife to soften her attitude.
‘You can’t leave when you don’t have anywhere to go!’ Leo argued fiercely. ‘You have to take care of yourself now that you’re pregnant!’
‘Oh, please, don’t pretend you actually care,’ Grace countered with withering sarcasm, her bitterness licking out from below the surface before she could prevent it from showing.
‘If you would just listen to me and stop being so unreasonable,’ Leo bit out.
‘I don’t need to listen. I already know what you are and that’s a dirty, lying, cheating scumbag without an ounce of integrity!’ Grace shot at him, green eyes suddenly flaring bright as angry stars because he had dared to call her unreasonable.
‘I broke off my engagement so that I could come back here and ask you to marry me!’ Leo launched at her in outrage, fury surging up inside him like lava inside a volcano about to erupt. He had never felt so angry in his life and it was an unnerving experience. He didn’t get angry; he didn’t do angry. Nothing and no one had ever been capable of sending him over that edge because to get angry you had to care and he was not supposed to care.
Grace slowly shook her head at him in apparent wonderment, an attitude that enraged Leo even more because no woman had ever dared to look at him like that. ‘Well, the answer to that proposal would’ve been a very firm no once I found out what you had been hiding from me. Honesty and reliability are hugely important to me, Leo, and you score nil on both counts. I saw today what you did to Marina and I’m afraid that was quite enough to convince me that you’re a very arrogant, selfish personality with very few saving graces...no pun intended.’
‘Is that all you’ve got to say to my suggestion that we get married?’ Leo growled, hardly able to credit what he was hearing because nobody, least of all a woman, had ever found him wanting on any score. So prejudiced against him was Grace that it almost felt to him as though she saw some mirror image of him that was another person entirely. And then he remembered her history and somewhere inside his head an alarm bell clanged, putting him right on target.
‘Yes, that’s all I’ve got to say. Once the baby’s born, I’ll get in touch with you at this address,’ Grace assured him flatly. ‘But be warned...I have no plans to hand my child over to you or anything like that because you’re not my idea of a father in any way.’
Leo could literally feel himself freezing into an ice pillar while still wanting to strangle her into silence.
Did he deserve such a character assassination? Well, so much for the winning power of a marriage proposal and a rich and powerful husband! But offended and infuriated as he was by Grace and the awareness that he had seriously underestimated her temper, he was more fixated on where she planned to go when she appeared to have neither money nor any suitable friends or family to live with. Recognising that Grace needed to cool off before he could even hope to reason with her, he reached into his wallet to withdraw a card and extended it.
‘I own the hotel. It’s small and discreet and you only need to show the card at Reception to be accommodated. My driver will take you there...’
In the grip of frantic thought and the blistering emotional turmoil that their encounter had provoked, Grace accepted the card. She had to go somewhere and she had no place else, she thought wretchedly, and ditched her pride. ‘OK.’
A shard of relief speared through Leo’s almost overwhelming sense of rage and raw frustration. She wouldn’t listen to him, she refused to listen, refused to let him talk...how fair was that? He hated feeling powerless, an unfamiliar sensation because she was the only person who had ever had that effect on him. Even so, it was of paramount importance to Leo that he knew where she was and that she was safe and well looked after. She had got him wrong, so wrong, he thought bitterly.
In Leo’s limo, Grace dug out her phone to check it and called back her aunt.
‘I need to see you urgently,’ Della Donovan said in an unusually constrained voice.
Grace wondered what on earth had happened to make her aunt approach her because she was fairly certain that Jenna’s dislike of her had initially been learned from her mother. Compressing her lips, she agreed to meet up for coffee that afternoon. Had her uncle pressured his wife into burying the hatchet and healing the breach? The suspicion worried her. Declan Donovan was a kind man but, sadly, such feelings couldn’t be forced.
The hotel was small, unassuming from the outside but the last word in elegant opulence and service on the inside. Within minutes of her presenting the card, her luggage was collected and she was settled in a large and beautiful room complete with every possible luxury. The bathroom was a dream and as soon as she had unpacked Grace laid out clean clothes for her meeting with her aunt and went for a bath in an effort to relax her sadly frayed nerves.
She felt so unhappy. In all her life, Grace had never felt quite so unhappy. She had always been alone but she had never felt lonelier than she did at that moment, cut off from everything familiar and at her third change of address in the space of a week. The following week term started and she would be back in class and facing hospital placements. But for the first time ever Grace wasn’t looking forward to getting back to her studies. The events of the past worrying weeks had taken their toll and she was exhausted.
Leo had broken off his engagement so that he could ask her to marry him. A sudden involuntary surge of tears stung Grace’s gritty eyes. Only now was her brain calmed enough to consider that truth. He was trying so hard to do the right thing even though he had started out doing the wrong thing by not telling her that he was engaged. Did she give him points for that? Grace heaved a heavy sigh. She had been falling in love with him, weaving dreams, seeing a future that might include him, and then Marina had blown that fantasy out of the water. Marina had spelt out the reality that Leo had not only lied to Grace, but was also a regular playboy. That crack Marina had made in which she admitted having expected Grace to be a blonde bombshell in a pole dancer’s outfit had lingered longest with Grace. Evidently Leo had betrayed his fiancée more than once. He was a liar and a cheat just like her father, who had also turned out to be a great deal less interested in raising his own child than he had first pretended to be.
* * *
Della Donovan was seated in a corner of the busy coffee shop when Grace arrived. She was immaculate in a smart suit, her blonde hair in a chignon; her critical gaze scanned her niece in her trademark jeans. And for the first time ever, Grace felt like picking up on that faintly scornful appraisal and asking when she had ever had the money to dress as smartly as the rest of the family. She suppressed the urge, recognising that now that she had moved out of her aunt’s home, where she had always had to watch every word to keep the peace, such humility no longer came naturally to her.
‘Grace...’ Della murmured with a rather forced smile. ‘How have you been?’
And to Grace’s astonishment, her aunt engaged her in polite small talk.
‘You said this was urgent,’ Grace finally reminded the older woman, wondering what the heck was holding her aunt back from simply saying whatever it was she wanted to say.
‘I’m afraid I have to ask you a rather personal question first.’ Her aunt pursed her lips. ‘Is Leos Zikos the father of your child?’
‘That’s private—’ Grace began.
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, I wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t important!’ Della snapped, for the first time sounding like her usual self.
‘Yes...he is,’ Grace confirmed grudgingly.
The older woman paled. ‘I was hoping I was wrong because I was very rude to him and even ruder when he asked for you.’
Grace was unsurprised. ‘I’m sure he’ll get over it.’
‘A man that rich and influential doesn’t have to get over anything!’ Della Donovan argued in a fierce undertone. ‘Leos Zikos owns the company your uncle works for. He channels work for that company through the legal firm I work for. You’re far from stupid, Grace. The father of your baby has a huge amount of power over your family and if you don’t keep him sweet, he could punish all of us.’
It was a bittersweet moment for Grace, hearing herself described as part of the family for the very first time, but she was thoroughly disconcerted by the genuine apprehension she could see in Della’s anxious face. ‘You’re seriously worried about that risk?’
‘Of course I am. Zikos has a name for being hard, ruthless and unforgiving and I’m asking you to smooth things over with him for your family’s sake.’
Grace realised why she was being temporarily promoted to family status and almost laughed. ‘Della, Leo hasn’t ever mentioned either you or Declan.’
Unimpressed, Della curled her lip. ‘We looked after you when you were a child, Grace. Now I expect you to look after us and ensure that there is no reason for Leo Zikos to sack your uncle from his job or withdraw business from my legal firm. After all, it’s your fault that I was brusque with him... I know I offended him but he arrived in the middle of a family crisis... Make sure he understands that.’
Grace was astonished by the entire tenor of the conversation. Della was scared that her comfortable life was under threat. Only genuine anxiety on that score would have persuaded the older woman to meet up with her despised niece and ask her for help to smooth over any offence caused. Grace thought it best not to mention that she was currently at serious odds with Leo herself, having called him a lying, cheating scumbag without integrity.
‘I’ll check out the situation for you and, if necessary, explain things,’ Grace promised to bring the uncomfortable meeting to an end. ‘But I really don’t think you have anything to worry about.’
‘Grace, you have about as much idea as to how the very wealthy expect to be treated as a farm animal!’ her aunt told her with raw-edged impatience.
Back at the hotel, Grace ordered a meal from room service and lay on the bed, pondering that strange encounter. She believed that her aunt was panicking without good cause. But hadn’t she already discovered that she did not know Leo as well as she had assumed? It was not a situation she could ignore, was it? Leo could well be the vengeful type when people crossed him. Della had probably been very rude to him: Della in a temper didn’t hold back. As Grace thrust her tray away, she lifted her phone, her conscience twanging. She couldn’t simply ignore her aunt’s fears simply because she herself did not want to
speak to Leo.
‘Grace...’ Leo growled down the phone like a grizzly bear, apparently not in any better a mood than when she had last seen him.
‘I need to talk to you,’ Grace advanced stiffly.
‘I’ll be with you in an hour.’ At the other end of the phone, Leo smiled with a strong sense of satisfaction. Clearly, Grace had calmed down and finally seen sense. Nobody was perfect. He had made one mistake. And she needed him, of course she did; he was the father of her baby...
An hour later, a knock sounded on the door and Grace used the peephole, recognising one of Leo’s bodyguards before opening the door. ‘Yes?’
‘The boss is on the top floor waiting for you,’ she was told.
Grace grabbed her key card and followed the man into the lift. Of course, if Leo owned the place he would have an office or something in the building, she guessed. She breathed in slow and deep at the thought of seeing Leo again. She could handle it; she could handle him without letting herself down. Couldn’t she? She had never been one of those girls who was a pushover for a good-looking, smooth-tongued male, although to be honest, she reasoned, she had met none before Leo, which meant that Leo kind of reigned supreme in her imagination as the ultimate player.
She smoothed damp palms down over the denim skirt she had teamed with a green T-shirt. Dressing up for him? That suspicion was a joke when she recalled how Marina had looked, all glossy and glitzy with wonderfully smooth straight hair and amazing make-up. No bad fairy had cursed Marina at birth with red curly hair and freckles, not to mention breasts and hips that would have suited someone much taller.
She walked into a beautifully decorated large room. It had a bed like hers but there the similarity ended because it was much more of a five-star suite. Leo was by the window, broad, straight shoulders taut with a tension she could feel, and in spite of her inner strictures her heart leapt even before he swung round to face her.