The Kyriakis Baby

by Sara Wood

  It had been a brutal and morally suspect ploy on his part perhaps, but it would have given Lexi the ultimate protection. And it had rebounded on him—big-time.

  He ground his teeth together. Because he’d lost his head, he would now have to spend hours in Emma’s company and watch her yearning to hold her daughter. Far from giving him a malicious pleasure, the prospect filled him with dread.

  He took a deep breath and his nostrils were immediately assailed by wild honeysuckle and orange blossom. When his foot stirred the rich, red earth he felt suddenly overwhelmed by the love of his land and it swelled to fill his aching heart.

  This had been Kyriakis land for generations. And, after him, it would belong to Lexi. He stilled. Sefton had let slip that Emma was determined to take Lexi back to England one way or another. Leon’s jaw tightened. That was his worst fear. But his Lexi had her roots here and she must never live anywhere else.

  Emma must be persuaded to go home. There was no other way. The ends would justify the means.

  Determined on his course, he set off on foot for home. It was then that he heard a car coming up the lane to the villa. Suspecting who it might be, he hurried grimly through the trees and watched with growing anger as the car came to a jerking halt.

  Emma emerged from the villa, her face white in the glare of the porch light. She spoke to John Sefton in a low voice and he replied.

  Leon heard her utter a low cry. And then Sefton pulled her boldly into his arms.

  CHAPTER SIX

  IF SHE’D been in a different mood, she would have loved the walk to the house through the olive grove the next morning. John had been wonderful, comforting her into the small hours of the morning and advising her to persevere. His confidence had given her strength and after sleeping late she felt more optimistic and better able to cope.

  But she was unbelievably nervous. In a sleeveless blue top and white shorts, with a cheerful pink rucksack on her back, she set off along the path to find Leon’s house. She felt as if she were about to take an exam, her stomach churning uncomfortably. And when her footfalls stirred up the scent of mint and basil she gave only a passing thought to them instead of revelling in their combining scents.

  Lexi was uppermost in her mind. It terrified her that her daughter wouldn’t like her, or would pick up Leon’s hatred and be suspicious—perhaps scared.

  She’d spent long hours in prison learning Greek but repeating phrases to a tape recorder was a lot different to interpreting a child’s chatter, especially with Leon possibly muttering vile things about her under his breath.

  She winced. He wanted to make her suffer. All because his sexual pride had been wounded. Men! she thought darkly.

  ‘I will get the better of him,’ she muttered, scowling at the herby path.

  But the way ahead had changed. The path had widened. She looked up and saw the ground rising gradually. And on a hill, perhaps half a mile away, sat a beautiful, old stone mansion, perfectly proportioned and graceful.

  She stared at it wide-eyed. Doubts chased through her mind. To live here, in this paradise, in a beautiful period house, would be any child’s dream.

  She frowned, thinking positively. If that child wasn’t loved, then a cosy cottage somewhere in England and an adoring mother would be better. She’d buy a little house with the remainder of her stash of money. In the country. With chickens.

  With that decided, she walked towards the house. Close to, it was very impressive, with Grecian pediments and huge shutters flanking the tall windows. And on the ground floor, French doors lay open to the cooling breeze.

  Sick with nerves, she rang the bell and was admitted by a long-legged beauty in jeans and T-shirt. Emma gaped. This wasn’t Marina! Some other female, a temporary ‘auntie’ for her child? she thought, choking with fury.

  ‘Hello. Are you Emma?’ asked Long Legs solemnly in an enchanting accent.

  ‘I am,’ Emma replied grumpily, sounding anything but enchanting.

  ‘Come.’

  The tall, willowy young woman swayed across a high and airy marbled hall, her easy manner in the expensive surroundings crushing Emma’s self-confidence still further. It was a long walk. Eventually they reached the back of the house where Long Legs pointed through the open double doors.

  ‘He’s in the garden,’ she said succinctly to Emma. And swept off, every step disapproving.

  Emma’s heart sank as she stepped onto the terrace. If everyone around Leon behaved like that towards her, then it would be impossible to convince Lexi that she was harmless.

  Pale and trembling, she scanned the fabulous garden and quickly identified Leon, sitting beneath the shade of a rubber tree.

  Her hand flew to her mouth to stifle her sharp intake of breath. There was Lexi.

  A rush of tears clouded her view and she brushed them away impatiently. ‘Oh, sweetheart,’ she whispered softly, a catch in her anguished voice. ‘Oh, my darling, darling baby.’

  With hunger in her heart she watched the sturdy little figure, dressed in a sweet little flowery top and matching shorts which came down to her dimpled knees. Love spilled from Emma’s entire being. Someone had put Lexi’s hair up in a pony-tail and had fastened it with a bright pink scrunchie but rebellious curls danced all around Lexi’s small face.

  Emma’s heart melted. Her daughter was quite exceptionally beautiful. She let out a soft breath and felt a little better about the meeting. Love would bind them and break down all barriers.

  With glazed eyes she watched her daughter happily arranging rose petals in a wooden truck: small piles of pink, white, red, and yellow. Emma felt a pang of pride that little Lexi should be so deeply absorbed in her sorting game, playing with an admirable concentration.

  The need to run forwards and crush her sweet baby in her arms was unbearable. So she pressed her lips together and stayed silent behind a column, giving herself a chance to watch unobserved and to yearn openly for her child. Because soon she’d have to appear friendly but detached. Towards her own daughter! Emma’s lip trembled at the injustice of that.

  Her loving gaze saw the breeze ruffle the rose petals and ruin the neat piles and she smiled in motherly sympathy at Lexi’s look of dismay.

  ‘Daddeee!’ Lexi wailed in English.

  She gasped in horror, ice freezing her spine. Both Leon and Lexi whirled around and Emma hastily hid her face, gripping the pillar with rigid fingers, her head pressed hard against the cold unmoving stone.

  ‘Oh, God!’ she moaned, when she heard Leon’s quick stride coming up the steps towards her.

  ‘How long have you been there?’ he growled, keeping his voice low so it didn’t carry to Lexi’s ears.

  She flung him a furious glance. ‘Long enough. She…she calls you Daddy! How dare you? In how many ways do you want to take my child from me?’ she hurled back in a barely controlled undertone.

  ‘I correct her,’ he said quietly, his eyes cold and distant. ‘But she persists. She has a mind of her own—as you’ll find out.’

  ‘What do you mean? Have you said something detrimental about me?’ she demanded, her face hot with anger.

  ‘I’ve said nothing. I wouldn’t waste my breath talking about you. Well, are you ready? I suggest you find a more charming expression.’

  With an effort she checked her temper. This was it. The moment she’d been waiting for. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears and the sick sensation coiled hotly in her stomach.

  ‘I—I’m ready. Just one thing, Leon,’ she said, her blue eyes wide with apprehension. She moistened her parched lips. ‘You must give me a fair crack of the whip. If I suspect even for a moment that you’re trying to influence Lexi’s opinion of me, then I’m off to see John. I’ll get the lawyers involved. Lexi must be given the opportunity to know and love her own mother. Do I make myself clear?’

  ‘Crystal.’ His eyes glittered. ‘I imagine this is what you and Sefton talked about last night?’

  She was taken aback. ‘Umm…yes.’

  ‘A
nd this morning?’ he enquired sarcastically. ‘Or was he helping you with some other, more personal, service?’

  She flushed, well aware of what he was implying. ‘Do you do your own snooping, or do you get minions to do it for you?’ she asked scathingly.

  He smiled but it wasn’t anywhere near humorous. ‘Your evasion has answered my question. Just consider this, Emma. It’s a mistake for a woman in your position to put herself about. Me, Sefton, who next, I wonder? Your life needs to be close to sainthood. Anything less and the odds shorten against you.’

  Emma met his glittering eyes coolly even though she was registering the truth of what he was saying. She would have to be very careful. John had insisted on staying till she fell asleep. It had been a wonderful gesture but he knew she was under surveillance and he should have realised that Leon would misinterpret the situation.

  ‘I have nothing on my conscience,’ she said, her chin high. ‘And now I want to meet my daughter.’

  He frowned. ‘You remember what we agreed?’

  He was barring her way. He’d turn her away if necessary, even now. ‘Yes, yes, I’m to say I knew her daddy,’ she said in a choking voice. ‘I’ll keep to my side of the bargain—but no tricks on your part,’ she warned.

  He smiled again, his eyes bright and hard. ‘I won’t need any.’

  Emma shivered. He seemed so confident. He raised his hand to attract someone’s attention in the house and Long Legs glided silently to his side.

  ‘Would you bring some coffee, Natasa?’ he asked pleasantly.

  Natasa dimpled. ‘Of course. And freshly squeezed orange for Lexi? I have some biscuits I made this morning if you’re interested…’ She paused and raised a shapely eyebrow in query, sharing some private joke with Leon.

  His eyes crinkled with laughter as he ruefully patted his flat stomach and Emma found herself gritting her teeth, uncharitably wishing that Natasa would vanish off the face of the earth. Emma couldn’t translate his reply and that infuriated her even further, but it was evidently funny because they both fell into fits of giggles.

  ‘Obliging girl,’ Emma found herself saying sarcastically, like some jealous wife. She went pink with fury at herself. What did she care how obliging Natasa was?

  ‘She’s hell-bent on single-handedly altering my waistline by cooking like an angel.’ Leon’s face sobered as he gazed after the pendulum swing of Natasa’s rear. Emma clenched her fists hard. ‘She is a gem. A diamond among women.’

  ‘Pearl,’ she corrected shortly. ‘It’s pearl.’

  ‘Not in this case. Diamonds are for ever.’

  She felt her heart bump unevenly. ‘Are you trying to tell me something?’ she asked as coolly as humanly possible. ‘Is Natasa likely to be a permanent fixture in my daughter’s life?’

  ‘Anastasia—Natasa—is welcome to stay here as long as she wishes,’ Leon answered quietly.

  What was he doing, she wondered in amazement, operating a harem? Against her better wishes, she imagined him coming home last night, angry and sexually frustrated—and hated to think of what might have happened next between him and the nubile Natasa.

  ‘I hope she’s nice to Lexi,’ she muttered.

  ‘Brilliant. Come and discover how happy your daughter is,’ he goaded. She hurled a glare at him as they walked down the steps into the landscaped garden. ‘Lexi,’ he called gently. She looked up, glanced at Emma and continued to rearrange the rose petals with a frown of concentration on her small forehead. ‘This is someone your real daddy knew in England.’

  Emma held her breath, a smile frozen on her nervous face. ‘Hello,’ she said, speaking in Greek like Leon. She was pleased at his look of surprise.

  Lexi gave her an old-fashioned stare and returned to her game. Emma gulped in disappointment. But what had she expected? Some kind of psychic recognition, and her daughter beaming at her in joy and running up for a hug? She sucked in a shaky breath. The answer, stupidly, was yes.

  Leon was smiling smugly and easing himself into the comfortable cane chair. Emma marshalled her wits and went to kneel on the lawn beside Lexi, her hands gripped tightly together so she wouldn’t do anything silly like grab hold of her daughter and frighten her witless by clutching her to her heart.

  ‘I have a present for you,’ she said lovingly in her carefully rehearsed Greek.

  Lexi looked up from beneath dark Kyriakis lashes. And went back to sorting the petals. Emma’s heart beat hard but she bided her time. This was a child not to be bought. It didn’t matter—on the contrary, it showed great strength of character, she rationalised.

  Patiently Emma waited and watched. She noted that Lexi’s fingers were surprisingly dextrous. She didn’t get that from Taki. He’d been clumsy. Her eyes shifted to Leon’s hands which were long and slender and capable of great delicacy of touch and she was glad that her daughter had inherited that particular Kyriakis trait.

  Emma ached with longing and it was taking all her bitterly learnt self-control to remain physically neutral. Lexi was so deeply engrossed, so utterly sweet. Any mother would have caught her up and hugged her breathless by now—but she wasn’t any mother. She was on trial and this trial would have far-reaching consequences.

  Casually she slid off her rucksack and began to undo the clasps, knowing Lexi was watching surreptitiously. Emma’s fingers fumbled because they were shaking so much and she gave Leon an imploring look.

  ‘You’re on your own,’ he drawled.

  Then she felt a small, soft hand on hers and froze. Lexi was helping! Emma felt a huge rush of emotion to be so close to her child, to see the fair hairs gleaming on the smooth brow, the stubby little nose wrinkled in concentration… She couldn’t bear it, she thought with an inner groan. This was torture…

  Lexi moved back, the clasps undone and Emma frantically eased her tense muscles and gave her daughter a radiant smile.

  ‘Thank you,’ she said warmly, and searched her limited vocabulary. ‘You are clever!’ she exclaimed. ‘Look, this is what I have for you.’

  She drew out the smaller pink rucksack and placed it in front of Lexi who looked at it uncertainly then checked with Leon—but his attention was fixed on something he’d seen to his right.

  ‘Thank you very much,’ Lexi said politely.

  But Emma could see she was pleased. Already the contents were being investigated. Lexi lifted out the soft fabric doll and immediately took off the sun hat and peeled off the Velcro that held the dress fast. Underneath was a shocking pink bikini. Lexi beamed in pleasure.

  Emma leaned forwards, hardly daring to breathe, and pointed out that the rucksack on the doll’s back contained toy sun cream, a hairbrush, towel, sunglasses and flowery mules for the doll.

  ‘Oh!’ Lexi squealed excitedly and it was as if Emma had won a million pounds.

  But then Lexi ran to Leon to show him and Emma bit her lip, forcing herself to remember that she was a stranger and a hug would have been most unlikely.

  The doll was being investigated and the bikini was already half-off. Leon solemnly received the hairbrush and followed orders to tidy the yellow wool plaits, while Lexi persevered with the difficult task of fixing the sunglasses securely.

  ‘You like it?’ Emma ventured brightly.

  But Lexi didn’t look at her, she was too taken up with dabbing the sun cream bottle all over the doll’s body.

  Leon met Emma’s tormented eyes. ‘Go and say thank you nicely,’ he prompted Lexi in a growly voice.

  Her daughter put her arms around Leon’s neck and cuddled him. That hurt Emma more than she could have believed possible. Her daughter loved someone else more than she loved her.

  ‘Go on,’ he urged.

  ‘Thank you,’ Lexi said solemnly to Emma, having scrambled down from Leon’s lap.

  ‘You’re welcome,’ she replied jerkily.

  ‘Emma, come and have coffee.’ Leon’s dark eyes were upon her, their expression unreadable when she was expecting mocking triumph.

  Feeling dispirited,
she jumped up and sat in the chair he’d indicated as Natasa brought a tray to them.

  ‘Thanks, ’Tasa. Aren’t you stopping with us?’ he asked in surprise, seeing that she’d laid the tray for just two people.

  Natasa smiled fondly. ‘Not today, Leon. I am making tiropitta.’

  Amiably she stroked Lexi’s bent head and the little girl looked up with a beaming smile that made Emma wince. There was another exchange between Natasa and Leon that was teasing and familiar, which ended with Natasa pretending to threaten Leon with the coffee pot.

  Emma watched, isolated by their friendship, bewildered that she should be upset when Leon sat back and gazed after Natasa with a tiger-got-the-cream smile on his face.

  ‘Right,’ he said, grabbing the coffee pot. ‘Lexi, up to the table, please.’

  ‘Can’t she stay there, playing?’ Emma asked, seeing her daughter’s reluctance.

  ‘No,’ he replied firmly. ‘She must sit at a table if she wants to eat.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘There are no buts,’ he said. ‘That is the rule in this house.’

  And to her surprise, Lexi meekly gave the doll a kiss, laid it down and clambered up to the chair that Leon was holding out for her.

  ‘Good girl,’ Leon said approvingly and was rewarded with a seraphic smile.

  ‘Please-may-I-have-a-biscuit?’ Lexi asked all in one breath.

  ‘Certainly—uh…one!’ he instructed in a shocked tone.

  Lexi’s hand hovered and Emma hid a smile as her daughter locked frowning stares with Leon, searching for any sign of weakness. He didn’t waver. Unfazed, the little girl placed the one biscuit on her plate and broke it in half.

  ‘Two,’ she said perkily.

  Leon pressed his lips together to stop himself laughing. ‘I never really win,’ he muttered to himself.

  ‘I’m so glad,’ Emma said drily. ‘Lexi,’ she went on with a fond smile, ‘what will you call your dolly?’

  The startling blue eyes regarded her steadily. ‘Mama,’ she said.