The Greek's Million-Dollar Baby Bargain

by Julia James

  He thought of what he’d known of Carla Turner. Yet she had protected her young sister’s happiness by sacrificing herself to the lusts of a pervert exploiting the very children he had been appointed to care for. Had that loss of innocence she’d suffered made her the woman she’d become? Irremediably scarred by what a man had done to her?

  And Ann? What of her? Taking the money he’d offered her as her only chance to escape the poverty she’d been trapped in?

  Again he felt the certainties he had held for so long shift, become unstable. Reshape themselves.

  But what shape would they finally take? He did not know. Could not tell. Could only let them run in the background of his mind while he dined with a woman he both desired and despised.

  The next day was spent entirely at Ari’s pleasure: a second visit to the theme park, a swim in the hotel pool, and a daredevil circus dinner show in the evening. Then came a day at a second theme park, rounded off with a candlelit parade and supper at the main park. Back in their suite, Ari was asleep in minutes.

  Ann kissed him tenderly, an ache filling her heart. This was their last day here—which meant tomorrow she must return to London. Leave Ari.

  Leave Nikos—

  The ache in her heart seemed to intensify…

  ‘Come and have some coffee.’ Nikos’s deep voice came from the doorway. She straightened, composing herself. Her expression did not falter even as her eyes went straight to Nikos’. As if a magnet drew them thither.

  But then he drew all women’s eyes.

  She went through to the reception room. After all, this would be the last time she would spend with him. The sense of loss increased even as she berated herself for letting it in.

  ‘So,’ said Nikos, relaxing back, taking his coffee cup, ‘do you think Ari is theme parked out?’

  She made her voice sound normal—the way she had done all the time here. ‘For now, yes. But as soon as you get him home he’ll be asking you when you’re going to take him again!’

  He laughed, and Ann had to drop her eyes. The aching feeling inside her was getting stronger. She must crush it. Because there was no place for it. This time tomorrow she would be back in London, with her own life—her real life—taking her over again. That was what she must remember.

  Remember what Nikos Theakis thought of her…

  ‘Well, next year, perhaps,’ he allowed. ‘But I admit I’m looking forward to being in central Paris tomorrow. Tell me, do you know the city?’

  She shook her head. ‘I’ve never been there.’

  ‘Never been?’ He sounded surprised, as if it were odd she’d never been. ‘Well, then, it will be my pleasure to show the city to you both—you and Ari.’

  She swallowed. ‘It might be better if I got a midday flight back to London,’ she said. ‘I don’t want to arrive too late.’

  He was looking at her. His eyes were veiled suddenly. ‘Ari’s holiday is not yet over,’ he said. ‘There is no question of you abandoning him yet.’

  ‘I didn’t mean I wanted to leave him,’ she said defensively.

  For a moment his eyes rested on her with that same veiled expression. Then, lifting his coffee cup, he said, ‘Good, then that is settled. Tomorrow we remove to central Paris and do our sightseeing.’

  Ann felt her mood lift—she knew she shouldn’t let it, but it was too late.

  A reprieve—

  As she thought the word, she wished it unthought. But she knew it was true, for all that.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  IF SHE’D WONDERED whether a city with so sophisticated a reputation as Paris might not have much to appeal to a young child, Ann swiftly discovered her mistake. The next day, after they’d taken a taxi into the centre of the city and checked into a hotel so world-famous it made her eyes stretch, Ari could not wait to get out and about.

  The Metro was an immediate hit, and so was the Eiffel Tower—especially lunching halfway up. Then came a ride on a bâteau mouche on the River Seine, followed by a stroll through the Tuileries gardens, ending up at a café on the Rue de Rivoli, where Ari wolfed down an ice-cream, and Ann contented herself with a café au lait, nobly resisting the mouthwatering array of patisserie—which Nikos, to her chagrin, did not.

  ‘You should succumb to temptation, Ann,’ he murmured, his eyes glinting.

  She pressed her lips together. Why couldn’t Nikos be the way he’d been on Sospiris—raking at her, castigating her sister, insulting her with diamonds? Why did he have to be like this now, with that lazy glint in his eye and his casual companionableness, and their mutual conspiracy towards Ari that they were the best of friends? Making remarks that sounded innocuous but which carried a subtext a mile high?

  Was he doing it on purpose? she wondered bleakly. Baiting her? Taunting her? Yet the humour in his glint belied so malign a purpose. Hinting at a purpose that made her insides give a little skip.

  But what was the point? What was the point of reacting to the male gorgeousness that was Nikos Theakis? She was here with him for Ari’s sake, that was all. She forced her heart to harden. Nothing could take away the poison that lay between them, however superficially nice Nikos was being.

  Yet that evening, with Ari fast asleep in the exquisitely appointed bedroom Ann shared with him in the suite Nikos had taken for them all, the soft knock on her door took her by surprise.

  ‘We can dine downstairs,’ Nikos informed her. ‘I’ve booked one of the hotel’s babysitters to be up here until we return. And since, Ann, this is a grand hotel, we shall dine in grand style.’ His eyes held hers a moment—a brief, dangerous moment. ‘Wear the turquoise evening gown again—you won’t be overdressed, I promise you.’

  She should, she knew, have made some excuse. Pleaded a headache, or tiredness—anything to avoid dining with Nikos Theakis en grande tenue at this world famous hotel in the heart of Paris. And yet she didn’t.

  He certainly drew all eyes as they made their way into the three-Michelin-starred restaurant at the hotel. But then Nikos Theakis in a tuxedo was a sight to rivet female eyes for miles around.

  For herself, she had definitely had to avert her gaze, as her eyes had gone to him in the suite, taking in in an instant just how much the superbly tailored jacket enhanced his superbly structured torso, how the gleaming white of his shirt emphasised the sleek muscled chest, and the immaculate dark trousers sheathed his long legs. Keeping her composure in the face of such incentive to lose it had helped minimise the impact of his own sweeping glance over her, wearing once more, as she had done for Tina’s wedding reception, the beautiful layered chiffon gown that fell in Grecian folds to her ankles, skimming her breasts and baring one shoulder. She’d dressed her hair loose tonight, and it cascaded down her back, loosely pulled around her bared shoulder. Her make-up, too, she’d applied with particular care—this was, after all, Paris, which must put any woman on her mettle. Especially when she was dining with so superb a specimen of manhood as she was tonight.

  The food, she discovered, entirely justified the prestige which the restaurant was held, and when it came to the exquisitely prepared creamy bavarois, adorned with a net of spun sugar and laced with vividly hued coulis, she did not hesitate. She dipped her spoon into the heavenly concoction— only to find Nikos’s amused, long-lashed gaze on her.

  ‘Enjoy,’ he murmured, and his eyes gave their familiar glint.

  She felt her breath catch in her throat, two flares of colour flag in her cheeks, then she dipped her head to taste the mouthful of dessert. It was as gorgeous to eat as to look at, and it did not last long. She surfaced to see Nikos still watching with amusement, lounging back in his seat, a glass of Sauternes between his fingers.

  But even as she met his gaze it changed. Amusement flickered to something else, and now the catch in Ann’s throat was enough to still her breath. Then, abruptly, the gaze was gone. He took a mouthful of his wine, his gaze turned inward. Then that expression, too, changed.

  ‘So—’ he tilted his chair further back, easin
g his shoulders more, relaxation in every line of his lithe, powerful body ‘—what shall we do tomorrow, Ann?’

  ‘Anywhere by Metro will keep Ari happy.’ She smiled, grateful for the safety of talking about Ari instead of having Nikos looking at her with his long-lashed, gold-glinting eyes.

  ‘I just hope he doesn’t realise one can take the Metro all the way back out to the theme parks!’ said Nikos feelingly.

  She laughed. ‘Ari heaven! But then this whole holiday has been wonderful for him! Any child would have adored it.’

  For a moment there was a shadow in her eyes. It was only fleeting, but Nikos noticed it, all the same.

  ‘What is it?’ he asked.

  She gave a half smile, a little rueful. ‘He doesn’t know how fortunate he is, compared with so many other children.’

  Nikos’s face was sombre a moment. ‘True, he has every material blessing. But no parents.’

  Ann bit her lip. ‘Yes, but there are many children with neither families nor material security. Still,’ she went on, ‘who would begrudge him for a second the happiness he has? And he isn’t spoilt—not in the slightest.’

  ‘No,’ agreed Nikos. ‘He isn’t. We have done our best, myself, my mother and Tina, to ensure he is not a spoilt brat.’

  ‘Never!’ exclaimed Ann feelingly. ‘He’s an angelic child.’

  There was a tug at Nikos’ mouth. ‘Now, there speaks a doting aunt!’ Then, as it had before, his expression changed. ‘And you are, aren’t you, Ann? It’s not a show for my benefit, is it? You really do love him.’

  ‘Is that so surprising?’ she asked steadily.

  His eyes rested on her, with that same expression in them that she could not read. ‘Perhaps not,’ he answered.

  Was there reluctance in his voice? Of course there must be, thought Ann. It would gall him to think she really cared for the nephew she had sold, as he so scathingly reminded her whenever it suited him, for hard cash.

  And suddenly, out of nowhere, Ann found herself wanting to dispel that view of her as heartless and mercenary.

  ‘I think you have come to love Ari,’ he said slowly. ‘Being with him as you have been on Sospiris and here, now, day after day. I think you have come to love him now that he is no longer a baby—a burden on your life imposed on you by your sister’s death, a responsibility you could not evade.’

  His eyes were resting on her, still with that unreadable expression in them, and Ann could only let him speak—even though she wanted to shout out that he was wrong, wrong! That she had never, ever regarded Ari as a burden, that he had been the most precious thing in her life, and that giving him up had nearly broken her…

  But Nikos was still speaking, his tone sombre, and as she listened her eyes widened in amazement.

  ‘When I came to you that night, Ann, four years ago, fresh off the plane, I’d spent the entire journey in a state of agonising grief for my brother’s death. There was only one other emotion in me.’ He looked at her, his eyes heavy. ‘Fear,’ he said.

  She stared, not understanding.

  ‘Yes, fear. And anger—not just at your sister, for what she’d done to my brother, but at myself. Harsh, unforgiving anger. Because…’ He took a ragged breath. ‘It was I who had ensured that Ari was illegitimate. I was so sure that Carla had lied through her teeth to Andreas that she was pregnant by him, and not any of the dozens of men she got through, I persuaded him to wait until the child was born and only then have DNA tests done—convinced as I was that they would be negative, and he would not need to marry a woman like her and ruin his life. So when I arrived that night, Ann, my anger at myself for having myself ensured my dead brother’s son was a bastard warred only with my fear—my fear of you.’

  ‘Me?’ Ann’s voice was disbelieving.

  Long lashes swept down over his eyes, and his mouth twisted.

  ‘Yes, Ann—you. A drab slip of a girl, living in a dingy slum, holding a baby in her arms that I desperately, desperately wanted—needed!—and which you could have denied me.’ He took another heavy breath. ‘Surely, Ann, you knew how powerful your position was? The moment I showed my hand and told you I wanted to take Ari you must have known?’

  ‘Known what?’ she said blankly.

  ‘That you were holding me to ransom! Theos mou, Ann—you had legal possession of my brother’s son. When your sister was killed you became Ari’s legal guardian—and as such, the moment you knew I wanted him, you had unlimited power over me. Had Andreas and Carla been married, I could have wrested Ari from you with ease—what court in the world would have awarded custody to a penniless girl in comparison with what I could offer my nephew? But as Ari’s guardian, as you were, you held every card.’

  Incredulity flared in her face. He saw it, and gave a brief, hollow laugh.

  ‘I came to you that day with only one weapon in my hand. My money.’ His mouth twisted again as he spoke. ‘Fear that you would turn me down, laugh in my face, made me harsh to you, Ann. Whatever your sister had done, you were hardly responsible—I knew and accepted that! Yet my anger at her, my fear of you—of the power you held to deny me what I needed most, my brother’s son—made me angry with you, too. But…’ His eyes closed momentarily as he faced truths he had not wanted to face—truths that told him baldly, bleakly, just why he had so wanted to hate and despise Ann Turner for selling her baby nephew to him. ‘I had a lucky escape that day—and do not think I did not know it. I found a woman young enough, poor enough, to bribe with a pittance.’

  Ann swallowed. A million pounds? A pittance? But Nikos was talking again. His voice was darkly bitter—at himself.

  ‘Do you not realise how I cheated you that day, Ann? You could have held out for far, far more. I would have given the world for Ari. You could have sent me off, left me to sweat with no room to manoeuvre, once you realised how desperately I wanted Ari. You could have raised the bidding—not just to sell him to me, but for a share in the Theakis wealth. You could have gone to the press, Ann—kicked up a storm, a hideous scandal over our heads, raking up everything your sister had been. You could have hired a team of crack lawyers to get your fingers into the Theakis fortune on behalf of the child for whom you were legal guardian, illegitimate though he was. Just thinking of what you held the power to do that day made me so harsh to you. Even as you took that cheque for a paltry million pounds from my hand I hated you for the power you had over me.’

  He stilled, the strong emotion in his face fading—but not completely.

  ‘And I hated you for selling Ari to me—even though it was what I wanted—so swiftly and so cheaply. I’ve condemned you ever since for it.’

  She swallowed. There seemed to be a stone lodged in her throat, making it hard—impossible—to breathe.

  ‘I…I noticed,’ she said.

  His eyes were on her, heavy, and it was a weight she could scarcely bear.

  ‘But what right have I, Ann—I who have only ever known wealth and ease and luxury, all my life, through no effort of my own, merely inheriting it—what right have I to condemn someone born to poverty for taking easy money when it came their way? Would I, Ann, in your position, have been any more virtuous? Would I have turned down the money dangled so temptingly in front of me so that I could live the rest of my life in poverty? Raising my sister’s orphaned child, giving up my life to my nephew just so that his rich uncle would not condemn me? Would I have been any better than you?’ He paused. ‘I would not like to be put to that test, Ann—as you were.’

  Her mouth was working. She had to speak—had to! Had to tell him that—

  But Nikos was speaking again. His voice was urgent, suddenly—persuasive. Compelling.

  ‘I want to put it behind us Ann. Nothing—nothing that I’ve seen of you, known of you, since you came to Sospiris—gives me any further cause to think ill of you. Indeed—’ his voice twisted ‘—you have even proved to me you do not have your sister’s morals when it comes to sex, haven’t you?’

  She felt colour flare out
along her cheeks, felt Nikos’ gold-glinting eyes rest mordantly on her.

  ‘Was that the moment I was forced to rethink my opinion of you, Ann?’ he mused. ‘The moment you rejected the diamond necklace I wanted to give you, which I thought you would seize with both your greedy little hands? I didn’t want you to reject it—I wanted you to take it.’

  ‘Yes,’ she answered tightly, the colour still flaring in her cheeks. ‘I’m aware of that.’

  His lips twitched. ‘Not because I wanted to confirm my low opinion of you, Ann. Because…’ The long lashes swept down again, making her breath catch though she shouldn’t let it—she shouldn’t, she mustn’t. ‘Because I wanted you back in my bed—any way I could get you there.’

  His hand reached across the table. A single finger stroked along the back of her hand. She felt the lightness of his touch as if it were searing heat.

  ‘I still want you, Ann.’ His voice was low, intense.

  The breath stilled in her lungs. She could not breathe, nor speak, though she should do both…

  He was holding her with his gaze, as if her entire weight were suspended. Words came from him, seductive, sensuous.

  ‘You are so beautiful. So incredibly beautiful—’

  His eyes swept over her, making her weak—so weak.

  But she could not be weak—must not. However much her head was swirling with the same overwhelming emotion as when he had danced with her, taken her into his arms in those magical, dreamlike moments.

  ‘It’s…it’s not a good idea,’ she said. Her voice seemed strained, tortured.

  But Nikos wasn’t listening. His mouth was lowering to hers.

  She made one last, frail attempt.

  ‘Ari…’ she breathed.

  But all at once they had left the restaurant, were standing in the little entrance hallway outside the suite. She was fighting for sanity, but it would not come. It had fled, far away, and she could not get it back. Dimly she heard voices speaking French—one Nikos, the other the hotel babysitter—and then the woman was slipping past her, letting herself out, andAnn could not say a word, not a word, until Nikos came out of the lounge. And then she still could not say a word, could only let him take her hand and lead her across the lounge and into his bedroom.