A Ring for the Greek's Baby

by MELANIE MILBURNE

Emily walked out of the hospital with Loukas beside her. ‘I can’t believe you told her we’re getting married,’ she said once they were clear of the busy entrance and on their way to his car. ‘Not only Dr Freeman, but the receptionist as well. Are you nuts? What if they tell someone?’

  ‘They’re meant to keep patient information confidential,’ he said.

  She stopped walking to look up at him. ‘And what about everyone else in that emergency department? What about those women in the waiting room? They recognised you. They took a photo of you. They’ve probably sold it to one of those media sites by now.’

  His features gave a tight spasm. ‘If it happens, it happens.’

  ‘But why say we’re engaged when we’re—’

  ‘We’re what?’ he said. ‘Virtual strangers? How do you think that would’ve made you look?’

  Emily blinked. ‘Oh...’

  ‘Exactly.’ He let out a short breath. ‘You’ve come out of a long-term relationship only to get pregnant after a one-night stand. It’s not fair, but women still get frowned on for stuff like that. I figured it was best to let Dr Freeman think we’ve known each other for a while and were planning to marry.’

  Emily could see his point and was unexpectedly touched he’d considered the impact on her reputation. But she suspected his motives were not entirely about protecting her reputation. Loukas wanted to marry her and was refusing to take no for an answer. She hadn’t taken him for a my-way-or-the-highway guy, but then she was hardly an expert when it came to reading men. She had been with Daniel for seven years and had never once suspected he was interested in men instead.

  Once they were inside Loukas’s car and on their way, she swivelled in her seat to look at him. ‘So, what was the business with your father those women in the waiting room spoke of?’

  His mouth tightened as if invisible stitches were being tugged from inside his jaw. ‘Nothing.’

  ‘It can’t have been nothing if those strangers know about it,’ Emily said. ‘And Dr Freeman didn’t say anything but I could read the subtext. Don’t you think I should know too, since I’m now apparently—’ she made air quotes with her fingers ‘—engaged to you?’

  He blew out another breath, longer this time, and his hands gripped the steering wheel firmly, as if he was worried it was going to be snatched away from him. ‘He got a partner pregnant earlier this year. She was nineteen years old. He insisted she have an abortion and when she refused he dumped her.’ His knuckles and tendons showed white through the tan of his skin. ‘She tried to kill herself by slashing her wrists soon after. Someone found her in time but not in time to save the baby. There was too much blood loss. She miscarried on the way to hospital.’

  ‘Oh, that’s terrible...’

  ‘My father is a high-profile businessman here and in the US, and of course the press love salacious stories like that,’ he said. ‘The young woman got offered a large sum of money for a tell-all interview. I can’t say I blame her, but it’s made my life difficult, because everyone’s waiting to pounce on a “like father, like son” follow-up story.’

  Emily could see the invidious position Loukas was in with her pregnancy. No wonder he’d insisted on marriage. He would be keen to avoid any remote comparison with his father. But marriage was meant to be a sacred commitment between two people who loved each other. How could he possibly think a marriage between them would work? They barely knew each other. ‘Loukas, it’s terrible what happened to that poor girl—shocking and awfully sad. But you’re not your father, and shouldn’t be judged by his standards or lack thereof.’

  ‘Try telling the media that.’

  Emily sat quietly for the rest of the journey back to her flat. Loukas seemed disinclined to talk and she could hardly blame him. In the space of the evening, he had found out he was to become a father, had had to deal with her cutting her finger and fainting and take her to hospital and deal with an inquisitive public and hospital staff. She would discuss the marriage thing when they had both had a decent night’s sleep and were in a better frame of mind.

  But, when Loukas turned the corner to the townhouse her little flat was housed in, she realised the night wasn’t over yet. Loukas slowed down to swing into the parking space two spots behind her car. ‘Are you expecting visitors?’ he asked.

  ‘No.’ Emily shrank back down in the seat as a man wielding a camera came rushing towards the car. A woman with a recording device was close behind. Another person hopped out of a car further along the street and came towards Loukas’s side with a camera poised. Emily sent Loukas a panicked glance. ‘How did they find me?’

  ‘Someone must have tipped them off at the hospital,’ Loukas said. ‘Let me handle it.’ He wound down his driver’s side window to the approaching journalist.

  The man leaned down. ‘Mr Kyprianos, a source tells us you and Miss Seymour are engaged and expecting a baby. Do you have any comment to make?’

  ‘Only to say we’re thrilled to be getting married and starting a family,’ Loukas said. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have things to do.’

  He got out of the car and came around to Emily’s side, but the female journalist was already at the passenger window. ‘Miss Seymour, how does it feel to be engaged to one of Greece’s most eligible bachelors?’

  Emily got out of the car and slipped her hand into Loukas’s. ‘It’s...great. Wonderful. Amazing. I mean, he’s amazing. Truly amazing and so kind and thoughtful and...’

  Loukas’s arm went around Emily’s waist, drawing her close to his side. ‘That’s it, everyone. Emily’s had a big day. So if you’ll excuse—’

  ‘What happened to your hand, Emily?’ the same journalist asked.

  ‘I—I broke a perfume bottle and cut my finger.’

  ‘What does your father think of becoming a grandfather, Loukas?’ one of the other journalists asked. ‘Have you told him yet?’

  ‘No, but I’m sure you’ll take care of that for me,’ Loukas said with an on-off movement of his lips. He led Emily to her front door and gestured for her to hand him the key. She rummaged in her purse, handed the key to him and Loukas unlocked the door and led her inside.

  ‘How quickly can you pack a bag?’ he asked once they were safely inside with the door closed.

  Emily looked at him blankly. ‘A bag? What for?’

  ‘I’m taking you back to my hotel,’ he said. ‘It will be safer than here until this blows over.’

  ‘So much for patient confidentiality,’ she muttered, not quite under her breath.

  ‘It wouldn’t have been Dr Freeman. As you pointed out, it could’ve been anyone at the hospital. My money is on those two women. They probably got your address off the form you filled in.’

  Emily folded her arms, casting him a look that would have done a jealous wife proud. ‘If Dr Freeman hadn’t got called away that night would you have slept with her?’

  He gave her an unreadable glance. ‘Maybe. Maybe not.’

  ‘She was up for it,’ she said. ‘In fact, if you hadn’t told her we were engaged, I reckon she would have asked for your number to hook up with you after work. You could be with her right now, having smoking-hot sex, instead of stuck here with—’

  ‘Emily.’ There was a strong note of calm reproof in his tone.

  Emily was close to tears and spun away from him to pull the curtains across the windows to block the paparazzi from seeing inside her flat. Her life was spinning out of control. How could this be happening? One day she was anonymous, the next she was being hunted down like a famous celebrity. When would it stop? Would it stop?

  ‘I reckon she’s wondering how on earth you could have chosen me over her. I bet those journalists out there are wondering it too. And so will everyone who reads tomorrow’s gossip. A man like you choosing a boring, unsophisticated legal secretary from Tottenham over an emergency docto
r from Knightsbridge? What a joke.’

  He came up close and turned her to face him, flinching when he saw her shimmering eyes. He lifted a hand to her face and gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, brushing away a couple of tears from the side of her left eye. ‘Please don’t cry.’

  ‘I—I’m not c-crying.’ Emily sniffed.

  Loukas handed her a clean handkerchief that smelled of his aftershave and was warm from being housed close to his body. She buried her head in its citrus scented folds and allowed herself a couple of noisy sobs. One of his hands went to the back of her head and moved in slow, soothing strokes from the top of her scalp to the base of her neck, sending shudders of reaction through her body. Then he lifted her hair and brought his hand against the nape of her neck, his fingers warm and gentle as they moved through the fine hairs there, sending delicious currents of electricity to the core of her being.

  When had anyone ever comforted her like this? Daniel had never been the cuddle-and-comfort type, which was understandable, now she knew how awkward it had made him feel. But even her mother wasn’t great at affection. The best she got from her mother was an air kiss and a hug that lasted no longer than a blink. When had anyone ever just sat with her and held her? Loukas’s hug made her feel safe and protected from the crazy world outside.

  Emily slowly lifted her head out of the handkerchief and focussed her gaze on his dark inscrutable one. She bit her lower lip. ‘Hormones. Sorry.’

  A ghost of a smile flickered at one side of his mouth and his hand moved to cradle her cheek, his thumb stroking back and forth in a barely touching movement that set her facial nerves dancing. His eyes became hooded and he slipped his gaze to her mouth, lingering there for an infinitesimal moment. Emily sent the tip of her tongue out over her lips in a darting movement, unable to stop the impulse even though she knew it was a primary signal of arousal.

  The air tightened. Crackling with possibilities. Erotic possibilities that made her blood tick and her heart trip.

  His thumb moved to her bottom lip, stroking along it like someone smoothing out a tiny crease in silk. It was as if every nerve in her lip rose to the surface, swelling, pulsing, heating against the pad of his thumb. ‘You have the most beautiful mouth.’ Loukas’s voice was so deep it sounded as though it had come from beneath the floor.

  Emily touched his face with her uninjured hand, losing herself in the depths of his deep-brown gaze with its fringe of inky lashes. His eyes were so dark she couldn’t tell where his pupils began and ended. ‘What are we doing, Loukas?’ Her voice was not much more than a whisper.

  His warm breath wafted over her lips. ‘This is what we’re doing.’ And his mouth came down on hers.

  His lips moved with sensual expertise over her mouth, rediscovering its contours, drawing from her a response that made her blood sing in her veins.

  Emily’s hands crept up his chest and then linked around his neck, her body pressing closer to the warm, hard heat of his. His tongue stroked over the seam of her mouth and she opened to him on a sigh of pleasure. The glide of his tongue was just as intoxicating as the first time he’d kissed her. It sent every female hormone in her body into paroxysms of excitement. His tongue found hers and cajoled it into play, teasing it, stroking it, chasing it. Seducing it. Loukas’s hands settled on her hips, holding her close to his body, where his blood pumped and his flesh surged. She moved against him instinctively, driven by primal urges she had no control over. He angled his head to deepen the kiss, one of his hands coming up from her waist to cup the side of her face, his fingers splaying through her hair.

  He nudged against her lips and then nibbled the lower one until she was whimpering against his mouth. She sent her hands through the thick silk of his hair, tugging and releasing the slight curls, delighting in the way he made deep, guttural sounds of approval.

  One of his hands went to her breast but their hormone-induced sensitivity sent her jerking back from him. ‘Ouch!’

  He looked down at her, frowning in concern. ‘Did I hurt you?’

  She winced. ‘My breasts are really tender. It’s the hormones.’

  His hands settled back on her waist as gently as if she were made of gossamer. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t realise. Are you okay?’

  ‘I’m fine...’

  Loukas stepped back from her with a rueful grimace. ‘It’s probably a good time to stop before things get out of hand.’ He rubbed a hand over his face as if trying to recalibrate himself. ‘This is turning out to be one hell of a night.’

  Tell me about it.

  Emily watched as he moved across to the window to check the street outside. ‘Are they still there?’

  He let the curtain drop back into place. ‘No, but I still think you should come back to my hotel with me.’

  ‘Surely that’s not necessary?’

  Something about his expression made her realise once he made up his mind it would not be changed without a fight. Even with a fight. ‘Humour me, Emily. I know what the press are like. They’ll be here first thing and hounding you for an exclusive.’

  ‘I won’t speak to them so—’

  ‘You won’t be able to help yourself.’ His mouth had a wry slant to it. ‘You’d be too worried about being rude. Before you know it, you’ll be inviting them in for coffee and home-baked cookies and telling them your life story.’

  Emily pressed her lips together, not sure she cared for his summation of her character. So she had a loose tongue at times? So what if she over-shared occasionally? It was only when she was nervous. And how did he know she had home-baked cookies in the house? He was making her out to be some sort of nineteen-fifties throwback, complete with frilled pinafore and polka-dotted headscarf. ‘I’m not going to be able to avoid them for ever. I can’t stay at your hotel indefinitely. You’re only here for a week in any case.’

  He looked at her for a long moment.

  ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ she asked.

  ‘I want you to come back to Corfu with me.’

  Her stomach dropped like an anchor. ‘What?’

  ‘Just until the press interest dies down,’ he said. ‘My villa is secure from media intrusion. You can rest up without the constant threat of having a camera or microphone thrust in your face. We can stay there until the ceremony.’

  Emily turned away, holding her arms across her middle. ‘Now you’re being ridiculous again.’

  He came up behind her and turned her to face him, his hold gentle but firm—a bracelet of warm male fingers overlapping on her wrist, reminding her of his superior strength and essential maleness. His eyes held hers prisoner. ‘I’m trying to protect you, Emily.’

  The thought of someone offering to protect her was tempting. Way more tempting than it should be for an emancipated woman of nearly thirty. But for so long Emily had craved security and stability. Would Loukas be that go-to person she’d thought she had in Daniel? The person who would stand up for her as well as by her? She allowed her mind to drift with the possibility of marrying him. She wouldn’t have to be a single mum. She wouldn’t have to worry about bringing up a baby alone. Loukas would be there as back-up, involved with the baby and always on hand if she needed extra support. She would be part of a family unit: mum, dad and baby. A unit of stability and belonging that she had longed for since she was a little girl.

  You’re thinking of marrying him? You took longer to choose that dress you’re wearing.

  But I like the thought of being protected.

  You definitely need protecting—from your traitorous hormones, that’s what.

  If Emily went anywhere with Loukas who knew what might happen? One kiss a month ago and she’d ended up pregnant. A week or two at his private villa was just asking for trouble. She tried to ease out of his hold but his fingers countered the move by gently tightening. ‘I can protect myself.’ S
omehow her voice didn’t come out as stridently as she’d hoped.

  One of his dark brows rose in a sceptical arc and he glanced pointedly at her bandaged finger. ‘How’s that working out for you so far?’

  Clearly not well.

  Emily compressed her lips again, shooting him a glare cold enough to freeze vodka. ‘I can’t just walk out on my job without notice.’

  ‘Allegra’s your boss, right? She’ll understand. In fact, she’ll encourage you to get away somewhere safe.’

  Emily frowned. ‘But what am I going to say to her?’

  ‘Does she know about the pregnancy?’

  ‘Not officially—I only told her I was late. You’re the first person I’ve told.’

  Something moved through his gaze, softening it. Darkening it. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘You’re welcome.’

  ‘You’d better call Allegra before she reads about us over breakfast,’ Loukas said.

  ‘Are you going to call Draco?’

  He released her hand and stepped back from her. ‘It’s not something I’ve been looking forward to.’

  ‘I can imagine it must be galling for you to admit to having knocked up the bridesmaid.’ Emily’s voice was so tart it was as if she were speaking through a mouthful of lemons. ‘Especially since she’s not your type.’

  He shifted his lips from side to side as if monitoring his response. ‘Someone’s done an excellent job on your self-esteem.’

  She sent him her best nose-in-the-air, haughty look. ‘I’d like you to leave.’

  ‘I’m not leaving without you,’ he said with an intractable set to his features. ‘Now, go and pack a bag, otherwise I’ll pack it for you.’

  Emily planted her feet, pushed her chin up higher and folded her arms. ‘You’re not the boss of me.’

  You’re not the boss of me? What are you? Six?

  He’s not telling me what to do.

  Yes, he is, and by the look on his face you’d better do it.

  Loukas held her gaze in a silent tug-of-war that did strange, fizzy things to the backs of her knees, like someone was trickling sand down her legs. Emily would have stuck it out to show she wasn’t a pushover but a wave of nausea rose in her throat and she threw a hand over her mouth and made a mad dash to the bathroom.