Pregnant by the Greek Tycoon (15 page)

‘The doctor,’ Angolos exploded furiously, ‘should have been there all along!’ If he had been there he would have made sure that she had not been neglected. He caught her expression and made a visible effort to control himself. ‘Sorry…go on,’ he said tautly.

‘There’s not a lot to say.’

‘You mean you don’t want to tell me. I always know when you’re hiding something, Georgette.’

If that were true, Georgie reflected, she was in big,
big
trouble! ‘Not hiding, it’s just everything was fine in the end. The doctor just thought it might be necessary to do an emergency section if things didn’t move along.’

Georgie retained a distinct memory of grabbing the poor guy’s arm and yelling, ‘I don’t care so long as my baby’s all right.’ The memory made her smile.

‘But things did happen and it wasn’t necessary.’

Angolos studied her in silence for a moment. ‘You make light of it. I know you do,’ he added impatiently as she opened her mouth to rebut the claim. ‘But it must have been a terrifying experience.’

‘I was very tired,’ she admitted quietly. ‘But a lot of women have it a lot worse than I did.’

‘You were all alone and afraid.’
Hand pressed to his forehead, he fell onto his back on the mattress. On the pillow his head turned towards her. ‘You must have hated me.’

‘Would it make you happier if I said I did? I don’t know why you’re suddenly so determined to beat yourself up over this…it all happened a very long time ago.’

A spasm of self-disgust contorted his features. ‘Of
course
you hated me!’ A bitter laugh was drawn from his throat. ‘How could you not? I rejected you and left you to give birth to my child alone. If I had been a bigger man I would…’ Angolos flinched and turned his head to look at the small hand on his shoulder.

She simply couldn’t bear the pain in his voice.

‘You missed out too, Angolos,’ she told him in a voice thickly congested with emotion. ‘You,’ she added swallowing, ‘didn’t see your son born.’

‘And I will regret that to my dying day,’ he admitted.

‘I’m so sorry,’ she said.

‘Sorry…?’

Unable to bear the intensity of his scrutiny, she looked away. ‘Yes, I am.’

A strangled expletive escaped his clenched teeth. ‘The thing is you really are, aren’t you? It’s incredible. You haven’t got a vindictive bone in your body.’ Inexplicably—at least it was pretty inexplicable to Georgie—he sounded as though the discovery made him angry.

Georgie, thrown by his shift of mood, didn’t know how to respond to this allegation. The silence between them stretched as his dark gaze seemed restless, but it always returned to her face. Sheet tethered in one hand, she reached across him for the lamp switch.

‘Would you like another baby,
agape mou
?’

She flushed and looked at the big hand covering her own. The tender endearment was like a blade piercing her aching heart.

Not
a
baby;
your
baby.

Obviously she didn’t voice her thoughts, though for a split second she had come close. How could she tell him how she felt when even she knew her feelings defied all logic? Turning her head slowly, Georgie met his eyes; his regard was too searching for her. Catching her full lower lip between her teeth, she looked away and with a sigh drew her knees up to her chin.

‘That is a forlorn sound.’

‘You heard what Mirrie said. I thought you must have.’

‘And was she right?’

‘We discussed this…’

‘Did we?’ he inserted.

‘You know we did.’ Her determination to convince him of her sincerity made her voice higher than usual.

‘Maybe we should discuss it again.’

‘I don’t think so. Let’s face it, our marriage is not what you’d call solid, is it?’ Her laugh had a pretty hollow sound.

There was a long, dragging silence before Angolos responded. ‘This is about our conversation earlier…?’

She shrugged.

‘I am making you unhappy…?’

‘That’s not what I’m saying. It’s just ours is a marriage of convenience. We’re together for Nicky’s sake. Sure, the sex is good…actually it is sensational,’ she admitted, lifting her chin. ‘But sex isn’t enough.’

The problem was that, being with Paul and Mirrie and seeing what they had, that magical element…the fact was she had caught herself experiencing jealous pangs on several occasions. Was it greedy of her to want more?

‘You’re not getting all that you want from our marriage?’ From the expression etched in the taut lines of his strong face, she assumed he was angry.

‘It isn’t about what I want.’ She could never tell him what she wanted. ‘A child should never be used to paper over the cracks in a relationship, and we have some gaping chasms. I mean, in case you had forgotten, if things had gone differently we would be divorced by now.’

‘Theos!’
he gritted. ‘I am hardly likely to forget when you so obligingly remind me of the fact on a daily basis.’

‘I don’t…’

‘Life is precious and, although it is clichéd, you should live every day as though it were your last. You live your life in the expectation of there being something cataclysmic around the next corner.’

‘Maybe experience has taught me to expect things to go wrong.’ The moment the bitter observation left her lips she regretted it. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that.’

He looked at the hand she laid on his arm and then looked away; a muscle along his jaw clenched. ‘But you think it.’ His dark glance swept across her face. ‘Do not deny it. I am capable of accepting the part I have played in making you afraid to live life,
yineka mou
. Surely,’ he added, ‘the point is we are
not
divorced, and we are not going to be.’

‘You can’t
know
that.’

‘Certainly I can
know
that,’ he proclaimed. ‘Unlike you, I am
totally
committed to this marriage.’

‘Because of Nicky,’ she said, as much to remind herself of this as to show him that she understood his motives and was all right with them. Actually she wasn’t at all all right; actually thinking about him staying with her because of Nicky filled her with an inexpressible sadness.

‘What other reason could there be,
agape mou
?’

Once again his volatile mood swing took her unawares. For some reason he sounded and looked utterly furious. She shrugged noncommittally, but on this occasion it did not lessen the intensity of the emotions he was projecting.

‘The only thing that will take you away from me…’ he reached across and framed her softly rounded chin between his thumb and forefinger; his other hand he fitted into the curve of her neck, pulling her close so that their faces were inches apart ‘…is an act of God,’ he completed thickly.

He made it sound like a jail sentence. Was that how he thought of it? ‘I
am
as committed to this marriage as you are!’ she protested.

He raked a hand through his dark hair. ‘But it makes you shudder…?’ He said it so softly that Georgie barely caught his bitter observation.

She laughed.

‘What is funny?’ he asked, with the air of someone who was very close to losing it.

Losing it was not something Angolos did often, but Georgie was far too preoccupied with keeping a grip herself to notice.

‘Maybe the day will come when I can be naked in bed with you and not shudder when you touch me.’ Her restless gaze roamed unrestrained over the firm, taut skin of his bronzed torso. She gulped and added huskily, ‘But I suspect the day when you won’t touch me will arrive a hell of a lot sooner…’

Angolos leaned across and pressed a finger to her lips. Georgie couldn’t believe what she had just said, but she knew she had said it because he was looking unbearably smug.

‘We were talking about extending our family, I believe? You agree that Nicky needs a brother or sister.’

‘But you said—’

‘Forget what I said. It is not a matter of not wanting. I felt that after being deprived of a father for the first years of his life Nicky deserved to have all my attention, but I have since come to realise that the best thing I can do for Nicky is give him a family life.

‘A family life that involves all the rough and tumble and sharing that having siblings involves. The only problem I foresee is that addressing this problem will require me being naked in bed and possibly out of bed quite a lot.’ He angled a questioning glance at her flushed face. ‘Do you think that you could cope with that?’

Georgie managed to convince him that she could.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

TO GEORGIE’S amazement Mirrie’s prediction turned out to be true. The dreaded Olympia took one look at Nicky and burst into floods of emotional tears.

As Angolos promptly walked out of the room, it was left to Georgie to comfort her. Suddenly Georgie found she was the flavour of the month. She had given her a grandchild—and he was a boy and there was no more talk of Sonia.

Georgie also found her mother-in-law easier to cope with when she lived ten miles away, though, as she doted on Nicky, she did visit frequently. In fact, the entire set-up was a lot less daunting the second time around. She could see now that half the problem before had been her lack of confidence.

Even though she was no longer that inexperienced girl she did have a few things to prove to herself, hence the party. For good measure she added Sonia to the guest list.

The day arrived.

What, she asked herself, possessed me? I’m not a society hostess. I can’t do witty conversation… I’m not even totally sure what fork to use half the time. I knew all these things and yet I still thought it would be a good idea to invite a selection of rich, powerful people for dinner.

Clearly I have lost my mind.

The obvious solution is to cancel, she told herself. After all, it’s not like I’ve got anything to prove.

Not much…!

She marched through the house to Angolos’s study, and entered without knocking. She opened her mouth and saw he had his ear pressed to a phone.

Angolos motioned her to a chair, which Georgie sat down in, feeling cheated out of her big entrance. The conversation was in Greek, but one word she did catch…
Sonia
.

She walked over to the wood-panelled wall and with a decisive motion yanked the phone cord from its socket.

It took Angolos a second or so to realise that the phone was dead. When he did he frowned and slammed it down on its cradle.

‘There must be a fault on the line,’ he began, turning, then he saw Georgie. He looked from the cord she was casually swinging back and forth to her face. ‘Just what the hell are you doing?’

‘Getting your attention.’

Angolos flopped down with fluid grace into a deeply padded leather swivel chair. He planted his chin on his interlaced fingers and looked at her through his lashes. ‘You have it,’ he promised.

‘I came to tell you that I’m cancelling this dinner tonight.’

His brows lifted.
‘And…?’

His reaction threw her off stride. ‘There is no and.’

‘Right, no dinner.’

Her brows knit as she looked at him. ‘Is that all you’ve got to say?’

‘What else would you like me to say?’

‘Don’t patronise me!’ she gritted back. ‘In case it has escaped your notice I’ve been planning this dinner all week. A lot of very important people are coming and all you can say is,
Fine
…?’

‘I said right, actually.’

‘I don’t care what you said.’

This contradictory statement caused him to massage the groove between his darkly delineated brows.

‘I know you think I’m a total failure…I’m a social liability.’

‘I never wanted the party anyway.’

‘Don’t humour me, Angolos.’

‘I don’t enjoy formal dinners.’

‘Well, tough, because this one is going to be a great success!’ As she slammed the door she could hear him laughing.

The preparations were going quite well when mid-morning she got a phone call.

‘Emily, I’ve got to go out for a while. Can you hold the fort?’

She drove herself to the office and was ushered straight in. She brushed aside the offer of refreshment and got straight to the point.

‘You’ve located my mother?’

The man looked at her with sympathetic spaniel eyes; he didn’t look Georgie’s idea of a hard-bitten private investigator at all. ‘Your mother died two years ago.’

Georgie sank into the chair. ‘I see…’

The sympathetic man handed her a thick file. ‘It’s all in there. She married the man who she…ahem. He is still alive; he owns a hotel chain and runs it with his eldest son.’

‘Son! You mean I have a half-brother?’ This was something she had not even considered.

‘Yes, and two half-sisters. The details are all in there.’

By the time Georgie got back home her head was pounding. She had a family she didn’t know, who probably didn’t even know she existed. The choice as to what she should do with the information in the file was for later. Right now was for getting her head around the fact her mother was dead. It was silly—she hadn’t known the woman and she still felt… Actually, she didn’t know how she felt.

She would discuss it later with Angolos and see what he said, she decided.

Angolos had a lot to say, it turned out the moment she walked through the door.

‘Where have you been?’

She was emotionally exhausted; his accusing tone was the last straw. ‘Out?’ she said shortly.

‘Out somewhere with a man.’

Her eyes flew wide open. ‘Pardon?’

‘He rang to say he had something that belonged to me and, not to worry, he would make arrangements for me to get it back. When I asked who he was, he hung up. What was I supposed to think?’ he asked grimly.

After this morning this was as much as she could take. She gave a contemptuous sniff and drew herself to her full height. ‘The worst thing possible, I would imagine. After e…everything that has happened,’ she added in a shaking voice, ‘I can’t believe you would still think that I would cheat on you. It was my purse that…’

‘I thought you had been abducted…kidnapped…’

Georgie’s jaw dropped.
‘You’re not serious…?’

‘I was within this…’ he held his thumb and forefinger a whisper apart ‘…of calling the police.’

‘But that’s ridiculous!’

His response was a frigid, ‘I’m glad you think so.’

A giggle escaped her compressed lips, then another and another…until she was laughing helplessly, tears streaming down her face.

Georgie’s head continued to pound long after Angolos had walked out. She had not the faintest idea where he was or if he would even turn up for the wretched dinner party that night, and, she told herself angrily, she didn’t care!

Actually the truth was she did care, and not just because the guest list for the dinner party was enough to make an accomplished society hostess nervous! Without Angolos to steer her through the evening the occasion would no doubt be a total disaster. And what was she supposed to tell them when they asked why he wasn’t there?

She could see now that her laughing might have upset him; it had just been the shock of hearing him say what he had coming right on top of everything else that had set her off.

Angolos had been livid.

‘Don’t you walk away when I’m talking!’ she yelled. Then, seeing her words had no effect on him, she added gruffly, ‘When will you be back?’

He stopped then and looked at her through the mesh of his incredibly long lashes. ‘When I can trust myself not to strangle you.’

Who knows when that might be? she thought gloomily now. From the way he had looked when he’d said it, it could easily be never.

With her personal life falling apart she had totally forgotten to tell the chef that one guest this evening was vegan and another had a dairy intolerance.

The chef, who had always regarded her with deep suspicion since he’d caught her making beans on toast one evening, received the information in silence.

At least, she reflected, he hadn’t walked out too—not like some people. She hastily blinked away the tears that filled her eyes as Nicky appeared with Emily. He was wearing his swimming trunks.

‘Oh, I’m sorry, darling,’ she said, scooping him up. ‘I know Mummy said she’d come swimming with you after lunch, but I’m really busy.’

Nine out of ten three-year-olds would have sulked at having a promised treat denied, but Nicky gave a philosophical little shrug that was heartbreakingly familiar.

She gave him a rib-cracking hug back. ‘I promise I’ll come tomorrow. Make him keep on his sun hat, will you, Emily?’ she reminded the older woman.

‘I will, my dear,’ she promised.

It was half an hour later when she was giving her opinion of the flower arrangements in the formal dining room that Kostas the gardener rushed into the room unannounced.

‘It is the little one!’ he yelled.

‘Nicky…?’

The man gestured towards the door. ‘Come.’

Thomasis, the major domo, came up behind Georgie and spoke to Kostas in Greek.

‘It is the little one,’ he explained. ‘Kostas says he slipped and hit his head on the side of the swimming pool. He is unconscious. I will call an ambulance…’

Before he had finished speaking Georgie was running. Halfway down the steps she ripped off her high heels and ran on barefoot down the flower-filled terraces that led to the tree-shaded pool area.

It was one of Georgie’s favourite spots on the estate but at the moment she had no eyes for the panoramic views over the sparkling Aegean. Today all she saw was the tiny figure lying on the ground.

He looks so small.

‘I’m so…sorry, he ran and…’

Georgie tuned out Emily’s tearful explanation as she dropped down onto her knees beside Nicky.

‘He’s breathing,’ she said as she brushed the tears streaming down her face away with the back of her hand. ‘Thank God!’ She touched the skin of his face and bit her lip. ‘We can’t leave him here; we should move him to the house.’ She took his hand between her own and chafed it. ‘Wake up, Nicky, sweetheart.’

‘No, to be on the safe side I don’t think we should move him. The ambulance will be here directly.’ From somewhere Thomasis produced a blanket and tenderly placed it over the unconscious child.

‘No, no, you’re right,’ she agreed. She screwed up her eyes as she made an effort to focus her thoughts. Despite these efforts all she felt as she spoke again was blind fear. ‘Do you think he’s…?’

‘I think he’s going to be fine,
kyria
,’ Thomasis replied.

Georgie was vaguely conscious of Emily being led away weeping. ‘He looks so small.’ She took a deep breath and fought back the panic that threatened to overwhelm her. ‘I want Angolos. He will know what to do.’ She knew it was totally irrational, but she was sure that if Angolos were here he would make everything all right.

‘We are trying to contact him,’ came the soothing response.

The minutes while they waited for the ambulance seemed like a lifetime to Georgie and the journey to the hospital was a blur. She protested as Nicky was taken away, the language barrier made it worse and what little Greek she had acquired deserted her totally.

To her relief the doctor spoke perfect English.

After he had given her a consent form to sign and explained what they were about to do he looked at her marble-pale face. ‘You do understand what I’m saying…?’

‘Yes,’ said Georgie, who had only taken in one word in three. ‘Perhaps we should wait for my husband…?’

‘I’m afraid that a delay would not be a good idea.’

Georgie swallowed. ‘Fine, do what you must.’

When her mother-in-law made her sweeping entrance twenty minutes later Georgie was sitting there with her white-knuckled fingers closed around a cup of coffee someone had brought her fifteen minutes earlier. It was untouched and stone-cold.

Olympia wasn’t alone; she never went anywhere alone. Her secretary, an elderly cousin who was her companion, and a liveried chauffeur accompanied her into the hospital.

By magic a comfortable chair appeared.

Olympia ignored it. ‘I do not want a chair. I want to see a doctor. My dear,’ she added, going straight to Georgie and enfolding her in a fragrant embrace. ‘Have they told you anything?’

Georgie shook her head. ‘They took him to Theatre; they said he had raised inter-cranial pressure. I think they’re going to drill…’ She couldn’t bring herself to tell the older woman that the doctor hadn’t given her a straight answer when she had asked if there was a chance of brain damage.

‘Theos…!’

‘How did you know? Is Angolos here?’ Georgie asked her mother-in-law.

‘No, I’m afraid we haven’t been able to locate him yet, but do not worry, he will be here. Thomasis rang me. At a time like this you need family around.’ She gave an understanding nod at the tears that began to silently run down Georgie’s cheeks.

‘You must put your faith in the doctors. They know what they are doing,’ she said, gently taking the cup Georgie was still clutching from her hand. ‘Sit down, my dear.’ She looked at her daughter-in-law’s bare feet but said nothing.

Georgie did as she was urged. She felt numb and strangely disconnected from the things going on around her.

‘I want Angolos,’ she said.

‘Of course you do, and he will be here presently.’

‘It’s my fault…if I had gone swimming with Nicky none of this would have happened—’

‘I do not want to hear that.’ The imperious older woman cut her off mid-sentence. ‘Accidents happen. There is no point in dealing in “what ifs”. From what I have seen you are an attentive mother.’

The unexpected tribute brought fresh tears to Georgie’s reddened eyes, but she knew that if Nicky’s grandmother didn’t blame her his father would. ‘Angolos would never forgive me if anything happened to Nicky,’ she predicted tragically.

‘My son is a bigger man than that.’

‘I know, but we argued,’ Georgie admitted, biting her lip. ‘He left; he was furious with me.’

The older woman took Georgie’s hand between her own. ‘Angolos is a man with a hot temper, but a big heart, and he loves you.’

Astonished, Georgie stared back at her mother-in-law.

‘And I think you love him also…yes…?’

Georgie nodded.

‘Then if you talk things will be all right. First,’ she added briskly, ‘we must find him, but I have people looking for him so do not worry. He will be here.’

And what will he find when he gets here…? Georgie hardly dared think that far ahead.

The two women sat in silence as the minutes ticked by.

‘Why doesn’t he come…?’

The rheumatic fingers around her own tightened. ‘He could do nothing if he was here. Waiting is hard, I know…’ The older woman heaved a sigh.