Page 39 of The Greek Tycoon's Baby Bargain

Xandros watched them walking side by side down the tree-lined road and then he went to find Rebecca—his breath hot and tight in his throat as he made his way to the smaller of the two drawing rooms. She was gluing photos into an old-fashioned baby book, but she stopped what she was doing when he walked in.

‘H-hello, Xandros,’ she said hesitantly, because his face was dark with a look on it she had never seen before and she felt her heart begin to race—for was

this not what she had most dreaded and expected? That he was about to tell her he couldn’t continue in such a situation. That he was off to find a woman who would welcome him with warm and open arms. Unless he had already found someone! The racing of her heart continued so fast that it felt like something close to pain. ‘What can I do for you?’

There was a pause. ‘I cannot go on like this!’

Her vision swam, her fingers clutching at the desk. ‘You can’t?’ She nodded. ‘No, of course you can’t.’

‘No man of flesh and blood could endure it,’ he breathed, flicking his gaze over her—at her slim, strong body clad in a simple white dress and wondering what she wore beneath. ‘And that is why I am offering you your freedom.’

It was everything she had feared, and more. ‘My freedom,’ she repeated painfully.

Xandros nodded. ‘I will sign this house over to you,’ he said. ‘Or buy you an alternative property if that is what you would prefer. I will also set up a lifetime payment and settlement for you—so you can bring the boys up without fear of financial insecurity.’ His mouth tightened. ‘It will, of course, be a generous settlement.’

‘Of course,’ said Rebecca weakly and once again she hesitated. ‘And what precisely would you want in return for this generosity?’

Black eyes narrowed into glittering shards of jet. ‘I want shared access to the twins and arrangements set in place to ensure that they can travel between England and America. While they are with me, you will of course have all the freedom at your disposal to pursue other relationships, should you wish.’

The sinking feeling inside her increased. ‘And does this “offer” come with any conditions, Xandros?’

‘Indeed it does.’ His mouth grew hard. ‘That you do not bring another man into the home of my sons—on either a temporary or a permanent basis. If you do that, then I shall seek custody.’

‘I see.’ She sucked in a breath. ‘And that’s what you want, is it?’

He stared at her. How emotionless she sounded! How matter-of-fact her question! Could this really be the same woman who had wept with pleasure countless times in his arms? Who had carried his children beneath her heart? And, suddenly, he no longer wanted to make it easy for her. He wanted—no, needed—to show her how he really felt. Could he? Dared he?

When his mother had left the family for another man the other children on the island had whispered about the scandal. But he and Kyros had never admitted—not even to each other—how much the gossip as well as her betrayal had wounded them. Hurt pride had only added to their sense of desertion. That was why they had retreated inside themselves, he saw that now quite clearly. Hiding their emotions from the world—and from themselves until they had been convinced that they had been washed clean of all emotion.

And suddenly he saw that now he risked losing everything in his futile attempt to protect himself from similar pain. That life was painful. That pain was simply the reverse side of pleasure—and you could not have or appreciate one without the other. Which meant he had to risk that kind of hurt happening all over again.

‘No, of course it’s not what I want!’ he ground out. ‘You are what I want, Rebecca—you and only you, to be my partner in the fullest sense of the word.’

There was a long pause while she stared at him. ‘But why should you want that?’ she persisted—aware that the ravaged hurt on his face must now be reflected on her own. ‘Because you are missing sex?’

‘Not because of sex! I can have sex whenever I click my fingers!’ he roared, outraged. ‘Because I love you, of course. I have grown to love you,’ he said simply, a note of surprise deepening his voice as his black eyes burned into her. ‘So do you want your freedom or not, Rebecca—because you know that there is always another option.’

She stared at him, scarcely able to breathe, for fear that she would disturb the strange kind of magic his unexpected words of love had brought glimmering into the atmosphere. ‘What option is that?’ she whispered.

His gaze was intense. ‘The other option is my heart.’ He seemed to dominate the room with his height and the sheer force of his personality. ‘Take it, for you alone have unlocked it—and now it is yours to keep.’ His voice softened. ‘If you want it.’

Tears began to prick at her eyes, but she forced herself to blink them away. She shook her head. ‘Of course I want it! But you don’t mean that, Xandros,’ she whispered. ‘You can’t.’

‘Can’t I?’ He walked over to where she was sitting and pulled her to her feet. ‘Yes, I mean it—every word of it and more. What a fool I have been not to have realised it sooner. I want you, my love. My brave, sweet Rebecca. My only love.’ He stared down into her beautiful face, seeing the bright tears now in her eyes. ‘Do not cry, agape mou. Please do not cry—for your Xandros forbids it.’

Yet she could not stop—nor wanted to stop—the tears which trickled down her cheeks, recognising these were tears of joy and dazed disbelief, not tears of sorrow.

He dried them away with his fingertips as once he had done before—when their sick baby had begun to breathe properly—and then cupped her face tenderly within the palms of his hands. She was trembling as she stared up at him, knowing that, just as Xandros had offered her his heart, he had carved a place in her own a long time ago—a place so deep that no force on earth could ever remove him from it.

And as he pulled her close she suddenly understood that she would never have to doubt the commitment of his words to her. Because here was a man who had never made her false promises, who would not say something unless he meant it—he would have no cause to.

‘Will you kiss me now?’ she whispered breathlessly.

‘Will I?’ He looked down at her for one long moment, his face filled with love and a wild kind of exultation. ‘Just try and stop me, agape mou.’

EPILOGUE

‘SO DO you think he enjoyed himself?’

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