Page 32 of Reunited By the Greek's Baby

CHAPTER SEVEN

ITWASAtotally impossible idea, as Isla told Theo.

Going to Greece would be madness when she had no intention of marrying him. Even if the idea of having him remove her money worries was appealing. A billionaire’s wife wouldn’t have to worry about making ends meet.

But she couldn’t raise his expectations.

Besides, she had a strong feeling that giving this man an inch would mean he’d take every future mile.

She understood now, as she hadn’t before, what this child meant to Theo Karalis. When he’d spoken with scorn of his biological father, and the tough times he and his mother had endured, she’d seen a man with depth and passion. With strong feelings, not just about duty, which was what she’d imagined drove his need to be involved. Instead she discovered Theo already felt a bond with his unborn child.

He was determined to be a good father.

Isla was simultaneously nervous about the complications that would bring and delighted. Didn’t her baby deserve love? Didn’t it deserve everything good? All the things she’d never had.

Today she’d seen flashes of the man she’d known and fallen for so precipitately and it had set her battered heart yearning. Marriage would give their child the family she’d never had. Except theirs would be a sham marriage, not based on mutual love. Isla couldn’t accept that. Better their child have two loving parents who lived apart.

Though she respected and admired Theo because of his feelings for their child, she now knew him for a powerful man used to having his wishes obeyed.

The idea made her shiver. Because he’d made it clear he wanted her baby.

Not Isla.

He wasn’t interested in rekindling their romance, despite suggesting marriage. Far from it. He’d made no attempt to play on the intense attraction they’d shared. The attractionshestill felt, despite every attempt to stifle it. He wasn’t interested in her any more.

Isla was grateful he didn’t pretend to feelings that didn’t exist. Yet she felt disappointed. He wanted to marry her to get his hands on his child but not enough to try seducing her into compliance.

So how was it that now, this same evening, she found herself in a private jet about to land in Athens?

‘Okay, Isla?’

She swung round to see Theo, beside her in another luxuriously padded chair, concern on his face.

‘Why shouldn’t I be?’

She’d been offered every luxury from heated, delicately scented face cloths to gourmet food and freshly squeezed juice. There’d even been a bed to lie on and a stack of magazines and newspapers, including two specialist archaeology journals that Theo must have ordered in especially.

His ability to make the impossible happen at short notice scared her.

Not for the first time Isla wondered at the coincidental timing of Rebecca finding the perfect substitute to take her place in the shop. And that the newcomer was available without notice. But surely Theo had had nothing to do with that. How could he? Her imagination was running rampant.

‘Your jaw is clenched and I thought you might be feeling ill.’

He was right. She felt the ache at the back of her mouth and deliberately relaxed it. ‘I’m fine. No nausea.’

In fact, apart from a moment when she got too close to someone smoking outside the airport, there’d been no queasiness since this morning. Maybe the doctor was right and her morning sicknesswasbeginning to ease.

‘But something’s bothering you.’

Isla held his stare. ‘It’s been an eventful day. I can’t help feeling I’ve been railroaded into this.’

Theo stilled then tilted his head as if intrigued. He looked curious but not in the least guilty. ‘No one pressured you, Isla. I offered and you accepted.’

‘I know. I’m sorry, that was unfair of me.’

She’d been uncharacteristically short-tempered since he arrived in London, caught in a welter of conflicting emotions that seesawed wildly. Was it pregnancy hormones making her suspicious and ready to anger? More likely the legacy of their past, when he’d let her down so badly.

What he saidwastrue. This had been her choice. Yet it didn’t feel that way. It felt as if the world conspired to make her fall in with his wishes.

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