Passion Becomes You

‘I had a man follow you yesterday, but he could not go in the travel agents and enquire which flight you had booked without drawing attention to us.’ He grimaced. ‘The Stephanades name is too well known on this island,’ he explained. ‘It could have caused quite a sensation if it had come out that my wife was trying to run away from me.’

‘So you waited until I was asleep,’ she whispered, ‘then quietly rifled through my private things to get your information.’ Her contempt showed at this latest invasion of her privacy.

Leon just shrugged. ‘And what did I find?’ he mocked, lancing her with a sardonic look. ‘I found that my unending patience in waiting until you were asleep before trying to discover just what you were up to was a complete waste of time, because you didn’t book your flight under the Stephanades name, did you? You didn’t need to while your passport still bears your maiden name. You really should learn to come to terms with who you are now, agape mou,’ he added cynically, ‘for in this case just the simple mention of who you really are would have got you on the first flight off the island, instead of having to wait two whole days to do it.’

‘Except that it is a name I have no wish to be associated with!’ she threw bitterly at him.

‘Too late,’ he drawled. ‘It is already yours and will remain so for the rest of your life.’

‘Not if I decide otherwise.’ She jumped up, disturbed by the deadly serious look in his eyes. ‘There’s such a thing as divorce, you know.’

‘Not with me, there isn’t,’ he stated.

‘Not until I have safely delivered your son, you mean!’ Moving jerkily, she went over to the fridge to get herself a bottle of chilled water. ‘After all, he is the only reason I’m here at all!’

‘Not true,’ he denied.

She spun on him. ‘Of course it’s true,’ she declared, her fingers working agitatedly at the stubborn bottle-top. ‘It was always true from the moment you asked the doctor back in London what the sex of our baby was! Dammit!’ she sobbed out wretchedly. ‘I can’t do this!’

Tears of angry frustration blurring her eyes, she held the bottle out to him. Leon came to his feet and took it from her, easily twisting the cap open and pouring the water into a glass before handing it to her.

He stood, watching her gulp thirstily at the drink, then said quietly, ‘I did not ask the doctor anything about the child. I only asked him about your health.’

Her angry blue eyes scoffed at him. ‘Then how else would you learn the sex of our child?’

‘I don’t know it,’ he said. ‘I lied.’

Jemma went still, staring at him in stunned disbelief. Then, ‘What?’ she gasped.

‘I lied,’ he repeated flatly, taking the empty glass from her and putting it aside. ‘I needed to leave Anthia and Nico with no leg to stand on, so—’ he shrugged ‘—I lied about knowing the child’s sex. It was only when I saw the effect the lie had on you that I realised how unforgivably cruel I had been by using it.’

Jemma began to shake. ‘I don’t believe you,’ she breathed.

‘I didn’t think you would.’ His smile was brief and rueful. ‘Which is why I have not tried to tell you before now. After all, why should you believe me after the way I set you up for all of that?’

She stared into his face, looking—searching for the truth in those impossibly black eyes, then shook her head. ‘You’re lying now—not then,’ she said, wrapping her arms about her body as if she needed their protection. ‘You wouldn’t dare make such a claim without being sure it was the truth because there is a fifty-fifty chance that I will give birth to a girl, and then it would be you left without a leg to stand on, looking the fool. No company, nothing.’

He had to gall to laugh, then shake his head ruefully. ‘You are quite wrong, you know,’ he attested. ‘Personally, I couldn’t give a damn what sex our child is so long as it is healthy. You see, the Leonadis Corporation is already mine. My father officially signed it over to me yesterday—with relief, I might add, because I managed to get him out of such a sticky situation without making him look like the fool. Seeing Nico taking his place was enough to give him nightmares. But Nico is his son, too. He had no wish to hurt his feelings by being forced to tell him he was not fit for the job.’

‘So my feelings were sacrificed instead!’

‘Now that I have no excuse for,’ he quietly acknowledged.

‘You hurt me!’

‘Yes.’ He acknowledged that also.

‘You deliberately set out to use me!’

‘Yes,’ quietly again. ‘Forgive me. Please?’

‘How can I?’ she cried. ‘If this baby is a boy, I will never be sure when you told the truth!’ Her blue eyes filled with wretched tears. ‘I can never trust you again, Leon!’

Sighing, he reached for her, but she shrugged him away. ‘No,’ she protested. ‘Don’t touch me.’

When he touched her, she weakened. Hadn’t she always been weak with him?

‘Then at least listen to