But more importantly there was Daniel. And the fact that Daniel’s grounding years could be spent with two parents—together. Giving him a start in life that neither Maggie nor Nikos had had.
How could she argue with that?
She’d called Nikos late last night and told him over the phone that she would agree to marry him.
There’d been a beat, and then he’d said in a deep voice, ‘You’re making the right decision, Maggie.’
His car had picked her and Daniel and their paltry belongings up earlier that morning.
It had proved surprisingly easy to extricate herself from the life she’d built at the Barbiers’ stud. Which had been a reminder of how her mother had picked up and moved with each new job, and a reminder that Maggie wanted more for her son.
She knew she had to live with the consequences of her actions. Yesterday in that hotel suite had been an example of how little control she had around Nikos. She’d all but thrown herself at him. Seduced by his sheer charisma. By his power.
Like mother like daughter.
She resisted the snarky voice.
‘Are you comfortable enough?’
Maggie’s head jerked around. She’d been watching Dublin drop away beneath the private plane, still reeling from the sense of just how different her life was going to be.
It had hit her when they’d arrived at a private airfield and she’d seen the gleaming black jet inscribed with the Marchetti Group logo. And when she’d seen the plush cream leather interior. Solicitous staff had offered Maggie everything from tea and coffee to champagne.
Now they were in this luxurious bubble high above the world and Maggie wondered if she’d ever touch the ground again.
‘What’s going on in that head of yours, Maggie?’ asked Nikos. ‘I can’t read you and it makes me nervous.’
‘And you can read everyone else?’ she asked, in an effort to deflect him.
His mouth tipped up on one side. ‘I’m an excellent poker player.’
Maggie wondered if his ability to read people had been born out of growing up in a relatively hostile environment, surrounded by people who didn’t care for him. She hated that it had an impact on her, because Nikos s
eemed immune to needing anyone.
‘What if Daniel doesn’t want to be heir to a fortune?’ Maggie asked, feeling a little desperate as this new reality sank in and thinking of her tiny, vulnerable son.
‘Would you deny him his heritage?’
She opened her mouth and shut it again. Of course she wouldn’t deny him. ‘It doesn’t matter to me if he doesn’t have a fortune. It only matters if he’s happy and healthy.’
Nikos’s mouth firmed. ‘A noble thought, but not very realistic. Think of the opportunities I can provide our son.’
Our son.
Maggie looked at Nikos. Even like this, lounging in his seat, he oozed barely leashed energy. His face was stamped with generations of arrogance and pride. He was from a long line of men who were used to being obeyed.
She desperately wanted to see him show some kind of emotion for Daniel. To have some inkling that he wasn’t viewing him like some abstract object.
She said, ‘I’m not interested in marriage if you’re not going to be a father to Daniel. All the stability and security in the world can’t protect him from a father who doesn’t love him. I don’t know if I can trust you to do that.’
Nikos’s gaze flicked briefly to Daniel, where he lay in Maggie’s arms. An expression she couldn’t decipher passed so quickly across his face that it was gone before she could wonder what it was, or why she’d felt it like a soft blow to her belly. She wondered if she should have been so blunt... But surely Nikos Marchetti was cynical down to the deepest part of his marrow...
Wasn’t he?
Nikos didn’t like the sensation that Maggie could see right inside him to where he had his own doubts about whether or not he was capable of being the kind of father he’d never had himself. All he knew was that the thought of not being in his son’s life made his chest tight.
He said, ‘I didn’t know until a few days ago that I even had a son. I think you owe me the benefit of the doubt as I try to have a relationship with him. The last thing I want to do is cause him harm.’