‘She is. The doctors ar
e astounded at how well she’s doing. The prognosis is very good.’ He paused and she saw the pulse at the base of his neck quicken.
‘The reason you were the only compatible donor we could find …’He hesitated and Sophie curled her fingers around his hand.
‘When we did the initial blood tests the doctors discovered that no one in my family would be a match. Fotini was pregnant before we married. Eleni is no blood relation of mine.’
His dark gaze met hers and she read the question in it. ‘Nevertheless I am her father. I love her and she will always be my daughter.’
For a long moment Sophie sat in stunned silence, absorbing the implications of his words. The story of deceit, betrayal and, above all, love.
What a man her Costas was! How strong. How generous and loving.
‘All that matters is that you love me, Costa mou, just as I love you.’
‘And you’ll marry me? You’ll even take on another woman’s child?’ There was an anguished edge to his voice and she knew it was uncertainty that held him so unforgivingly in its grip. Sophie slid her hands to his broad shoulders, massaging at the tightness there.
‘Eleni will be our daughter,’ she corrected.
He stared back, his face a sombre mask of slashing, powerful lines, his eyes burnished bright by emotion.
‘I don’t deserve you, Sophie. I know that. But I will spend my life making you happy.’
He smiled slowly, in a way that sent a skitter of excitement through her. She read mischief in the sudden twinkle of black eyes. ‘And I will take enormous care to ensure you never change your mind. Starting immediately.’
He slid his hands round to the front of her shirt, his fingers deft and quick as they flicked open each button in turn.
‘Costas—no!’ She darted an appalled glance over his shoulder, fearful of seeing someone, Yiorgos maybe, outside the car. But the glade was deserted, except for some bird trilling in the shadows of the ancient olive trees.
Costas grinned as he slipped her shirt from her shoulders in a single, easy move and reached for the clasp of her bra.
‘Sophie—yes!’ He nuzzled at her breasts as he stripped her bra away and took her warm flesh in his hands. ‘Yes and yes and yes!’