The Greek Billionaires Love-Child

He lifted an eyebrow. ‘I’m prepared to marry you—that shows commitment.’

‘What happens when you decide to move on? I’m protecting my baby, Nikos.’

‘Our baby,’ he said harshly, his hands caging her face. ‘It’s our baby, agape mou. And the role of protector is mine. I am the man, no? I am the one who goes hunting, who carries a spear and repels invaders. You can rely on me to protect our baby. That isn’t something you need to worry about.’

Unless the threat to the baby came from him.

What happened when he got tired of her and moved on to another woman?

‘You’ve regressed to caveman mode again,’ she muttered, hating the fact that part of her responded to his ultra-traditional male views. ‘You don’t care about being politically correct, do you?’

‘I care about what’s best for our child.’ Dark lashes shielded his expression as he watched her. ‘What about you, Ella? What do you care about?’

‘I also care about what’s best for our child.’

‘Then marry me and stop this nonsense.’

Ella pulled away from him, feeling as though she was suffocating.

He was so sure of himself. And the really cruel thing was that she wanted to say yes so badly.

She loved him and she really, really wanted to let him put the ring back on her finger and pull her into the fairy-tale life he was offering her.

But she didn’t dare. If she made that leap, she’d fall.

And her baby would fall, too.

‘I don’t want to talk about this any more.’ Tense, on edge, she backed towards the door. ‘I’m living on my canal boat and that’s final.’

His only reaction to her words was a tightening of his beautiful mouth. ‘How many nights have you spent on that boat?’

It seemed like a strange question. ‘Last night was the first one. But I don’t see what that has to do with anything.’

He didn’t answer. He simply looked at her for a long moment and then straightened and glanced at his watch. ‘I’m due at the university—I’m giving a lecture to a bunch of medical students. I’ll see you later.’

Ella opened her mouth to repeat that she wasn’t going to move in with him but his long stride meant that he was already halfway down the corridor.

She stared after him in confusion, still wondering why he was interested in how many nights she’d spent on the boat.

What did that have to do with anything?

It didn’t matter how many nights she’d spent on the boat. She wasn’t going to change her mind and move in with him. How could she? How could she ever risk that?

Remembering what he’d said to her, her hand dropped to her abdomen.

‘I’m doing it for you,’ she whispered to the baby. ‘He doesn’t love me. He didn’t choose to be with me. He’s only here because of you. And that isn’t good enough, is it? You wouldn’t want that. Trust me. I know.’

Frustrated by Ella’s determined refusal to marry him, Nikos strode towards his car, scrolling through his emails on his BlackBerry.

His mouth tightened impatiently as he ruthlessly deleted anything and everything that didn’t grab his attention.

One email caught his eye and he scanned the contents.

Sliding behind the wheel of his car, he made a call. ‘The house is all confirmed?’ Listening to the stammering excuses of an incredibly starstruck estate agent, Nikos sighed. ‘I don’t want to wait a month. I want the house today. Give me the phone number of the family who own the house. I will speak to them myself.’ Ignoring the man’s feeble protests that he was paid to conduct negotiations on the property, Nikos skilfully extracted the number out of the man and then called the family who lived in the house.

The house he wanted.

It took him under two minutes to negotiate an outcome that was satisfactory to both parties and a further minute to make arrangements for the key to be delivered to the hospital. He placed one further call to Athens and then gave a satisfied smile.

The job was done.

He had a house. A house that she was going to love. She obviously wanted a slice of country living and he’d just bought her an extremely large slice. It was set in acres of grounds, which should satisfy Ella’s need for a rural retreat, and it was right on the beach.

All he had to do now was persuade her that she was going to live in it.