The Diakos Baby Scandal

‘We only just got here!’ she gasped in surprise. ‘Don’t you want to look around or something?’

‘I’ve seen all I need to see—and in any case nothing will alter my intention to buy the island.’ Theo turned to look down at her and a flash of surprise showed on his face as he registered how heavily she was breathing. ‘Now I want to get back, in case Drakon feels well enough to see us. I don’t intend to miss an opportunity to move my negotiations with him forward.’

‘He’s sick!’ Kerry exclaimed. ‘Can’t you leave him in peace?’

‘I wouldn’t dream of disturbing his peace.’ Theo studied her through narrowed eyes. ‘But this is business—and Drakon is looking for a buyer. Are you ready to get going?’

Kerry stared up at him crossly. She’d barely caught her breath, and her muscles were still burning from the effort of climbing the steep hill—but Theo hadn’t even really needed to come up here!

She might have felt differently if they’d climbed slowly, enjoying the sunshine and the scenery, possibly even chatted a bit. But he’d just marched her up to the top of the hill in stony silence, to prove something to Drakon—perhaps to show that his interest in the island was genuine. Or maybe that he appreciated the privilege the old man had granted him when he’d allowed him to roam unaccompanied on his land.

Whatever his reasons, he had shown Kerry very little consideration—he’d been driven purely by his own agenda. Suddenly their conversation from the previous day, when they’d first arrived on the island, flashed into her mind. Even back when she’d thought he cared about her Theo really had done everything for his own personal convenience.

‘If you always knew I got travel sick, why did you never say anything about it?’ she demanded.

‘I didn’t think you wanted me to,’ Theo replied, without missing a beat, although her comment must have seemed completely out of the blue. ‘I thought you preferred not to think about it too much.’

She paused, staring at him through narrowed eyes. In a way he was right—she did try not to dwell on it. And any distraction, apart from reading, was usually a good way to feel better. But that didn’t excuse him for never showing her any concern.

‘How did you even know I didn’t feel

well?’ she asked.

‘It seemed fairly obvious—to me at least,’ he replied. ‘You went pale and shaky. And very quiet. But you usually seemed to recover pretty quickly once you were back on firm ground.’

‘If you knew how I felt why did you make me travel so much?’ she asked accusingly.

‘I assumed you didn’t want to let it interfere with your life,’ he said. ‘You never liked admitting any weakness. Like just now—apparently the climb was too much for you, but you haven’t said anything.’

‘It wasn’t too much for me,’ she said, infuriated by his patronising tone. ‘Come on. Let’s get going again.’

She sprang up to her feet, but her legs still felt like jelly. For a moment she wobbled slightly, and he was beside her in an instant, wrapping his arm around her waist.

‘Your legs are shaking.’ His voice was suddenly deep and sensually loaded. ‘But—as you insist the climb wasn’t too much for you—maybe it’s me making you tremble.’ He hugged her tightly to him with one arm and lifted his other hand to brush her hair off her face. ‘In fact I can remember many different ways I used to make you tremble and shake.’

‘Let go of me!’ Kerry snapped, despite the fire that suddenly burned through her veins at the images he conjured in her mind. ‘I don’t want you to touch me again. Not ever.’

‘Really? I don’t think that is completely honest.’ Theo stepped away from her. ‘But it seems that honesty was never a central part of our relationship.’

‘I was always honest with you,’ she said defensively.

‘Maybe you never lied to me directly,’ Theo said. ‘But you lied by omission. Neither of us discussed your travel sickness—but we both knew about it.’

‘And what does that say about our relationship?’ Kerry asked, thinking that they’d never really talked about anything important.

‘I hardly think that was the defining point of our relationship,’ Theo said derisively. ‘Another moment stands out far more clearly in my memory—the moment you went behind my back and betrayed me.’

‘No. It wasn’t meant like that,’ Kerry replied automatically, but as the words left her mouth she knew the past didn’t matter. Whatever had happened between them in the past was completely irrelevant.

She was guilty of dishonesty now.

She was keeping his son a secret.

A wave of emotion washed over her, squeezing her heart and making her throat tight. Baby Lucas was thousands of miles away, being looked after by someone else, and she was here, with Theo, and the secret she was keeping seemed to be growing more awful with every passing minute.

CHAPTER SIX

THEO started striding down the steep path back towards the house. Kerry followed behind, struggling to keep up. He was a very tall, athletic man, with a lengthy stride, and it seemed his bad temper was making him walk even faster than normal.