Bought: The Greek's Baby

Eve felt like crying.

As the housekeeper ordered the chauffeur to bring around the car, Eve covered her face with her hands. Why had she been so blind? He’d offered her his love with both hands, and she’d pushed it away. Now she was going to have their baby alone. She’d raise their child alone.

For the rest of her life she would be…alone.

And she would die loving him. A man she could never have. Her child would have no father, and it was all her fault. A shaky sob escaped her lips as she suddenly heard a loud noise, crashing, someone shouting.

“Let me in here, damn you, I know she’s here!”

The dining room door banged open. She looked up in shock to see Talos, wild-eyed, pushing past the housekeeper into the house. He fell to his knees in front of her.

“I know you said you didn’t want me, but if you send me away now—”

“No,” she whispered, throwing her arms around his shoulders with a sudden sob. “I’ll never send you away again. You’re here. I wanted you so badly, and you’re here.”

Exhaling in a rush, he closed his eyes and held her tightly. Her voice was muffled against his shirt as she said, “Your assistant said you were traveling in Asia.”

“On my way here. I finally tracked down your father’s old secretary to a convent in India. I have the proof that you—”

“I don’t need that anymore,” she said, and she gripped his hand as another contraction ripped through her. “All the proof I need is in your face. You’re here. You came. Please,” she panted, “never—leave me again.”

“I never will leave you,” he vowed, his dark eyes shining with tears.

She gasped, arching her back as another pain went through her.

“Oh my God, Eve,” he breathed. “You’re in labor.”

He leapt to his feet, shouting for help. “Kefalas, get the car! My wife is in labor!”

Talos drove her to London, exceeding all speed records to reach the private hospital in time. They were too late for anesthesia. She’d just barely settled into her private suite, and Dr. Bartlett had just rushed in to check on her, before their baby was born.

Talos held her close as their son came into the world, protecting them. And in the instant their newborn baby was placed in her exhausted arms, both their lives changed forever.

Talos kissed his wife’s sweaty forehead, then tenderly cradled them both in his arms. Their love was newly reborn in that single instant, brilliant and flashing like a comet illuminating the dark night, shining like a star that would always last.

EPILOGUE

“THEY’RE here!”

Four-year-old John was running up and down the hallways, screaming like a banshee when he heard the helicopter land on the other side of Mithridos. Eve smiled down at her son, even as she tried helplessly to hush him before he woke his two-year-old sister, who always got into everything when she was awake, or his six-month-old baby brother, who generally just sat on the floor and watched it all with his mouth open, drooling from his first tooth.

She’d meant to get dressed before the first guests arrived at their island, but she’d been so busy with the children that time had slipped away from her. Now, she realized to her horror that she was still wearing her white fluffy robe from the shower she’d taken twenty minutes ago. Pausing in the hallway, she glanced into the doorway of her bedroom.

Her ladylike party dress, white with delicate pink roses and twisting green leaves, a sweetheart neckline and a full skirt, was lying across the bed in wait for her.

As she stepped into the bedroom, she felt Talos come behind her, kissing her neck as he wrapped his strong arms around her waist.

“Are you ready for this?” he teased.

She turned around in his embrace, standing on her tiptoes to kiss his mouth. He hadn’t dressed for the party yet, either. She was equal parts amused and exasperated to see he hadn’t changed. He was still dressed in the casual clothes he had worn to take the children to the beach, shorts and a snug white T-shirt that revealed his muscular chest and legs and that always made her want to devour him whole.

Not a bad idea, surely, on their anniversary…?

She paused, looking up at him, her arms still around his neck. She saw the expression on his face suddenly change. With a wicked smile, he started to lower his mouth toward hers.

Then she heard little John knock something over downstairs, heard Annie cry, heard the baby start to wail as he was woken prematurely from his nap.

With a laugh, she gave her husband a wry look. “And our guests will arrive in about six minutes.”