He sighed and led the way up another flight of stairs to a suite of rooms and pushed open the door.
A young girl stood there jiggling a red-faced crying toddler. Relief spread across her features when she saw reinforcements.
‘She’s been like this for twenty minutes. I can’t stop her crying.’
Nik took one look at the abject misery on his half-sister’s face and took her from the girl, but, instead of her being comforted by the reassuring strength in those arms, Chloe’s howls intensified.
Sending Lily a look that said ‘I told you so’, he immediately handed her over.
‘Perhaps you can do a better job than I can.’
She was about to point out that he was a stranger and that Chloe’s response was no reflection on him when the toddler flopped onto her shoulder, exhausted.
‘You poor thing,’ Lily soothed. ‘Did you wake and not know where you were? Was it noisy downstairs?’ She continued to talk, murmuring soothing nothings and stroking the child’s back until the child’s eyelids drifted closed. She felt blonde curls tickle her chin. ‘There, that’s better, you must be exhausted. Are you thirsty? Would you like a drink?’ She glanced across the room and saw Nik watching her, his expression inscrutable. ‘Say something.’
‘What do you want me to say?’
‘Something. Anything. You look as if someone has released a tiger from a cage and you’re expected to bag it single-handed.’
There w
as a tension in his shoulders that hadn’t been there a few moments earlier and suddenly she wondered if his response to the child was mixed up with his feelings for Callie.
It was obvious he’d disliked his father’s third wife, but surely he wouldn’t allow those feelings to extend to the child?
And then she realised he wasn’t looking at Chloe, he was looking at her.
He lifted his hand and loosened his tie with a few flicks of those long, bronzed fingers. ‘You love children.’
‘Well I don’t love all children, obviously, but at this age they’re pretty easy to love.’ She waited for him to walk across the room and take his sister from her, but he didn’t move. Instead he leaned against the doorway, watching her, and then finally eased himself upright.
‘You seem to have this under control.’ His voice was level. ‘I’ll see you downstairs when you’re ready.’
‘No! Nik, wait—’ She shifted Chloe onto her other hip and walked across to him, intending to hand over the wriggling toddler so that he could form a bond with her, but he took a step back, his face a frozen mask.
‘I’ll send Diandra up as soon as she’s finished with the speeches.’ With that he turned and strode out of the room leaving her holding the baby.
CHAPTER EIGHT
NIK MADE HIS WAY through the guests, out onto the terrace and down past the cascading water feature that ended in a beautiful pool. Children cried for a million reasons, he knew that, but that didn’t stop him wondering if deep down Chloe knew her mother had abandoned her. The fact that he’d been unable to offer comfort had done nothing for his elevated stress levels, but the real source of his tension had been the look on Lily’s face.
He could see now he’d made a huge mistake bringing her here. Cristos, who was he kidding? The mistake had been taking her back to his place from the restaurant that night, instead of dropping her safely at her apartment and telling her to lock the door behind her.
She was completely, totally wrong for him and he was completely, totally wrong for her.
Cursing under his breath, he yanked off his tie and ran his hand over his jaw.
‘Nik?’
Her voice came from behind him and he turned to find her standing there, her sapphire eyes gleaming bright in the romantic light of the pool area. The turquoise dress hugged the lush lines of her body and her blonde hair, twisted into Grecian braids, glowed like a halo. The jewel he’d given her sat at the base of her throat and suddenly all he wanted to do was rip it off and replace it with his mouth. There wasn’t a man in the room who hadn’t taken a second glance at her and he was willing to bet she hadn’t noticed. He’d always considered jealousy to be a pointless and ugly emotion but tonight he’d experienced it in spades. He should have given her a dress of shapeless black, although he had a feeling that would have made no difference to the way he felt. It was a shock to discover that will power alone wasn’t enough to hold back the brutal arousal.
‘I thought you were with Chloe. Is she asleep?’
‘Diandra came to take over. And you shouldn’t have walked away from her.’ She was stiff. Furious, displaying none of the softness and gentleness he’d witnessed in the nursery.
The wind had picked up and he frowned as he saw her shiver and run her hands over her arms. ‘Are you cold? Crete often experiences high winds.’
‘I’m not cold. I’m being heated from the inside out because I’m boiling mad, Nik. I don’t think it’s exactly fair of you to take your feelings for her mother out on a child, that’s all.’