The Greek's One-Night Heir

‘My mother struggled to break in here,’ he confided huskily. ‘Like you she wasn’t Greek, she was American. They met on one of his trips away.’ There’d been many trips away. ‘She didn’t speak the language. I didn’t either until I came to live with Dimitri.’ His father hadn’t seen any need to teach him and his mother had been too absorbed with her own problems to bother to find him a tutor. ‘He didn’t bring either of us back to Greece. When he finally did, she came home most nights without him.’

He’d been ten years old when he’d discovered her drinking alone late at night, drowning that humiliation and loneliness from leaving his father at one of his all-night parties with all those other women. She’d screamed at Theo for disturbing her and sent him from the room. But he couldn’t go back to bed. How could he sleep when the sound of her bitter sobs rang through the door she’d neglected to slam?

‘They were miserable.’ Leah sat very still. ‘Did Dimitri know?’

‘Dimitri lost his only child.’ Theo too was frozen, his heart encased in the ice that had formed there so long ago. ‘And he blamed my mother for everything.’

CHAPTER TEN

THEO SUDDENLY MOVED and Leah glanced out of the window, only just realising that the car had stopped outside a stunning building on the corner of an obviously exclusive part of downtown Athens. ‘We’re not going back to the compound?’

His eyes glittered in the darkness as he held the door for her. ‘This is my city villa.’

Taken aback, Leah tried—and failed—not to be completely floored by the perfect façade of the historic villa.

‘Is this where you slept the other night?’ When she stepped inside, her heart stopped. Hard oak floors, and a marble staircase led up to more luxuriously styled furnishings. But here on the ground floor there was an internal decorative pool, of all things. The villa encapsulated a sense of peace that ought to have been impossible in the centre of such a vibrant city. She walked away from him, just to catch her breath. From this room there were incredible panoramic views of the Acropolis. Right now it was lit up, a beacon of ancient romantics. It was beyond beautiful but, inexplicably, anger welled within her.

‘This is where you bring your women, so your grandfather doesn’t see them,’ she said with a laugh, but a curl of bitterness spiralled even as she tried to stop it. This was the scene of his secret seductions. All those beautiful women she’d seen tonight? Had any been his lover?

He had a whisker of a smile on his face. ‘I don’t wish to be disrespectful and—’

‘You don’t want to get his hopes up.’

His eyes were intent upon her as she gazed about the beautiful place.

‘And you thought I’d want to stay here with you?’

‘Leah,’ he said softly. ‘You’re going to be my wife.’ He crossed the small space between them. ‘There hasn’t been anyone in my bed since that night with you. I’m not and never have been promiscuous.’

The awful thing was, the nearer he got to her, the less she cared about those other women, whether they existed or not. They no longer mattered—she knew they’d meant little to him anyway. Because that was how he survived, wasn’t it? With an impenetrable heart. Because he had been hurt. And it sounded as if his mother had been hurt too.

‘Are you okay?’ He frowned at her.

‘I just...have a bit of a headache,’ she muttered, stalling so she could try to think.

‘Then let’s get you a drink of water, shall we?’

She followed him into the kitchen. He leaned back against the counter, watching enigmatically as she sipped the iced water and briefly held the cold glass against her burning face.

‘You should have been a model,’ he suddenly said, his voice husky. ‘You could have made millions.’

She laughed and put her glass down, her fingers stupidly shaky. ‘Use my quirky features?’

‘You must have considered it. Surely all tall, ultra-thin girls are approached at some point?’

‘My parents forbade it.’

‘Oh.’ He grimaced. ‘Of course they did.’

‘I was supposed to make something of my brain, not my body.’

‘So they wouldn’t let you make the most of one of your assets.’ He cocked his head. ‘In fact, they made you feel...what? Ashamed of it somehow?’

She hated his insightfulness.

‘And the other girls at school gave you grief?’

‘They called me anorexic, of course. Then they saw how much I ate and assumed I must be bulimic. I’m just bony. It’s the way I am.’

‘I know.’ He watched her. ‘So your mother didn’t like you wearing make-up or anything?’

‘She refused to give money to an industry that thrives on insecurities.’ She shrugged her shoulders. ‘But you’ve seen her, she’s the epitome of normal beauty ideals, right?’

He shook his head. ‘We all like different things—’

‘Don’t be cute. You know what I mean. She’s beautiful by anyone’s standards. She doesn’t need make-up or nice clothes to look amazing.’

‘Nor do you. Nor does anyone.’

‘But that doesn’t mean they can’t be fun. That doesn’t mean you can’t play with them and express yourself in all kinds of ways.’ She’d just wanted to have a little fun.

‘Usually you wear almost nothing but black—that’s your self-expression?’

She shrugged. ‘I gave in and just wore what’s acceptable.’

‘It doesn’t matter how loose or dark you keep your clothing, you can’t actually hide, Leah. You’re not and never will be invisible.’

Yet almost all her life she’d wanted to be. Ironically, the only time she’d felt free of performance pressure was when she was onstage.

‘Not tonight at least, no.’ She smiled down at her blouse. ‘Is this your way of saying you like it?’

‘You should wear whatever you want to wear. Be the shadow, be the sunlight, be whatever you want. Just be yourself in that moment. There is no right or wrong.’

She smiled at him.

Something unfathomable flickered in his eyes. ‘Why did you say yes to me that night?’

‘Why?’ She was stunned he’d need to ask. ‘Your ego needs a stroke?’

‘No, I really want to understand. Why me? Why that one night? Why not some other guy, some other time?’

‘There was no other guy. No other time.’

‘I don’t believe you.’

She stared at him. ‘Um...have you forgotten you were my first?’

‘Oh, I’ll never forget that,’ he purred. ‘But I think you had other chances before me. Maybe you just didn’t notice them.’

‘That’s very kind of you. But no.’ She shook her head.

‘Liar.’

She stared at him, then glanced away. ‘Okay, there was one guy who asked me out. But he didn’t want me, he wanted to get on my mother’s research team.’

‘He tried to use you to get close to your parents?’

She nodded. ‘I was working in their laboratory as an assistant. Because I didn’t finish my degree.’ Because she’d failed in their eyes.

‘Because you never wanted to actually do the degree.’

‘The things we try to do to please our parents, right?’ she murmured. ‘Like you marrying me to please your grandfather.’

‘That’s not the same,’ he scoffed.

‘Isn’t it?’

‘Nobody held a gun to my head to make me take you to bed,’ he said. ‘That desire is very real. It’s still very real.’

She didn’t reply; she couldn’t.

‘So did you date him?’ he prompted her.

She shuddered to even think of it. ‘We went out for about a month.’

‘And you didn’t sleep with him?’ His eyebrows arched.

‘One month isn?

??t that long—’

‘You weren’t into him.’