Greek Tycoon, Inexperienced Mistress

For that reason when Lindy felt a disturbing tightening sensation in her abdomen she did not dare refer to it. As she sat there, trying not to shift position too often, the tightening gradually reached the level of pain. She began to breathe with care, while making frantic calculations and wondering whether she was having a scare or if it was the real thing. When her nerves couldn’t stand the suspense any more, and a gasp escaped her at the strength of a particularly strong contraction, Atreus turned to her with a frown of enquiry.

‘I think I might be going into labour,’ she whispered as discreetly as she could.

Well, there was nothing discreet about Atreus’s reaction to that. In the middle of a conversation he leapt upright, yanked out his phone, stabbed out a number and began speaking in an urgent flood of Greek. Consternation spread like a tidal wave, engulfing the room, and while concentrating on keeping calm Lindy tried to console herself with the reflection that going into labour in front of her hosts would presumably linger longer in family memory than whatever favourable impression Krista Perris had left behind her.

‘It is just as well that I reserved a room at a maternity clinic in case we needed it,’ Atreus informed her with decided satisfaction, bending down to lift her off her feet and carry her out of the house to the waiting limousine. ‘There’s also an excellent obstetrician standing by in readiness for our arrival, agapi mou.’

Lindy was impressed, and some of her anxiety ebbed away. ‘You really do shine in a crisis, Atreus.’

But little else relating to the birth of their son went as they expected. Lindy was in labour for hours, and she was becoming increasingly tired when the foetal heart monitor revealed that the baby was in distress. She was then whisked off for an emergency Caesarean. But her son was the most beautiful baby she had ever seen, with a shock of black hair and a cry as effective as a fire alarm.

Afterwards, Lindy drifted in and out of an exhausted sleep, still suffering from the effects of the anaesthetic she had had. At one point she opened her eyes and saw Atreus staring down into the crib with one long finger caught in his son’s grasp. Caught in the act of appreciating his newborn son, Atreus looked happier than she had ever expected to see him.

‘Do you like him?’ Lindy whispered with a hint of teasing.

‘If you can forgive him for what he’s put you through, I certainly can,’ Atreus declared, brilliant dark eyes shimmering with strong emotion. ‘He’s so perfect. Have you seen the size of his fingernails yet? They’re tiny—he’s like a doll. Do you think he’s healthy?’

‘He was ten pounds! He’s a big baby and of course he’s healthy.’ Lindy was touched by his concern and enthusiasm but she had to force her eyes to swerve away from him again. Just looking at Atreus could make her heart pound, and she wondered when, if ever, her fascination with him would fade. In comparison to him she was a mess, with her tousled hair and unadorned face. Atreus, on the other hand, looked astonishingly vibrant for a male who had missed a night’s sleep. Even with his lean, dark and devastating features adorned by a dark shadow of stubble, his tie missing and his suit crumpled, he looked utterly gorgeous.

Atreus straightened from the crib and spread his arms wide in an emphatic gesture. ‘I know already that I want to be able to see him every day. I want to be there when he smiles, takes his first step, says his first word,’ he told her, in a tone of urgency that locked her troubled gaze back on him. ‘I want to pick him up when he falls over, to hold him, be there for him. All those things are hugely important to me. But if you don’t marry me I’m unlikely to ever be that close to my son.’

And, watching Atreus stroke an infinitely tender fingertip down over their baby’s little face, Lindy was suddenly powerfully aware that she was no longer the primary focus of his interest.

It was clear that Atreus had fallen passionately in love with his first child. She knew in her bones that he would make a terrific father, driven to give his own child what his father had not given him in terms of time, interest and affection. Surely no one else would ever love their child so much as his own father? How could she deny Atreus and her son the closest possible relationship available to them?

And she was still in love with Atreus, wasn’t she? Brooding over the truth that she had tried to avoid, Lindy almost stared a hole in the blank space of wall. When Atreus was in her life she was much happier. Even seeing Atreus on a platonic basis, as she had been for the weeks before the birth, had lifted her spirits a great deal, and his support from the instant she went into labour had been invaluable. Feeling as she did about him, didn’t marrying him make sense? And even if their marriage didn’t last, at least she would have the consolation that she had tried to make it work.