She closed her eyes against the urge to reach up and kiss him, to indulge her fantasy of being loved by him. She couldn’t let him know that was all she needed, all she wanted—not when he’d lied to her, believing she was looking only to further her career and her position in life.
The music changed, the tempo becoming faster, and she pulled back from him, thankful of the excuse to do so. The darkness of his eyes as they met hers was so consuming she drew in a sharp and ragged breath.
He took her hand in his and led her away from the bustle of dancing. Doors opened out onto a balcony, lit with an array of coloured lights that reminded her of Christmas. She glanced around to see they were alone. The music floated out on the warm evening air, and laughter could be heard, but it was just the two of them here and her heartbeat joined in with the sway of the music.
‘Nikos...’ she whispered, aware he was holding back from her. ‘Your story—it’s one I need to hear if we are going to make any kind of future together.’
A smile of satisfaction spread across his lips, drawing her gaze briefly away from the blue of his eyes. ‘So you are considering a future with me?’
His brittle words reminded her that they were not in love—that this was a deal, one brokered in the interest of their child. The mood changed, killing any romantic notions the dance had allowed to slip into her head.
‘We are having a child, Nikos, and as much as I can’t bear the idea of a marriage for that reason, or the hideous terms you’ve attached to it like a business deal, I don’t want my child not to know his or her parents.’
She pushed thoughts of her sister aside as her mind flew back to the arguments her parents had always had. The hateful accusations they’d hurled at each other. She knew she didn’t want to live like that. Worse were memories of the realisation that she’d forced them to stay together just by being born. She didn’t ever want her child to feel that guilt. The secret love she had for the Nikos she’d first met would have to be enough—for both of them.
‘Why is that a bad reason? Surely marrying for the sake of a child is best?’
‘Not always, Nikos.’ She smiled up at him, aware of his diverting tactics and employing some of her own. ‘How did you end up here?’
What would he think if she told him about her childhood? Would he think that what they were doing was a mistake if she told him about how guilty she felt? She couldn’t risk him turning his back on her—not when the chance to give Sally all she wanted was so tantalisingly close.
The warm wind ruffled his hair as he leant on the balcony, looking out across Athens as if it would give him answers. She moved closer to him, and the sweet fragrance of flowers around them did not quite mask the scent of his aftershave.
Without looking at her, he spoke. ‘I was brought up by my grandparents and I inherited a small fleet of fishing boats when my grandfather died. I owe them a lot. They took me in when my mother left and after my father fell apart, when the truth about my mother was exposed. They gave me a start in life—which was more than either of my parents did.’
Serena remembered his insistence that he’d never wanted to be a father and her heart softened a little. The hardness of his own heart must have been caused by what he’d experienced as a child. They had both suffered due to their parents. For different reasons neither of them had seen the joy and love marriage could bring, and while she believed it might one day be possible he did not.
‘But that doesn’t explain how you came to be in Athens,’ she said softly as she turned her back on the view and looked up at him. The soft lights highlighted his features, making his cheekbones prominent, as if they’d been chiselled from stone, hardening his expression.
‘I couldn’t stay on the island. It was suffocating me. So I followed an example I’d seen as a boy and left. I came here with virtually nothing but my name and began working for Dimitris, the owner of Xanthippe Shipping. He became the father I should have had.’
She frowned as she took in what he’d told her, knowing there was more buried deep inside him and knowing it was hard for him to have told her this much.
‘He taught me all he knew and, without his own heir, left me his legacy. One I have built up to the global business it is today.’ He turned to look down at her, his blue eyes holding her attention. ‘When I first met you it was a refreshing change not to be known for my success and wealth first.’
A tang of bitterness filled her mouth. ‘Did you think I was with you for that? Or did you believe I was looking for a big break—a story that would launch me from travel writer to being the journalist I’d trained to be?’