The Secrets She Carried

‘I want you and the twins to be a proper part of my life.’ His breathing fractured as she made a subtle circling movement above him, pale silvery fair hair streaming down over her shoulders to allow tantalising glimpses of her small pert breasts. ‘I don’t think it can get better than this, koukla mou.’

And when only minutes later yet another orgasm took Erin by storm, she decided she agreed with him. She lay in the relaxed circle of his arms, breathing in the hot damp smell of him like a hopeless addict, too long deprived of the source of her fix. He wanted her. He wanted their children. What more was there? Love? Cristo hadn’t offered her love the last time she was with him and he likely never would. It was wiser to focus on what she could have rather than what she couldn’t. Wasn’t it the question she had always wanted him to ask? And did it really matter that he hadn’t made an occasion of the proposal? Aside of the few gestures he had made when in initial pursuit of her, Cristo didn’t have a romantic bone in his body. He was probably being practical. They were very much attracted to each other and it made sense for them to marry and share the children, she conceded ruefully, but she was slightly amazed that he was willing to surrender his freedom again after his first unhappy marriage.

‘Are you sure about this?’

His sooty lashes swept up on his level gaze. ‘I know what I want.’

‘But is it really us as a family unit?’

‘Do I get to wake up to you almost every morning?’ Cristo raised a mocking brow. ‘That’s my sole demand. That’s what I want and need.’

Erin was not quite convinced of that when two little wriggling noisy bodies tried to get into bed with them at dawn the next morning. Aghast, Cristo snatched up his boxers to make himself presentable and looked on in disbelief as the twins cuddled up between them, providing as effective a barrier as a wall.

‘What are you doing in Mummy’s bed?’ Lorcan demanded curiously.

‘Your mother and I are getting married very soon,’ Cristo announced instantly.

Erin stiffened in dismay. ‘Cristo, I didn’t say yes.’

Cristo sent her a shocked look, his eyes dancing with wicked amusement. ‘Are you saying that you took repeated gross advantage of me last night without any intention of making an honest man of me and doing the decent thing?’

Erin reddened at his mockery, the ache of her well-used body reminding her that after the enthusiasm she had demonstrated between the sheets he naturally took her agreement to marry him somewhat for granted. ‘No, I’m not saying that.’

‘Then I can go ahead and make the wedding arrangements?’

Erin nodded uncertainly, thoroughly shaken by the concept of becoming his bride. ‘Shouldn’t we have a living-together trial first?’

‘Nope. You might change your mind. I refuse to be put on trial. And on a more serious note, it’s time I told my parents about you and the twins. I don’t want them to hear from another source,’ he imparted wryly. ‘I’ll go and see them after breakfast.’

‘They live here on the island?’ Now she grasped why he had never offered to bring her to Thesos for a visit.

‘They have a second home here. They use it weekends, holidays.’ He shrugged. ‘They’re here right now.’

‘How do you think they’ll react?’

‘I suspect my foster mother will be overjoyed—she’s crazy about children.’

‘Just not so crazy about me?’ Erin remarked uncomfortably as the twins scampered out of bed and she followed suit.

‘Some misunderstanding must’ve lain behind the strange impression you received of my foster mother during that phone call you made while you were pregnant. Appollonia had no reason to think badly of you. She knew nothing about you.’

The four of them enjoyed breakfast on the terrace and then Cristo left to visit his parents and Erin changed into a swimsuit, packed a bag and took the children down to the beach As the morning ticked slowly past she wondered anxiously what sort of a reception Cristo was receiving from his parents. His foster parents, she reminded herself again, having studied a picture on the wall of a glamorous young couple standing on the deck of a yacht and guessed that the glossy pair were Cristo’s birth parents. When she came back from the beach, she let Jenny take the exhausted twins and went for a shower, emerging to phone her mother and describe the island and the house and, finally, their plans to marry. Her parent was very pleased by her news.

Choosing a book from the well-stocked, handsome library to entertain her until lunchtime, Erin relaxed in a cushioned lounger in the shade below the trees. She was drowsing in the heat when a slight sound alerted her to the awareness that she was no longer alone. Taking off her sunglasses, she sat up and frowned at Cristo, who looked grim. Lines of strain were indented between his nose and mouth, his black hair was tousled and stubble darkened the revealing downward curve of his beautiful mouth.

‘What’s up?’ Erin demanded worriedly, checking her watch. He had been gone for hours. It was two in the afternoon.

As he sank down heavily opposite her Erin leant a little closer and sniffed. ‘Have you been drinking?’

‘I might have had a couple while I was waiting on the doctor’s arrival with Vasos,’ he volunteered half under his breath. ‘It’s been such a ghastly morning that I don’t really remember.’

‘Who needed a doctor?’ she exclaimed.

‘My mother.’

‘Appollonia’s taken ill?’

Cristo dealt her a troubled appraisal. ‘It was her … she was the one who hired the private detective. I wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t known enough to convince me. My father is in shock—he had no idea what was going on.’