Penniless and Secretly Pregnant

She’d thought of his strange awkwardness when the middle-aged artist had proposed to her. Stay as long as you want. Stay forever.

And now, as Daisy looked in the mirror at the glamorous stranger in the red dress and red lipstick, she felt guilty that she hadn’t told Franck she’d moved out and was now living with her baby’s father. She didn’t look forward to confessing Leonidas’s name. Daisy hadn’t even shared that with Claudia. Her bohemian friends had been her father’s friends, too; they hated billionaires in general, but Leonidas Niarxos in particular, after he’d put her father in prison.

They would be horrified if they found out Daisy was having his baby. And if she ever became Leonidas’s wife...

She took a deep breath. She didn’t want to imagine it. Bad enough that tonight she’d be facing all of Leonidas’s friends at a charity ball. They’d probably feel the same scorn for Daisy. They’d ask themselves what on earth the billionaire playboy saw in her. They’d think Leonidas was slumming with a waitress. Worse. Sleeping with the daughter of the convicted felon he’d put in prison.

Swallowing hard, Daisy looked at herself one last time in the mirror. Steadying herself on her high-heeled sandals, she lifted her chin, straightened her spine, and went downstairs.

Leonidas stood waiting at the bottom of the wide stone staircase. Her heart twisted when she saw him, darkly powerful and wide shouldered in a sleek black tuxedo. Their eyes locked.

“You look beautiful,” he said in a low voice as she reached the bottom of the stairs. He visibly swallowed. “And that dress.”

She gave him a shy smile. “You like it?”

Leaning forward, he whispered huskily, “You make me want to stay home tonight.”

She shivered as he touched her, wrapping her faux fur stole around her bare shoulders. Taking his arm, she went out with him into the cold spring night, where Jenkins waited with the Rolls-Royce at the curb.

“Sorry,” Leonidas said with a grin. “For tonight, a limo is required.”

When they arrived at a grand hotel in Midtown Manhattan, Daisy was alarmed to see a red carpet set up at the entrance, where paparazzi waited, snapping pictures of the arriving glitterati. She turned accusingly on Leonidas. “You didn’t say the charity ball was this big of a deal!”

“Didn’t I?” His cruel, sensual lips curved upward. “Well. It’s all for homeless kids.”

Daisy looked with dismay at all the wealthy people walking the red carpet with photographers snapping. “I’ll stick out like a sore thumb!”

“Yes.” Leonidas looked at her in the back of limo, his black eyes gleaming as his gaze lingered on her red lips and red dress. “You’re the most beautiful of them all.”

As their driver opened the door, Leonidas stepped out, then reached back to her. “Shall we?”

Nervously, she took his hand. As they walked the red carpet, she clung to his muscled arm, trying to focus just on him, ignoring the shouts and pictures flashing.

“Leonidas Niarxos—is that your girlfriend?”

“Is she pregnant with your baby?”

He didn’t answer, just kept looking down at Daisy with a soothing smile. For a moment she relaxed, lost in his dark eyes. Then she heard one of the paparazzi gasp.

“Oh, my God! That’s the Cassidy kid! The daughter of the art forger who tried to swindle him!”

At that, there was a rush of questions. She quickened her step and didn’t take a full breath until they were safely inside the hotel ballroom.

“How—how did they know who I was?” she choked out.

“They were bound to figure it out.” Leonidas’s dark eyes looked down at her calmly. “It’s better this way.”

“How can you say that?”

“There was always going to be some kind of scandal about us. Better for it to happen now, rather than later, after our daughter is born.” He put his hand gently on her belly. “That way, it will only affect us. Not her.”

It was the first time Leonidas had touched her belly. Even over the red fabric, she felt his gentle, powerful touch, felt his strength and how he wanted to protect them both.

It was strangely erotic.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

Holding her breath, she nodded. His dark eyes crinkled as he took her hand and led her through the double doors.