The Greek Billionaire's Innocent Princess (20 page)

down again twenty minutes later she had arranged to visit the Father and his youth centre to see

what she could do to help.

Later that day Kitty stared worriedly out of the taxi window at the volume of traffic on the road.

She had stayed at the youth centre for much longer than she had planned, and a glance at her

watch told her that she was going to be seriously late to meet Stavros at the National

Archaeological Museum.

Up until now her plan had worked well— although she didn’t feel comfortable about tricking

Stavros, or deceiving Nikos. She wasn’t really deceiving him, she told herself. She had actually

phoned his office to tell him she was going to visit the youth centre run by Father Thomaso, but

his secretary had said he was in a meeting and had given instructions not to be disturbed unless

there was an emergency.

She could have left a message, Kitty acknowledged. But it had seemed easier to keep her plans

to herself. Nikos had forbidden her from working as a volunteer at the local hospital, and she was

sure he would not allow her to visit a notoriously rough area of the city to work with

disadvantaged youths.

It was that word ‘allow’ that infuriated her, she brooded as the taxi crept along at snail’s pace.

She understood his concerns for the baby, but she was an adult who could make her own

decisions. After her phone call to Father Thomaso she had been determined to visit the youth

centre and meet some of the young people he was trying to support. But she knew that Stavros

would immediately report back to Nikos, and so she had asked him to take her to the museum,

knowing that he could be persuaded to wait in the car for her rather than be dragged around the

exhibit rooms.

Once Stavros had left her, she had slipped out of a side door and hailed a taxi to take her across

town. The hours she had spent with Father Thomaso had convinced her that she had finally

found something worthwhile to do with her empty days while Nikos was at work. But she knew

she could not continue to deceive Nikos. On the journey back across town she wondered how she

could convince him that she would come to no harm working at the youth centre—but when the

taxi finally drew up outside the museum her heart sank at the sight of him standing, grim-faced,

with Stavros.

Okay, she shouldn’t have gone behind his back, she owned when she stepped out of the taxi.

She owed him an apology and an explanation, but she hadn’t broken any laws, and there was no

reason why he should be looking at her with such icy fury that her blood ran cold.

‘Stavros is in no way to blame,’ she said quietly when she reached him. ‘I sent him away, but I

can explain.’

‘Can you?’ Nikos ground out, struggling to control the anger that had surged through him when

he had seen her in the taxi and realised she had deliberately tricked her bodyguard. When Stavros

had phoned him and explained that Kitty had disappeared from the museum, he had broken off

his board meeting and raced across town, breaking every speed limit. Thoughts of kidnap had

filled him with dread, but now a new fear churned in his gut. Where had she been? And why had

she needed to go off in secret? He glanced round at Stavros and the security staff from the

museum who had searched for her, and caught hold of Kitty’s arm in a bruising grip that made

her wince. ‘We can’t talk here,’ he bit out tersely as he marched her over to his car and yanked

open the door. ‘Get in.’

Kitty knew better than to argue. His fury was palpable, and she quickly slid into her seat and

stared straight ahead when he walked round the car and got in next to her. His silence during the

journey back to the apartment shredded her nerves, and when she preceded him down the hall

she was tempted to make a run for it and lock herself in her bathroom. She walked into the living

room with him close behind her, and he immediately crossed to the bar, poured whisky into a

glass and gulped it down. His tension was so fierce that even from a few feet away Kitty could

feel it, and she felt a frisson of real fear when he strode towards her.

‘Where have you been all day, Kitty?’ His hand shot out and gripped her chin, holding her so

tight that she was sure he would crush her jaw.

‘Nikos…you’re hurting me.’ Tears filled her eyes, and she swayed, feeling sick. She suddenly

remembered that she had missed lunch. She had been busy talking to one of the boys at the youth

club who had run away from home after his abusive stepfather had beaten him. Time had passed

as she had sat with Yanni and tried to comfort him, but now her blood sugars were low and she

was afraid she was going to faint. ‘Let go of me and I’ll tell you,’ she pleaded. ‘For pity’s sake,

Nikos! You’re scaring me, and this level of tension can’t be good for the baby.’

‘You mean there is still a baby?’ he growled savagely. He flung her from him, and she

stumbled, but he stood staring at her, his eyes so dark and bitter that she shook her head in

bewilderment.

‘Of course there’s still a baby. Why wouldn’t there be?’ she faltered.

‘You tell me, Kitty. This morning you told me how much you hate being pregnant, and then

later you gave Stavros the slip and went off without telling anyone where you were going. But

maybe you didn’t want anyone to know,’ he snarled. ‘Maybe you went to a private clinic and

dealt with the problem of your pregnancy.’

Either she was crazy, or he was. ‘What clinic?’ she demanded desperately. ‘There isn’t a

problem with my pregnancy. I don’t understand what you mean, Nikos.’ She kept replaying his

words in her head, and slowly, slowly, they made an appalling kind of sense.
Dealt with the

problem of yourpregnancy!
Her knees sagged and she dropped down onto the sofa. ‘You can’t

mean…you can’t think…’ She felt as though an iron band were tightening around her chest,

squeezing the oxygen from her lungs. ‘You can’t think that I would—’ she could hardly bring

herself to utter the words ‘—get rid of the baby?’

‘Why not?’ His eyes were black and dead. ‘It’s what my first wife did.’

‘
No
.’ What he was telling her was too terrible to comprehend, and she closed her eyes, feeling utterly incapable of dealing with the pain that ravaged his face. ‘You must be wrong,’ she said

jerkily. ‘Surely your wife wouldn’t have done that…
I
wouldn’t do that,’ she said in a stronger voice as she got unsteadily to her feet and crossed the room towards him. He stood immovable

and grim-faced, and she saw him tense in rejection when she came close. But she did not care.

Nothing mattered except that he should understand their child was safe.

She took his hand and held it over her stomach, and stared up at him, her eyes locked with his.

‘Our baby is here inside me, and only fate will decide if it will be born safe and well in seven

months’ time. But I will do my best to nurture and protect it, and I would never, ever do anything

to harm it. Please, Nikos, you must believe me,’ she said shakily when he remained still and cold

as a marble statue. ‘I didn’t say I hated being pregnant this morning.’ Colour stained her pale

face as she remembered how she had been ill in front of him. ‘I meant that I hated being sick

while you were there. I was… embarrassed for you to see me like that. Morning sickness isn’t

very glamorous,’ she muttered.

At last he moved, as if blood once more ran in his veins rather than ice. ‘You could not help

being sick,’ he said harshly. He stared at his handon her stomach, and curved his fingers slightly

as if he could somehow cradle the child within her. Slowly he lifted his eyes to her face and felt a jolt of shock when he saw her tears falling in a silent stream down her cheeks. ‘I thought—’ He

broke off. ‘You were so miserable this morning, and you seemed to resent being pregnant. When

I learned from Stavros that you had disappeared, and then realised the lengths you had taken to

get away from him, I believed there could only be one reason why you would make such an

elaborate deceit. My past experience coloured my judgement, and I jumped to the wrong

conclusion,’ he said stiffly. He took his hand from her stomach and swung away to stare bleakly

out over the city. ‘Forgive me.’

His tone told her that he did not care whether she did or not.

Kitty stared at his rigid shoulders, and bit her lip, wondering if she dared voice the questions

circling in her head. ‘Did your first wife really…?’

‘Abort my child?’ He finished the question for her, his voice now flat and utterly devoid of

emotion. ‘Yes.’ He had never spoken of it before, but he suddenly found the words spilling from

him. ‘I had told Greta of my family history and she knew I would never abandon my child as my

father had done. I don’t know if Greta’s pregnancy was a genuine mistake, or if she missed her

contraceptive Pill deliberately, but when I learned she was expecting my baby I immediately

offered to marry her.

‘I was devastated when she told me soon after our marriage that she had suffered a miscarriage,’

he continued grimly. ‘She knew I wanted the child, but I discovered later that she had set her

sights on marrying a millionaire, and once she had achieved her goal the child was no longer

necessary. When our marriage crumbled because of her drug addiction, and she knew I intended

to divorce her, she wanted to hurt me, and she told me that she had had an abortion.’

No wonder his heart was buried beneath impenetrable layers of granite, Kitty thought, aching

with sadness for him. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and simply hold him, but she

knew he would reject her, and now she understood why. His trust and faith in humanity had not

just been shattered, but utterly and cruelly destroyed beyond repair.

‘Where is Greta now?’ she asked huskily.

‘She died two years ago as a result of her drug habit.’

There was not a shred of pity in his voice. He had stated that he had married his first wife after

she conceived his baby, but Kitty knew instinctively that it had been more than that. Had he

loved her? She was startled by how much the idea hurt, and she pushed her ridiculous jealousy

away. If he had cared for Greta, then her betrayal must have been doubly agonising.

She understood now why he wanted his child so desperately. He had lost his only blood relative

when he was a vulnerable teenager, and later suffered the most terrible betrayal by his first wife.

The baby inside her meant everything to him, and she knew then that whatever happened

between them in the future—even if they ended up rowing constantly— she could never separate

him from his child.

But she could not contemplate a time when she might want to end their marriage. She loved

him, Kitty admitted silently. From the very beginning she had been drawn to him by more than

just the sexual chemistry that burned between them. She had thought he was cold and heartless,

but how could he be anything else after the pain he had suffered in his life? She wished she could

go to him and tell him that she would always be there for him. But he did not want her love, and

she did not want to burden him with it or make him feel guilty that he could never love her in

return.

She was at a loss to know what to say to him, and even though he was standing only a few feet

away the distance between them seemed unbridgeable. Tiredness rolled over her in a wave, and

with it a feeling of defeat. After all he had suffered he would never lower his guard and feel

normal emotions like trust and caring. When they had married he’d told her bluntly that he

would never love her, and she had accepted it. But it hadn’t stopped her secretly hoping that over

time their physical relationship would develop into something more. Now she knew there was no

hope of that ever happening. His emotional scars ran too deep and she could not blame him for

refusing to risk being hurt again.

Nikos was staring unseeingly out of the window, lost in his bitter memories, but he suddenly

swung round and pierced her with a sharp stare. ‘So, where did you go today?’

Kitty took a deep breath, ashamed of her stupid deceit now that she knew how badly he had

been deceived in the past. ‘I went to visit a youth centre for underprivileged children and

teenagers. I read about it in the newspaper, and remembered the priest who runs it, Father

Thomaso, from Aristo.

‘I know I should have told you, Nikos, but I was afraid you would stop me. You have no idea

what terrible lives some of those children have had,’ she said urgently. ‘I’ve spent my whole life

as a pampered princess, and I want to do something useful and meaningful. I know I can give

money, but what the children really need is someone to listen to them, someone to care—’

She broke off, not encouraged by his frown, and fully expecting him to accuse her of putting the

baby at risk, but his reaction surprised her.

‘Actually I know only too well from my own childhood experiences what their lives are like,’ he

said quietly, staring at her intently as he tried to understand her. She was a princess from one of

the wealthiest families in Europe, yet despite her privileged upbringing she wanted to help the

poor and desperate who lived on the streets. None of the women he had ever dated in his past had

had a social conscience, and he didn’t know quite what to make of her.