The Greek Billionaire's Secret Baby (Contemporary Romance) (2 page)

Lauren opened her mouth and, seeing his dark expression, closed her lips. Her protest that it was all a lie could wait. Alex drew a sharp inhale. 

“I know this isn’t the undying love type of marriage proposal you wanted, Lauren, and,” he took a moment to give a curt shake his head, “of course, I know the bitter reality that I am no longer the man you wanted. Your disgusting actions proved how wrong I was to assume that perhaps you were my other half, the woman for my future. But we have no other choice in the matter now. There is a child to consider. My brother’s child.”

He straightened and paced for a moment, as if gathering his thoughts. “I’m sure that Christopher planned on marrying you. My brother, although misguided in his choice of occupation and bedmates, was otherwise an honorable man. The fact remains that you are pregnant and your baby deserves his birthright. He must bear the Pappas surname. There are no bastard children anywhere in the lineage. Not one for centuries. It’s a matter of family pride and honor that we keep it that way. You will do what’s right, if not for yourself, but for that baby you carry.”

Lauren held herself immobile as he continued his onslaught. 

“Surely you see that your child’s birthright is now impossible without your marrying me. I will not dishonor my family name. Family means everything to me, or I would not be here.”

Lauren knew that much was true. Alex had too much pride. What he saw as a betrayal had cut him deeply.

“Christopher’s son deserves his name and his family,” Alex continued. “No matter how many protests you utter, no matter how you sit there as still as a statue, I will not accept no for an answer. You will marry me, Lauren. It’s the only way to do what’s right. At least have some decency and think of someone else for a change.”

“I am.” Finished he returned to hover over her desk, and Lauren caved and scooted her chair backward. When she finally spoke her tone was sharp, bitter with the irony only she knew, with the secret she now kept, the secret he wouldn’t believe.

She had never betrayed him. Never dishonored him.

As to marriage, reentering the Pappas world and its manipulations was something she’d vowed never to do. She’d promised herself that she would raise her baby in a healthy, loving environment. And so she locked gazes with Alex, the man who had been her world, the man who had shattered everything she’d believed in with his disbelief, doubt, and distrust.

“I know exactly what being a Pappas means, Alex. My brief tenure in your life unfortunately taught me that valuable lesson. I can’t go there again.”

Her voice shook, and she paused as she remembered. In the six months she’d lived with him during their first go-round, family and the family business had always come first, especially the latter.

When he finally had arrived home, usually hours late, his “Didn’t you get my message?” became synonymous with a jeweler’s box arriving the next morning. Their second go-round eight months ago had lasted exactly six days.

Both times, her place in his life never had been a top priority. Oh, she’d been important when she’d first met him, until his family had declared her inappropriate wife material. As certain as the sun vanished each night in the western horizon, Alex’s devotion to his family and its foods business was one thing that never would change.

She could not return to that life.

She had a child’s future to consider, even if that meant denying certain creature comforts, like air conditioning. She was no so spoiled that she had to have it all.

Her fingers tightened their tenacious grip on the wooden pencil and she averted her gaze. She had to remain firm. She could not give in to Alex’s demands. Christopher would want that. Right?

Of course Christopher would, Lauren convinced herself, although some doubt remained. She bolstered her confidence. Christopher’s actions to protect her and provide her with a safe, platonic haven could not be for naught; she owed it to his memory to persevere, to stay the course she had chosen despite any outside world impressions.

Despite her resolve, when she spoke, Lauren couldn’t hide the tremble of her voice. “We both know I’m not your family, Alex. I never will be a Pappas. Please go and leave me alone.”

As expected, Alex didn’t back down or concede the point. He simply rolled his shoulders back, emphasizing his impressive full height. His smooth and sure movement reminded Lauren of the cheetah she’d seen stretch once in the wilds of
India
. But a strange tiredness ringed Alex’s eyes.

The ceiling fan continued its useless journey and the silence became unbearable. Finally, he spoke. “Tell me, Lauren, would marriage to me be that terrible of a thing? You lived with me, shared my bed. I thought maybe last October we had another chance. Of course, that was before Christopher came to visit…”

His voice faded for a brief second before his temper exploded. “We were good together, Lauren. Marriage is the best solution for everyone, especially the unborn child who does not deserve the unfortunate and despicable fate to which you have predestined him. And our marriage can work, even if it is based on convenience and not love. We can be good together, at the very least we can again be friends. I will make it so.”

Good together. Friends. Alex glossed over their tumultuous history with his declaration. And had he ever made it so good before? Oh yes, there were the early, wonderful times before the problems had started, before his family had sensed how serious Alex was and collectively worked to undermine the relationship. But Alex had scoffed at her worries, saying she was being paranoid.

Lauren rested her hands on her protruding stomach, pencil still in her tight grasp. “Don’t even try that argument, Alex. What happened between us seven and a half months ago was some moonlight, a lot of wine, and simply one big mistake. Chemistry. Nothing more. Now, please, I beg you, leave me alone. Go back to
New York
and stop wasting your time here. I have work to finish. Work to do.”

Thunderclouds crossed his face, making any smooth features vanish. Then the poker façade fell as he again mastered his emotions.

“I’ll give you until tomorrow to think it over,” he said as he slowly stretched his fingers one by one. “I will come right after siesta to take you to dinner. I will expect you to give strong consideration to my proposal.”

“You’re being ridiculous.”

“I will be back.” 

Despite the number of promises he’d broken during their relationship, Lauren knew his return tomorrow was one promise he’d actually keep. Her body betrayed her—her heart fluttered and inside her wide sandals her pregnancy-swollen toes tingled at the thought of seeing him again.

No! Lauren mentally berated her traitorous body. Alex Pappas tempted her physically, and she desired him. But he was like a slow poison. He’d promise and seduce, and she’d be left alone with an absent lover who took her out and played with her on occasion. She’d be a priority only when he made her so, and he’d never trust her. She couldn’t let herself be swept away by desire as she had been seven and a half months ago. She couldn’t cave.

Already her honest nature chided at her to tell him everything, but there was no point, especially now when the evidence was even more damning.

How could she have been so foolish? Her parents had drilled into her not to covet what she couldn’t have.

In spite of everything, part of her wanted that happily-ever-after fantasy that had been long denied. Part of her wanted to be his wife, to live together as they once had, to open her arms and be tossed into bed the moment he arrived home. That was
when
he arrived home.

Having missionary parents who went from one place to the next trying to save the world had taught Lauren another thing. Life was transient. Nothing was ever permanent, and the calendar page had turned on her relationship with Alex Pappas.

She would have to be satisfied with memories, and the fact that she would always have a tiny part of him. She would have to find comfort in the fact that at one point he had truly loved her, at least a little. Thus, she knew she had to put the reality of the man firmly in her past and leave him there once and for all.

She glanced up at him, seeing the proud, determined man she had once loved with reckless abandon, so much that she’d denied being true to herself. Alex was an irresistible sexual magnet. Even now, if he leaned to kiss her, part of her couldn’t refuse another taste of those lips. His mouth had always been honey, and his tongue knew just how to lick and tease.

She relied on every ounce of field training, and every high school drama class she’d taken, as she kept her face impassive, but her body resolved. The words pained her, but she spoke anyway.

“Alex, please. I don’t need time to think about your proposal any further. My answer remains no. Return to
New York
. You’re wasting your time and I know how much you hate that.”

Last minute hesitation had marred her voice and flawed her delivery, and when his black eyes darkened, she knew he’d heard the flub.  Alex was a man who could sense weakness, and in business, he exploited it daily.

“You are never a waste of my time.” His lips drew into a tight line, one her fickle fingers suddenly itched to soothe as she once done long ago after he’d arrived home from a long day. She’d touched his face, kissed his lips and they’d never made it to the bedroom. Instead he’d ripped off her clothes and taken her up against the wall.

Lauren paled. Just a simple reflex but her smitten behavior showed her that sexual weakness would always remain for this man. He still had the power to make her want the wild passion that only he had roused.

Between her fingers, the pencil snapped in two as he said, “Until tomorrow, Lauren.”

*****

Chapter Two

The moment Alex left, Lauren exhaled. Had she been holding her breath since his unannounced arrival to her office? It seemed like it. He’d filled the entire space: a glorious cheetah intent on its prey. Her.

She tossed the pencil fragments into the trashcan and wiped the graphite residue off her fingers. The IBF had sent an American doctor to the region, and he’d warned her against any unnecessary stress as the nearest hospital was hours away. Her doctor hadn’t counted on the appearance of Alex Pappas.

Lauren gritted her teeth. She should have been better prepared. But as the passage of time since Christopher’s death had edged towards six months, she had relaxed her guard and assumed the family had forgotten all about her. Alex’s unannounced arrival had proved how mistaken she’d been. The Pappas family wanted what they saw as theirs.

Her baby bump might not have been evident at the time of Christopher’s fatal accident, but the entire village had known of her pregnancy. When the Pappas family agents had arrived for Christopher’s body and personal effects, the friendly villagers had not kept her secret.

Lauren pushed another wayward hair off her face and tried to force it back into the ponytail holder. The stubborn blond strand refused, and there was little point in trying to redo the sagging bun. Giving up, Lauren pulled her hair out of the hairpiece and let it drift around her shoulders. She glanced at the calendar hanging on the wall. Humidity had curled the pages.

Alex had promised to return tomorrow. How often had she heard those words during their affair? How many times had Susan, his secretary, called at the last moment and told her, sorry, but Alex had been unavoidably detained? Susan hadn’t kept her dislike of Lauren hidden, either, and Susan had let Lauren know she’d resented having to call.

This time, however, Lauren knew Alex would be back. The bitter irony was that while she wasn’t the woman he desired anymore, she did have something he wanted, something that now made her extremely important to the very family that had disdained her.

The Greek culture was centuries old, and Alex’s family honor and its place in that culture was of utmost importance. She’d learned that fact early in the relationship.

While Alex’s branch of the family lived primarily in the
United States
, his grandparents had both been born in
Athens
. They’d instilled in Alex’s father a firm sense of his heritage, and he’d passed that on to his sons. Alex and Christopher and their parents had made yearly trips to the beloved homeland until his father’s illness.

No, Alex would not simply go away because Lauren wished it. Not this time. He would haunt her and persist until he succeeded in achieving his goal. Lauren was carrying a Pappas heir. He’d marry her, even if he hated her. He’d make love to her, because he’d have needs and her body would be willing.

But he’d never forgive her.

Lupe, her assistant, poked her head through the open doorway. The woman’s questions came in rapid Spanish, and Lauren answered in the language as well.

“I’m fine,” she told her worried assistant.

Lupe’s heavy brows knit closer. The heavyset woman who was a grandmother to fifteen didn’t look at all convinced.

“He’s a powerful man, that one,” Lupe said. “He is not used to being crossed.”

“No, he isn’t,” Lauren admitted. Even today, Alex’s innate power had radiated from every handsome pore of his smooth Mediterranean skin.