Kidnapped by the Greek Billionaire (14 page)

“Kyrios Lazarides and Miss Dean, I’m pleased to tell you that all the test results are back and that you can leave today on the strict understanding that you rest and stay out of the heat for a few days.” He bestowed a paternal frown in Kizzy’s direction. “A policy that will apply even more strictly over the next thirty-five weeks or so. The baby has suffered no ill effects from this episode, but I must stress how important it is that it doesn’t occur again.”

The doctor handed over a discharge form for Kizzy to sign, oblivious to the stunned look on her face. “I’ll need to get some notes forwarded to the doctor overseeing your pregnancy, so if you could leave the details with my receptionist when you go—”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Andreas interrupted quickly as he took the man by the shoulders and hurried him toward the door. “I will take care of everything, I assure you.” He slapped the doctor on the back. “We’ll be having an evening wedding—much cooler for them both. You must come,
file mou,
and we will thank you properly for all you have done
.
”

Chapter Twelve

“We can’t get married,” Kizzy said firmly as Andreas placed a jug of iced lemonade in front of her on the terrace. It had been a difficult journey back to the villa, trying not to make eye contact with a triumphant, purposeful Andreas as she wrestled with her conscience all the way, those unanswered questions burning a hole in her head.

“We must,” he said, shrugging dismissively. “We’ve been over this, Kizzy. You are expecting my child—it is the only respectable thing to do.”

“No we must
not
!” Kizzy waved away the drink he was trying to press against her lips. “And stop fussing around me; it’s driving me nuts.”

“This is just your hormones talking, Kizzy.”

Kizzy took a deep breath as she prepared herself for what she was about to do. It was clear that she would have to spell out the harsh and unpleasant reality of the situation, as Andreas was not going to budge on the issue.

“I understand that you want your child to be legitimate, even though its mother is not.” She swallowed hard as she glanced up to see the flint glittering in his eyes. “But you must also understand what a mistake it would be to bring a child into a loveless marriage of convenience.”

“Don’t worry so much,
kardia mou,
” he replied lightly. “It’s not good for either of you.”

“I’m serious, Andreas.” Her unsmiling expression silenced him.
“My mother did it with my stepfather and your parents did it too—could you honestly wish that misery on your own child? Besides, you told me you would never marry again—it must have slipped your mind in all the excitement.”

“Our marriage wouldn’t be like that, Kizzy,” he responded firmly and went to take her hand in his. “What we have is very different.”

Kizzy shot him a look of incredulity. “It is?”

“Of course!” Andreas withdrew his hand from hers, stood up and hid it in his trouser pocket, almost as if it had been stung. “These last few weeks have been amazing; we complement each other perfectly. Every partnership will have its moments of disagreement, naturally, but I see no reason why we can’t build a successful marriage together based on compromise and mutual respect. And there’s certainly no problem for us in the bedroom.”

…

Andreas looked down into her accusing blue eyes and reminded himself not to lose his temper, however hurtful her remarks. Kizzy was no doubt still reeling from the discovery that she was in the early stages of pregnancy and trying to come to terms with that information—as he was too. The news of her pregnancy had come as a visceral shock to Andreas when one of the nurses had casually mentioned it, rattling off the blood tests they would have to perform—the staff had clearly assumed that he knew.

Kizzy had still been unconscious then and so had missed the look of elation that must have crossed his face. This meant she
had
to stay with him in Greece now. She was carrying his heir and they would, of course, have to get married.

Andreas had watched his lover sleep and felt a wave of possessiveness flood his body at how small and fragile in the white nest of the hospital bed she looked. The mother of his child. The two most important things in his life seemed so dangerously vulnerable—they needed him.

He had vowed there and then to protect them both with his life.

The feeling of dread and entrapment he might have expected to feel under such circumstances had not materialized. He thought he had been meticulous about contraception, yet somehow this baby had happened, so it was clearly destined to be. His heart swelled at the thought that in a few months he would be holding his very own child in his arms and that he would have such a perfect wife. He felt warm and excited. And protective and proud.

He was going to make his new family the biggest success of his life. More than ever it was essential not to show any kind of weakness though. Kizzy had to know that she could rely on him, that he would be her rock to cling to and the best father there could ever be.

Now though, he was finding it surprisingly hard to hold on to those feelings of strength and self-control, when every look she shot him seemed to accuse Andreas of not matching up to her ideal husband.

“I couldn’t bear to be tied to a man who cheated on me,” Kizzy continued relentlessly, meeting his stare. “Not even for the sake of my baby. Don’t you remember what that did to your mother?”

“I will not cheat on you, Kizzy. That’s one promise I can make.”

“Is that what you told your first wife?”

“I didn’t need to; we made solemn vows in the house of God in front of everyone who was dear to us. I was never unfaithful to her during our marriage.”

“So what went wrong? I need to know, Andreas. I need to know a lot of things before I can even begin to consider becoming your wife.”

“It’s all in the past! My first marriage has nothing to do with you or what is happening now. She is gone and won’t be coming back. There is nothing to be gained from raking over old wounds and I will not be manipulated into talking about such things.” His chest rose and fell with exasperation. “You have to trust me on this, Kizzy. It’s for the best.”

“But how can I trust you?” Tears were brimming behind her lashes now and she bowed her head in anguish. “I saw you, Andreas! I saw you with your new girlfriend at the villa. That’s why I took off to the acropolis, I was so humiliated—”

Roughly, Kizzy swiped her forearm across her face—no, she would not let him see her cry. He must never know how much his infidelity had affected her, how it crushed her soul.

“You both seemed to be having a nice time of it while I was supposed to be at work.” Kizzy glanced up at his uncharacteristic silence, and noted, with bittersweet agony, the look of guilty confusion on his face. “A lovers’ tryst in the tower, was it? I guess that’s where you must go together. It’s the only part of the villa that’s been resolutely locked since you asked me to move in. Your secret lovers’ hideaway—”

“Stop it!” Andreas suddenly bellowed. “Stop it now! The heat exhaustion has clearly affected your mind as well as your body!”

“Oh no, you won’t brush me off that easily,” Kizzy replied with a swift, answering anger. She drew a painful breath. “I saw you both with my own eyes. I saw you
kiss
her. Explain that, if you can.”

Andreas pushed himself away from the back of the chair he had been leaning on. It rattled over onto the stone tiled floor, its impact echoing in the heavy, torturous silence that had fallen between them.

“What you saw was me kissing Liz goodbye. She’d come by with the keys to the safe and wanted to thank me for her going-away gift.”

Andreas struggled to retain control. The emotional turbulence within him had blurred his vision to the extent that all he could register was the paleness of her face and the thunder raging beneath his chest wall. Nonetheless, he managed to keep his voice level.

“Remember Liz? Liz, the office manager who believes in love?” He waited, breathing heavily, and watched the uncertainty begin to grow on her face. “Think about it, why the hell would an engaged woman throw all that away for a quick fumble with the ex-boss?”

“She—she didn’t sound very Australian,” Kizzy replied hesitantly. “In fact, she looked like a picture-perfect little Greek girl from where I was standing.”

“For God’s sake, she
is
Greek! Liz is short for Lizandra. Her boyfriend’s the Australian; they’re going to start married life back in his country.”

“Oh.”

“Oh, indeed,” Andreas replied with a sudden look of despair on his face. “And you would deny our child its birthright because of this delusion? I thought better of you,” he added harshly. “I never thought I’d see you put yourself before your child.”

His words lanced through her with such painful force that Kizzy was momentarily unable to act rationally and her first instinct was to lash out verbally in retaliation for the way he was making her feel.

“You’ve never even stopped to ask if I want
to have this baby, have you?”

Andreas’s face seemed to fuse into pure gray granite for a second or two of agonizing silence as he digested what she had said.

“Don’t ever say anything like that again.” His voice was husky, laced with pain. “You said yourself that having a baby was one of your dreams. Well, now a miracle has occurred and, God willing, you will have your baby. Just don’t try to pretend that my genes aren’t good enough for you now, just to hurt me. I warn you, Kizzy Dean, I will only be pushed so far.”

Kizzy had felt burning shame beneath her breastbone the second the words had passed her lips. It had been an unforgivable thing to say and he was right, she’d just wanted to hurt him. In the process, however, she had hurt herself even more.

“I’m sorry. It was a terrible thing to say—of course I want this baby,” she whispered and summoned the courage to look him in the eye. She was met with a man simmering like an angry volcano. “But I still can’t marry you.”

Andreas swore in Greek and slammed his palm against his forehead. “What do I have to do to convince you? I’m running out of ideas here but I’m telling you now—I will only ask once. I will not be humiliated into begging for your hand in marriage.”

“I don’t even recall being asked. As with most things that come from you, it was more of a command than a request.”

“An assumption
,
perhaps. What difference does it make? I thought you’d be delighted.” He paused briefly and his expression softened as he stared at her. “You’d make such a beautiful bride.”

She felt her resolve begin to melt and tried hard not to fall under the spell of his tempting words. Instead, she hoisted up an emotional shield to hide behind. “This time you assumed too much, Andreas. As it happens, I will consider marrying you for the sake of our child, but only if certain conditions are fulfilled.”

“Conditions?” Andreas took a step nearer, frowning. “I thought we’d gone beyond contracts and deals.”

“We have,” she said, agreeing. “No one else needs to be involved. We can sort it out between us right here. This minute.”

He crossed his arms. “Fire away.”

Kizzy took a deep breath. “I must insist on exclusivity in this marriage. I will not live with an adulterer.”

Andreas nodded slowly, and a flush of hard color tinged his cheekbones. “And I will expect the same from you, pethi mou
.
I won’t pretend I’m a man who is used to being told how things will be. But if you are to be my wife, an equal partner in our marriage, I suppose I had better get used to it.”

“There must be no secrets between us if I am to trust you with my dignity and the well-being of our child. There are two things I must know. Firstly, I need to understand what happened in your first marriage.” She paused at his sharp intake of breath, then plunged on regardless. She had to know the truth if this was going to work. “And secondly, I insist on knowing why you keep that tower locked all the time, if it’s not a lovers’ hideaway.”

“This is ridiculous!” He unfolded his arms, his face taut with exasperation. “Why do you insist on dragging my first marriage into this? It’s not relevant. And this constant obsession with the tower—it’s just an outbuilding!”

“I need to know.”

“But why?”

“How can there ever be any trust between us if you won’t tell me something as simple as this?”

“And how can you insist on this insulting question-and-answer session with the father of your unborn child? It’s undignified.”

“Yes, it is. And now it appears the matter is settled—I will not be taking your name.”

“This is stupid.”

“No, it’s very sad,” Kizzy whispered and stood up, gathering her strength to leave. She still felt a little dizzy and light-headed. “Andreas, I’m not asking you to fall down on one knee and profess undying love—you’ve made your feelings quite clear on that score and I was prepared to accept a civil and pragmatic marriage to secure the future happiness of our child.”

Her thoughts were becoming scrambled and clouded with the intensity of the emotion she was feeling. And each glance at Andreas’s tempestuous features increased her struggle even further.

“But I also firmly believe our baby should have two parents who at least respect each other. We can’t possibly have a future together if we’re not honest and open from the start. Secrets poison everything—they will tear us apart in the end.”

“It seems to be you
who is trying to tear us apart,” he replied, running both hands through his hair.

“I’ve kept nothing from you, Andreas,” she continued desperately. “I’ve been completely open with you about my past, yet you seem incapable of doing the same for me. And it hurts.”

“So that’s what it will take, is it? Complete honesty?”

Andreas could feel his heart ramming ferociously against his rib cage as he battled with his pride, his rage, and his fear.

“If I tell you my secrets, if I reveal myself to you, you will marry me?” He grabbed her by the arm and began to pull her along the terrace. “Very well, we’ll do it your way. But I’m warning you now, Kizzy, you may not like what you discover.”