Pregnant by the Greek Tycoon (17 page)

The pain in his voice brought tears to her eyes. ‘But you wouldn’t have lost me, darling,’ she protested. ‘Of course I loved you. I always have and I always will.’

‘I should have let you go… Hell, I tried, but I couldn’t…’

‘I didn’t want to be let go. I wanted you.’

He shook his head. ‘You were in love with the guy who saved your life. You were in love with a hero figure who could walk on water. I wasn’t that man, but,’ he added bitterly, ‘I wanted to be, for you.’

‘I didn’t want a hero, I wanted a husband.’

‘A husband who had had his body pumped full of chemicals? A husband who couldn’t give you a baby? You asked me why I didn’t tell you, why I didn’t give you the opportunity to say, Thanks, but no, thanks.’

‘I wouldn’t have!’

He stilled her instinctive protest with a brush of his pain-filled eyes. ‘The truth is—’ He paused, swallowing hard, and Georgie, who couldn’t bear the pain and self-loathing in his voice, pushed her fist in her mouth to stop herself crying out. ‘I knew if I told you the truth there was a good chance I would lose you. My behaviour from the moment I met you was totally reprehensible. I fell in love with you at first sight.’

‘You…with me…’ Somewhere inside her there were fireworks of pure joy exploding.

‘Totally, and completely. I took advantage of your youth and inexperience. You were so young and I knew full well that what you felt for me was a crush. I knew you weren’t ready for marriage…’

Georgie could hold her tongue no longer. ‘That’s the biggest load of patronising rubbish I’ve ever heard.’ He blinked and she smiled at him with total confidence. ‘I may have been young, but does that make what I felt any less valid? Angolos, I wasn’t a teenager, and don’t you think I’m in a better position than you to know if I was ready for marriage?’

‘The truth is, Georgette, I was scared out of my mind of losing you,’ he confessed huskily.

She brushed the tears from her cheek with the back of her hand and sniffed. ‘Well, you’re not going to lose me now,’ she said firmly. ‘You’re stuck with me for ever and this time you’re going to be there when this baby pops out.’

An expression of shock froze his mobile features.
‘Baby…?’
His eyes dropped.

She nodded and, taking his hand, laid it on her flat belly. The feeling of his hand there warm against her was the best feeling in the world. ‘Baby…I was sort of planning to tell you after the party tonight.’ Her eyes widened in sudden horror. ‘Oh, no, the party—all those people!’

‘To hell with those people,’ Angolos said with callous disregard for their comfort or her reputation as society hostess. ‘A baby…now
that’s
amazing.’

‘Not really, considering the amount of effort you’ve put into the project. What’s amazing is that you love me!’

He ran a finger down the curve of her cheek. ‘No, what’s amazing is that you can love me after all the pain I’ve caused you.’

‘And all the pleasure, Angolos…all the pleasure. You gave me Nicky… Talking of Nicky, he’s awake!’ Laughing, she extracted the vibrating pager from her pocket and handed it to him. ‘This is what life is like as a parent at the beck and call of children twenty-four seven.’

The prospect of this life illuminated Angolos’s face with joy that brought a lump to her throat. ‘I’m a man who thought I had no life. Now I have the woman I was born to love and a son and another on the way. What,’ he demanded, pulling her to her feet, ‘could be better?’

‘A daughter?’

‘That would be acceptable,’ he conceded. ‘Now, twins would be something…’

‘Don’t,’ she begged, laughing, ‘even
think
about it.’

‘Shall we tell Nicky he’s going to have a brother or sister?’

‘He’ll say he’d prefer a dog,’ Georgie predicted.

Laughing, Angolos drew her to him. ‘I love you,’ he said, gazing tenderly into her happy, glowing face.

The future, Georgie thought, looked good, but she was content to enjoy the golden present. ‘I love you too.’

‘I loved you first,’ he retorted.

‘You always have to have the last wo—’ Her husband silenced her retort in the time-honoured manner and Georgie…she didn’t mind a bit!

ISBN: 978-1-4268-5913-7

PREGNANT BY THE GREEK TYCOON

First North American Publication 2005.

Copyright © 2005 by Kim Lawrence.

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