The Greek Billionaire's Love-Child (13 page)

‘I wouldn’t say that,’ she muttered, reaching for an oxygen mask and slipping it over the child’s mouth and nose. ‘Let’s just say we started without you.’

The father was murmuring to his daughter—kissing her forehead. ‘You’re all right, baby. Daddy’s here. Daddy’s here.’ He lifted his head and looked at Ella, his hand still stroking his daughter’s curls. ‘I don’t know what to say. You were amazing—you didn’t hesitate. You just…took over and sorted it.’ Clearly overwhelmed, the father wiped his eyes and shook his head. ‘Sorry—I’m so embarrassed…’

‘Don’t be.’ Nikos closed a hand over the man’s shoulder and then focused on the little girl. He examined her carefully, satisfying himself that all was well and that she was recovering.

‘It was this.’ Ella picked up the dish. ‘Looks like one of those mini-sausages.’

‘You did a finger sweep?’

‘Yes. Are you going to tell me off for taking a risk?’

Nikos hooked his stethoscope round his neck, a sardonic gleam in his eyes. ‘Why would I do that? Presumably you looked and decided that there was a good chance you could clear it. I call it a bold, decisive action rather than risk-taking.’

And that was his own approach, of course.

No one could ever accuse Nikos Mariakos of dithering.

‘She seems fine now,’ Nikos said to the father, ‘but I’d like her to stay here for another hour, just to be safe. When she recovers a bit you can take her into the waiting room and let her play with the toys.’

‘I can’t thank you enough.’ He stepped towards Ella and took her hands. ‘Thank you.’

‘You’re welcome. I’m pleased she’s OK.’ Ella blinked, moved by the emotion in the man’s face.

This father loved his child.

Scooping the little girl into his arms, he hugged her tightly. ‘Don’t ever scare me like that again.’ He looked at Ella over the child’s head. ‘I think I’ve aged a million years in five minutes. You don’t know what worry is until you have kids, do you? Could someone just pop outside and tell my wife everything is OK? She’s pacing outside in the car park with the baby. She’s just hopeless if one of them is ill or hurt, so I always take over. But I’m useless at it, too.’

‘You’re not useless.’ Ella had tears in her eyes, too, and it was Nikos who reassured the man and led him back out to Reception.

She understood now why he was so good with the parents.

He’d been that parent.

What had happened to his daughter?

Ella’s gaze flickered to the computer on the desk. She could look it up on the internet, but somehow that just didn’t feel right. She didn’t want to have to find out the details of his life from cyberspace. She wanted him to tell her.

She wanted him to trust her.

He’d lost a child and suddenly the enormity of that sank home.

And she was planning to take another child from him.

Guilt mixed with all the other emotions swirling in her head.

Did she have a right to deny Nikos a life with his child? Was she really protecting the baby, or was she protecting herself?

She dug her hands into her hair, tortured by indecision.

At that moment Nikos strode back into the room, his eyes narrowing as he saw her stricken expression.

‘What’s wrong?’

Ella looked at him helplessly, wishing men came with an instruction booklet and a guarantee. She wanted to take that leap, but she was just too frightened of it all going wrong. ‘Nothing. I’m fine.’

Nikos pushed the door closed, giving them privacy. ‘Don’t tell me “nothing”, Ella.’ His accent was more pronounced than usual and she sensed the depth of his exasperation. ‘You are very tired. You are working too hard.’

‘I love my work.’

‘You are an exceptional nurse.’ He strolled across to her and took her face in his hands, his fingers gentle. ‘But you have your own health to think about, too. Today you’re finishing work at four o’clock.’

Ella froze. She didn’t want to finish early. The thought of going back to the house made her heart race and her breathing quicken. She honestly couldn’t do it. She needed to find somewhere else to stay tonight. ‘I’m on a late,’ she said firmly. ‘I don’t finish until nine. And I thought I might go for a drink with the others. It’s Friday. We usually go out on Fridays.’

‘Ella, you have been working twelve-hour days to get this department up and running.’ Nikos trailed his fingers down her throat. ‘You need a rest. Both of us have the weekend off—it makes sense to leave at four.’

His touch was driving her crazy.

Suddenly she wanted nothing more than an afternoon in bed with him—
but not if that bed was in the house on the beach.

‘I couldn’t possibly ask Rose if I can leave early.’ She didn’t want to leave early. She didn’t want to spend any more time at the house than was strictly necessary.

‘Rose has already agreed. She’s got cover for you.’

‘Oh…’ Running out of excuses, Ella bit her lip and searched for some plausible reason not to return to the house.

Nikos glanced at the clock on the wall. ‘If we leave at four, you’ll have time to enjoy the hotel this evening.’

‘Hotel?’ Ella stared at him blankly, wondering if she’d misheard. ‘What hotel?’

‘I mentioned it to you last week.’ Nikos frowned, and it was obvious that he’d expected her to remember. ‘I have business commitments in London this weekend. I thought we could combine it with some relaxation and shopping.’

London? ‘We’re not going back to the house?’

‘No. My plan is to go straight to London. You can buy whatever you need when you’re there.’

Ella felt weak with relief. She thought about the sheer indulgent luxury of staying in an anonymous hotel. No spooky, spider-ridden canal boat. No sleeping in
that
house, surrounded by hideous memories, afraid that her emotions might spill out at any moment.

Instead, she could relax in an anonymous hotel room that didn’t remind her of anything and just think. Long baths, maybe a bit of shopping. Nothing threatening.

And two days in which to plan the best way to bring up the subject of finding alternative accommodation.

‘Great.’ She smiled brightly. ‘I can’t wait.’

Nikos spread his hands, visibly perplexed by her sudden change of heart. ‘I thought you didn’t want to leave the department.’

‘Well, if it’s all right with Rose, it’s all right with me.’

She didn’t care what she did as long as she didn’t have to spend another night in the house.

Ella sat in the helicopter, feeling dazed. ‘We’re flying to London?’ When they’d set out in the sports car, she’d assumed they’d be driving all the way, but Nikos had only driven as far as the nearest airport.

‘This is a billionaire solution to Friday-night traffic.’ Nikos fastened her seat belt. ‘I have some urgent business in London and I don’t have time to spend five hours stuck in stationary traffic.’ He adjusted the strap to his satisfaction, his face close to hers, his rough jaw grazing her cheek.

She lifted a hand and stroked it into his hair. ‘Are you trying to impress me or something?’

His smile was slow and wicked. ‘I thought I’d already done that but I’m more than happy to impress you again when we arrive at the hotel.’

‘Very funny.’ Ella felt her heart flip. ‘If you’re going to London on business, why are you taking me with you?’

‘Because you want to know about my life, and this is part of my life.’ He delivered a lingering kiss to her mouth and then straightened. ‘Tonight you can rest, and tomorrow we will enjoy ourselves.’

Intensely relieved to be spared a weekend at the house, Ella leaned her head against the seat and looked at him. ‘All right. So what happens now? You give your instructions to your pilot or something?’

‘I am the pilot.’

‘
You’re
going to fly this thing?’ She felt a moment of alarm. ‘Do you know how?’

‘You think I’d be flying it if I didn’t?’

‘I don’t know—you have been known to take risks.’

He grinned. ‘So have you,
agape mou
. But I promise not to take risks when I’m in the air.’

Hoping that he was as good at that as he was at medicine, Ella gripped her seat. As the helicopter rose from the ground she held her breath and then let out a bubble of laughter because it felt wonderful to be in the air. As they flew over the beautiful English countryside, she found herself fascinated by the patchwork of green fields spread beneath her like a giant bedspread.

As soon as they landed, they were transferred by chauffeur-driven car to one of the most prestigious hotels in London.

Watching in awe as a Hollywood actress sailed past surrounded by her entourage, Ella rubbed her hands self-consciously over her jeans.

‘I feel as though any moment now someone is going to order me to use the tradesman’s entrance. I can’t stay here.’ She gave a helpless shrug, wondering what it was that he saw in her. ‘I don’t fit. I’m wearing the wrong things.’

‘You’re far more beautiful than any of their other guests.’ Ignoring her insecurities, Nikos urged her gently across the opulent marble foyer. ‘And the hotel staff are interested in my wallet, not in your wardrobe.’

‘Exactly how big is your wallet?’

‘Big enough to ensure that they smile when my fiancée arrives wearing ancient jeans.’

They were intercepted by a man in a suit who greeted Nikos so effusively that Ella assumed that they must be somehow related.

A brief conversation was followed by some frantic hand signals and then they were escorted up a flight of stairs, along a thickly carpeted corridor and into a series
of rooms about four times bigger than any flat she’d ever lived in.

Ella stood in the doorway, glancing around her in disbelief.

‘I booked us a suite.’ Nikos pressed a note into the man’s hand and he discreetly melted away, leaving the two of them alone. ‘We’ll have more room.’

‘That guy at Reception—he was obviously thrilled to see you. Are you related?’

‘He’s the manager of the hotel.’ Nikos slung his jacket over the nearest chair and glanced at his watch. ‘I have twenty minutes to shower, change and get to my meeting. I’m sorry to abandon you. Will you be all right here by yourself for a few hours?’

‘Of course.’ Ella decided that she could happily spend the rest of her life living in this hotel suite. No insects, no cleaning. Noticing the giant plasma screen on one of the walls, she decided that a long, indulgent bath would be followed by channel flicking. ‘Is there a map or anything?’

‘Of London?’ Already in the process of unbuttoning his shirt, Nikos frowned. ‘I don’t think you should go out.’

‘I’m not going out. I wondered if there is a map of this suite.’ Ella was laughing. ‘I’m worried I might get lost finding my way around. Which of the many bedrooms am I supposed to sleep in?’

‘Mine,’ Nikos said silkily, his glance unmistakably sexual as he yanked off his shirt and exposed sleek, muscular shoulders.

Their eyes met.

Her smile faded and her heart thundered like hooves in a stampede.

The chemistry between them was hot, powerful and un
deniable, and she licked her lips, wishing he wasn’t going out in twenty minutes. She stepped towards him and he lifted a hand and gave a self-deprecating laugh.

‘If I do what you want me to do,
agape mou
,’ he breathed, ‘I will miss my meeting and neither of us will get any sleep for the rest of the night. And you need rest. You are tired and emotional and tomorrow I want to take you shopping and have fun.’

‘Oh.’ Ella wrapped her arms around her waist, trying to calm the insistent buzz of her nerve endings.

‘Don’t look at me like that.’ His tone dry, he walked towards the far end of the suite. ‘I’m going to take a shower. An extremely cold shower.’

‘Kalimera
. Good morning.’ Freshly shaved and dressed in black jeans and a casual shirt, Nikos joined Ella at the breakfast table.

He was so beautiful
, she thought helplessly. What woman in her right mind would be able to resist a man like him?

For the first time in a week she’d slept soundly and she felt much better for it. No bad dreams. No bad memories.

‘Did you come to bed last night?’

‘I came in late and you were sound asleep. I didn’t want to wake you and I had work to do.’ He poured himself a coffee and glanced out of the window. ‘It’s a sunny day.’

‘No slugs climbing up the windows?’

‘You pay extra for slugs.’

‘How do you know the manager so well?’

‘This is where I lived when I was working in London. Why are you staring?’

‘Because normal people don’t live in hotels, Nikos,’ Ella said faintly. ‘They stay for a few nights.’

‘I was working long hours.’ He gave a careless shrug, as if that explained everything. ‘Are you eating?’

‘I had a croissant. So until you met me and suddenly decided that you preferred a narrow bed in the hospital, you lived here?’

‘Yes.’

‘Well…’ She glanced around her with a rueful smile. ‘Now I understand why you preferred to stay with me. Anything would be better than slumming it here. It must have been tough for you, coming back here after being squashed with me on a mattress designed for one.’

‘The nights I spent with you were infinitely more pleasurable than anything a hotel suite can offer,’ Nikos said softly, and she blushed, watching as his long fingers skilfully dissected an orange.

‘So now I know why you’re the manager’s best friend.’

‘It isn’t entirely due to my contribution to his profits.’ Nikos put the fruit on her plate. ‘He has a nephew who had an accident while I was on duty.’

‘How badly was he hurt?’

‘He lived. Do you want something else to eat?’

‘In other words, you saved him?’

Nikos shrugged. ‘I was lucky.’

‘No.’ Her stomach flipped. ‘You’re a brilliant doctor, Nikos. I’ve always known that.’

But would he be a good father?

He didn’t love her and yet he was obviously prepared to make a commitment to her and the baby.

Was it enough?

His eyes held hers for a moment. ‘Today you have a major decision to make.’