Chapter Four #3
He’d been stroking her hand, looking into her eyes with such pleased satisfaction. Because, he admitted, her signature on the document had proved she was interested in him, in creating a family, not his money.
That was when he’d explained that all his life he’d been targeted by people wanting his wealth. Or the power it gave him. Or even just some of his supposed glamour.
She’d never forget the light in his eyes and the pleasure in his voice as he told her how freeing it was to know he could trust her honesty.
That didn’t last, did it?
Her heart had squeezed for him. He’d only shared a bare minimum of his past and she suspected he’d kept the worst from her. He hadn’t sought sympathy but she knew he’d been lonely, losing his parents early and being set apart because of his massive inheritance.
Her own troubles with rapacious relatives paled into insignificance, so she hadn’t mentioned that. It would have seemed petty by comparison.
Would he still have made those dreadful accusations if she’d told him about her family?
In the beginning she’d believed all she had to do was explain the situation and everything would be sorted.
But he’d cut her off without a chance to explain.
He might have been a passionate lover, and generous, with lavish gifts and more spending money than she’d ever use.
But when it came to mistrust, he was utterly ruthless, excising her from his life without a backward glance.
Suddenly the heavy silence penetrated. While she’d been lost in the past, he’d been surveying her home. Now he was staring at the bright yellow teddy bear propped up at the end of the lounge.
Her mouth dried as her pulse jumped in her throat.
Dido’s voice emerged over-loud as she stepped between him and the lounge. ‘My experience of marriage put me off the idea of doing it again.’ The contempt in her tone was sincere. ‘I assumed you were no more inclined to marry again either, after what happened.’
Panos swung his head around to study her, his expression taut. He didn’t look convinced. He looked…angry.
‘And having children? Did you ever really want them?’
Dido’s throat closed and for a moment all she could do was goggle at him. How much longer did she have to endure this?
Finally she managed to say, ‘It’s possible to have children outside marriage. Now, I’ve answered your question. I want you to leave.’
Still he didn’t budge. Panos looked from her to the lounge. His jaw tightened, his dark eyebrows slashing down in a V that told her he was thinking rapidly.
Dido had a queasy feeling she wouldn’t like his conclusions. But before she could urge him on his way again her heart stopped at the sound of the key in the front door.
For a second she lived in a moment that stretched out impossibly long. A moment of relative peace before the world crashed down on her head.
In that split second her harried brain grasped for solutions or escapes but there were none. Her absolute worst fear was about to be realised.
The blood rushed from her head to her hammering heart, then to her wobbly knees so quickly she swayed.
Remarkably, from her peripheral vision saw Panos’ hand lift as if to support her. She moved sharply away.
‘Dido? Are you home? Theeny’s a bit upset—’
Dido was stumbling into the cramped hallway as another voice demanded, ‘Want Mumma.’
Flavia, her aunt, had parked the pushchair in the hall as she closed the door behind her. From the pushchair soulful eyes looked up at Dido from a flushed face, small arms reaching up beseechingly. ‘Mumma!’
Dido was already unstrapping the small body and lifting the toddler. ‘Mumma’s here, sweetie.’
The timing was catastrophic yet she felt the familiar flood of love as she held her daughter’s sturdy little body against her.
‘Theeny’s fine. It was just—’ Flavia’s words stopped as she looked at something behind Dido.
Someone.
Her aunt’s eyes bulged, her mouth sagging as she stared from the man whose presence filled the space, then to the toddler. Flavia was many things, clever, capable, generous and supportive. But she’d never been able to hide her thoughts. Dido read her horror, fear, then determination.
If she could read them, so could Panos. Her flesh tightened across her shoulders, her hair standing on end as the silence thickened.
Dido hugged her daughter closer, keeping her back to him. ‘Could you open the door, Flavia? Mr Diamandis is leaving.’
Naturally he didn’t do as she wanted. Instead of walking past her, he stopped beside her, so close she felt his body heat in a wave of awareness.
‘And who is this?’ he murmured.
He was tall enough to see over her shoulder and Theeny, possibly intrigued by the unfamiliar cadence of his voice, chose that moment to look up with her big, beautiful brown eyes.
There was a hiss of indrawn breath, then a baritone voice spoke from so close his breath feathered Dido’s ear.
‘But you haven’t introduced me.’ Anyone else would register his voice as soft, almost caressing.
But Dido heard the steely fury, like the whispering threat of sharpened blades.
‘Besides, we have so much more to discuss.’