Chapter Six
‘YOU’RE SURE ABOUT THIS, Dido?’
She shrugged, feeling the muscles across her shoulders and up her neck pull tight. Keeping her voice low, she replied. ‘I don’t think I’ve got any choice, do you?’
Flavia inclined her head. ‘No. He’s a very determined man.’ Her aunt paused, her expression unreadable. ‘He’s not as I’d imagined.’
Dido lifted her eyebrows, but she had to agree with Flavia. The man who’d accosted her in the street, then taken over her home and her daughter, was every bit as arrogant as she remembered. Yet he’d surprised her too. Enormously. The sight of him with their daughter… The wonder in his eyes…
‘I think he’s not quite the man you think he is,’ Flavia said at last.
Dido shook her head. The trouble was that Panos Diamandis was exactly that man, despite his reaction to Athena.
She breathed out through her nose as if dispelling the scent of citrus, spice and overbearing Greek from her nostrils.
He’d only been here a short time and already she was thinking of Theeny as Athena.
The way he said the name in that deep, mellifluous voice reminded her of all the reasons she’d wanted to give her daughter a strong, memorable name.
By comparison, Theeny sounded weak, negligible even, whereas her daughter had personality in spades.
When she didn’t say anything, Flavia reached out and squeezed her hand. ‘Remember, I’m just upstairs if you need me.’
Dido nodded and embraced her aunt, the backs of her eyes unexpectedly prickling.
Flavia had been so good to her, not just when her parents died, but since she’d had her baby. Dido had missed her parents more than ever. She’d wished they could have known their grandchild. It had been so hard, not having them there.
Things had been financially tough too without the cushion of what should have been her inheritance. Earlier she’d been hurt and infuriated by her half-brother’s theft. But having a baby dependent on her had reinforced her vulnerable financial situation.
Flavia’s availability as a part-time babysitter and full-time cheerleader had allowed Dido to earn a decent wage to support herself and her little girl.
‘How could I forget, Flavia?’ She forced a smile that felt like a grimace. ‘And don’t worry. I’ll sort something out.’
As if you believe that for a second!
You know he’s going to play tough. How do you think you can stand up to him when his resources are almost limitless?
Suddenly the terror she’d striven to stifle was like a living beast inside her, churning and gnawing at her vitals. She gave Flavia a last reassuring smile and closed the door.
Shutting herself in with the one man who’d ever managed to get under her skin and make her think all those things she’d ever craved could be hers for the taking.
How na?ve she’d been.
For she was sure, after today’s revelation, Panos would be only too happy to destroy her. He’d thought badly enough of her in Tahiti, but after learning she’d hidden his child…
Dido wrapped her arms around herself as a shudder racked her body.
Turning around felt as difficult as facing a firing squad. Except her daughter was here and there was no way she’d leave her child to the mercies of a man like Panos Diamandis.
Setting her shoulders, she spun on her heel to find him watching her, one solid shoulder leaning negligently against the door-jamb of the bedroom. But there was nothing negligent about that penetrating stare. It was so sharp it scored her flesh.
Heat bloomed across her breasts and throat even as shards of ice settled along her spine.
And to her horror there was something else. A betraying twist of excitement in the feminine, hollow place that had known his possession. A twist of awareness. Of eagerness.
Furious with herself and him, she marched forward only to have him raise his finger to his lips.
Amazed, she looked into the bedroom where Athena… Theeny, lay spreadeagled. Usually it took much longer for her to fall asleep, at least a second bedtime story. Dido had left Panos reading aloud and sneaked the chance for a quick chat with Flavia, expecting to return to cries for yet another story.
For some reason the fact she’d fallen asleep easily in the presence of a stranger, when Dido often had trouble getting her down, felt like a betrayal.
She pushed the unworthy thought aside. It had been an exciting, stimulating day for her daughter. Dido should be glad she’d fallen asleep easily.
‘Shall we?’ Panos nodded towards the living room as she ground her teeth rather than make some snarky response. She needed to save her energy for the battle to come.
Silently they sat, she on the desk chair she used when she worked from home and he on the sofa, legs casually crossed and arms spread wide along its top as if he owned the world.
‘At least you gave her a Greek name.’
It was tempting to say she’d just followed family tradition, looking for noteworthy women from the ancient world. But that was only part of the truth. She’d chosen a Greek name as a nod to her daughter’s heritage. Not for his sake but Athena’s. It might be important to her when she was older.
‘How do you know she’s yours? You’re guessing.’
‘Apart from the fact she’s the spitting image of my mother at that age? Or that she has my eyes?’
She did. How often had Dido looked at her darling daughter and found herself remembering his deep brown eyes, alight with laughter or glowing with approval?
There weren’t glowing now. His expression was fierce but she met his glare with her chin up.
‘Then there’s the fact you didn’t object to me spending time with her.’
A snort of derision escaped. ‘That just proves you’re physically bigger than me. It seemed best to humour you.’
Even to her ears it was a feeble argument. She’d protect her baby no matter what. But she knew physically barring him was impossible. She had to find another way.
He dragged his arms from across the back of the sofa, setting his elbows on his splayed knees as he leaned towards her.
‘She’s mine. We both know it so don’t waste your breath.
Besides…’ His mouth curled in a smile that made her think of a ravenous wolf sighting an injured deer.
‘I’ve organised a paternity test for first thing tomorrow morning, just to make it official. ’
Dido shot to her feet and stalked over to stand in front of him. ‘You had no right! Not without my permission.’
Slowly he rose to his full height, giving her ample time to regret her impulsive approach. But it was too late now. She couldn’t retreat without appearing weak and instinct warned he’d take advantage of any weakness.
His expression didn’t change but his soft voice made her imagine claws sinking into unprotected flesh. ‘Do you really want to take this to court? After what you’ve done?’
Her breath came in short bursts, insufficient to fill her lungs. Spots dotted the edge of her vision. If she didn’t get control of herself she might faint, something she’d never done, even when pregnant.
The idea of collapsing in a heap at his feet was enough to drag her back from the brink.
‘She’s only tiny. I don’t want her having an invasive procedure.’
‘It’s a cheek swab. Not painful or stressful, unless you make it so.’
Dido frowned. She’d thought a paternity test would require a blood sample. ‘Are you sure? How do you know?’ As his expression remained unchanging, understanding hit. She jerked back a step, lip curling. ‘You’ve had paternity tests done before, haven’t you?’
She already knew him to be proud, quick to blame and totally intransigent. Was he also such a playboy he had to check which children were really his? The thought of her little girl having half-siblings by a host of different women made her feel sick.
‘There’s no need to look at me like that,’ he growled. ‘Yes, there have been paternity claims, all I might add by women with whom I’ve never had sex.’ He paused, his smile showing too many teeth. ‘I find a DNA test the fastest, simplest way of proving them to be liars.’
The way he looked at her as he said the word liars was meant to hurt. But she had weightier things on her mind than name-calling.
There was no point trying to stop the test. He’d seen Theeny and knew the truth. It was one thing, Dido discovered, to conceal her daughter’s identity but quite another to tell an outright lie. She couldn’t do it.
If he’d been violent it might be different. But Panos had dumbfounded her with his excitement, his awe, his genuine delight over his child.
She’d known he wasn’t a man who stood on ceremony. Even so, the sight of him hunkered, barefoot in the sandpit, jacket and tie discarded and sleeves rolled up as he played with their daughter, had melted something inside her.
He’d been utterly genuine, it seemed, about his desire for children. He’d glowed with excitement and even when Theeny became overtired and fretful, though still demanding his presence, he’d been patient. Patient in the way many people weren’t.
How often had she grappled with impatience nearing the end of a long day, when her daughter wouldn’t settle?
Panos probably got a solid eight hours sleep when he wanted it and wasn’t stressed about providing for a child and paying rent.
‘Why did you do it, Dido? Was it part of the original plan or did you improvise?’
She frowned up at him. ‘What are you talking about?’
He was so close she saw those golden specks in his eyes. Sometimes, tumbling into ecstasy, she’d imagined that bright glitter a sign that she’d reached the edge of heaven.
Not now. Not with that mighty frown.
‘Why keep my child from me?’
Something shrank inside her as she registered, not only his anger, but what sounded like hurt.
She shivered. Since she’d seen him interact with Theeny guilt had welled until she felt queasy with it. She told herself she’d done the right thing, protecting her daughter. But today she saw that, despite his unforgivable flaws, he was also a parent moved by his child.
‘You threatened me with court action if I tried to contact you, remember?’