Her Secret Heir #2
“Then you know that keeping your son from the Theakis family is not something that I can allow to continue.”
She nodded. “When I saw the news about Stavros and his family, I thought about contacting you.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I was afraid to deal with you.”
“I can understand that,” he said. He’d treated her almost cruelly when she’d come to him with the news of her pregnancy. But then, he hadn’t been interested in cleaning up his brother’s mess. So he’d turned her away.
After his father’s heart attack, he’d hired a private investigator to find her. When the old man had seemed so fragile and Christos had made promises he wasn’t exactly sure he could keep. Find the Theakis heir and bring him home.
He’d never forgotten Ava, despite the way things had ended between them. He’d come here to claim Theo as the Theakis heir, but watching the way the light played over her hair made him realize he wanted to claim the woman, too.
“I want to know the boy.”
“Oh, okay. When?” she asked.
She was nervous; he read that easily in her stance and the way she was stammering to answer his questions. He told himself to lighten up—except, he couldn’t. What he felt about her and the boy was too intense. She’d lied to him and he wanted to see her squirm a little now.
“Today, Ava. I think we can work this out on our own without involving my attorneys.”
“Of course,” she said. “I wasn’t saying you couldn’t see him. Just asking when you wanted to.”
“Does he have our family name?”
“No.”
“Was that in the agreement with Stavros?”
She crossed her arms under her breasts and arched one eyebrow at him. The show of temper made him hotter than he’d have thought it could.
“Why do you care? You said you wanted nothing to do with my child.”
“But that has changed,” he said. “Theo is a Theakis and I need him.”
“As I just said, he shares my last name.”
“That will be the first thing I change. I’ll have my attorneys start the paperwork.”
“Uh, isn’t that moving fast? Why—”
“It isn’t fast. Not after we’ve missed so much of his young life.”
She flushed—with anger, he imagined—and nodded toward him. “I’m sure that Theo will be pleased to meet you. He knows your name.”
“Very good.”
She didn’t respond to the last but he caught another glimpse of her temper in her eyes before she turned away.
“I’ll have Karin call him out of class. He’s a little afraid of the principal’s office. Maybe you should wait in the gardens. I’ll bring him to you.”
Theo chattered as she walked him down the hall toward the gardens, asking her specific questions about Christos.
But she really didn’t know what to say. Finally they stepped out into the Florida sun and he slipped his little hand in hers, quieting as he looked at the tall man standing with his back toward them.
She knelt down next to her son and hugged him close. “He’s very excited to meet you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, she is,” Christos said, coming over to them. “Theo, I’m Christos Theakis.”
Theo took Christos’s hand and shook it. “Hello, Father.”
Christos drew back and looked up at her sharply. She couldn’t read his look.
“The Greek word for father is baba, Theo,” Ava said.
Christos drew Theo into his arms and Ava turned away.
It had been easy to believe that she was doing the right thing for her son by keeping him from Christos.
Christos had been very angry during their last encounter, when he’d accused her of sleeping with both Theakis brothers.
And she’d been unable to defend herself against that anger.
He’d wanted her to take a DNA test to prove paternity, but she’d refused, wanting him to trust her.
She knew that she’d lied to him about other things, and had acknowledged those lies, but on this matter, she had needed him to believe her.
Because, before the situation with his brother had blown up, he’d told her they’d moved past her falsehoods.
And she’d needed that to be true for the relationship to survive.
She’d seen the proof that he’d moved on with his life in the pages of the tabloids and society magazines. But here in this quiet garden as he hugged Theo, she wondered if she’d made a mistake.
She edged away from them. Tried to remind herself of all the reasons she was no longer in love with Christos.
Why she’d never really been in love with him in the first place.
But, watching him, those reasons seemed flimsy.
And her heart, which had been dormant during the five years they’d been apart, started beating again.
She was so not going there. Christos was the man who’d changed the entire course of her life, and she finally had it back on track.
She wasn’t getting involved with him again.
Except—she’d have to, if he was going to act as Theo’s father.
She couldn’t keep Theo from him now that he was reaching out to his son.
The Theakis family was a close one, something her own wasn’t, and she wanted that for Theo.
Karin stopped by to return Theo to class, leaving Ava alone with Christos.
He stared after his son. Her throat tightened as she watched the cocktail of emotions rushing across his face.
She’d always suspected there was more to Christos than the playboy image he presented to the world.
She’d caught glimpses of the real man during the intense time they’d spent together. Enough to make her fall hard.
But this was only the second time she’d seen any overt evidence. The other time…well, that didn’t bear thinking about right now.
“You’ve done a good job with him.”
“Thanks. I…I’m not always sure what I’m doing. But he’s a good kid.”
“Yes, he is.” Pushing his hands into his pockets, he walked closer to her.
“Why did you tell him I was his father?” Christos asked.
“You still don’t believe me about that?”
He shook his head. “I gave you a chance to prove yourself to me, Ava. To prove that Theo is really my son, and you denied me.”
“Because I wanted your trust.”
“Once a liar.”
“That’s not fair, I apologized for those lies. I was young and thought you wouldn’t want a girl from my background.”
“Your very poor background,” he said. “What better way to make sure you never had to go back to that trailer park than to bear the son of a Theakis.”
She shook her head, trembling all the way to her soul from his words. “It wasn’t like that.”
“You can explain it to me another time. Right now you have two choices, Ava.”
She still liked the way her name sounded on his tongue. Which really ticked her off, because she wanted to slug him for being a jerk about the past. She’d made mistakes, yes, but what was it about this stubborn Greek that wouldn’t let him look beyond them? “What are they?”
“You can relinquish your rights to Theo and give him over to me to be raised as a Theakis.”
“Why would I do that?” He had to be crazy if he thought she was going to give up her son.
“It is his right to be raised in our family. And you have had him to yourself for the last four years.”
“You gave those years away,” she said, and the past flashed through her mind. She knew the exact moment when she’d become pregnant. Remembered with clarity the way Christos’s face had tightened with a mixture of lust and anger when she’d declined to stay in Greece and become his mistress.
He’d kissed her hard and soon anger had melted to lust and they’d made love in his study. The encounter hadn’t been a sweet seduction; they’d both been so hungry for each other, knowing it was the last time they’d be in each other’s arms.
She’d clung to his shoulders and he’d held her so tightly. He’d cradled her on his lap, and she’d realized that they’d forgotten to use protection. That he’d pulled out at the last moment.
He hadn’t said anything and neither had she. Then a few days later everything had fallen apart with Nikki’s accusations about her and Stavros. And Christos had sided with his sister-in-law.
“Maybe. But not anymore. I want Theo. I’ve taken over Theakis Shipping,” he said, turning away from her and looking out over the lushly landscaped gardens of the school. “I’m becoming the heir I never had to be and I must look to future generations.”
“Now you need an heir,” she said. She was saddened to think that that was the only reason he was here. Not because he’d finally wanted to acknowledge he had a son and had been desperate to see him.
Oh, God, she couldn’t let Christos hurt Theo. Wouldn’t let Theo come to love a man who had ice in his veins. A man who could make love to a woman and hold her so close, as if he’d never let her go, then calmly accuse her of infidelity.
“The Theakis family needs Theo,” he said.
This isn’t about you, she reminded herself. But it was.
“You mentioned two choices.”
“Yes, I did. If you are interested in remaining in your son’s life, then I’m willing to marry you.”