Nine Months To Tame The Tycoon by Chantelle Shaw, Annie West
CHAPTER EIGHT
THEREWASAroaring noise in Takis’s ears. He could not think or breathe. He felt the hard thud of his pulse, of his temper rushing like boiling lava through his veins. It could not be true. Lissa must be playing a cruel trick. Hadn’t he learned years ago that all women were manipulative? And had once believed Lissa to be the same?
He realised that she was waiting for him to say something. But he could not bring himself to speak. Did not dare. His throat had closed up and his heart was trying to claw its way out of his chest. He stared at her, searching for some sign on her slim figure that she was expecting a child.
There was something different about her, he realised. Earlier tonight when he had seen her again for the first time, he had been stunned by her radiant beauty. The way she had seemed to glow from within.
Theé mou!
Even if she was pregnant, there was no way it was his baby, he reassured himself. He held on to that. His vocal cords relaxed, and he bit out one word. ‘No.’
‘For God’s sake, Takis. There are employment laws in England. Pregnant women have rights, and you can’t simply dismiss me.’
‘No,’ he repeated harshly, trying to convince himself as much as her. ‘I am not the father of your baby.’
Lissa seemed to grow taller and she lifted her chin and met his gaze proudly. ‘You know damn well that I was a virgin until I met you.’
He could not deny that indisputable fact. But he wasn’t fooled by her look of wide-eyed innocence. He couldn’t be. ‘You must have taken another lover after you slept with me,’ he said coldly. The sensation of an iron band crushing his chest was lessening as his brain kicked into gear.
‘Do you really believe I hopped into another man’s bed immediately after I’d had my first sexual experience with you?’ Lissa demanded.
Takis wanted to believe it. The alternative was unthinkable.
‘You are the only man I’ve ever had sex with, and whether you like it or not I am expecting your baby.’ She took a step towards him. ‘Please believe that I never meant for this to happen. I only found out today and I am as shocked as you.’ She placed her hand on her stomach and said softly, ‘An accidental pregnancy is not such a terrible thing. We are going to have a baby.’
Rejection roared through Takis. And fear. Gut-wrenching fear. He could not be responsible for a child. Not again.
‘I do not want a child. I told you that fatherhood holds no appeal for me.’
He did not doubt that she was pregnant. And now that the initial shock was subsiding, he realised that he did not doubt quite so strongly that the baby was his. Even as he fought against the very idea. He was the most untrusting man on the planet, and yet he had no reason not to trust Lissa. He did trust her. She had never lied to him. But how could he be a father after he had behaved so irresponsibly in the past? Takis was certain that he did not deserve to have a child. A child did not deserve him.
‘Fine.’ Lissa spun round and marched across the office. She had almost reached the door before he realised that she actually intended to walk out.
‘Where are you going?’
‘To bed.’ She put her hand on the door handle and sent him a withering glance over her shoulder. ‘I started work at six a.m. yesterday and it is now a quarter to two in the morning, which means that I have been on duty for nearly twenty hours. Does that show enough commitment to my job?’ Her sarcastic tone made Takis grit his teeth.
‘We have things to discuss,’ he bit out.
‘What things?’ She opened the door. ‘I have informed you that I’m pregnant and you stated that you do not want to be a father. So don’t be.’
Cursing beneath his breath, he strode after her and slammed the door shut before she could walk out. ‘What do you mean? Am I not the father? Do not play games with me, Lissa,’ he warned her darkly.
She turned to face him. ‘This baby might be unplanned, but he will be loved, is already loved by me. I told you about my pregnancy because it was the right thing to do, but I don’t want anything from you. I’ll go away somewhere, and you will never hear from me again. When my child is older and asks about his father, I will say that you are dead. Better that than for him to find out that he was not wanted by his father.’
Did she mean it? Takis’s jaw clenched. Just because Lissa had not made demands yet, it did not mean that she wouldn’t do so. He hadn’t wanted a child, but a child had been conceived. His child. Could he really walk away from his own flesh and blood? The answer hit him like a punch in his solar plexus. Of course he couldn’t.
Takis felt the same sense of being caught in a trap that he’d felt when his stepmother had played a cruel game with his teenage emotions. One he had tried to escape by leaving home, leaving the half-brother he’d adored behind. He could never forget or forgive himself for abandoning Giannis to such a terrible fate. Had never confessed what his actions had led to.
He raked his fingers through his hair, unsurprised that his hand was unsteady. ‘Why did you refer to the baby as him?’ he asked Lissa.
She shrugged. ‘I just have a feeling that it’s a boy. I’ll be able to find out the baby’s sex when I have a scan and I can text you the result if you would like to know.’
She was so cool, Takis thought savagely, aware that his own emotions were dangerously close to exploding. He placed his palms flat against the door on either side of her head and watched her eyes widen in response to the sexual chemistry that had always been a potent force between them, and still was, he acknowledged.
Lissa stared at him. ‘If you give me twenty-four hours to pack up my things and write me a reference so that I will be able to get another job, I promise you will never see or hear from me again.’
He believed her. She’d left without waking him after she had given her virginity to him. Lissa was perfectly capable of disappearing, and he would spend the rest of his life wondering if his child was safe or needed his protection. It would be a new kind of hell, a different version of his nightmares.
She sagged against the door and closed her eyes. Takis was struck by how fragile she looked. The dark smudges beneath her eyes were a stark contrast to her pale skin. ‘I’m exhausted,’ she whispered. ‘We both need to calm down. Perhaps we will be able to talk more rationally tomorrow.’
Concern replaced his anger. Lissa was pregnant and Takis acknowledged that his behaviour was unacceptable. Without saying another word, he scooped her off her feet and held her against his chest.
Her lashes flew open. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’
‘You were about to collapse,’ he said gently as he opened the door and carried her through the hotel foyer.
Her blue eyes flashed with anger. ‘I don’t need your help.’
‘Yes, you do.’ His jaw clenched, determined. Lissa and the baby were his responsibility. God help them, he thought grimly. ‘You will have to direct me to your living quarters.’
She sighed as if she realised that it was pointless to argue with him. ‘Go through the door marked Private and there is a lift up to the apartment on the top floor.’
Her head dropped on to his shoulder and she was asleep by the time Takis carried her into the apartment and located her bedroom. He looked down at the silky blonde hair that curled against her delicate jawline. She was so beautiful. He felt a fierce tug of desire in his groin and was furious at his unbidden response to her. This was not the time.
He resented the hold Lissa had over him. He’d come to Oxford intent on rekindling their passion so that he could get her out of his system. But she had dropped the bombshell of her pregnancy and he had no idea how to proceed.
He laid her on the bed and unzipped her dress. She hardly stirred when he removed the dress and her shoes but left her bra and knickers in place. When he pulled the duvet over her, he thought how young she looked. He swore softly. What a goddamned mess.
Takis knew he should try to sleep, but his thoughts were too chaotic. He explored the apartment and in the kitchen found a bottle of brandy, which he carried into the sitting room. Getting blind drunk was tempting but would not solve anything. Lissa was pregnant with his baby. It was his worst nightmare come true.
He remembered the first time he had met his baby half-brother. He had loved Giannis from the moment he’d looked inside the pram and seen a tiny infant with huge, dark eyes. Giannis had grown into a sweet-natured little boy who had adored his big brother.
Takis took a long swig of brandy, unable to hold back the memories that surged into his mind. He had not discovered what had happened until a few days after he’d left his home and travelled to Thessaloniki, where he’d happened to meet someone from the village.
‘Will you go back for the funerals?’ the man had asked him. ‘You haven’t heard? There was a fire. Your father tried to escape from the burning house, but he was killed when a wall collapsed on top of him.’
Takis had not cared about the fate of his father. ‘You said funerals.’ Sick dread had curdled in the pit of his stomach. ‘Did my stepmother...? And Giannis? Not him, please, no, not him.’ A howl of agony had been ripped from his throat when the villager shook his head.
‘Marina and her little son both died in the flames. It’s lucky you were not there, or you could have lost your life too.’
Guilt was his punishment, Takis brooded now as he refilled his glass. He should have stayed at home to protect Giannis, but in a fit of pique and fury with his stepmother he’d run away. Oh, he’d told himself that he was leaving because he wanted a better life than that of a goat herder, but the truth was that he’d wanted to pay Marina back for breaking his heart.
When he had returned to the village he had been overwhelmed with grief at the sight of the blackened shell of the house, and at the mortuary three coffins. He’d walked straight past the largest coffin, hesitated next to the wooden box that held Marina’s body and crumpled to his knees beside the smallest coffin.
It had been so pathetically small. That’s what had struck him the hardest. Giannis had been just five years old. Imagining his little brother’s terror when he’d woken in the night and found he was trapped by the flames had fuelled Takis’s nightmares ever since.
He prowled around the room and stopped in front of the bureau where several framed photographs were displayed. The little girl with pale blonde hair was unmistakably Lissa, and he guessed that the attractive couple on either side of her were her parents. They looked a happy family, but family was something Takis had no concept of. He had grown up with a violent father and a stepmother who had tried to seduce him.
How did his upbringing equip him to be a successful parent? The truth was that it did not, which was why he had decided that he would not have children. But he remembered the words Lissa had thrown at him: he was going to be a father, whether he liked it or not.
Perhaps Lissa’s pregnancy was a chance for him to atone for his past mistakes, Takis brooded. If he was honest, the responsibility of becoming a father terrified him. But he would not abandon his child like he had abandoned his brother. He must claim his baby.
Fragments of a dream flitted through Lissa’s mind. Takis arriving unexpectedly at the hotel, his furious reaction when she’d told him about the baby. Her eyes flew open and she could feel her heart pounding. It hadn’t been a dream. Light was filtering through the curtains into her bedroom. She checked the time and was horrified to see that it was ten o’clock before she remembered that the deputy manager would be on duty.
She had been dead on her feet at the end of the dinner-dance. Takis had brought her to the apartment, and he must have removed her dress and put her to bed. Her stomach rumbled, and she knew she should eat for the baby’s sake. She wondered if Takis had spent the night in the hotel or whether he had driven back to London. He’d made it clear that he did not want the baby, and there really was nothing for them to talk about. She certainly did not want a maintenance payment from him. She and her baby would be fine on their own, Lissa told herself.
She pulled on her dressing gown and headed for the kitchen but stopped dead when she looked into the sitting room and saw Takis sprawled on the sofa, where he had obviously slept. His shirt was creased and the dark stubble on his jaw was thicker, but his rumpled appearance did not detract from his dangerous sex appeal. Lissa felt her nipples harden, and even though her dressing gown was made of thick towelling she folded her arms over her chest as Takis raked his gaze over her.
‘Why didn’t you use a room in the hotel?’ she asked him. ‘Two of the suites were empty.’
‘I stayed in your apartment to be close to you in case you needed anything during the night. There was also the possibility that you might try to disappear,’ he said drily.
Her legs felt wobbly and she sank down on to the sofa. ‘I don’t have anywhere to go.’ The reality of her situation was sinking in. She would soon be without a job or a home. She supposed she could go and stay with her sister in Greece while she tried to organise her life, but the future was frighteningly uncertain.
Takis shifted along the sofa towards her. ‘You are still very pale.’ He picked up her wrist. ‘Your pulse is going crazy. Is a fast heartbeat normal in pregnancy?’
‘I’m not sure.’ She did not tell him that his close proximity as he rubbed his thumb lightly over her wrist might be why her pulse was racing. ‘My thyroid condition can cause problems during pregnancy and I’ll have to have extra check-ups to make sure the baby is developing okay.’
He stood up and grimaced when he ran his hand over his rough jaw. ‘I need a shower and a change of clothes, and then we will talk.’
Lissa noticed his holdall, which he must have brought from his car last night. She directed him to the guest bathroom and went to the kitchen to make tea and toast. She reminded herself that they were adults, and without the heightened emotions of the previous night it was surely not beyond them to have a cordial discussion. She would not prevent Takis from seeing his child if he wanted to.
As she carried the tray into the sitting room, it occurred to her that she did not even know if he drank tea. They had created a new life together, but her baby’s father was a stranger.
Takis walked into the room, and Lissa’s heart crashed against her ribs as she made a mental inventory of him. Faded jeans hugged his lean hips and he wore a grey cashmere sweater that clung lovingly to his muscular chest. His hair was damp from the shower. He had trimmed the stubble on his jaw, but he still looked like a pirate. He was devastatingly attractive, Lissa thought with a rueful sigh that he could still affect her so strongly.
‘This is fine, thank you,’ he said when she offered to make him coffee if he preferred it to tea. She’d noticed he winced when she explained that she only had instant coffee.
Lissa forced herself to eat half a piece of toast, but it tasted like cardboard and swallowing became an ordeal as her tension grew. ‘You wanted to talk,’ she reminded him.
He put down his cup, the tea untouched, she noticed.
‘You and the baby are my responsibility.’
His coolness quashed her tiny hope that there could be a happy outcome to their conversation. She remembered when he’d made love to her and his eyes had blazed with heated passion. Now Takis was a remote stranger, and Lissa’s heart sank when she realised that he viewed her pregnancy as a problem that he was determined to solve.
‘I don’t want to be your responsibility,’ she said sharply. ‘I’ve had enough of feeling like a burden. That’s what I was to my grandfather. You don’t have to be involved. I have money of my own and, as I told you, I plan to go back to work after the baby is born.’
‘How do you propose to combine bringing up a child with a career?’
‘I haven’t worked out the details yet. But I will be fine,’ Lissa insisted. ‘I won’t deny you visiting rights if that’s what you want.’
He shook his head. ‘I have a duty to ensure the welfare of the child we have created and your welfare. There is an obvious solution to the situation we find ourselves in.’
She gave a helpless shrug. ‘It’s not obvious to me.’
‘We will marry as soon as it can be arranged,’ Takis said smoothly.
‘Marry?’ Lissa stared at him incredulously. ‘I’m not going to marry you. There’s no need.’
His hard-boned face showed no emotion. ‘You do not think it is important for the baby to be legitimate?’
‘Nobody cares about that these days. Marrying simply to conform to outdated values is a terrible idea.’ Without giving him a chance to speak, she said fiercely, ‘I don’t want to marry you. It’s a crazy idea.’
‘Nevertheless, it will happen.’ He sounded implacable, and Lissa felt a ripple of unease. Takis could not make her marry him, she reminded herself. ‘Marriage will give us equal parental rights,’ he continued. ‘If you refuse, I will seek custody of my child.’
She jumped up from the sofa, breathing hard. ‘You wouldn’t win. Courts rarely separate a baby from its mother unless there are exceptional circumstances.’
‘Would you be prepared to risk a legal battle that could drag on for months or even years? The costs involved with solicitors’ fees and so on are likely to be exorbitant.’
‘I don’t believe this,’ Lissa said shakily. ‘You told me that fatherhood does not appeal to you.’
His jaw clenched. ‘It’s true I would not have chosen to have a child. But neither of us have a choice. You are pregnant and we must both do what is best for the baby.’
Takis was like a tornado tearing through her life, Lissa thought frantically. She felt agitated and panicky and her heart was beating alarmingly fast. ‘I can’t breathe,’ she gasped. The room was spinning. She flung out a hand to grab hold of the back of the chair.
‘Lissa!’
Takis’s voice came from a long way off. It was the last thing she heard before blackness engulfed her.