The Kristallis Baby

‘It’s what they always do in the movies. I had to bend you back like that to reach the jacket,’ Nik said, with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. ‘Besides, you looked like a frightened little rabbit. If I’d stuck out my leg and tripped Darren up, I doubt that you would’ve had the wit to use the diversion to put his phone back unnoticed.’

‘I didn’t ask you to help me,’ she said, suddenly riled by Nik’s casual insult, and by the way he was treating the whole thing as a joke. ‘I would have simply explained to Darren that Lulu needed the phone.’

‘I’m not going to apologise for kissing you, if that’s what you’re angling for,’ he said. ‘I did what I thought was necessary at the time, and that’s all there is to it. I wasn’t exactly delighted with the situation myself, but I’m not asking for your apologies.’

‘I’ve got nothing to say sorry for!’ Carrie protested, her emotions see-sawing horribly. She’d found the kiss totally mind-blowing, yet Nik apparently had a very different view of the whole thing. ‘I didn’t ask you to kiss me. It’s not my fault you found it so awful!’

‘I wasn’t talking about the kiss, of course. Why are women always so insecure about these things?’ he asked, with an exaggerated lift of his eyebrows. ‘I meant that I wasn’t thrilled to discover you’re a thief. I’d hoped that you were a reasonable, honest person.’

‘What?’ she gasped, struggling to understand the implication of his words. Why did he care what sort of person she was? Suddenly she remembered him telling Darren that he needed a moment alone with her. Who was he?

‘First impressions count for a lot,’ he continued, letting his gaze drift slowly down her body, lingering meaningfully on the fullness of her breasts before skimming down to her narrow waist.

‘Who are you?’ She held herself straight and refused to fidget under his blatant scrutiny. ‘And what do you want from me?’

He didn’t answer immediately, and, still not making eye contact, rudely let his gaze sweep lower, moving over the swell of her hips and down her long exposed legs to the tips of her toes. She was just about to repeat her question when his eyes snapped up to meet hers.

‘My name is Nikos Kristallis,’ he said coldly. ‘And I have come to discuss arrangements for my nephew.’

CHAPTER TWO

C ARRIE couldn’t speak. She was so shocked she could hardly think.

She simply stared at him. Nikos Kristallis. He was the younger brother of Sophie’s husband, Leonidas. The favoured son of the proud and arrogant Cosmo Kristallis. He was Danny’s uncle.

A nasty sensation of dread settled in her stomach, but she took a deep breath to steady herself. She tried not to think about her distressing encounter with Cosmo Kristallis at the funeral, which suddenly loomed up in the front of her mind. It had been a horrible experience, and her memories of the occasion were inseparable from the soul-wrenching grief for her loved ones.

‘What are you doing here?’ When she finally managed to speak, her voice was no more than a scratchy whisper.

Nik watched the profound impact of his words on Carrie Thomas with a strange sense of satisfaction. The colour drained from her face with startling speed and for a moment she appeared totally stunned.

He was pleased. Not that he liked to inflict pain on people as a general rule, but Carrie Thomas was different. She had taken something that belonged to him, and he would do whatever it took to get it back!

‘I have come to discuss my nephew,’ Nik replied. ‘Now I have identified myself to you, I would have thought that was obvious.’

‘I have nothing to say to you about Danny,’ Carrie said. Her face was very white against her black hair, but the spark was suddenly back in her green eyes. ‘We have nothing to discuss.’ She stalked across to the door and walked out.

Nik made no attempt to stop her leaving.

It suited him to get her away from the crowds at this footballer’s party. It was too public for what he had to do, and there were definitely too many photographers about.

Nik’s eyes narrowed as he watched Carrie weave her way through the crowds of partygoers. She was a gorgeous creature. His investigators had provided him with photos, so he’d known she would be attractive, but those photos had done nothing to reveal the incredible full-blooded impact of her presence.

She was making rapid progress across the room, stepping lightly in her strappy sandals, the extraordinary height of the heels creating a delicious tension in her shapely legs. Every man present was looking at her as she passed. Every man present was picturing those long, long legs wrapped around him. Or maybe it was just Nik. Certainly he couldn’t shake the thought of kissing her again. Kissing her and more, much more.

Her silky black hair hung loose past her shoulders, swinging alluringly in time with her step. He wanted to slip his hands under that shimmering black curtain and brush it aside to expose the naked skin of her back, to reveal the zip that ran skin-tight down her spine.

He imagined easing that zip down and running his hands all over that sexy body, teasing and caressing her, removing all her clothes until she was naked and ready for him. He knew she wouldn’t be a passive lover. He longed to look deep into those green eyes as she writhed beneath him, as he took her to the brink of ecstasy.

Suddenly he realised she was almost at the door. Pushing his erotic thoughts about her aside, he stirred himself to follow. He knew where she was going, but it would be wise to keep her in his sights.

Carrie picked up her denim jacket and sporty backpack from an alcove by the front door, then stopped and scanned the room for Lulu. She was desperate to get out of there, but she couldn’t forget about her friend—especially when she had been so upset earlier. She spotted her almost immediately, hurrying down the staircase looking determined, in freshly applied make-up and dressed to kill in a slinky silver cocktail dress.

‘I’m really sorry,’ Carrie said, as soon as Lulu reached her. ‘I couldn’t get the phone.’

‘Don’t worry about it,’ Lulu said, sounding remarkably calm considering her previous histrionics. She was looking across at Darren, who was talking and joking with a group of men. ‘I’ll get it myself. He can’t have listened to the message yet, or he wouldn’t be looking so happy.’

Then, without another word for Carrie, she walked across the room towards her husband. Carrie looked after Lulu for a moment, hoping everything would turn out all right, but she couldn’t stay any longer. Apart from her desire to get as far away from Nikos Kristallis as possible, she had to hurry—because she was already late picking up Danny. She turned and left through the front door.

The blast of cool air on her face felt good, and she took a deep breath as she hurried down the marble steps of the swanky London town house to the street below.

It was a relief to be out of there, away from the piercing gaze of Nikos Kristallis. She’d felt his eyes burning a hole in her back all the way across the room. She shivered, imagining the predatory intensity in his expression as he’d watched her walking away from him.

She set off down the street quickly, her heels clicking on the pavement as she walked. Her fingers were surprisingly shaky as she buttoned up her denim jacket, and she had to resist the urge to look behind her to see if Nikos Kristallis had also left the party.

Why was he in London? Had he come to finish off what his father had started at the funeral? Maybe he wanted her to sign legal documents saying she would never pursue a connection with the Kristallis family?

She shook herself sharply and forced herself to put it all out of her mind for now. She couldn’t be upset when she picked up Danny. It wouldn’t be fair on him.

It was a long walk to his nursery, but with any luck she’d be able to hail a black cab. She turned the corner onto the main road and, amazingly, the first taxi she tried for pulled over. She gave the driver directions and climbed inside, suddenly uncomfortably aware of his eyes on her exposed legs. No wonder she’d got a cab so easily.

A few minutes later she paid the driver and jumped out into the crowd of London commuters hurrying along the pavement. She ducked into a doorway and pressed the buzzer.

‘It’s Carrie Thomas,’ she said into the metal grille. ‘I’m so sorry I’m late.’

With a long low buzz the lock released and she was into the building. Up one flight of stairs, and another security door later she was into Danny’s nursery.

‘Danny!’ she cried, dashing over and picking the baby up.

Tears suddenly pricked in her eyes. It felt wonderful to hug him tight. She was sure she couldn’t love him any more than she did, even if he was her own son.

Nikos Kristallis had wasted his time coming to London. Leonidas had always said he never wanted Danny to have anything to do with his Greek family. He had even made Sophie promise that if anything ever happened to him she’d never let them get their hands on him. Now, after meeting Cosmo and Nik, it was easy for Carrie to understand his reasons. And the least she could do for Sophie was to keep the promise she’d made to her husband before they were killed.

‘Sorry I’m late,’ she said, kissing the top of Danny’s head and looking over his tousled brown hair into the face of the nursery assistant who had been sharing a picture book with him.

‘That’s all right,’ the girl said. ‘We’ve been having a nice story—haven’t we, Danny?’

‘You’ll find the penalty for a late pick-up added to your bill, Miss Thomas.’

Carrie winced at the sound of the nursery manager’s voice, but she plastered a smile onto her face before she looked round. She could hardly afford the nursery bill as it was.

‘I’m sorry, Mrs Plewman,’ she said. ‘I got held up.’

‘Hmm.’ Mrs Plewman was unimpressed, making no attempt to hide her disapproval as she took in the short skirt of the sparkly red dress and the high-heeled sandals Carrie was still wearing. It was lucky she’d buttoned her denim jacket up to hide the lowcut front. ‘I’m not running a charity here, Miss Thomas. Make sure it doesn’t happen again. I’ve got my staff to think about, you know, but I’ll waive the penalty payment just this once.’

‘Thank you very much, Mrs Plewman. Have a nice evening.’ Carrie swung Danny’s bag onto her back, along with her own backpack, and retrieved his buggy from the cupboard in the hallway. She couldn’t wait to get home, to the safety and comfort of her flat.

Nik stood outside the building, frowning as an unexpected knot of anticipation twisted deep inside his gut. It was an unfamiliar sensation. He was about to lay eyes on his orphaned nephew for the first time—but why should that make him feel so unsettled?

He’d tried to picture the baby, but he just couldn’t imagine what he was going to look like. He must have seen hundreds of babies in his life, but he’d never really looked at one properly. It would be very strange, returning to Greece with a child.

At last he saw Carrie Thomas emerge from the building, a dark-haired baby balanced on her hip and a folded buggy in her other hand. She glanced up and down the street, but the crowds of passing commuters hid him from her view.

His eyes fixed on the baby, his dead brother’s son, and a peculiar numbness crept over him. That baby was his family. That baby was all his estranged brother Leonidas had left behind.

He started walking mechanically across the wide London pavement towards them, watching Carrie open the buggy with a practised flick of her wrist and snap the safety catch into place with her foot. All the time she was holding the baby tightly, engaging his attention with a constant stream of chatter and smiles.

‘In you go, Danny,’ she said, securing the child in the seat with the harness. ‘Off we go—tube or bus? What do you think?’ She glanced down the street at the queue by the bus stop.

‘We still need to talk,’ Nik said, coming up beside her.

She gasped in surprise. But the change in her body language made him sure she had recognised his voice before she looked round.

‘Anyone would think you were stalking me!’ She flicked her silky black fringe out of her eyes as she turned to him.

Nik looked down at her upturned face. Her almond-shaped eyes were a dazzling green, framed by arching brows and accentuated by long black lashes. He saw no sign of any make-up, and her flawless skin was incredibly pale, but it was lit somehow by a shimmering vitality.

It suddenly struck him as odd that she wasn’t wearing any make-up. Surely that natural look didn’t usually accompany the style of outfit she was wearing? But then, the denim jacket buttoned up to her chin and the sporty backpack seemed somewhat incongruous, too.

‘You left before we finished our conversation,’ Nik said.

‘I don’t have anything to say to you,’ Carrie said. She looked so cool, standing there, but he knew from experience that her nubile body was anything but.

‘Really?’ Nik asked coldly. ‘Tell me, why did you steal my brother’s baby?’

‘I…I…’ Carrie stammered. She gripped the handles of the buggy tightly and took a step backwards across the pavement. ‘I didn’t steal Danny.’

She stared at him with wide, frightened eyes, suddenly looking even paler than before, if that was possible. She looked genuinely shocked by his words. Maybe she hadn’t expected him to cut to the chase so quickly.

‘What else would you call taking a baby that doesn’t belong to you?’ Nik asked. She couldn’t really be surprised by his question, could she? In a moment she’d probably recover herself and start spouting a prepared speech in her defence.

‘Babies don’t belong to people!’ Carrie gasped. ‘They belong with the people who love them.’

‘They belong with their family,’ Nik said, hearing an edge of menace in his own voice as he took a step closer to her. ‘And, like I said, you stole that baby from his family.’

‘I didn’t steal Danny,’ Carrie said. ‘When his parents were killed in the accident no one else wanted him.’

‘No one else was given the chance,’ Nik said.

‘Your father—’

‘My father is dead,’ Nik interrupted coldly.

She drew in a sharp breath and stared up at him with puzzled green eyes. He had clearly startled her again, yet as he watched an expression of genuine sympathy passed across her face.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I—’

‘No.’ He cut her off abruptly with an impatient gesture. Her sympathy was the last thing he wanted.

His father had died suddenly just two months ago—four months after Leonidas had been killed in the motorway accident. Nik had had a heavy couple of months, taking over the areas of the family business that his father had still controlled, but things had finally been coming into order when he’d made an astonishing discovery amongst his father’s personal papers. Leonidas had left behind an orphaned baby boy.

His gaze dropped to study the baby sitting in the buggy beside him—his brother’s son—then he looked back up at the woman who had taken him.

She swallowed convulsively as their eyes met, obviously unnerved by him, and took an awkward step backwards into the crowd of commuters.

‘Oi! Watch out!’ a young man shouted as he careered into her back, nearly knocking her off her feet. Her stiletto heels didn’t help, and she staggered forward, ramming the buggy hard into Nik’s shins.

He swore in Greek. ‘We need to get off the street,’ he grated, hauling Carrie and the buggy sideways, into the relative safety of a café doorway. ‘I’ll signal my driver.’

‘I’m not getting into a car with you.’ Carrie shrugged his hand off her arm and bobbed down to check on Danny. ‘I hardly know you,’ she said, rising to her full heel-enhanced height and meeting his eye.

‘We have to talk, and the street is not the place for it,’ Nik said categorically. ‘We’ll go in here.’ He indicated the stylish Italian café they were standing beside.

Carrie hesitated, biting her lip as she thought about it. She knew she’d have to talk to Nikos Kristallis some time, and quite honestly she’d rather get it over with.

‘All right, but I’m not staying long.’ She stooped to lift Danny out of his buggy. ‘He’ll be getting tired soon.’

A few minutes later they were sitting at a table in a quiet corner at the back of the café. Danny was balanced on Carrie’s lap, making alarming lunges for her cappuccino.

She edged her chair away from the table, automatically shifting Danny out of reach of the hot drink, and glanced surreptitiously at Nik. She couldn’t let herself believe that he really wanted to take Danny from her. It was six months since she’d contacted his family with news of Leonidas’s death, and if Nik had genuinely intended to take Danny he wouldn’t have waited so long to seek her out.

She was anxious to know what he really wanted, but she resisted the urge to ask him straight out. She wanted him to put his cards on the table first, to give her a chance to process what he said. But he’d hardly spoken since they’d sat down, and now he sipped his espresso in silence.

She couldn’t help letting her eyes run over him, drinking in his amazing good looks. His designer suit hung immaculately on his lean, athletic body, emphasising the powerful width of his shoulders and the strong hard planes of his chest. The crisp white shirt he wore was the perfect foil for his bronzed skin, which glowed with an attractive health and vigour.

‘I’m sorry about your father.’ She was still wary of Nik, but she couldn’t stand sitting in silence any longer. ‘It must have been awful to lose him so soon after Leonidas.’

‘Thank you for your concern,’ Nik said, putting his espresso cup down and lifting cold blue eyes to meet hers. ‘But I didn’t come here to discuss my recent bereavement. I’m here to make arrangements regarding the child.’

‘What do you mean?’ A bolt of alarm shot through Carrie, making her heart lurch and her stomach churn unpleasantly.

‘Danny belongs in Greece with me.’

Carrie swayed back in her chair, clutching Danny tightly as she stared at Nik in disbelief. It couldn’t be true. He didn’t really want Danny, did he?

‘I’m sorry for your loss,’ she said tautly. ‘But Danny is staying with me.’

‘No,’ Nik said. ‘Danny will return to Greece with me.’

‘I understand you’re upset, losing your brother and then your father so soon afterwards,’ Carrie said, desperately holding on to her control. She mustn’t let him see how upset she was rapidly becoming as the fact that he might be serious about taking Danny away from her started to sink in. ‘But you didn’t want Danny six months ago. You can’t just decide to look after a child when it suits you.’

‘Don’t insult me,’ Nik said, looking at her squarely. ‘This isn’t about me—it’s about Danny’s right to be part of his real family.’

‘Are you saying I’m not his real family?’ Carrie gasped.

‘You’re not his immediate family,’ Nik said. ‘And you are clearly not a suitable guardian.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Carrie was shocked. ‘You don’t even know me!’

‘I know that I caught you stealing,’ he said.

‘I wasn’t stealing,’ Carrie protested, thinking about Lulu’s plaintive cry for help. She wasn’t ashamed of trying to help her friend. It was none of Nik’s business, but suddenly she decided to tell him everything. It would be better than having him speculate about what she’d been doing. ‘Lulu asked me to do it. She was worried Darren would start a row with her over a message she’d left on his phone, so she wanted to delete it.’

She looked at Nik, to see if he’d accepted her explanation, but his expression was still unreadable.

‘I realise it can’t have been easy, looking after a baby on your own,’ Nik said, abruptly changing the subject back to Danny. ‘But—’

‘It’s been perfectly all right,’ Carrie said quickly. ‘Wonderful, in fact!’ There was no way she’d ever admit how hard she’d found it looking after the baby alone, juggling work commitments and trying to make ends meet financially.

‘I’m his uncle,’ Nik said flatly. ‘You are his cousin.’

‘What difference does that make?’ Carrie demanded. ‘I was there when he needed someone. Nobody else wanted him then. Your father called him a brat…’ She hesitated, looking down at the cold grey marble tabletop. She didn’t want to remember her horrible meeting with Cosmo Kristallis. It was too hurtful to think about the way Danny’s grandfather had viewed him.

‘You met my father?’ Nik asked sharply. ‘When?’

Something in the tone of his voice made Carrie’s eyes fly back to his face. A muscle pulsed at his jaw and a line of tension creased his brow.

‘He came to the funeral,’ Carrie replied carefully. At that moment she felt more than a little afraid of how he might react.

‘Last November,’ Nik said, after a slight pause.

‘Yes.’ Carrie looked at him warily, wondering whether talking about his father and brother was painful for him. He hadn’t shown any sign of it, but it was impossible to know what was going on behind his implacable expression.

‘What did my father say to you?’ Nik asked.

‘Not much,’ Carrie replied cautiously. ‘He simply said that he felt it would be in Danny’s best interests if he remained in England with his mother’s family.’

‘Really?’ Nik gave a sudden ironic burst of laughter. ‘I knew my father, and I doubt very much that those were his exact words.’

‘What your father said wasn’t funny.’ How could he be laughing at a time like this?

‘I’m sure it wasn’t.’ There was a hard glint in his blue eyes. ‘But listening to you putting such measured, almost caring words into his mouth is amusing.’

‘Your father didn’t care about Danny at all!’ Carrie said. ‘He wished Danny had never been born!’

‘Probably,’ said Nik. ‘But I do not share his view on that.’

‘If that’s the case, where were you after the accident? You didn’t care enough to come then!’ She was so upset that she didn’t realise her voice was rising. Suddenly Danny made another lunge for her cappuccino.

‘Careful, Danny!’ She pulled him back, but in her haste her own elbow caught against the cup. It rattled in the saucer, and a moment later the table was awash with foamy coffee.

She jumped to her feet to avoid the flood of coffee, quickly checking none of the scalding liquid had come anywhere near Danny.

‘Hot drinks and babies—not a good combination,’ Nik remarked smoothly. He turned and lifted a commanding hand to catch the attention of the girl behind the counter. ‘We need a cloth here.’

Carrie hugged Danny and looked at the mess she’d made. Nik had got her so upset that she hardly knew what to think or say. She dabbed her paper napkin into the flood of liquid, but it was saturated in a second, and it didn’t stop the coffee running off the marble tabletop onto the café floor.

‘I have to go.’ She bent to pick up her bag, barely registering that it was sitting in a pool of coffee, and turned to retrieve the buggy—but Nik was already holding it. ‘I’m really sorry about the mess,’ she said, as the waitress appeared with a large cloth.

She turned and made her way outside.

‘We haven’t finished this conversation yet,’ Nik said, joining her back on the busy London pavement.

‘Yes, we have.’ She tugged the buggy away from him before he could react. ‘I’m taking Danny home.’

‘I’ll drive you,’ Nik said.

‘No, thank you.’ She glanced up the road, and relief washed over her as she saw a bus approaching. ‘Here’s my bus now. Danny likes the bus.’

Without waiting for a reply she hoisted the buggy up under her arm and, hanging on to Danny tightly, made a dash for the bus stop.

He laughed, and settled on her lap happily as the bus pulled away. Out of the corner of her eye Carrie could still see Nik, standing on the pavement. She stared straight ahead, resisting the urge to look. A shiver ran down her spine as the bus rumbled to a halt alongside him.

It was true that Danny liked the bus, but she could think of many nicer things than sitting cramped, with a buggy gripped awkwardly between her knees, trying to keep a wriggling baby out of the damp patch of coffee on her short red dress, all the while knowing that those piercing Greek eyes were fixed on her from behind the grimy window of a London bus.