The Greek Claims His Shock Heir

‘Why would I need security?’ Vivi whispered.

‘I want to see Winnie,’ Eros grated. ‘I am Eros Nevrakis.’

Vivi froze and immediately awarded him a look of utter loathing. ‘My sister is at work.’

‘I will come in and wait for her, then.’

‘She won’t be home until after midnight, so there’s no point in you waiting,’ Vivi proclaimed with pursed lips.

Eros drew himself up to his full six feet four inches and simply looked through her, unperturbed by her hostile manner. ‘I will return at ten in the morning. Tell her to ensure that she is here then,’ he delivered through clenched white teeth.

CHAPTER TWO (#u3225a8be-6064-54c4-92dd-164051c64e27)

‘NO—NO WAY am I seeing him after all this time,’ Winnie declared wearily after her shift with both her sisters treating her to an anxious appraisal. ‘What on earth does he want?’

‘Do you think he’s found out about Teddy?’ Zoe piped up worriedly.

‘I don’t see how.’

‘Grandad knows him,’ Vivi interposed thoughtfully. ‘I saw the look on his face when you admitted Teddy’s father was Greek and when you finally gave him the guy’s name, he was really, really furious—didn’t you notice?’

‘No, I wasn’t wanting to look at Grandad while I was being forced to tell that particular story,’ Winnie admitted, her face burning at that memory.

‘Well, Nevrakis can’t force you to see him. Go to the park as usual,’ Vivi advised.

‘Don’t you think—with him being Teddy’s father—that that is a bit unwise?’ Zoe murmured, as always the peacemaker.

‘He’s not Teddy’s father. He’s never been here for Teddy or Winnie when they needed him!’ Vivi sharply snapped back at Zoe.

‘It’s just I think...well, you know...er...that fathers have rights,’ Zoe said hesitantly. ‘And maybe if he knows about Teddy and that’s why he’s here, if you don’t play nice, he might start thinking about taking you to court to get permission to see him.’

‘Dear heaven, I hope not!’ Winnie gasped in horror but the more she thought about that risk, the more worrying the situation became. But was it really that likely that Eros would be that interested in a child?

Could Eros already know about Teddy? Could her grandfather have told him? She wouldn’t have trusted Stam Fotakis as far as she could throw him. He had already told her that she should’ve informed Eros that she was pregnant rather than simply walking away from their relationship without an explanation. For walk, substitute run, she thought unhappily, for the discovery that Eros was a married man had devastated Winnie, and after that deception she hadn’t felt she owed Eros the news that she was pregnant. She hadn’t wanted anything more to do with him, hadn’t ever wanted to even see him again...but now he had tracked her down and with Teddy around that was a game changer, wasn’t it?

Clutching her hand, Teddy chattered non-stop all the way to the park. It was toddler chatter in which only one word in ten was recognisable as an actual word. They had to walk slowly too, because Teddy loved to walk. But he had short legs and if she lost patience and put him in the buggy, he would throw a tantrum. ‘Not baby!’ he would scream, mortally offended by such a demeaning mode of transport.

He gave a shout of excitement once he saw the playground, tearing free of his mother’s grasp to race down the path in advance of her. Winnie broke into a run because Teddy’s fearless approach to life often put him at risk. By the time she caught up, he was climbing the steps to the slide. He had been as agile as a little monkey from an early age. He whooped as he went down the slide and she retreated to a concrete bench nearby, relieved to sit down because she was still tired from the night before.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she dug it out.

It was Vivi.

‘Nevrakis is coming to see you at the park,’ her sibling warned her. ‘I tried to put him off but he said he would stay and wait if I didn’t tell him where you were.’

Near panic engulfed Winnie, her jaw dropping at the thought of being cornered by Eros in a public place. But he wasn’t the type to make a scene, she reminded herself doggedly, and she couldn’t avoid him for ever. It was better to be sensible, she told herself bracingly, smoothing down her warm jacket, wishing she had put on a little make-up, telling herself off furiously for even caring how she might look while her nerves rattled about inside her like jumping beans. He had to know about Teddy, had to want to see him because there was no other reason for him to seek her out now. Her mind wanted to take her back to her very first meeting with Eros Nevrakis but she wouldn’t let it because memories would weaken her, tearing away the superficial calm she had learned to keep in place to make her sisters happy.

‘Oh, sure, I’m over him!’ she had taught herself to declare with a laugh for punctuation. ‘I’m not stupid!’

Two men lodged nearby below the trees, suited and smart. Her grandfather’s utterly superfluous bodyguards, whom Vivi had met the night before on the doorstep, Winnie suspected, and she ignored them. She would have to phone her grandfather about that unnecessary extravagance. Why on earth would she and her sisters need guarding when as yet nobody even knew they were related to Stam Fotakis?

In the distance she glimpsed a tall man striding down the path and her heart stuttered as though she’d received a shock, while breathing suddenly became a distinct challenge. Perspiration beaded her short upper lip, heat washing over her as she recalled what an absolute idiot she had been two years earlier...falling for her boss, sleeping with her boss.

Eros paused, all sleek, lithe and sexy elegance in a charcoal-grey suit and overcoat, a red silk scarf bright at his throat as he stood scanning the playground with the raw self-assurance of a highly successful tycoon. Winnie swallowed hard, her hands clenching together, nails biting into her tender palms. She had to force herself to stand upright to catch his attention because she wasn’t going to hide from him and refused to behave as if she feared him.

His brilliant gaze settled on her and she went even stiffer, turning her head away to check on Teddy, standing at the top of the slide shouting for her attention, for if there was one thing Teddy loved it was an audience. He was an irredeemable little extrovert, brimming with vitality. She moved closer to the slide, ignoring Eros to the best of her ability, even as she heard his steps sound behind her.

Teddy zoomed down the slide with a whoop, clambered off at the bottom and raced round to repeat the exercise.

‘Why didn’t you tell me about him?’ Eros breathed, soft and low and deadly.

Disconcertion turned Winnie’s head in his direction and she saw him in profile because his entire attention was studiously welded to her son. That classic bronzed profile made her heart give a sick thud inside her chest and she swallowed hard, close enough to smell the rich aromatic scent of his designer cologne, close enough to be dragged down screaming into the kind of memories she always suppressed, and she took a hasty step backwards, protecting herself from getting too close.

‘Why didn’t you tell me that you were married?’ Winnie parried quietly.

Eros gritted his even white teeth, incensed by that comeback. He turned to study her as involuntarily entranced by her tiny proportions as he had been the first time he saw her. She was a barely five-feet-tall brunette with delicate curves and a tiny waist, so small and light he could have scooped her up with one powerful hand. Of course, pregnancy could have changed her shape, he conceded, but he was challenged to picture Winnie pregnant and the loose jacket she wore concealed more than it revealed of her figure. The huge chocolate-brown eyes, sultry pink mouth and the lustrous dark mane of her hair, however, were unchanged. He tore his electrified gaze from her, angry enough to spit tacks, and concentrated his attention back on his son.

The little boy was definitely his son and he was of a much sturdier build than his mother. That tumble of black curls and those green eyes, the same green eyes that Eros had inherited from his late mother, unmistakeably marked Teddy out as a Nevrakis. Eros had done his homework and made his own enquiries since that meeting two days earlier with Stam Fotakis. His son was called Teddy. What sort of a name was that? His child had been named after a plush toy, he thought witheringly. But the biggest surprise of all for Eros at that moment was how looking at Teddy made him feel...

As though that little creature had been put on this earth purely for him to protect, he acknowledged in wonderment, watching as Teddy climbed the slide steps at speed and threw himself down it with dangerous enthusiasm and a noisy shout. Impelled by a response that bit too deep to withstand, Eros strode forward and swept the little boy upright again with careful hands. Teddy gave him a startled look and then a huge cheerful smile as Eros gently set him free again.

‘Swing, Mama,’ Teddy demanded, setting off in that direction.

‘He’s bossy like you,’ Winnie said drily.

Eros ignored her. He had a great deal to say to Winnie but none of it could be safely voiced where they could be overheard.

Winnie lifted Teddy into one of the baby swings and gave him a push before standing back.

‘How old is he?’ Eros demanded in a driven undertone.

‘Eighteen months. He’s tall for his age,’ Winnie muttered.

‘And in all that time you didn’t once think of contacting me?’ Eros intoned through clenched teeth of restraint.

‘You were married,’ Winnie reminded him with a lift of her chin.

‘That’s irrelevant,’ Eros countered with ferocious bite. ‘It’s not an excuse.’

‘I’m not making excuses. I don’t regret not telling you,’ Winnie responded, outraged by his lack of guilt.

‘But you will,’ Eros murmured, soft as a cat padding round her on velvet paws of menace. ‘You will learn to regret it.’

A faint chill stiffened Winnie’s already rigid spine but she squared her slight shoulders, rebelling against that sense of threat. Eros couldn’t push her around; he couldn’t do anything to her. Teddy was hers and she didn’t work for Eros any more or indeed depend on him in any way.

Her defiance infuriated Eros. Evidently he had underestimated Winnie when he had deemed her to be a quiet, restful sort of young woman; the type who would never cause waves in his life. He had trusted her as far as he trusted any woman, had believed he knew her inside out, had only registered how mistaken such an assumption could be after she had vanished into thin air. His wide sensual mouth compressed into a grim line.

Winnie glanced at him and her tension zoomed to a new high, her eyes lingering against her will on his lean, powerful length, her breath catching in her throat. With an effort she tore her attention away again but her senses were humming, her heart was pounding, teaching her that she had yet to attain the level of indifference she needed to be safe around him. Instead she was mesmerised by that stormy, striking male beauty of his, the honed, flawless angles of his high cheekbones, the definitive shape of his nose and the unforgettably stunning impact of those jewelled green eyes, once seen, never forgotten. She shifted her feet, fighting off her susceptibility, hating herself for noticing afresh just how gorgeous he was.