The Diakos Baby Scandal

‘I’m sorry…’ Kerry gasped for breath after her mad dash. ‘It’s Nicco. I heard Corban and Theo talking—they are going to take Nicco away tonight.’

‘Why? What’s wrong? Is he all right?’ Hallie demanded, standing up so quickly that the stool she’d been sitting on crashed over.

‘Yes, he’s fine,’ Kerry said. ‘But listen—you don’t understand. They said you’re not fit to look after him. They’re going to take Nicco away by helicopter without telling you.’

‘No. They can’t do that.’ For a moment Hallie stood glued to the spot, her face blank with shock. Then her expression changed and she lurched into action, snatching her handbag from the dressing table so quickly that she sent a glass of wine flying. ‘They won’t take him. I won’t let them,’ she said, grabbing her car keys from a side table and hurrying unsteadily across the room in high heels. ‘I’ll take him away with me—somewhere they won’t find us.’

‘Wait,’ Kerry said, automatically reaching for a handful of tissues to stem the spread of the red wine across Hallie’s dressing table. ‘I’ll come with…’

Suddenly Kerry hesitated, looking down at the wine-soaked tissues. Hallie had been drinking. Remembering her flushed cheeks, and the way she’d swayed unevenly across the room, she’d obviously had quite a lot—way too much to be driving. But she’d just taken her car keys.

Kerry burst out of the room after her. But it was too late—the nursery door was open and Nicco’s cot was empty. A glance at the lights above the family’s private elevator told her that someone had already reached the underground car park.

Oh, God! What had she done? Hallie was drunk and she was about to drive out into the busy city traffic with her little boy in the car.

Kerry’s heart was in her mouth as she hurtled back to Theo’s study. She careered through the open door, making Theo and Corban look up in surprise.

‘It’s Hallie!’ she cried, struggling to catch her breath to speak.

Theo was beside her in an instant. His strong hands closed reassuringly on her upper arms to keep her steady and his dark brown eyes held her secure in his powerful gaze.

‘Take a deep breath.’ His calm, assured voice cut through the panic that gripped her. ‘That’s it. Now, tell me what has happened.’

Kerry stared up at his handsome face, momentarily torn between the distress she’d felt when she heard him planning to take Nicco away from his mother and the comfort she instinctively felt simply from being close to him, from the feel of his strong hands on her arms.

‘Hallie has taken Nicco in her car,’ she blurted. ‘She’s been drinking.’

Corban cursed in Greek, then ran out the door, shouting urgently to Theo as he left. At the same time Theo spun away from Kerry to pick up the phone. She realised he was calling his security team to give orders that Hallie should not be allowed to leave.

Kerry folded her arms across her chest and hugged herself tightly. What had she done? Theo and Corban had no right to take Nicco away from his mother—but her impulsive reaction had put both mother and child in danger. She should never have acted without thinking things through.

‘I’m going to help my brother,’ Theo said, turning to leave. ‘Hallie was away from the hotel before I warned Security, but Corban is right behind her.’

Kerry bit her quivering lip anxiously and felt her eyes burning with unshed tears. She wished she’d realised sooner that Hallie had been drinking—but it had never occurred to her that her friend would be in that state.

‘It will be all right.’ Suddenly Theo was back by her side, pulling her gently against his strong chest. He lifted his hands and slipped them under her hair, cradling the back of her head tenderly as he tipped her face up to his. ‘You did the right thing—we’ll take care of it now.’

Then, before she could reply, he was gone. But the warm, exotic fragrance of his cologne lingered in the air and the nape of her neck still tingled where his fingertips had brushed.

Theo was everything to her. Since the day she’d met him everything else in her life had faded into insignificance.

When her temporary job in Athens had finished she’d been overwhelmed with joy when he had asked her to stay with him. With his encouragement she had delayed looking for a new position, so that she would be free to travel with him wherever he went. He’d said that he wanted her with him always, so that they would be able to spend time together whenever his demanding schedule allowed.

Kerry closed her eyes, imagining the warm strength of Theo’s arms around her. Being in his arms always felt so right. Just now, even when he was worried about his nephew and his sister-in-law, he had taken a moment to give her comfort and reassurance.

He had told her that she’d done the right thing—except he didn’t know what had really happened. What she had really done.

She walked shakily across to the window and looked out at the city, which was now properly dark. Somewhere out there Corban was pursuing his wife and child. And Theo was helping him. She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling a tear escape to run down her cheek, and prayed that everyone would be all right.

Theo Diakos strode through the hotel with a face like thunder. Hallie and the child had been safely retrieved by his brother, but not before she had crashed her car on Syntagma Square.

Mercifully no one had been injured—but driving a sports car off the road on one of the busiest squares in Athens, right outside the parliament building, had attracted a deluge of unwanted attention, and a horde of paparazzi had appeared out of nowhere before Corban had been able to get his family away from prying eyes.

Theo swore under his breath. If only he had persuaded his brother to act sooner—to get Hallie out of the country and away from the family—then none of this would have happened. It had been becoming increasingly difficult to keep Hallie’s drinking problem under wraps, and this fiasco would certainly blow it wide open.

Up until that evening almost no one had known about her difficulty with alcohol. Even Kerry—as far as he knew—had remained unaware. Corban had worked hard to keep it a secret—but now everyone would know.

Theo glanced at his watch. Only a few minutes had passed since he’d called Kerry to tell her that the situation was contained, but she had sounded so distressed by the whole event that he wanted to get back to her without delay. He was sorry that she’d been dragged into such an unpleasant family situation. Witnessing Hallie drunk and out of control, then putting Nicco at risk and creating an unsavoury public embarrassment, had obviously been upsetting for her.

Kerry would never behave like that. There wasn’t a disagreeable bone in her body. She was gentle and graceful, and she hated drawing attention to herself. Theo valued every minute he spent in her enchanting company.

He’d first spotted her nearly a year earlier, talking to a group of tourists in the foyer of one of his hotels. Her long blonde hair, wide blue eyes and honeyed complexion had initially caught his attention, but once he’d spent an evening with her it had been her gentle charm that had utterly captivated him. After the cut and thrust of his high-paced business life, time with Kerry was the perfect refreshing antidote.

Now he was hurrying back to her, waiting for him on the roof garden. He knew how much she loved it there, and he hoped the pleasant surroundings would ease her distress. But if she was still upset when he reached her, he would pull her into his arms and make love to her until she forgot her worries.

He found her standing with her back to him, looking out over the city towards the Acropolis. The second he took another step towards her she seemed to sense his presence and spun round to face him, her hair bouncing about her shoulders as she moved.

‘Is everyone all right?’ she asked urgently. ‘Hallie and Nicco? People on the street where she crashed?’

‘Everyone is fine,’ Theo said. He pulled her towards him, but her body was filled with tension and she didn’t sway into his arms as he had expected. He leant closer, swept her silky hair away from her neck and pressed his lips to the sensitive skin below her ear. ‘Forget about it now—it’s all under control. Let me take your mind off your worries.’

‘Where are they now?’ Kerry asked, standing even straighter and stiffer than before. ‘Are they all together?’

Theo stepped back and looked down at her. In the time they’d been together Kerry had never once refused his lovemaking. She was so deliciously responsive to him that it made sex even more exciting and satisfying for him. Even thinking about the way she dissolved into a pool of desire at his slightest touch made him hot and ready for her.

Usually a simple look from him was enough to have her melting willingly into his arms. For her to be so immune to him she must be really concerned.

‘Yes. Corban has everything under control. At any moment they will be flying out to the island—away from the press,’ Theo said, skimming his hands up the bare skin of her arms with the lightest of touches. ‘You can stop worrying about them now—and let me make you feel better.’

Kerry stood tall and drew in a deep breath. She had to talk to Theo—to tell him what she had done. And she had to ask about the conversation she’d overheard him having with Corban.

Then, after that, she still had to tell him she was pregnant. It was almost impossible to believe that only a couple of hours ago she had been running to tell Theo the amazing news that they were going to have a baby—and then everything suddenly seemed to become horribly confusing and wrong.

‘Let me see if I can think of something new…something interesting,’ Theo said, his voice deep and sexy, as he reached out to pluck a couple of beautiful pink roses from the trellis beside them.

Kerry drew in a wobbly breath and looked at the gorgeous blooms in Theo’s large, sensual hands. Only last night he had carried her out to the roof garden from their bedroom, peeled off her lacy nightclothes and laid her naked under the stars. Then he’d scattered her body with rose petals before making long, slow, exquisite love to her.

Now the heady fragrance of roses was already filling her senses again, and her body was burning with the need to surrender to his lovemaking. She knew that she would soon forget everything in the bliss that he would give her.

But she couldn’t surrender to her desires. It wasn’t right when there were still so many concerns in her mind. She had to talk to him.

‘Stop. I need to…’ She hesitated, then pushed his hands away and took a step backwards. ‘Earlier this evening I heard you talking to Corban. You said he was to take Nicco away from Hallie.’

‘Yes. It’s a shame I didn’t give my brother that advice yesterday,’ Theo replied. ‘Then tonight’s fiasco would have been avoided.’

‘How can you be so cold?’ Kerry gasped. ‘Someone could have been seriously hurt tonight—or even killed!’

‘Exactly,’ Theo said. ‘That could have been averted.’