The Kristallis Baby

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.

She knew she should have stayed longer—to find out exactly how serious Nikos Kristallis was about taking Danny. But right now all she wanted was to be as far away from him as possible.

Nik watched the bus labouring through the heavy traffic. He knew that Carrie was aware of him, standing there, but she was looking forward, refusing to acknowledge his presence.

It was only a couple of hours since he’d met her, but already Carrie Thomas had become strangely significant in his life. She had known Leonidas while he’d been lost to Nik. She’d even met his father. And now she had his nephew.

Nik saw that Danny had spotted him standing there. He had no hesitation at all in staring right back at Nik. His bright button eyes were fixed on him, and he turned his head and leant forward to keep him in view as long as possible when the bus finally moved off into the stream of traffic.

That baby boy was all that was left of Leonidas. Carrie Thomas could take the child home tonight, but it wouldn’t be long before he was taking him home to Greece.

CHAPTER THREE

C ARRIE hurried along the street towards Danny’s nursery. It had been an exhausting day, and all she could think about was collecting Danny and taking him safely back to the refuge of her flat. Normally she loved her work, but she was so tired and stressed, after a sleepless night worrying about what Nikos Kristallis meant to do, that the day had seemed endless.

She told herself that Nik didn’t really mean to take Danny away from her. After all, if he was genuinely interested in Danny, surely he would have made an appearance before now? And even if he really did want Danny, he couldn’t just take him. He might be rich and powerful, but he would still have to make arrangements through the proper channels—otherwise it would be kidnapping.

She was starting to regret leaving the previous evening before anything had been resolved. Not knowing Nik’s intentions was killing her, and she’d been on edge all day, half expecting Nik to contact her at any moment. Every time the phone had rung she’d nearly jumped out of her skin. Her thoughts had kept turning to Danny, and how much she loved him, and by the end of the afternoon her nerves had been in shreds. Now, as she made her way quickly through the crowds of commuters hurrying along the street, she was desperate to reach Danny and wrap him safely in her arms.

Suddenly she stopped in her tracks. She stared across the wide London street, momentarily unable to believe what she saw.

Nikos Kristallis was standing on the doorstep of Danny’s nursery, leaning forward slightly as if he was talking into the intercom.

Buses and taxis flashed across her line of vision, making it hard to see clearly. She couldn’t be right. She was so stressed her eyes were playing tricks on her.

No, it was real. The heavy door was swinging closed behind Nikos Kristallis, but just before it slammed shut she saw him heading swiftly up the stairs. He was going to take Danny!

Carrie’s heart thudded in her chest and she broke into a run, weaving in and out of people as she sprinted along the pavement towards the crossing. The lights were just changing from red to amber, and four lanes of traffic started revving up as the last pedestrians cleared the road. She dashed out anyway, ignoring the angry shouts and blaring horns as she focussed on the nursery door. If Nik came back out carrying Danny she had to reach him quickly. She could not lose him in the crowd.

She skidded to a halt at the doorway and pressed impatiently on the buzzer, panting for breath.

‘It’s Carrie Thomas!’ she gasped. ‘Please let me in.’

She was already leaning heavily on the door, and the instant the lock released she was through, bounding up the stairs two at a time. She couldn’t let Nikos Kristallis get to Danny.

She burst through the door at the top of the stairs and dashed along the corridor to the baby room. Danny was there on the play mat—safe and sound.

She called his name and he looked round, but the moment his eyes found her his little face crumpled into tears.

‘Up you come, poppet,’ the young nursery assistant said, picking him up before Carrie was able to unlatch the child safety gate and get into the room. ‘He hasn’t been himself today,’ she continued, speaking to Carrie. ‘Been a bit grizzly all day. I think he might be teething.’

‘Poor little thing,’ Carrie said, holding out her arms to take Danny from the young woman. She hugged him tightly, feeling some of her anxiety ease as she pressed her face against his hair. Then she held him away from her and looked at him carefully. His cheeks were flushed, but he had already stopped crying.

Voices coming along the corridor suddenly caught her attention, and she remembered with a sick feeling that Nikos Kristallis was in the building.

‘And this is our baby unit,’ she heard Mrs Plewman saying right behind her. ‘It has excellent facilities, and most importantly one member of staff for every two babies.’

Carrie turned on the spot and found herself staring up into the face of Nikos Kristallis. He looked completely indifferent to the fact that she had discovered him at the nursery—a place he had no reasonable reason to be—and her concern over his presence suddenly switched to anger. He was so arrogant that he thought normal rules didn’t apply to him.

‘What are you doing here?’ She rounded on him. ‘You have no right to be anywhere near Danny!’

‘Mrs Plewman has been kind enough to give me a tour of the nursery,’ he replied smoothly, throwing the nursery manager a charming smile.

‘I don’t want this man anywhere near Danny.’ She spoke urgently to Mrs Plewman. ‘I don’t trust him—he wants to take Danny away, back to Greece with him.’

‘I have a right to see where my nephew is being cared for,’ Nik replied.

‘But that’s not why you’re here,’ Carrie said, hugging Danny protectively and glaring up at him.

‘Your nephew?’ Mrs Plewman said. Her deferential manner indicated that up until that point she had been impressed by Nik, but now Carrie’s reaction had given her pause for thought.

‘Yes, Danny is my nephew,’ Nik confirmed, but his sharp blue eyes were fixed on Carrie. ‘What other reason have I got to come here?’

‘To take Danny,’ Carrie said. ‘To get your hands on him when I’m not around.’

‘You really are overreacting,’ Nik said with infuriating blandness. ‘As Mrs Plewman will tell you, unauthorised people are not permitted to collect the children left in her care. And, quite apart from that, if that was my intention why would I choose to come at the exact time you are due to arrive?’

‘So that the staff see us together? To make yourself seem familiar? To give you credibility?’ Carrie rattled off the first things that came into her mind.

‘Being seen with you would give me credibility ?’ Nik repeated. His eyes swept across her disparagingly, and his disdainful expression made it all too clear what he thought of that idea.

‘I’m taking Danny home now,’ Carrie said stiffly. ‘And just to be sure you understand—you are not to come here again. In fact, I don’t want you bothering us at all.’

Carrie didn’t wait for a reply. She knew she ought to talk to Mrs Plewman properly, to make it absolutely clear that no one but her should ever collect Danny. But at that moment she simply had to get away.

She let the door swing shut as she walked through and bent to pull the buggy out of the cupboard. Suddenly Nik was beside her again, taking it out of her hand.

‘Let me,’ he said. ‘It’s rather dangerous to carry so much on the stairs at once.’

‘I’ve got it, thank you,’ Carrie snapped, reaching out for the buggy.