[English] The Greek Billionaire's Innocent Rrincess

The Greek Billionaire's Innocent Rrincess
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indecision, she wrapped her legs around him, inviting him to push into her once more. It was an

invitation he couldn’t refuse and with a muttered imprecation he surged forward, taking it slower

this time, but the power of each ensuing thrust was no less intense and Kitty arched beneath him

and gave herself up to the pleasure of feeling him move within her.

Deeper, harder, Nikos was aware that he was losing control, and he slipped his hands under her

and cupped her bottom, lifting her so that he could plunge deeper still, setting a rhythm that was

fast and frantic as he took them both to the edge.

The burning ache in her pelvis was unbearable now, and Kitty felt as if something inside her

were being stretched until it could be stretched no more and it would snap at any second.

‘Please…’ She couldn’t stand it any longer. It had to happen, now . She curled her fingers into the sweat-dampened hair at Nikos’s nape and clung to him while he drove into her again and again,

taking her higher and increasing her excitement with every stroke.

And suddenly, when she was trembling and desperate, he gave one more devastating thrust, and

the dam burst. A tidal wave of pleasure swept through her as her muscles contracted in pulse

after pulse of exquisite sensation, and the ripples radiated out until every inch of her body was

suffused in ecstasy. Almost simultaneously she heard the low groan that seemed to be ripped

from his throat and felt the great shudders that tore through him as he reached his own release.

He slumped on top of her and she felt his heart slamming in his chest.

In a protective gesture as old as womankind she crossed her arms over his back and cradled him

on her breasts, holding him tight for those few moments while he was at his most vulnerable.

Tears filled her eyes and tenderness swamped her heart. He had just given her the most

incredible experience of her life and in the aftermath she felt as though their souls as well as their bodies had been as one. It seemed impossible that he did not feel it too. But too soon he raised

himself onto his elbows and stared down at her, the gleam in his eyes no longer caused by

passion, but anger, as he demanded, ‘Why the hell didn’t you tell me you were a virgin?’

Kitty took one look at Nikos’s grim expression and swiftly dismissed the idea that the intense

passion they had just shared had meant anything more to him than a physical release of lust. This

feeling that their souls had meshed and were now inextricably entwined was an illusion brought

on by the intensity of her first ***ual experience, and the coldness in his eyes warned her he did

not share her fantasy.

Now that the heat of passion was cooling she felt faintly sick, and her limbs were trembling

uncontrollably with shocked reaction to what had happened, but pride dictated that she hide her

emotional turmoil from Nikos.

‘It was my business,’ she murmured lightly, striving to sound as though giving him her virginity

was no big deal.

Nikos was not appeased. ‘But now you have made it my business,’ he said harshly. ‘I am not in

the habit of seducing virgins. If you had told me, I would have stopped.’

‘But I didn’t want you to stop,’ Kitty admitted quietly, silently acknowledging the truth of her

statement. The strength of passion he had aroused in her had been a revelation, and for those few

wild moments she had forgotten everything but her need for fulfilment. It was only now that the

self-recriminations were queuing up in her head.

Nikos had rolled off her and was now watching her intently, his eyes narrowed and suspicious

on her face. Intuitively she knew what was bothering him. He was a playboy with a well-

publicised aversion to commitment. She guessed he was wondering what she might want from

him, and was doubtless determined to impress on her that he would give her nothing. Perhaps he

feared that she would turn clingy and emotional? He wasn’t to know that she would rather die

than allow him to see how much he affected her.

Feeling acutely self-conscious now, she tugged the edges of his jacket together, flushing beneath

his sardonic look that said it was a little too late for modesty. ‘If you want the honest truth, my

virginity had become something of a hindrance,’ she told him, hoping she sounded confident and

convincing, rather than perilously close to tears. ‘I wanted my first time to be an enjoyable

experience, but I wanted a man, not some clumsy, inexperienced boy. Your reputation as an

expert lover was a temptation I couldn’t resist, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed—’ her voice

faltered slightly ‘—but I apologise if my performance and experience were less than you’d

expected.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous. I wasn’t disappointed, as I’m sure—despite your inexperience—you must

have noticed,’ he responded dryly, remembering the shattering intensity of his release. ‘You

were amazing, agape .’

Nikos shifted onto his back and stared up at the shadows flickering on the roof of the ****. The

stark shock of discovering that he was her first lover was fading, and he acknowledged that it had

been the best *** he’d had for a long time. He glanced at Rina lying beside him and slowly

relaxed, relieved that she had made no attempt to cuddle up to him. It seemed that he had no

need to worry. She had been a virgin but she understood the rules. He hadn’t intended to see her

again after tonight, but if she could be trusted not to make demands on him then he saw no

reason why they shouldn’t meet up occasionally when he came to Aristo.

‘I also have a confession to make,’ he said lazily as he rolled onto his side once more and wound

a lock of her still-damp hair around his finger.

Kitty’s heart shuddered to a standstill. ‘Are you married?’

He gave a snort of disgust. ‘ Theos—no!’ Nikos’s face hardened, and he suddenly seemed so

remote that Kitty wondered despairingly what utter madness had led her to have *** for the first

time in her life with this man who was a stranger to her. ‘I’m divorced,’ he told her with a grim

smile that did not reach his eyes, ‘and, since I evicted my ex-wife from my life, resolutely

single.’

Nikos felt the familiar black hatred surge through him as his mind dwelled on the woman he had

once believed he had loved, his bitterness mixed with fury with himself that he had been such a

damnable fool. Never again, he thought savagely. Greta’s terrible deceit had taught him a hard

lesson, but he had learned it well. Never trust any woman or invest emotion in them, because, as

he had found out in the cruellest way imaginable, they weren’t worth it.

He jerked his thoughts from the past and realised that Rina was staring at him. His eyes

narrowed on her startled expression. ‘If you’re harbouring any romantic illusions about me, then

I suggest you forget them fast, agape . I value my freedom above everything.’

Kitty was silent for a moment, trying to assimilate the knowledge that he had been married. It

was the first real thing she had learned about him, and she couldn’t help feeling shocked and—

even more ridiculous—crushingly disappointed. She couldn’t picture him married—it didn’t fit

with his image. She wondered what his wife had been like. Stunningly beautiful, of course, she

brooded. Probably a glamorous model like the women he was frequently photographed in the

papers with.

She was curious about the reasons why the marriage had ended. Nikos had been unable to hide

the bitter note in his voice when he had spoken of his ex-wife. Whatever had happened in his

past had clearly had a huge impact on him and his relationships since his divorce, because his

affairs were numerous and short-lived, and a few of his ex-lovers who had sold their story to the

tabloids had stated that he had a heart of granite.

She glanced up to find him watching her, the expression in his dark eyes unfathomable. Inside

she felt in turmoil, but she managed a careless shrug. ‘Lucky I stopped believing in fairy tales

long ago, then. I have no illusions about the kind of man you are, Nikos. But I’m still curious to

hear your confession.’

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The brief tension between them passed, she saw Nikos visibly relax and his seductive smile sent

a quiver of reaction through her. ‘I didn’t have permission from the Prince Regent to come down

to the beach, either,’ he drawled.

‘Then how did you know about the path from the palace?’ Kitty asked, confused.

‘My mother told me about it when I was a child. I was walking in the gardens tonight when I

suddenly remembered her saying that there was a secret path to the beach, and I decided to look

for it, not knowing for sure if the story was true, or simply a rumour she had heard when she—’

He broke off abruptly, and then, in answer to Kitty’s bewildered stare, added, ‘When she lived

here on Aristo.’

There was no particular reason why he should not tell Rina that his mother had been a servant at

the palace, Nikos conceded. If anything, it was rather ironic that he had been drawn to a member

of the palace staff rather than one of the sophisticated guests at the ball. Perhaps he had a secret desire to return to his roots, he thought dryly. But his personal life was his own, and for all he

knew Rina might decide to sell her story of how she had met him to the tabloids.

MY***SESSION ON THESAND WITHGREEKTYCOONmight be a headline grabber, but a

revelation that Nikos Angelaki was the illegitimate child of a palace servant would sell even

better, and he refused to have his mother’s reputation smeared in some sleazy rag.

‘I thought you are Greek?’ Kitty murmured, eager to learn more about him.

‘My mother was born and grew up on Aristo. She came from around the bay, at a place called

Varna.’

Kitty knew every part of Aristo, and she frowned as she thought of the tiny fishing village where

Nikos had said his mother had lived. There were a few big estates on the hills above Varna, and

she supposed his family owned one of them. ‘I know you said your mother died some years ago,

but do you visit her family often?’

‘No.’ Nikos’s jaw hardened as he thought of the relatives he had never met—his mother’s

family who had thrown her out when she had fallen pregnant with him. None of them were left

now. According to the private detective he had employed to trace them, his grandmother had

died years ago, and his grandfather had passed away at the ripe age of eighty-six—without ever

knowing that he had a grandson, and taking the identity of Nikos’s father with him to the grave.

Nikos’s mother had steadfastly refused to tell him the name of the man who had made her

pregnant and then abandoned her—revealing only that he had been a Greek fisherman. It wasn’t

a lot to go on, Nikos acknowledged grimly. Realistically he accepted that there was no chance he

would ever know who had sired him, but that didn’t stop him wondering whose blood ran

through his veins.

‘My mother’s family are all dead,’ he told Kitty, his tone warning her that he did not want to

continue the discussion. He rolled onto his back once more, suddenly feeling dog-tired. God

knew how many hours it had been since he had boarded a plane at Dubai International Airport,

but jet lag was catching up with him and his eyelids felt heavy. He wouldn’t go to sleep, he

promised himself. He would just rest his eyes for a couple of minutes…

Kitty listened to the rhythmic sound of Nikos breathing and carefully inched away from him. He

looked curiously vulnerable in sleep and she longed to brush the lock of black hair back from his

brow. He was so gorgeous; she could sit and look at him for ever, but what would happen when

he woke up? Her face burned as she imagined them casually pulling on their clothes and strolling

back to the palace. She supposed he would bid her goodnight—maybe even kiss her again? She

had been trained in the rules of etiquette but she had no knowledge of the rules of lovers.

Would Nikos ask to see her again or ask for her phone number? At what point would she tell

himthat she was Princess Katarina, his best friend’ssister—and not a waitress called Rina?

She should never have lied to him, she thought desperately. But when she had met him at the

ball and allowed him to think she was a servant she’d had no idea that they would be lovers

before the night was out. The enormity of what she had done struck her with the force of a tidal

wave and she held her hand against her mouth to hold back her cry of despair. She had to go

now, before Nikos woke up.

Heart racing, she scrambled to her feet and groped for her glasses. Nikos had placed her clothes

on a rock and she quickly slipped off his jacket and folded it neatly next to him before she

dragged her dress over her head, not daring to waste precious time fumbling with her underwear.

She realised that her shoes must still be down by the shore, but Nikos could stir at any minute,

and so she ran barefoot to the back of the ****, out through the narrow hole in the rocks and up

the path leading back to the palace. Heart pounding, she fled through the dark, thankful that she

knew every twist and turn and half expecting to hear Nikos coming after her. But there was no

sound of his footfall and she flew across the garden and into the palace through the now empty

kitchens.

The party was over and the guests had gone. The caterers had left, and the palace staff had all

retired for the night. No one saw her on her way up to her bedroom but her heart felt as though it

would burst when she locked her door and staggered over to the mirror to stare at the reflection

of the woman she barely recognised as herself, with her swollen mouth and her hair tumbling in

wild disarray over her shoulders.

What had she done? She must have been out of her mind. Nikos had invited her to drink

champagne with him but she’d barely had a sip and couldn’t blame alcohol for her appalling

behaviour. Kitty buried her face in her hands, as if she could somehow blot out the memories of

the wild passion she had shared with Nikos in the ****. God knew what he must think of her. But

it couldn’t be any worse than her opinion of herself. She was just thankful she was never likely

to see him again. She could never risk him discovering her true identity. It was far better that he

believed he’d had a one-night stand with a lowly domestic assistant called Rina—and for her to

forget she had ever met him.

CHAPTER FIVE

IN THEdays following the royal ball Kitty did her best to banish Nikos from her mind—but

failed hopelessly. Every time she closed her eyes she saw his face, and at night she dreamed she

was in his arms, their bodies intimately entwined.

***ual frustration was a new and unwelcome experience, but soon another reason kept her

awake until the early hours. Her period was late— and she had always been as regular as

clockwork. As the days passed with no sign that would put her mind at rest she acknowledged

that it was no good trying to ignore her fears. But buying a pregnancy-test kit was no simple task

for a member of the ruling family of Aristo. She was one of the lesser-known royals, but she

couldn’t just waltz into a chemist and brazenly buy a kit.

Eventually she drove into the centre of Ellos, Aristo’s thriving capital city, and, hiding behind

large sunglasses and an oversized sunhat, bought a kit from a busy outlet before swiftly leaving

the shop, terrified that someone had recognised her. The test result was horribly predictable, and

at the same time utterly shocking, and two weeks after the royal ball she stood in her bathroom

and stared numbly at the blue line that had appeared on the pregnancy kit, wondering if the

churning sensation in her stomach was caused by fear, or whether it was the first physical

indication that she was expecting Nikos’s baby. How could it be possible? she thought

despairingly. Nikos had used protection. She felt as though she were caught in a nightmare from

which there was no escape, and she wanted to bury her head under the duvet and wait for

morning to come. But this wasn’t a bad dream, this was real, and she had to face the fact that she

was an unmarried, pregnant princess.

She was still in a state of shocked disbelief when Sebastian found her in the library later that

morning. ‘Ah, there you are, Kitty.’ He stared at her closely. ‘Are you okay? You’ve been

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looking pale for the past few days and Mama is concerned about you.’

‘I’m fine,’ Kitty said quickly. She swung away from Sebastian’s sharp glance but not before

he’d glimpsed the sheen of tears in her eyes.

‘Hey, Kitty-Kat, what’s the matter?’

‘Nothing.’ Her brother’s gentle concern and his use of her childhood nickname tore at Kitty’s

frayed emotions, and she dropped her head in her hands, great sobs racking her as the dam

holding back her fears burst.

‘ Kitty! What the hell is it?’ Sebastian’s voice was harsh with anxiety as he walked round the desk and put his arm around her shoulders. ‘Come on, you can tell me. Whatever it is it can’t be that

bad,’ he coaxed softly. ‘And you know I’ll always help you.’

Sebastian had always been her protector, but even he couldn’t sort out this problem. There was

no way of lessening the impact of her announcement so she said starkly, ‘I’m pregnant.’

For a few seconds the silent library seemed to echo with Sebastian’s shock before he exploded

into speech. ‘ What? What do you mean?’ he demanded, staring at her as if she had suddenly

grown another head. ‘I don’t understand.’

For some reason his stunned incomprehension caused the truth to finally sink into Kitty’s brain

and she took a deep, shuddering breath. ‘It’s quite simple. I’m going to have a baby.’

Once again Sebastian was rendered speechless, but finally he straightened up, his jaw rigid as he

asked with deadly softness, ‘Whose baby?’

Nikos’s arrogantly handsome face filtered into Kitty’s mind. ‘I can’t tell you that,’ she

whispered miserably.

‘Don’t be ridiculous—’ Sebastian broke off and frowned. ‘Are you saying you don’t know? That

the father could be one of several partners? Theos , Kitty, do you have a whole secret life that I know nothing about?’

‘ No…of course not,’ she cried, more tears falling at the flare of disappointment in Sebastian’s eyes. ‘I know who the baby’s father is—it could only be one person,’ she said thickly. ‘But it

was an accident, a mistake and he…he won’t be pleased. I’ve decided not to tell him.’

‘I don’t give a damn if he’s pleased or not,’ Sebastian growled, swinging away from her and

raking his hand through his hair. ‘It’s you I’m concerned about. Kitty…’ He broke off and closed

his eyes briefly at the sight of her tear-streaked face. ‘You are a royal princess of the House of

Karedes. You are fourth in line to the throne, and you cannot be a single mother.’

Kitty bit her lip. It was no wonder Sebastian looked devastated. On the night of the ball Vasilis

Sarondakos had taunted her that the royal family could not afford to be tainted by another

scandal. No member of the ruling family of Aristo had ever given birth to an illegitimate child,

and the implications could rock the House of Karedes to its foundations.

But her choices were limited; in fact they were non-existent. She was pregnant, and not having her baby was absolutely not a consideration. Involving Nikos was another matter. He was

Sebastian’s closest friend, she thought despairingly, her heart cracking at her brother’s shattered

expression. How much worse would Sebastian feel if she revealed that she had been seduced by

a man he trusted implicitly?

And she had lied to Nikos. She had allowed him to believe she was a waitress called Rina. How

would he react if she revealed that, not only was she a royal princess, but that during their brief, ***ual pairing she had conceived his child?

If you’re harbouring any romantic illusionsabout me, then I suggest you forget them fast, he’d warned her immediately after he’d made love to her. I value my freedom above everything .

This was her problem and she would have to deal with it alone. She would have to retire from

public duties and live quietly somewhere away from the palace. Financially she had the security

of an annuity from her father, and when her child was older her qualifications would hopefully

enable her to resume her career as a researcher at the museum. She took a deep breath and felt a

sense of calm replace her earlier panic. Everything would be okay; she would cope. But she had

no intention of ever revealing the identity of her baby’s father—even to her family.

‘Sebastian, I’m sorry but I can’t tell you.’ Kitty jumped to her feet and the colour drained from

her face as a wave of dizziness swept over her. ‘You’ll have to excuse me. I’m not feeling very

well,’ she muttered as she hurried towards the door.

‘What about Mama?’ Sebastian’s voice stopped her. ‘She’ll have to be told about this—and

coming so soon after Papa’s death it will break her heart. Theos , Kitty, what a mess,’ he muttered grimly.

His stark words filled Kitty with guilt and shame. ‘I will speak to Mama and the rest of the

family. Just give me a few days to…to come to terms with things myself. Please, Seb.’

Sebastian hesitated, his gaze locked with her tear-filled eyes, and then he nodded abruptly. ‘But

if I ever find out who the father is, I swear I’ll tear him limb from limb,’ he vowed savagely.

‘You deserve better than this, Kitty.’

A week later Kitty stood on the palace balcony, waving to the crowds who had gathered for the

Day of Independence celebration that marked the day the Adamas Islands had gained

independence from British rule. Queen Tia, still consumed with grief for her husband, had a

chest infection and had been advised by her doctors not to attend. Prince Alex and his wife Maria

were in America, and Prince Andreas was with his new wife Holly in her native Australia. Liss

had other royal duties elsewhere to deal with and so Kitty had assured Sebastian that she would

act as his consort— aware that once she was a single mother she would no longer appear at state

occasions.

Saturday was a beautiful June day typical of early summer in Aristo. Warm sunshine bathed the

crowds who had followed the carnival procession through the streets, and as they flocked into the

palace courtyard Kitty smiled and tried to ignore the discomfort of her heavy silk state gown and

the ornate diamond tiara on her brow that had given her a headache.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a huge crowd of well-wishers. Hundreds of people have come

to show their support for you, Sebastian,’ she commented as she stepped off the balcony, into the

drawing room, peeling off her white gloves as she walked and handing them to a footman. Her

brother was chatting with a guest but at the sound of her voice he swung round—and as Kitty

caught sight of his companion her heart stopped beating. If was as if someone had pressed the

mute button. The voices of the people around her faded, and she was conscious of the fractured

sound of her breathing and a peculiar rushing sound in her ears.

‘Nikos, I don’t think you actually met my sister at the ball a few weeks ago. This is Princess

Katarina…’ Sebastian fell silent, plainly bemused by Nikos Angelaki’s coldly furious expression

and Kitty’s sudden pallor. The tense silence between them caused a ripple to run through the

room, and Kitty felt the curious stares of the assembled guests, but her wide, shocked eyes were

locked on Nikos’s face.

He was the first to speak. ‘Oh, we met, my friend,’ he drawled in an icy tone that sent a shiver

down Kitty’s spine. His eyes narrowed, and Kitty could feel the aggression that emanated from

him. ‘But it seems that Princess Katarina likes to play games, and regrettably she neglected to

properly introduce herself—didn’t you, Rina? ’

Shock surged like a foaming torrent through Nikos’s blood, and with it a black rage that

threatened to choke him. The woman who had come in from the balcony and was staring at him

fearfully was instantly recognisable when she had spent the past three weeks lodged in his

brain—and yet, dressed in her royal robes and tiara, she was someone he did not know.

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She had lied to him that night on the beach. How she had lied! He closed his eyes briefly and

tried to get a grip on the savage anger that made him want to shake her and demand an

explanation as to why she had pretended to be a servant, instead of telling him at the start that she was Princess Katarina Karedes.

Had she found the pretence amusing? Fury burned corrosively in his gut. And why the hell had

she slept with him? Not slept, he corrected himself grimly. She hadn’t slept in his arms, she’d

had *** with him—and even then she had lied by omission when she had failed to warn him she

was a virgin. But he had slept. Overcome with exhaustion, and physically sated after making

love to her, he had felt more relaxed than he had done in years and had been unable to fight the

tiredness that had settled on him. When he had stirred again he’d discovered that an hour had

passed, and Rina had disappeared.

Memories of the wild passion they had shared filled his mind. And another memory, of the

private conversation he’d had with Sebastian when he had first arrived at the palace today,

caused his heart to crash in his chest. Sebastian had been tense and grim-faced, and at first Nikos

had assumed his friend was uptight about the fact that he had still not located the Stefani

diamond. But the prince had wanted to confide in him about another matter, and had sworn him

to secrecy before revealing that another scandal was about to rock the House of Karedes. His

sister, Princess Katarina, had been seduced by some unknown man, and was pregnant.

Theos, no! It could not be true. He stared at Rina—unable to think of her as Princess Katarina—

and tried to decipher the truth from her pale face. Not again, not to him. Not after the tragedy of

his past that he would never forget for as long as he lived. But he knew instantly that this was no

cruel trick. It was entirely possible that Rina had conceived his baby, and from the frown

forming on Sebastian’s brow it was clear that his friendship with the prince was about to be

blown to pieces.

Kitty could not tear her eyes from Nikos’s face, and the glittering fury in his dark gaze filled her with trepidation. He could not possibly guess her secret, she assured herself. But her hand moved

instinctively to her stomach and she saw his eyes narrow as he witnessed the betraying gesture.

Sebastian was speaking, but his words did not register in Kitty’s brain as she watched his

concerned expression change to one of dawning comprehension followed by stunned fury. The

rushing sound in her ears grew louder, as if she were standing at the edge of a waterfall. And

then she was falling, and a great dark nothingness rushed up to meet her.

Kitty slowly opened her eyes and stared up at the fresco of cherubs that adorned the ceiling. For

a moment she felt disorientated, but then her brain clicked into gear—and her memory returned

with a vengeance. She turned her head to look around and realised that she was in the small ante-

room leading from the formal drawing room. She recalled the blanket of black nothingness that

had enveloped her, and understood. She must have fainted, for the first time in her life, and

someone had carried her in here and placed her on the sofa. That someone was now silhouetted

against the bright sunlight streaming in through the window, and even though she could not

discern his features she was conscious of the waves of anger emanating from him.

Nikos! She swung her legs off the sofa and jerked upright, and then gasped as a wave of nausea

swept over her. To be sick in front of him would be the ultimate humiliation, and she gritted her

teeth and waited while the room righted itself and her head stopped spinning.

‘There is a glass of water on the table next to you. I suggest you drink some,’ he said in a terse

voice. Kitty reached for the glass and lifted it to her lips. Her hands were shaking so much that

she could barely take a sip, but the water was ice-cold and refreshing, and gradually the sickness

passed. She stood up and risked a furtive glance across the room, and could not restrain a startled

cry when she saw the livid bruise on Nikos’s jaw.

‘What happened to your face?’

‘Sebastian,’ he informed her shortly.

Kitty shook her head disbelievingly. ‘He hit you?’ She recalled the expression of shocked

understanding she’d seen on her brother’s face just before she had slipped into unconsciousness,

and a heavy dread filled her.

‘After the news he’s just given me I don’t blame him,’ Nikos said, still in that cold, clipped

voice that could not disguise his fury. ‘In case you’re worried, I did not retaliate. Sebastian was

defending your honour, and to be honest I would have thought less of him if he hadn’t taken a

swing at me.’ He paused, and in the tense silence the ticking clock and the sound of Kitty’s

heartbeat both sounded over-loud to her ears.

‘But all things considered, it was a rather dramatic way to learn that I am going to be a father,’

he drawled—sarcasm his only outlet for the murderous rage burning inside him, because if he

lost control and vented his fury at the top of his voice he would alert the palace guards standing

on duty outside the door. ‘With you passing out, and the Prince Regent giving a good impression

of a prize knuckle-fighter in front of a hundred or so dignitaries and members of the press, the

story is likely to make the newspaper headlines worldwide.’

Nikos sucked in a harsh breath and swung round to stare blindly out of the window. Below, in

the courtyard, the crowds were dispersing and streaming through the palace gates, many

clutching flags bearing the national colours of Aristo and the coat of arms of the House of

Karedes. He felt a deepening sense of unreality, a feeling that his life was about to change

irrevocably, but he knew he must bring his anger under control and establish the real facts.

‘Is it true?’ His voice rasped in his throat, and he had to force himself to turn away from the

window. ‘Are you really pregnant, or are you playing another peculiar game of charades?’

‘It’s true,’ Kitty choked, forcing the words past her numb lips. ‘I did a test, and yesterday my

doctor confirmed it.’

She did not know how she had expected Nikos to react. She hadn’t dared picture a scenario in

which she told him she had conceived his child, let alone imagined what he would say. He was

clearly shocked, and she could understand that he might be angry, but the icy rage in his eyes

shook her.

‘And is the child mine, as Sebastian seems to think?’

His harsh tone triggered a flare of anger inside Kitty, and she flushed. ‘Of course it’s yours. I

was a virgin when I met you and I haven’t leapt into bed with half a dozen lovers since then. I

didn’t want to involve you. I don’t even understand how I can be pregnant,’ she added, dropping her eyes from his cold stare. ‘You used protection.’

‘It failed,’ Nikos said bluntly. ‘I discovered when I woke up that there was a slim chance I could

have made you pregnant. When I realised you had left the **** I searched for you, fearing you

may have gone for another swim and got into trouble in the current. It was only when I saw your

clothes had gone that I faced the fact that you had run out on me.

‘If you had stayed I would have told you there was a possibility you could have conceived, and

insisted we kept in contact until we knew either way,’ he finished curtly.

Nikos drew a ragged breath, recalling his concern in the days after he had had *** with Rina in

the **** that a faulty contraceptive could have resulted in a child. When he had tried to trace her, and found that she seemed to have disappeared from the planet, his concern had turned to a gut-wrenching fear he could not dismiss, despite telling himself that history could not repeat itself.

Now he knew that it could.

Memories of the past that he had ruthlessly suppressed for so long surged into his mind. Five

years ago his lover had fallen pregnant with his child. During his relationship with Greta he had

confided that he felt as though a part of his identity was missing because he did not know who

his father was, and he had vowed he would not abandon a woman if she fell pregnant with his

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child. Soon after, when Greta had revealed she was expecting his baby, he had immediately

proposed. But his desire to marry the Danish model had not only been for the sake of the child.

He had loved her, Nikos acknowledged grimly. After his mother’s death, work had become his

obsession and he had never allowed any of his lovers to get too close. But Greta had been

different. Their affair had been Nikos’s longest relationship, and he had finally admitted that the

beautiful blonde had got beneath his guard and captured his heart.

After his initial shock he had been glad about the baby, knowing that his child would be his only

blood relation in the world. But a month after he and Greta had married, tragedy had occurred.

To his dying day he would never forget her phone call from Denmark, where she had gone for a

modelling assignment, telling him that she had miscarried.

Nikos stared blindly out of the palace window, remembering the sorrow that had swamped him.

It had been a bitter blow, but he had dealt with his grief privately, and done his best to comfort

Greta—unaware that her tears had been an act. In the months that had followed she had appeared

to recover well, and quickly returned to modelling. But it had not been long before cracks

appeared in their relationship. Greta loved to party, and had accused him of being a boring Greek

husband. And she had been adamant that she wanted to concentrate on her career when Nikos

had suggested they should try for another child.

Her open use of cocaine, and her revelation that she had hidden her habit before their marriage,

had led to a series of increasingly bitter rows, and it had been during one of her drug-fuelled

rages that Greta had screamed the truth at him. She had never wanted a baby—but when she had

fallen pregnant, and Nikos had proposed, she had seized her chance to marry a multimillionaire.

She had waited until after the wedding, but on her trip to Denmark she hadn’t miscarried their

child—she had chosen to terminate her pregnancy.

Nikos swallowed the bile in his throat, and forced his mind away from his ex-wife. Greta was in

the past. The newspaper reports two years ago of her death from a drug overdose had elicited no

sympathy from him. From the moment he’d learned how she had callously deprived him of his

child his heart had frozen over, and, although he was a living, breathing man, inside he was

emotionless and cold.

But he did not feel dead inside now. For the first time in five years something stirred within him,

and he stared at the woman who had sworn she was carrying his baby, his heart pounding. Fate

had given him another chance, another child— and he would move heaven and earth to ensure

that the tiny speck of life created from his seed would have a chance of life.

CHAPTER SIX

KITTYstared numbly at Nikos, shaken by the bleakness in his eyes. He looked devastated by the news that she was expecting his baby. His jaw was rigid, his skin stretched so taut over his sharp

cheekbones that he looked as though he had been carved from marble—cold and hard and utterly

unforgiving.

The idea of fatherhood definitely did not appeal to him—that much was clear, she brooded

bitterly. The tiny flame of hope that had lurked deep in her subconscious was snuffed out and

pride made her voice strong. ‘Don’t look so worried, Nikos. I don’t want anything from you.

This is my problem, and I’ll deal with it. You needn’t be involved.’

Something flared in his eyes, an emotion Kitty could not define but that made her feel as though

her legs were about to give way, and she sank weakly back down on the sofa.

‘ Deal with it? ’ he said in a dangerous tone. ‘You are talking about a human life. In what way were you planning to deal with it?’

‘I meant that I will take care of the baby, financially and in every other way,’ Kitty faltered.

‘What do you think I meant?’ Her eyes widened as the implication of his words hit her, and

sickness surged through her. ‘You can’t possibly think…’ She took a shaky breath, but when she

spoke her voice was fierce. ‘I am having this baby, and as far as I’m concerned there is no viable

alternative I would ever consider. But as I said before, you don’t have to be involved.’

Nikos felt some of the terrible tension that had gripped him lessen. She had sounded convincing,

but Rina, or Katarina as he now knew her, was an accomplished actress—he had evidence of

that. ‘But I am involved,’ he said implacably, his eyes locked with hers. ‘You are carrying my

child, and I have a responsibility towards both of you that I fully intend to honour.’

He thought again of how she had deceived him, and was swamped by another wave of bitter

anger. ‘When were you going to tell me? Or weren’t you going to bother? It would have been

difficult, I suppose, when you had lied about your identity,’ he added scathingly.

Kitty flushed and hung her head. ‘I haven’t known what to do these past few weeks,’ she

admitted huskily.

Nikos gave her a savage glance. ‘While you were trying to decide, I was doing my best to find

you. I made enquiries at the palace, but when I was told there was no employee here called Rina

I contacted all the catering companies on Aristo. I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear that

nobody had ever heard of you,’ he drawled acidly. He paused, his dark brows lowered in a

slashing frown. ‘So tell me, Rina , do you often masquerade as a servant, or did you deliberately set out to make a fool of me?’

‘I didn’t…’ Kitty bit her lip when she caught the glittering anger in his eyes. ‘You have every

right to be angry,’ she admitted honestly.

‘Well, that’s good to know—’ his voice dripped with sarcasm ‘—because I’m livid—

YourHighness . Hell!’ He swung away from her and raked a hand through his hair, ‘I don’t even know your name. Are you Rina, or Katarina?’

‘I’m Kitty,’ Kitty said quickly. ‘It was my father’s nickname for me when I was a little girl, and

it stuck.’ She risked another glance at him and felt her stomach dip. He was even more gorgeous

than she remembered. In a pale grey suit and blue shirt he looked remote and forbidding, every

inch the sophisticated, urbane businessman who was at the top of his game. He had been in her

mind constantly since he had made love to her on the night of the ball, and now she could not

prevent herself from staring at him and greedily absorbing his stunning looks.

‘I didn’t trick you intentionally. You mistook me for a servant at the ball and it seemed easier to

go along with it. Be honest, would you have believed me if I’d told you my real identity?’ she

demanded when he glared at her. ‘Everyone at the ball compared me unfavourably with my sister

Liss, and they were right, I didn’t look like a glamorous princess, I looked like the frumpy

waitress you believed me to be. When we met on the beach later that night I was amazed when

you said you found me attractive. You made me feel beautiful, even though I know I’m not,’ she

said bleakly, ‘and I wanted to carry on being ***y Rina, rather than drab Kitty.’

‘And having fooled me that you were Rina the waitress, you decided that it was a good

opportunity to lose your virginity to an experienced man rather than a fumbling boy?’ Nikos

reminded her of her words when he had discovered her innocence, no hint of softening on his

hard face. ‘You are an heir to the crown of Aristo— what the hellwere you thinking of?’ he

exploded furiously.

‘It was a moment of madness,’ Kitty defended herself. She moved her hand instinctively to her

stomach, thinking of the tiny life that was growing inside her. ‘I never dreamed that it would

have such catastrophic consequences.’

‘But it did, and now we must deal with those consequences,’ Nikos told her bluntly. He paused

and in the tense silence Kitty felt the same sickening dread that had filled her when, despite her

fear of heights, she had volunteered to do a bungee jump for charity and had crouched at the top

of the platform one hundred and fifty feet above the ground, preparing to launch herself over the

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edge.

‘The only possible solution is for us to marry.’

There was no other alternative, Nikos acknowledged silently as he watched Kitty’s mouth fall

open in an expression of utter shock. He had vowed never to marry again, but if he wanted this

child—and he did, unquestionably—then he would have to sacrifice his freedom and take a

woman who had proved herself to be untrustworthy as his bride. ‘It may not be ideal,’ he

snapped when Kitty shook her head frantically. ‘Believe me, the situation is not what I would

have chosen, either. But I have promised Sebastian that I will do my duty by you.’

The room suddenly seemed to be spinning—or was it her? Kitty collapsed back against the

cushions. ‘The idea is ridiculous,’ she said faintly, repelled by the word ‘duty’.

‘Are you saying you have a better suggestion?’ Nikos strolled over to the sofa and stared down

at her, his eyebrows raised in an expression of haughty arrogance. ‘I’m intrigued, Your

Highness. What are you intending to do? I’d like to make it crystal clear, by the way, that no

child of mine will be born illegitimately,’ he added harshly when she stared at him in numb

silence. ‘And I should point out that Sebastian looked mightily relieved when I assured him of

my intention to marry you as soon as it can be arranged. He has enough problems at the moment

without worrying about you.’

‘He doesn’t need to worry about me. I can take care of myself,’ Kitty muttered stubbornly,

knowing in her heart that Sebastian’s concern was not simply for her, but for the damaging effect

her unplanned pregnancy might have on the monarchy. The situation was unprecedented. The

people of Aristo were ardent royalists, but they would be dismayed to hear that a member of the

royal family was pregnant and unmarried, and, as Nikos had said, this was a difficult enough

time for Sebastian, the would-be-King who was waiting to be crowned.

But marry Nikos? Marry a man who was furious with her for lying to him, and who was staring

at her with scathing contempt, as if she were the lowest life-form on the planet? It wasn’t just

ridiculous, it was utter madness and she absolutely would not agree to it. Since she was a little

girl she had clung to the belief that she would one day fall in love and be loved in return, and she could not bear to see the fairy tale turn to ashes before her eyes. ‘How can we marry?’ she asked

huskily. ‘We don’t love each other.’

Nikos spared her a derisive glance. ‘What is love other than an illusion found in books and

films?’ he said sardonically. ‘Too often people mistake lust for love, but it’s not an error I’m ever likely to make. I am suggesting a marriage of convenience purely for the sake of our child.

‘I have never known the identity of my father,’ he revealed harshly. ‘My mother would never

tell me his name, but I have always wondered if I look like him or if we share similar traits.’ He

stared down at Kitty, his eyes suddenly blazing. ‘I won’t allow my child *****ffer the trauma of

not knowing his bloodline.’

Kitty was startled by the raw emotion in his voice, and even more shocked by the realisation that

he was deadly serious. ‘Nikos, let’s be sensible about this,’ she said desperately. ‘I’m only three

weeks pregnant and it would be madness to rush into marriage, and…and then find that it had

been needless.’ Her voice faltered when she imagined losing her baby. Already she had formed

an emotional bond with the tiny new life that she and Nikos had unwittingly created, but she had

to be prosaic. There was no history of miscarriages in her family but no one could foretell the

future.

‘There are plenty of other options open to us,’ she went on when his jaw tightened. ‘If you really

want to play a part in the baby’s life we could come to an arrangement about access and so on.

You could visit the palace regularly…’ She could feel his dark eyes boring into her and faltered.

‘What I’m trying to say is that there is no need for either of us to make rash decisions. I’m not a

poorly paid waitress, I have financial security and a supportive family here on Aristo, and I will

manage to bring up this child perfectly well on my own.’

Nikos’s blood had frozen at the word access, and it hit him suddenly that if he wasn’t careful

things could go very wrong. From the sound of it Kitty was determined to bring up their child on

her own, but he was equally determined to be part of his baby’s life. He was going to be a proper

father, not some semi-stranger who visited the palace occasionally according to the rules of his

visitation rights. Kitty had stated that she did not need him, and she certainly had the means to

bring up a child without his help. Somehow he was going to have to convince her that he was

indispensable—and he was prepared to use emotional blackmail to persuade her to marry him.

‘So, are you going to tell your mother, while she is unwell and still grief-stricken by the death of the king, that you refuse to marry the father of your baby—and that you don’t care that your

actions will bring shame on the royal family?’ he asked Kitty harshly. ‘Sebastian is speaking to

the queen now. He was anxious that she should learn of your pregnancy from him, rather than

overhear the gossip among the servants which is inevitable after the scene in the drawing room.’

His dark eyes bored into Kitty remorselessly when she gave a cry of distress. ‘We can only hope

that none of the guests or members of the press who were at the reception today actually guessed

that you are pregnant. If we marry quickly no one need know that it’s a shotgun wedding.’

He watched Kitty twisting her hands in the folds of her blue satin gown that the Queen and

princesses customarily wore on formal state occasions. The floor-length dress disguised her

shape, but beneath the stiff material he could picture the rounded fullness of her breasts and the

dip and curve of her waist and hips, and he felt the familiar tug of ***ual frustration that had

plagued him since the night of the ball. He felt a sudden urge to pull the pins from her hair and

run his fingers through the rich chestnut silk, and when she lifted her head he noted that her eyes

were a deep, dark brown, velvet soft and fringed by impossibly long, thick lashes.

‘Where are your glasses? Or were they part of your costume for your little theatrical

performance the night we met?’ he queried mockingly, forcing himself to move away from the

temptation of her lush pink mouth. He was infuriated that he still wanted her despite the evidence

that she had lied to him. The whole ‘Rina the waitress’ charade was still beyond his

comprehension and he hated the idea that she had played him for a fool, but he couldn’t forget

the wild passion they had shared in the ****, and he was aware from the familiar tightening in

his gut that his body was impatient for a repeat performance.

‘I’m wearing my contact lenses today,’ Kitty told him stiffly, ‘and I’ve already explained that I

didn’t deliberately set out to trick you. Circumstances just…happened.’ Her voice wavered as

she tried to imagine her mother’s shock and concern at the news of her pregnancy. Queen Tia

would want her to marry Nikos, she acknowledged heavily, and Sebastian would be in favour of

a quick solution to the embarrassing problem of her pregnancy. But how could she go through

with it, and marry a man who had made it clear that he did not believe in love and would never

care for her?

‘Make no mistake, Kitty,’ Nikos said quietly as he watched the play of emotions on her face. ‘If

you think I will simply walk away and allow you to bring up our child on your own, be warned, I

will fight you for custody. Even if it means sacrificing my friendship with Sebastian I will have

no compunction about dragging you and the rest of the royal family through the courts, and the

fallout is likely to be extremely damaging to the monarchy.’

There was no doubt that Nikos was deadly serious, and a shiver ran through Kitty when she met

his hard stare. The first time she had met him she had detected a ruthless side to him that he hid

beneath a veneer of seductive charm. There was no sign of that charm now. He had called

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himself a pirate, and she realised with terrifying certainty that if she chose to do battle with him, she would lose.

‘I am utterly determined that my child will live in Greece with me,’ he said curtly. ‘It’s up to

you if you want to take an active role in his upbringing.’

‘What do you mean—an active role in his upbringing? It’s my baby! And why do you think it’s

a boy? There’s just as much chance it’s a girl,’ Kitty said shakily, still reeling from Nikos’s

assertion that he wanted their child to live in Greece. ‘You can’t possibly expect me to leave

Aristo. I’ve lived here all my life.’

On the night of the ball the palace had seemed stifling, and she had felt a restless longing to

escape the confines of royal life. Now that life seemed safe and reassuring and she wanted it to

remain unchanged. But of course her life would change, she was going to be a mother, and in her

heart she knew she could not remain at the palace and bring up her child without its father. ‘If we

were to marry, why couldn’t you live here at the palace too?’ she asked Nikos faintly.

‘My business is based in Athens, and I need to be there,’ he explained coolly. ‘Naturally, as my

wife, you will live with me, and although we will retain strong ties with Aristo and the royal

family, our child, boy or girl,’ he said pointedly, ‘will grow up in Greece. I’ve discussed it with

Sebastian and he is in complete agreement,’ he added, as if that settled the matter.

Kitty shivered at the grim finality of his words. Sebastian had agreed, and, although her brother

would never force her into marrying Nikos, she knew realistically that she had no option. She felt

as though prison bars were closing around her. The room suddenly seemed claustrophobic and

she stumbled to her feet and hurried across to the door. For the sake of her child, and the royal

family, she would have to marry Nikos, but the prospect of being trapped in a loveless union

with a man whose scathing opinion of marriage was well known, and who was furious with her

for making a fool of him, filled her with despair.

‘I need some time to think,’ she muttered, every muscle in her body tensing when Nikos moved

with the speed and grace of a big cat to stand in front of her.

‘Far from being the poorly educated waitress you led me to believe at the ball, I have learned

from Sebastian that you are a brilliant academic, and I have no doubt that you understand the

gravity of the situation,’ he said harshly. ‘You have to make a decision now . Sebastian and your mother know that I am at this moment asking you to marry me, and we are expected to go

immediately to the queen’s private quarters and tell them your answer.

‘As I see it, neither of us has any option,’ he continued when she made no reply, and, although

her mind screamed in silent rejection of his words, Kitty acknowledged with a leaden heart that

he was right.

Warily she lifted her eyes to him, and even in the midst of her turmoil heat flared inside her

when she studied his hard-boned, handsome face. It seemed a lifetime ago that they had made

love in the ****, and when she focused on the cruel line of his mouth it seemed impossible that

he had once kissed her with fierce passion. His aura of power was tangible, and she suddenly felt

weak and drained. Everything was stacked in his favour, and she did not have the strength to

fight him.

‘When?’ She forced the word past her numb lips, barely able to believe that she was

contemplating agreeing to his offer. ‘I suppose the wedding will have to be in the next few

months?’ Before she grew big with his child and everyone guessed the real reason for their

marriage.

‘Sooner than that,’ Nikos corrected her. ‘Sebastian has pencilled the eleventh of July into his

diary, and cancelled all other state events.’

Kitty did a hurried mental calculation. ‘That’s three weeks from now!’ Panic engulfed her and

she shook her head wildly. ‘I can’t go through with it, Nikos.’

‘Yes, you can,’ he told her grimly, the cold determination in his eyes freezing her blood,

‘because to be frank, Kitty, you have no choice.’

CHAPTER SEVEN

THEfollowing three weeks passed in a blur, and Kitty felt increasingly detached from her life

and the preparations for the wedding that were going on around her. She could almost believe

she was caught up in a dream, and fully expected to wake up and find that she had never met a

man called Nikos Angelaki, let alone become pregnant with his baby. But when she opened her

eyes on the morning of her wedding and saw her bridal gown hanging against the wardrobe she

was forced to make a reality check. This was real; in a few hours from now she would be his

wife, and for the sake of the child developing inside her she could not escape the fate that

awaited her.

‘I told you all brides look beautiful on their wedding day,’ Liss said later as she smoothed a

crease from the full skirt of Kitty’s white silk wedding dress. ‘You look breathtaking. The dress

shows off your figure perfectly. Don’t you dare go back to wearing those ghastly, shapeless

sweatshirts you’re so fond of! Not that Nikos will allow you to,’ Liss added breezily. ‘He leads a

hectic social life and I bet he’ll insist on buying you loads of gorgeous, ***y clothes for all the

parties you’ll be going to in Greece.’

Kitty felt a heavy weight settle around her heart as she contemplated her future life away from

Aristo. ‘You know I don’t like parties,’ she said dismally. ‘In a few months from now I’ll be

huge, and I definitely won’t look ***y—just fat. I’ve already gained weight, especially on my

bust. Do you think I’m showing too much cleavage?’ she asked worriedly, studying the dress’s

exquisite bodice, beaded with tiny pearls and crystals, and the firm swell of her breasts that

appeared in imminent danger of spilling over the sweetheart neckline.

‘Nikos’s eyes will be on stalks,’ Liss assured her cheerfully. ‘I’m glad you decided to wear your

hair down. It’s a much softer style than when you pull it back off your face.’

‘I suppose so, but it’s not very practical.’ Kitty’s silky, dark chestnut hair was naturally wavy

and it rippled down her back almost to her waist. At Liss’s persuasion she had left it loose, and

instead of a tiara and veil she had chosen a circlet of white roses for her headdress. Her sister had insisted on doing her make-up, but had kept it light, emphasising her brown eyes with a taupe

shadow and adding a rose-pink gloss to her lips.

The finished effect was startling, and Kitty couldn’t quite believe the woman in the mirror was

her. Because of one night, and a few moments of uncharacteristic madness, her life had changed

for ever. Her hand moved instinctively to her stomach, and she took a deep breath. She was

marrying Nikos for the same reason that he was marrying her—for the sake of the child they had

created—and there was no point in feeling emotional or fooled by the romance of the occasion.

‘You’re not supposed to look practical ,’ Liss argued, casting her eyes heavenwards. ‘This is your wedding day, you’re about to marry one of the ***iest men on the planet, and he sent you these… Gaea,’ she called to the maid, ‘bring in the flowers Mr Angelaki sent.’

The maid hurried out to the corridor and reappeared carrying an exquisite bouquet of pink and

white rosebuds mixed with delicate fronds of gypsophila, which she handed to Kitty.

‘I know you keep telling me this is a marriage of convenience, but there’s obviously something

between you and Nikos,’ Liss said archly. ‘I saw the glances he kept giving you at dinner last

night—as if he couldn’t wait to take you to bed.’ Her eyes gleamed with amusement when Kitty

blushed scarlet. ‘And he phoned me from New York a few days ago to ask my advice on your

favourite flowers.’

‘Did he?’ Kitty strove to sound casual and told herself not to read too much into Liss’s words,

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but her heart gave a little lurch when she buried her face in the blooms and inhaled their delicate

perfume. No man had ever sent her flowers before, and the fact that Nikos had gone to some

effort to ensure she had a bridal bouquet filled her with hope that this marriage was not as

doomed to failure as she’d convinced herself. The roses were a talisman of hope, and tears

glistened in her eyes when she stared at her reflection again and saw that Liss wasn’t lying, and

that by some miracle she really did look beautiful.

‘Thank you for helping me with my dress,’ she murmured. ‘You know I’m hopeless with

clothes, but thanks to your advice, and the designer’s skill, my wedding dress is everything I

could have hoped for.’

‘No problem.’ Liss shrugged her shoulders and gave a cursory glance in the mirror at her pale

pink silk bridesmaid dress. ‘I can’t wait for everyone’s reaction when they see you,’ she said

with a wide smile, ‘especially Nikos’s.’

Her smile faded when she glimpsed Kitty’s over-bright eyes. ‘I hope it works out for you,’ Liss

said softly. ‘I know the baby was unplanned, and you’ve been pushed into getting married. I

detect that Nikos is just as high-handed and determined to have his own way as Sebastian, and

between the two of them, and the queen’s stipulation that duty comes before everything, I bet

you didn’t stand a chance of refusing. But you must know that Seb and Mama and the rest of the

family have your best interests at heart, and I’m sure that marrying Nikos is the right thing for

you to do.’

‘I hope so,’ Kitty replied, unable to disguise the tremor in her voice. In the three weeks since

their engagement had been announced to the media Nikos had only visited the palace twice

before he had flown to America, and on both occasions they had spent no time alone. He had

been polite and charming, and had completely won over Queen Tia, but to Kitty he had seemed

remote and unapproachable and she hadn’t known how to talk to him. Even when he had phoned

from the States, their conversations had been limited to how she was feeling in the first stages of

her pregnancy, and whether she was eating enough.

She had been able to reassure him on that point, Kitty thought gloomily. Apart from a couple of

mornings when she’d felt nauseous, she was fit and healthy and had an appetite like a horse. Her

mother said she was obviously one of those women who looked pregnant from early on, and that

she was blooming, but she wasn’t sure what Nikos’s reaction would be to her body that was

already filling out with his child.

More to the point, was he even going to see her body? she wondered. The wild passion they had

shared in the **** seemed like a distant dream, and if it weren’t for the fact that she was carrying his child she could almost believe she had imagined the pleasure of his mouth on hers and the

touch of his hands on her breasts.

Would Nikos expect her to share his bed tonight—their wedding night? Kitty stared at her

reflection as her face flooded with colour, and beneath her dress her breasts suddenly felt full and heavy. They had not discussed that aspect of their marriage, but Nikos was a supremely virile

male and she guessed he would not want to live a life without ***. But he had given no

indication, either on the day he had asked her to marry him, or the occasions she had seen him

since, that he still desired her.

There had been virtually no physical contact between them since the one time he had made love

to her. Even when they had posed for the official photographs to mark their engagement, Nikos

had pressed his lips lightly to her hand, but hadn’t kissed her properly on the mouth as she had

longed for him to do. And when a member of the press had asked if he was in love, he had

replied with some flippant remark that had made the journalists laugh but had emphasised to

Kitty that she meant nothing to him.

Liss glanced at the clock. ‘We’d better go. Are you ready?’

Was she? How ready could you be when you were about to leap into the unknown? Kitty took a

deep breath and nodded. ‘As ready as I’ll ever be,’ she murmured. Her heart was beating

painfully fast when she walked over to the door, and as she turned and glanced around the room

that had been her bedroom for twenty-six years she felt a sharp pang of sadness that after today

the palace would no longer be her home. From now on home would be Athens, with Nikos, and

she could only pray that her decision to marry him was the right one.

The private chapel in the grounds of the palace was packed with guests. When Kitty stepped

through the arched doorway a murmur of excited voices seemed to echo around the nave, heads

turned and she was conscious of the faint gasp that rippled through the crowd as they caught

sight of her in her bridal gown. But her eyes were fixed straight ahead, on the tall, broad-

shouldered man in a charcoal-grey suit who was standing at the altar.

Nikos must have known from the reaction of the guests that she had arrived, but he remained

unmoving and did not even give a cursory glance over his shoulder towards his bride. His lack of

curiosity, and his obvious reluctance to face the woman he felt obliged to marry, hit Kitty as

painfully as if he had physically struck her, and trepidation knotted in her stomach. For a

moment blind panic swept through her, and she could not restrain a shiver as she faced the reality

of what she was about to do.

‘Are you all right?’ Sebastian whispered as he linked his arm with hers and stared down at her

paper-white face. ‘ Theos, Kitty, you’re not going to faint, are you?’

The deep, pure notes of the organ music swirled up to the roof of the chapel and seemed to

resound through Kitty’s body. She stumbled, and for a few seconds the urge to turn and flee from

the church, from Nikos, and the loveless future that awaited her, was overwhelming. But then

she saw the anxiety in her brother’s eyes, and the lesson that had been ingrained in her

throughout her life— that adherence to duty was paramount—came to her rescue. She gripped

her bouquet of roses and forced a smile for Sebastian, trying to disguise the fact that she felt as

cold as if she had been carved from ice. ‘I’m fine,’ she assured him.

The journey down the aisle seemed to take for ever and when she finally reached Nikos’s side

she lifted her eyes warily to him and met his expressionless gaze. He made his responses in a

cool, clear tone devoid of any emotion, but the constriction in Kitty’s throat meant that her voice

emerged as little more than a whisper, and she felt a deep sense of sadness that they had both lied

when they had vowed to love and honour each other until death parted them. Tears stung her

eyes when he slid a plain gold band onto her finger, and she could not stifle a shocked gasp when

he followed her wedding ring with a spectacular diamond cluster that sparkled like teardrops in

the sunlight that streamed down on them through the high windows.

When the priest murmured that Nikos could kiss his bride, Kitty turned her head, expecting a

perfunctory brush of his lips, but as she lifted her face to him she was startled by the sudden

blaze of heat in his eyes. Her heart thudded erratically in her chest when he drew her into his

arms and she felt his strong, hard body pressed against hers. To her amazement he was no longer

cold and remote, and she made no attempt to deny him when he lowered his head and claimed

her mouth with undisguised hunger.

She had been starved of him for so long that she was unable to control her response to him. She

kissed him back with equal fervour, welcoming the masterful sweep of his tongue between her

lips and feeling a quiver of ***ual excitement run through her at his low growl of frustration

when the priest’s polite cough reminded them that their display of passion was being watched by

two hundred guests.

Their marriage was one of convenience, and a far cry from the love match she had dreamed of,

Kitty acknowledged when they walked together back down the aisle and stepped out of the

chapel into the bright sunshine. But for better or worse she was Nikos Angelaki’s, wife and it

was time she banished her romantic fantasies and accepted that she had married a man who

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would never love her but, for now at least it seemed, desired her.

‘You look beautiful in your wedding dress,’ he startled her by saying later at the reception, when

the wedding lunch, speeches and champagne toasts were finally finished, and she had told him

that she was going to get changed before they left for Athens. ‘Don’t take too long, agape . It will be another hour at least before we make it onto the helicopter and early evening by the time we

land in Athens, and I am impatient to be alone with my bride.’

The sultry gleam in Nikos’s eyes filled Kitty with nervous apprehension, and she hurried up to

her room to change into her going-away outfit, desperate to spend a few minutes away from his

disturbing presence. The jade silk skirt and close-fitting jacket had been Liss’s choice that made

the most of her curvy figure, and suited her colouring. As she studied her reflection she

wondered if Nikos would approve when he discovered that she was wearing nothing beneath her

suit other than a black lace bra and matching French knickers. From the sound of it he wanted

their marriage to be a proper one, and she could not deny that the ***ual chemistry between them

was as strong as it had been on the night of the royal ball. But despite her desperate awareness of

him, she felt nervous at the prospect of sharing his bed when she barely knew him. For her, the

intimacy of making love was a big issue, but she had a feeling that Nikos regarded *** as the

single benefit of their enforced marriage.

Lost in her thoughts she walked back down the corridor, but as she turned the corner she

cannoned into Vasilis Sarondakos, and her heart sank.

‘You hardly look the joyful bride,’ he said mockingly. ‘What’s the matter, Kitty? Are you afraid

that if you leave your husband alone for too long his attention will stray—towards your sister

perhaps?’

Vasilis was drunk. His speech was slurred, and Kitty wrinkled her nose when she caught a waft

of alcohol on his breath. She had been dismayed to find his name on the guest list, but he was an

old family friend, and she’d reminded herself that after today she would probably never see him

again. She attempted to push past him, but he grabbed her arm and shoved her up against the

wall. ‘ Let go of me! ’ She tried to jerk free of his hold but Vasilis tightened his grip and laughed.

‘You have every reason to worry,’ he taunted. ‘Liss was blessed with more than her fair share of

good looks, and Nikos is a notorious playboy.’

‘Shut up, Vasilis!’ Kitty couldn’t quite banish her envy of her sister’s beauty, and she despised

herself. ‘There’s nothing going on between Liss and Nikos. He married me, didn’t he?’

‘Ah, but the reason for your hasty trip down the aisle isn’t as secret as you might wish,’ Vasilis

said with a sly wink. ‘But I’ve got to hand it to Angelaki—he’s even more of a ruthless social

climber than I realised, and he struck gold with you. Who else would have set out to deliberately

seduce a naïve, virgin princess, impregnate her with his child and then marry her pronto to spare

embarrassment to the royal family? I’m surprised Sebastian hasn’t knighted him for services

above and beyond the call of duty,’ Vasilis finished bitterly.

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Kitty said faintly, reeling from Vasilis’s shocking statement. How on

earth did he know about her pregnancy? ‘What do you mean when you say Nikos is a social

climber?’ she demanded. ‘He’s a multimillionaire who heads his own hugely successful

company.’

‘A company that he inherited after he seduced another gullible woman,’ Vasilis said sneeringly.

‘It’s not only Hollywood starlets who sleep their way to the top. Nikos Angelaki was the

illegitimate son of a peasant woman. He grew up in the slums of Athens, and as a teenager he

was already involved with the criminal underworld.’ Vasilis paused when he saw Kitty’s

shocked expression, and gave an unpleasant smile. ‘I take it your new husband hasn’t told you

about his past? Ask him about the tattoo on his shoulder if you don’t believe me.

‘Somehow, Nikos met a millionairess, Larissa Petridis, daughter of the shipping magnate

Stamos Petridis,’ Vasilis continued. ‘Larissa had inherited her father’s company after his death.

She was a spinster with a penchant for good-looking young men. Rumour has it that she quickly

became besotted with charming, handsome Nikos, despite the fact that he was twenty years

younger than her. Nikos seized his chance to escape a life of poverty and he became her lover,

and when Larissa died a few years later she left Petridis Shipping to him. Not a bad prize for

being a stud to a lonely older woman, was it?’ Vasilis jeered.

Kitty felt dizzy as Vasilis’s poisonous words swirled in her mind, but she was determined not to

reveal her shock at his revelations by fainting, and she pressed her back against the wall for

support. ‘I don’t believe you,’ she muttered. ‘How do you know so much about Nikos?’

‘I hired someone to make a few enquiries,’ Vasilis said without a flicker of shame. ‘I like to

discover the skeletons in people’s closets. You never know when the information might come in

useful. I’ll show you the report my private eye filed on Angelaki if you like. It makes interesting

reading. Almost as interesting as this week’s e***ion of Glamorous magazine,’ Vasilis added,

grinning at Kitty’s puzzled expression.

‘Is there anything to read in a downmarket publication devoted entirely to celebrity gossip?’ she queried coldly.

‘Not much,’ Vasilis admitted, ‘but there are plenty of pictures showing what your new husband

was getting up to in the three weeks prior to your wedding.’

‘Nikos was in the US, working hard to tie up a business deal,’ Kitty said sharply.

‘Well, he was certainly working hard, but in the bedroom rather than the boardroom. Face it,

Kitty,’ Vasilis said nastily. ‘You’re not Angelaki’s type—which I guess is why he spent the last

weeks with his mistress, Shannon Marsh…here’s the evidence.’ He withdrew a copy of the

glossy magazine from his jacket pocket and flipped it open to a double page spread of

photographs showing Nikos and a stunning, tanned blonde.

In the photos Nikos looked bronzed and gorgeous with a lock of his dark hair falling across his

brow. He was relaxed and laughing with his beautiful companion and the obvious familiarity

between them tore at Kitty’s heart even more than the images of Shannon pressing her naked

breasts against Nikos’s muscular chest.

She snatched the magazine from Vasilis and scanned the short paragraph beneath the photos,

paling when her own name leapt from the page together with the speculation that, while Nikos

was about to marry a European princess, he was still clearly smitten with his American lover.

‘I told you that you should have married me.’ Vasilis swayed unsteadily. ‘I wouldn’t have

humiliated you on your wedding day. As it is, many of the guests here today have probably read

this over their breakfast this morning, and there’s fevered speculation among them about the real

reason why Nikos hurried you down the aisle.’

A wave of nausea swept over Kitty at Vasilis’s words and her fragile self-confidence shattered.

The wedding guests hadn’t stared at her in the chapel because she’d been transformed into a

beautiful bride—they had been comparing her to Shannon Marsh, whose stunning figure was

revealed in all its lissom glory in a magazine that had worldwide circulation.

And what about Nikos, and his apparent eagerness to take her to bed—how could he possibly

desire her when he had Shannon waiting for him in America? She would be a poor consolation

prize, Kitty thought miserably.

She jerked out of Vasilis’s hold, and felt no sympathy when he stumbled drunkenly. She was

shocked to realise that her whole body was shaking with reaction. The tension wouldn’t be good

for the baby, and the knowledge forced her to take a ragged breath. The baby was the only thing

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that mattered, the only reason she had married Nikos, and from now on she would concentrate all

her energies on the tiny scrap of life growing inside her.

‘Angelaki only married you for the kudos of having a royal bride.’

Vasilis’s spiteful taunt followed Kitty as she walked slowly back down the stairs, but she did not

pause or look back. She knew exactly why Nikos had made her his wife. He wanted his child.

But he had told her once that he valued his freedom above everything, and the magazine photos

were clear evidence that he had no intention of taking his marriage vows seriously.

CHAPTER EIGHT

KITTYhad been taught from an early age that members of the royal family never displayed their

emotions in public, and the training proved invaluable for the remainder of the reception.

Somehow she managed to smile at the well-wishers who crowded onto the palace lawn where

Nikos’s helicopter was waiting, and she was confident she had fooled Sebastian and the queen

that she was happy to be leaving Aristo for her new life in Greece.

As soon as the helicopter took off she closed her eyes and feigned sleep, unable to face Nikos.

She reminded herself that in the days before their wedding he had been free to do as he chose—

even if that meant cavorting on a public beach with his half-naked lover—but she felt deeply

humiliated that he had flaunted his affair so openly.

As for Vasilis’s story about Nikos’s past—she did not know what to think. Knowing Vasilis’s

warped personality as she did, it was entirely likely that he had employed an investigator to dig

up any dirt on Nikos, and she supposed the facts would be easy to verify. She did not care if

Nikos came from a poor background, but the idea that he had acquired his wealth and success

because he had played on the emotions of a rich older woman filled her with dismay.

Her thoughts tormented her as the helicopter flew over the sea, and her heart ached as Aristo

faded to a tiny speck in the distance. Nikos had been speaking to the pilot, but now he came and

sat down next to her, and despite everything she had learned of him her senses quivered at his

nearness. She felt his gaze on her and squeezed her eyes tightly shut. Tension gripped her but

after a few moments she heard him sigh, and when she peeped at him she saw he was engrossed

in his newspaper.

Nikos lived in the heart of Athens in an imposing tower block that loomed high above the busy

city streets. It was a far cry from the peace and tranquillity of Aristo, and Kitty felt a pang of

homesickness when his chauffeur-driven limousine turned into the underground car park beneath

his apartment.

‘When I am at work my driver, Stavros, will take you to wherever you wish to go. He is a

trained bodyguard and you are not to leave the apartment without him,’ Nikos told her when they

stepped into the lift.

‘I didn’t have a bodyguard on Aristo and I won’t need one here,’ Kitty argued, startled.

‘It’s different on Aristo. All the members of the royal family are well loved by the Aristan

people, and no one would ever harm you there. But here in Athens you are already something of

a talking point,’ Nikos said tersely. ‘People, especially the press, are fascinated by the idea of

having a princess in their midst. You can’t have missed the paparazzi who tailed us from the

airport. Your photograph will be on the front pages of all tomorrow’s papers, and unfortunately

that level of interest isn’t always healthy.’

Kitty frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean that there are some individuals who resent my wealth, and yours,’ he told her grimly. ‘I

don’t wish to scare you, Kitty, but you have to be aware of the possibility of kidnap—a

possibility that is reduced to zero if you do as you are told and always stay close to Stavros.’

He had instructed Stavros to tail her every move, but not only to ensure her safety, Nikos

brooded. Kitty had insisted she wanted the baby, but he was taking no chances—he would know

her whereabouts every minute of the day.

The expression on Nikos’s face warned Kitty to say no more on the subject of a bodyguard, but

her heart sank. She had thought she would have more freedom here in Athens, away from the

stiff protocol of palace life, but it seemed that she had swapped one prison for another, and she

was to have her own personal jailer.

The lift halted at the top floor, and Nikos took her by surprise when he swept her into his arms

and carried her into his apartment. ‘Now you are truly my bride,’ he murmured, frowning

slightly when he noted how she had stiffened at his touch.

His words settled like concrete in Kitty’s stomach as she wondered if he was intending to carry

her on into his bedroom and make her his wife in the time-honoured fashion. She could not

forget the magazine pictures of him and Shannon Marsh, and she wriggled in his arms so that he

was forced to set her on her feet. ‘I’m too heavy for you,’ she muttered. ‘I’ll break your back.’

‘I think that is unlikely, agape ,’ he drawled, his eyes narrowing when she refused to meet his gaze. It was the first time she had visited his home, and it was perhaps natural that she seemed

tense, Nikos told himself. And of course she wasn’t merely visiting, this would be her home too

now, and it must seem very different from what she was used to. His penthouse apartment was

luxurious but it was not a royal palace.

They would both have to make adjustments, he acknowledged. He liked his space, and since his

divorce had never invited any of his lovers to spend a night at the apartment. Now Kitty would

be living here; but she was his wife, not his mistress, and he could not expect their relationship to only be confined to the bedroom. Presumably they would eat breakfast together every morning,

and dine together when he returned home in the evening, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about

sharing his private domain. He had been alone for so long that it had become his way of life, but

in a few months from now the baby would be here, and he felt a fierce jolt of excitement as he

imagined life with his child.

He would be a good father, he vowed silently. His child would want for nothing, especially his

love. But for the sake of the child he would have to help Kitty settle in Athens so that she was

not tempted to flee back to Aristo. He glanced at her, his eyes narrowing on the firm swell of her

breasts outlined beneath her silk jacket. The matching skirt moulded her delightfully round

bottom, and as he imagined tugging the jade silk over her hips he felt himself harden, and he was

fiercely tempted to lead her down the hall to the master bedroom and demonstrate that from now

on the only place she would ever want to be was in Athens—in his bed.

His heartbeat quickened and he placed his hand on her shoulder, stroking back her long chestnut

hair that felt like silk against his skin. He wanted to brush her hair to one side and press his lips to the pulse beating at the base of her throat, but once again he was aware of her sudden tension

and he dropped his hand back to his side.

He did not know what was wrong with her, and, quite frankly, he wasn’t in the mood to play

games. When he had kissed her in the church her eager response had been a satisfactory

indication that she shared his impatience to consummate their marriage. But since then she had

cooled considerably, and her edginess puzzled him. Maybe she just needed time to adjust?

Marriage, impending motherhood and moving from Aristo to Athens were all momentous

changes to her life, and he guessed that she had found the wedding a strain. Even though they

had planned to keep it low-key, the marriage of a member of the royal family was a significant

event and it had seemed as though half the population of Aristo had been invited to the wedding.

Curbing his impatience to take her to bed, he moved away from her. ‘I’ll give you a guided tour

of the apartment, and perhaps you’ll start to feel more at home.’

‘Thank you.’ Kitty followed Nikos down the hall, her heart sinking as she glanced around. His

apartment was ultra-modern and minimalist with white marble floors and pale walls teamed with