Читать онлайн книгу «In Christofides′ Keeping» автора Эбби Грин
In Christofides' Keeping
ABBY GREEN
Pregnant and alone When one night with ruthless playboy Rico Christofides leaves her pregnant, Gypsy Butler is determined to spare her unborn baby the heartache of her own neglectful childhood. But a shock meeting is about to change her plansCaptured and claimed!Rico has never forgotten or forgiven the one woman who managed to smash through his cast-iron defences. Now hes discovered hes a father, nothing will stop him from claiming his childeven if unwilling Gypsy craves her freedom!
I will not be sharing your bed. Gypsy was terrified that sleeping with Rico would crumble her precious defencesHe already had so much controltoo much control. If he had her, then he would have it all.
He shrugged. We both know if I started kissing you that I could have you on the bed in the back of this cabin within minutesBut with respect to our daughter Ill desist from making my point here and now.
In Christofides Keeping
By
Abby Green
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
About the Author
ABBY GREEN got hooked on Mills & Boon romances while still in her teens, when she stumbled across one belonging to her grandmother in the west of Ireland. After many years of reading them voraciously, she sat down one day and gave it a go herself. Happily, after a few failed attempts, Mills & Boon bought her first manuscript.
Abby works freelance in the film and TV industry, but thankfully the four a.m. starts and the stresses of dealing with recalcitrant actors are becoming more and more infrequent, leaving her more time to write!
She loves to hear from readers, and you can contact her through her website at www.abby-green.com She lives and works in Dublin.
This is for Lindi Loo and Lola, my two favourite girls.
Chapter One
RICO CHRISTOFIDES stifled his irritation and tried to rein in his wandering attention. What was wrong with him? He was in one of the most exclusive restaurants in London, dining with one of the most beautiful women in the world. But it was as if someone had turned the sound down and all he could hear was the steady thump-thump of his heart.
He saw Elena gesticulating and speaking with a little too much animation, her eyes glittering a little too brightly as she tossed her luxurious mane of red hair over one shoulder, leaving the other one bare. It was meant to entice but it didnt.
He knew all the moves. Hed seen countless women perform them for years, and hed enjoyed them. But right now he felt no more desire for this woman than he would for an inanimate wooden object. He regretted the impulse hed acted on to call her up once hed known hed be in London for a few days.
Curiously, he was being enticed by a tantalising memory. Hed glanced fleetingly at one of the waitresses as theyd walked in and in an instant something about the way she moved had registered on his brain, throwing him back in timetwo years back in time, to be precise. Hed found himself thinking of the one woman who hadnt been like all the others. The one woman who had managed to smash through the high wall of defences he kept rigid around himself and his emotions.
For just one night.
His fist clenched on his thigh under the table. It had to be just because he was back in London for the first time since that night. He forced himself to smile tightly in answer to something Elena had said, which seemed to require that response, and to his relief he could see that she was off again, clearly loving the sound of her voice more than she cared if he was listening or not.
The night hed met herGypsyif that even was her nametheyd just come out of the club and hed been about to tell her his name. Shed put a hand over his mouth, saying fervently, I dont want to know who you aretonight isnt about that.
Scepticism hadnt been far away. Either she knew damn well who he was, as hed been splashed all over the tabloids for days before that night, or elseBut Rico had found himself pausing as hed looked down at her. Shed looked so lovely and young and freshand untainted. And for that moment, for the first time in his life, hed pushed aside cynicism and suspicionhis constant companionsand said, OK, then, temptresswhat about just first names?
Before she could say anything and still believing deep down and with not a little arrogance that she had to know who he was, hed held out his hand and said with a flourish, Ricoat your service.
Shed placed her small soft hand in his and hesitated for a long moment before saying huskily, Im Gypsy.
A made-up name. It had to be. Hed chuckled, and he could remember even now how alien it had felt to allow that emotion to rise up. Fair enough. Play your silly game if you wantRight now Im interested in a lot more than your name
Someone laughed raucously at a nearby table, jerking Rico out of the memory, but even so a hot spiral of desire ran through him and he had a sudden memory flash of hearts beating in unison, sweat-slicked skin, her sleek body around his in an embrace so velvet hot and tight that hed fought just to keep control. And then her muscles had started to spasm around him, shed given a fractured breathy moan, and hed lost it in a way that hed never lost it before or since.
Rico, darling Elena was pouting at him, lips too blood-red. Youre miles away. Please tell me youre not thinking of boring work.
Rico stifled a cynical grimace. It was that very boring work, and all the many millions hed made in the process, that had women like Elena hovering around him in droves, waiting for little more than a crooked finger to signal his interest. Even so, the acknowledgement couldnt stop him from shifting uncomfortably in his seat, very disturbed by the fact that he was being turned on not by the woman opposite him, but by a ghost from the past. Because that ghost was the one woman who hadnt fallen at his feet in sycophantic ecstasy when hed singled her out.
On the contrary: shed tried to walk away from him. And then the following morning she had walked away from him. But not before hed left her on the bed, like a callow, unsophisticated youth. Regret burned him, and Rico didnt do regret.
He forced another tight smile and reached across for Elenas far too available hand. She practically purred when he took it. He opened his mouth to offer some platitude as a waitress walked past their table, and he frowned when his body inexplicably reactedtightening almost as if it sensed something his brain hadnt yet registered. He looked up; it was the waitress hed noticed on the way in. The waitress who had sparked a veritable torrent of memories.
Was he going completely insane? An evocative scent lingered on the air in her wake. He tried to sound casual, and not as if he was afraid he was going crazy. He looked back to his date. What scent are you wearing?
Elenas lips curled seductively as she offered Rico her wrist to smell. Poisondo you like?
He bent his head, but even before he smelt the distinctive perfume he knew it was all wrong. Nausea clenched his belly. He looked up again, as if drawn helplessly, to see the back of the waitress. She was taking an order at a nearby table. That evocative scent reminded him ofAbruptly Elena pulled her hand from his with a barely disguised huffy sigh and stood from the table, smoothing a hand over one artfully cocked hip sheathed in silk.
Im going to go and powder my nose. Hopefully by the time I get back you wont be so distracted.
Rico disregarded the reproach in her voice and didnt watch her walk away. He was transfixed now by the slim back of the petite waitress just a few feet away. She had a neatly shaped figurefirm buttocks, defined by the close-fitting black skirt which hid her legs to the knee, and slender but shapely calves and tiny ankles. Feet in low-heeled black shoes. So far so unremarkable.
His gaze travelled back up, past the plain white shirt, with just a hint of the bra underneath, taking in her hair, which looked a dark honey-brown but which he guessed might be lighter in daylight. It was densely curled, tied back into a tight bun, but he could already imagine the wild corkscrew curls that would burst free. Almost exactly likeHe shook his head again, cursing softly. Why was that memory so hauntingly vivid tonight?
The woman turned slightly then, before stopping to respond to something the man at the table was saying, and it was enough to give Rico a proper glimpse of her profile. A small straight nose, determined chin, and a lush mouth with the slightest hint of an overbitewhich he remembered thinking an adorable imperfection in a world obsessed with perfection. Certainty slammed into him on the heels of that thoughtit had to be her. He wasnt going crazy.
His breath stopped. Everything went into slow motion as she finally turned and faced him directly. She was looking down at her notepad, scribbling something, juggling the big menus under her arm as she walked closer, and before he knew what he was doing, with something that felt horrifyingly exultant rushing through him, Rico stood and grasped the womans arm, stopping her in her tracks.
Gypsy didnt know what was happening at first. All she knew was that someone had a tight grip on her arm. She looked up with a retort on her lipsand fell into steely grey eyes.
And stopped breathing, stopped functioning.
She blinked. Words died in her mouth. It couldnt be him. She was dreamingor it was a nightmare. She was certainly tired enough to be sleep-walking. But she could feel the colour draining from her face, the peripheral noise fading into the background.
She was looking into exactly the same colour eyes asThere her mind shut down. It was him. The man who had haunted her dreams for nearly two years. Rico Christofides. Half-Greek, half-Argentinian, billionaire entrepreneur, a legend of his own making.
It is you. He spoke her thoughts out loud in his deep voice, and sent Gypsys brain into a tailspin. Very distantly she was aware of a voice screaming at her to run, get away. Escape.
She shook her head, but it felt as if she was under water. Was she still standing? All she was aware of was the dark depths of those deep-set stormy grey eyes, boring into her all the way to her soul, his hand tight on her arm. Midnight-black hair, slightly crooked nose, dark brows, defined jawIt was all so familiar to herexcept her dreams hadnt done him justice. He was so tall, towering over her, his shoulders so broad that she couldnt see anything but him.
Absurdly through the shock came the hurtagainthat hed wasted little time in walking away from her the next morning. Leaving just an abrupt note which had read: The room is paid for. R.
A pointed cough sounded nearby. He didnt move, and Gypsy couldnt look away. Her carefully constructed world was crumbling into pieces around her.
Rico? Is something wrong with our order?
A voice. A female voice. Confirming what Gypsy didnt want to know by saying his name out loud. She registered dimly that it must be the stunning red-haired woman shed walked past and noticed just minutes before. She couldnt believe now that shed passed him so blithely, with no hint of warning.
But he ignored the woman and said again faintly, Its you.
Gypsy managed to shake her head and at the same time somehow miraculously extricate her arm from his long-fingered grasp. She prayed that she could speak and say something that made sense. Something that would get her out of this situation and away from him. After all, it had been one nightmere hourshow could someone like him possibly remember her? After the way hed left, why would he want to remember her? How could this awful fiery awareness be snaking through her veins?
Im sorry. You must be confusing me with someone else.
Gypsy left him standing there and went straight to the staff bathroom, seriously afraid that she might be sick. Taking deep breaths over the sink, she felt clammy and sweaty. And all that was going through her mind was the imperative need to run, get away.
Ever since shed found out that she was pregnant after their cataclysmic night together shed known that some day she would have to tell Rico Christofides that he had a daughter. A fifteen-month-old daughter, with exactly the same colour eyes as her father. Gypsy felt nauseous again, but willed it down.
She could remember her terror at the prospect of becoming a mother, along with her instantly deep and abiding connection with the tiny baby growing within her. And with that had come the intense desire to protect her child. Shed seen how Rico Christofides dealt with women who dared to name him as the father of their child, and had had no desire to expose herself to that public humiliation. Even if shed been certain that she could prove paternity.
Pregnant, and feeling extremely nervous and vulnerable at the daunting prospect of how Rico Christofides might react to the news, Gypsy had taken the difficult decision to have Lola on her own. Shed wanted to be in a strong and solvent position when she contacted him. Working as a waitress, albeit in an upmarket restaurant, was not the ideal situation for her to be in when dealing with someone as powerful as him.
Panic surged again. Gypsy didnt even see her own white face in the mirror. If she didnt get out of there now, Rico Christofides couldnt fail to recall the woman who had acted completely out of character and who, on a tide of desire so intense that she still woke sometimes at night aching, had succumbed to his masterful seduction and indulged in a one-night stand.
Making a fateful decision, uncomfortably aware that she was acting on blind instinct and panic but seeing no other solution, she splashed some water on her face and went to find her boss.
Tom, please, Gypsy begged, and mentally crossed everything. She hated lying, and especially using her daughter to do it. But she had no choice. Not with the father of her child just through the kitchen doors.
I have to get home to Lola. Something hascome up.
Her boss raked his hand through his short sandy hair. Jeez, Gypsy you really pick your momentsyou know were short staffed as it is. Cant it wait for another hour, until we have the main rush over with?
Gypsy hated herself for this. She shook her head, already taking off her apron as she did so. Im sorry, Tom. Really sorrybelieve me.
His face tightened and he crossed his arms. Gypsy felt the slither of fear trickle down her spine. So am I, Gypsy. I dont want to do this to you, but its come to this: youve been late nearly every day for the past two weeks.
Gypsy started to protest, saying something about the inflexible hours of her daughters minder conflicting with her shift hours, but her boss cut her off.
Youre a good worker, but theres a line of people behind you waiting to get a job here who wont let me down like this.
He took a breath, and Gypsys foreboding increased. If you leave like this now then Im afraid you wont have a job to come back to. Its that simple.
A vivid memory surged back of the moment shed found out that the man who had turned her world upside down was none other than one of the worlds most powerful men, and nausea returned.
The thought of going back out to the dining room and trying to function normally was inconceivable. Shed end up getting fired anyway for spilling someones dinner into their lap, she was shaking so much. She looked at Tom and shook her head again sadly, already anticipating the drudge of having to look for another job, silently giving thanks that she had some savings to tide them over for a couple of weeks. Im sorry, Tom, I have no choice.
Her boss stood back after a long moment and gestured with his arm. Then Im sorry too, Gypsy, because youre leaving me no choice.
She couldnt say anything. Her throat was too tight. She gathered up her things and left through the back kitchen door, stepping out into the dark and dank alleyway behind the exclusive restaurant.
Later that night Rico stood at the floor-to-ceiling window of his central London penthouse apartment, hands dug deep into his pockets. His pulse was still racing, and it had nothing to do with the beautiful woman hed said a curt and sterile goodnight tomuch to her obvious disgustand everything to do with a pretty waitress who had confounded him by doing a disappearing act.
Shed done a disappearing act the first time round, but he only had himself to blame for that. He grimaced; if he hadnt panickedIt still rankled with him that hed let her get under his guard so easily. He could remember watching her sleeping, sprawled across the bed, feeling seriously stunned at the depth of his desire, still, and the depth of his response to her.
It was that and the overwhelming feeling of possessiveness which had driven him from the room as if hounds were snapping at this heels. He never felt possessive of women. But this evening, the minute hed recognised her, it had surged upwards again, as fresh as if no time had passed. And shed run. And he had no idea why.
He pulled out a small piece of paper from his pocket. Hed got her name from the manager of the restaurant, and his men had made short work of tracking her down. He now had Gypsy Butlers addressfor apparently that was her name. He smiled grimly. He would soon find out what exactly he found so compelling about a woman hed slept with for just one night, and why on earth shed felt the need to run from him.
The following morning, as Gypsy walked home in drizzly rain from the local budget supermarket, pushing a sleeping Lola in her battered buggy, she was still reeling at what had happened the previous evening.
Shed seen Rico Christofides and shed lost her job.
The two things shed been most terrified of happening had happened in quick succession. She defended herself again: shed had no choice but to leave last nightshed have been in no fit state to work or deal with Rico Christofides. Her legs felt momentarily weak when she recalled how hed looked, and how instantaneous his effect on her had been.
Hed been tall and strong and devastatingly powerful. And still as bone-meltingly gorgeous as the first time shed seen him across that crowded nightclub two years ago.
The night shed met Rico had been a moment out of timeand most definitely a moment out of character. Hed caught her on the cusp of her new life, when shed been letting go of a lot of pain. Shed been vulnerable and easy prey to the practised charm of someone like Rico Christofides. But shed had no clue then just exactly who he was. A world-renowned tycoon and playboy.
Seeing him had made everything shed ever known pale into insignificance. She knew if hed been dressed like the other men in the clubin a natty shirt and blazer, pressed chinosit would have been easy to dismiss him as being like all the rest. But he hadnt been dressed like that. Hed been dressed in a T-shirt and faded denims which had fit lean hips and powerful legs so lovingly that it had been almost indecent. An air of dangerous sexuality had clung to his devastatingly dark good-looks in a way that had left everyone around him looking anaemicand awestruck.
But that in itself would have just made him a spectacularly handsome guy; it had been more than that. It had been in the intensity of his gaze across that heaving chaotic clubon her. Dark and mesmerising, stopping Gypsy right where shed been dancing alone on the dance floor.
The impulse to get out of her tangled head and engage in something physical had called to her as shed passed the club doors and heard the heavy bass beat just a short while before. It was a primal celebration of the fact that she was finally free of her late father and his corrupt and controlling legacy. When hed died six months previously shed felt more emptiness than grief for the man who had never shown her an ounce of genuine affection.
But when the gorgeous stranger had started to come towards her in the club, with singular intent, all tangled thoughts and memories had fled. Hed cleared an effortless path through the thronged crowdand sanity had returned to Gypsy in a rush of panic. He was too handsome, too dark, too sexytoo much for someone like her. And the way hed looked at her as he grew ever closer had scared the life out of her.
But, as if rooted to the spot by a magic spell, she hadnt been able to move, and had just watched, dry-mouthed, as he came to stop right in front of her. Tall and forbidding. No easy sexy smile to make it easier. It was almost as if something elemental had passed between them and this man was claiming her as his. Which had been a ridiculous thing to feel on a banal Friday night in a club in central London.
Why have you stopped dancing? hed asked innocuously, his deep voice pitched to carry across the deafening beat, but even so shed heard the unmistakably subtle accent.
He was foreign. As if his dark looks wouldnt have told her that anyway. A frisson of awareness had made her tremble all over when shed noted his steely grey eyes, their colour stark against his olive skin. Shed shaken her head, as if to clear it of this madness, but just then someone had jostled her, heaving her forward and straight into the mans arms, into hands which held her protectively against his hard body.
Instantaneous heat had exploded throughout Gypsys body at the sheer physicality of him. Shed looked up, utterly perplexed, and had sensed real fearNot fear for her safety, but an irrational fear for her sanity. On a rising wave of panic shed used her hands to push against his chest and stepped back, answering tightly, I was just leaving, actually
His big hands had tightened on her armsbare because she was wearing a sleeveless vest. Her light jacket was tied about her waist, her bag slung across her chest. You just got here.
Hed been watching her from the moment shed arrived. Gypsy had felt weakness pervade her limbs to think of how shed been dancing: as if no one was watching.
And then hed said, If you insist on leaving, then Im coming with you.
Gypsy had gasped at his cool and arrogant nerve. But you cantyou dont even know me.
His jaw had been hard and implacable. Stern. Then dance with me and Ill let you go The fact that he hadnt been cajoling, hadnt been drunkenly flirting, had imbued his words with something too compelling to resist.
Gypsys focus came back to grim and grey reality as she was forced to stop by the traffic lights. She didnt need to recall the pitifully pathetic attempt shed put up to resist before agreeingostensibly to make him let her go.
But it had had completely the opposite effect. After dancing with her so closely that her body had been dewed with sweat and heat and lust, hed bent low to whisper against her ear. Do you still want to leave alone? To her ongoing shame and mortification, shed shaken her head, slowly and fatefully, her eyes glued to his in some kind of sick fascination. Shed wanted him with a hunger the like of which shed never experienced in her life.
Shed let him take her by the hand and lead her out of the club, seeing him as somehow symbolic of the cataclysmic events of the day that had just passed, during which shed finally let go of everything that had bound her to her father.
Shed allowed herself to be seducedand then summarily dumped like a piece of trash the following morning. She remembered seeing the curt note hed left, and how cheap shed feltas if all that was missing was a bundle of cash on the dresser.
With an inarticulate sound of disgust at herself to be thinking of this now, the fact that shed let a man like hima powerful man just like her fatherseduce her, Gypsy strode on across the road once the traffic had stopped. With any luck Rico Christofides would have become distracted by the vision of perfection hed been dining with last night and forgotten all about her. But he remembered you She realised that any other woman would be feeling an intensely feminine satisfaction that a man like him hadnt forgotten her, but she just felt panicky. Why on earth did a man like him remember someone like her?
A familiar sense of despair gripped Gypsy as she turned into her road, full of boarded-up houses and disaffected-looking youths loitering on steps. As much as shed relished her freedom after her fathers death, and as much as she wouldnt have minded living somewhere like this if shed only had herself to worry about, it did bother her that her daughters first home was in such a decrepit part of London. Even the nearby childrens playground was vandalised beyond use, with just one pathetic swing left.
She sighed heavily, very aware of the irony that, but for her hot-headedness and determination to dissociate herself from her father, she might have been living in much more upmarket surroundings. But then she knew she could never have lived off her fathers moneyand shed never have dreamed that shed become pregnant after a one-night stand with a ruthlessly seductive
Gypsys heart stopped stone-cold dead in her chestand it had nothing to do with the faintly menacing-looking youths crowded around the steps of a nearby house and everything to do with the stunning car they were eyeing up.
The gleaming black luxury vehicle with tinted windows should have belonged to one of the gangsters that had a stranglehold on the area, but Gypsy knew immediately it was a world apart from their cars. The gangsters around here could only wish to own a car like this.
And as she drew closer, and saw the back door swing open, her heart picked up speed, so that it was nearly leaping from her chest as she watched a tall, dark and powerfully built figure uncoil like a panther stretching lazily in the sun.
As if she didnt already know who it was, he turned to face her. Just feet away, and right outside her front door. No escape.
Rico Christofides.
Chapter Two
GYPSY knew she couldnt run. The very thought was futileas evidenced by Rico Christofides clear determination to find her. Why was he so intent? All Gypsy had to do was picture the woman from last night and the contrast between them was laughable.
Today she was in her habitual uniform of too baggy jeans bought from a local charity shop, layers of threadbare jumpers to block out the January cold, sneakers, a secondhand parka and a woolly hat pulled down low over her ears and too wild hair. He, on the other hand, looked every inch the successful tycoon, in a long, black and expensive-looking coat, with the hint of a pristine suit underneath.
She saw his slaty grey eyes narrow on her as she approached. No doubt he was regretting his impetuous decision to find her. And then her skin prickled as she saw his gaze drop to the pram she pushed, with a sleeping Lola inside, obscured by the rainshield.
His daughteroh, Godcould he know?
Gypsy immediately reassured herself there was no way he could know. Why would he assume for a second that Lola was his? She just had to take advantage of the undoubted regret hed already be feeling at seeking her out and get rid of him. As soon as possiblebefore he could see Lola and guess.
Even if he didnt guess she knew that once she told him about Lola hed move heaven and earth to prove that she wasnt hiswhich was what shed seen him do before. And then, when paternity was proved, hed set out to control his daughter utterly. Exactly as her father had done to her once hed had no choice but to accept her.
She knew this because Rico came from her fathers world of powerful men who thrived on being ruthless. Men who dominated those around them.
As soon as shed heard his name she hadnt been able to believe she hadnt recognised him. She even recalled overhearing her father speaking bitterly of Rico Christofides on more than one occasion: If you think Im ruthless then dont ever cross Rico Christofides. The man is a cold machine. If I could beat him I would, but the bastard wouldnt rest until hed resurrected himself from the dead and ruined me in the process. Some fights just arent worth it, but Id give anything to see his arrogance smashed
Her father had been obsessive, and the memory of that almost grudging admiration had blasted away any chance that she might have contacted Rico Christofides before today.
The best that Gypsy could hope for was that that day wasnt going to be today, and that perhaps she could escape with Lolago somewhere new, away from Londonuntil such time as she could get her wits about her again and decide what was best for them both.
She was glad now of her plain and dowdy appearance. Rico Christofides must already be forming some escape route of his own. Shed help him along, agree with him that he must have the wrong person, and then hed get back into his luxury car and be off, out of her life, until such time as she invited him back in, when she was ready to deal with him. With that assurance, she steeled herself and walked forward.
Rico watched the woman come towards him. For a second he faltered. Was this her? The woman approaching slowly looked impossibly plain from a distance, bare of any make-up or artifice. Pale. And her body was all but swamped in clothes that looked as if theyd just been dragged out of a skip.
And she had a child. Something which felt suspiciously like disappointment sent his brain reeling, and he clamped down on that emotion hard. A child was a complication. She came closer, and as he lifted his gaze back to her face he was already trying to come up with some excuse for having come all this way to find her, still doubting that it might be her. Perhaps he had been completely mistaken. Perhaps the name was a freak coincidence.
But then she drew closer, and all thoughts of children and complications fled as his body reacted with a helpless lurch of desire. It was her.
Despite her appearance, he could see the intensity of those huge green eyes now, framed with long black lashes, the delicate bone structure, her lush mouth. And her hair, with its irrepressible curls trailing out from under the tatty hat over her shoulders. It reminded him of the moment hed first set eyes on her in that club. Hed been cursing himself for having gone at all, hating that hed given in to weak restlessness, and then shed walked in. Dressed in snug jeans and a vest top, completely at odds with the glitter of the too coiffed women whod thronged the place. The expression on her face had been intense, as if she was being driven by inner demons, and it had resonated within Rico.
The firm swell of her breasts had been clearly outlined against the thin material of her top, and hed watched, entranced, as shed walked straight to the middle of the dance floor and started to dance with completely uninhibited grace. Hed seen plenty more beautiful women in his time, clothed and unclothed, but something about her lithe little figure, with its hint of sensual plumpness, had been more enticing than any gazelle-like beauty hed ever known. With her tawny curly hair shed looked wild, and free, and it had called to him on a base level too urgent to ignore
Shed been exquisite. She was exquisite. Even though he could see at a glance now that shed lost weight. Relief flooded him in a way that made him very nervous as she came to a standstill where he blocked the path. And along with the relief came irrational anger to find her living in such an obviously dangerous area. The anger surprised him; women didnt normally arouse feelings of protectiveness within him. Hed noted the local thugs with distaste after hed knocked and got no answer from her door, and retreated to his car to wait. Theyd tried to intimidate him, but after one quelling look theyd recognised the danger within him and maintained a respectful distance.
Right at that moment hed completely forgotten that hed just considered making his excuses and leaving. That was now the last thing on his mind.
Gypsy decided to pretend that she didnt know who he was, that she hadnt just seen him again last night. It was cowardly, she knew, but she was counting on him wanting to make his escape from someone who looked like a bag lady.
Excuse meyoure blocking my way.
He didnt move aside. Those penetrating grey eyes were fixed on her with unnerving intensity, and Gypsy could feel a flush of response rise up through her body as it reacted with dismaying helplessness to his proximity. As it was she was battling to keep back the images that threatened to burst free. Images of sweat-slicked bodies moving in desperate tandem, straining to reach the pinnacle
Why did you run last night?
His deep voice cut through those disturbing images. Her lie fell out with an ease that would have had her horrorstruck in any normal circumstance. My daughterI had to get home to my daughter. And then she cursed herself. She hadnt denied that shed run.
At that moment the rain started to fall more heavily, scattering the local teens around them. Rico Christofides gestured to her door, which was up a few steps. Let me help you with the pram.
Panic rose. Gypsy protested, not wanting him anywhere near her place or Lola. No, really, I can manage But even as she spoke Rico Christofides took hold of the pram and lifted it bodily against him, as if it weighed no more than a bag of sugar. She had to let go or it would have become a tug of war. The irony that Lola could become an object of a tug of war was not lost on Gypsy at that moment.
The rain was teeming down now, flattening his black hair against his skull. Gypsy could feel drops of water falling down her back. When he gestured with his head, she had no choice but to precede him up the steps to the front door. In the manoeuvring that was done to open the door and get Lola inside, with Rico Christofides hanging onto the buggy relentlessly, he was in her tiny one-bedroomed apartment before she knew what was happening or could stop it.
He placed the buggy back down in the pitiful excuse for a sitting room with a gentleness that momentarily disarmed Gypsy. She was a little stunned. With a brusque economy of movement he shut the main front door and came back to shut her ground-floor apartment door. Now he was looking around, and asked, Have you got a towel?
A towel? Gypsy repeated stupidly, knowing on some level that she was going into shock.
Yes, he said slowly. A towelYoure soaked through and so am I.
A towel, she repeated again, and then, as if jolted by a stun gun, she came out of her shocked inertia. A towelof course. Get the towel, let him dry off and hell be gone.
Gypsy walked on stiff legs to the tiny bedroom she shared with Lola and opened the cupboard to take out a towel. Coming back, she handed it to Rico Christofides, trying not to notice how huge he appeared to be in the small room.
Immediately he frowned and handed the towel back to her. You firstyoure soaked. Surely you have more than one?
Gypsy looked at it stupidly, and then gabbled, Of course. She gestured jerkily. You take that one. Ill get another. She tried not to let the mounting impatience she felt be heard in her voice. Why wouldnt he just leave?
Coming back to the sitting room, she saw him drying his hair roughly with big hands. Hed taken off his coat to drape it over a threadbare chair, and his impeccable suit was moulded to his strong frame, making her throat dry at recalling the body underneath.
He turned to face her, taking his hands down, leaving his short hair sexily dishevelled. He glowed with vitality and health, making Gypsy feel pale and wan.
He frowned down at her. You should take off your coat and hat He looked around. Do you have a heater in here?
Reluctantly she pulled off her hat and started to undo her coat, knowing he was right; the last thing she needed was to get ill. She shook her head when those grey eyes settled on her again, expecting an answer, and flushed when they dropped imperceptibly to take in her shabby clothes as her coat slid off. She was very aware of her hair, which now curled in wild abandon around her shoulders, and could just imagine how frizzy it would be from the rain. She wanted to pull it back and tie it up. And she hated that he was making her aware of herself like that.
Our heater broke this morning. The storage heating will come on in a couple of hours.
Rico Christofides looked comically shocked. Youve no heat? But you have a childits freezing outside.
Gypsy flushed with a mothers guilt. This is the first day its been broken. Well manage until we can get a replacement She trailed off, suddenly thinking of the fact that now she was out of work her meagre savings wouldnt be stretching to cover a new heater. As if she could explain shed lost her job because of him. How irresponsible was she?
She looked at Rico Christofides and recognised his wide-legged stance with dismay. He wasnt going anywhere any time soon. With extreme reluctance she finally said, Can I get you tea or coffee?
His eyes narrowed on her once again. The barest hint of a smile tipped up one corner of his wickedly sensual mouth as he recognised her capitulation. Id love a coffee, please. Black, no sugar.
Stark, with no sweetenerjust like him, Gypsy thought churlishly as she went into the kitchen to put on the kettle. All she could hope for now was that Lola wouldnt wake up and Rico Christofides would satisfy whatever bizarre lingering curiosity he had about her and leave. Soon.
Rico looked around the bare apartment as Gypsy moved about the kitchen and he suppressed a shudder of distaste. Without her presence right in front of him his brain seemed to clear slightly. Once again he questioned his sanity in pursuing her here, especially when his eyes fell on the battered-looking buggy which sat just feet away against the wall. His sane impulse was to come up with some plausible excuseeven just ask her why she seemed to be determined to pretend she didnt know himbut a greater overriding impulse was urging him to stay. Even if there was a child in the picture.
He could only make out the fact that her daughter was quite small, so therefore she must have had her since shed been with him. And even though Rico knew he had no right to feel a surge of anger at that, he did.
Even just watching her pull off that damned unflattering hat and coat had scrambled his brain and made him almost forget the presence of the child. The quick movement of her small hands had reminded him of how theyd felt on him, stroking along the most sensitive part of his anatomy until hed had to beg her to stopHe frowned. Why was she so intent on denying she knew him? And that night? Even if he had left the way he had, he knew it had been as cataclysmic for her too. The shocked look of awe on her face just after shed exploded around him had told him that.
With no false pride he knew he was a good lover, but what hed experienced that night with Gypsy had gone beyond anything hed ever known before. Or since. It had shaken him out of his complacency. Was that why he needed to see her again? To recapture that moment? To see if it had been his imagination or somethingmore? He balked at that. He never wanted anything more with any woman. But that night with Gypsy had touched him on a level that had left him feeling an ache of dissatisfaction, and it had only grown since then, pervading everything around him and tainting the few liaisons hed had with women in the interim.
He knew seeing her last night had thrown the fact that hed been trying to recapture that fleeting transcendence hed experienced with her into sharp relief. With that thought reverberating through his mind he heard Gypsy re-enter the room. He turned to face her and took the coffee she held out. She was avoiding his eyes.
Gypsy escaped Ricos gaze and occupied herself by going to peek in at Lola who, to her relief, was still sleeping peacefully, her cheeks pink and her rosebud mouth in a little moue. Long black lashes rested against plump baby cheeks. Gypsys heart swelled, as it did every time she looked at her daughter, and at that moment she felt an overwhelming surge of guilt at knowing she was denying Lolas father knowledge of her when he stood only feet away.
She quashed it down, telling herself that she was doing it for good reasons, and straightened up, crossing her arms defensively over her chest. To her surprise she saw that Rico Christofides had taken a saucepan from the kitchen and was placing it in the corner of the room where, to her dismay, she saw that hed spotted a leak.
As he straightened up again she said, more caustically than shed intended, Look, what is it you want from me? The rogue thought that he could be there because after seeing her again hed been overcome with lust set her mind spinning, before she realised how unlikely that had to be.
Rico Christofides calmly sat down on the two-seater sofa and indicated for Gypsy to sit down too. With a barely disguised huff, which was really more fear than impatience, she took the chair opposite the sofa. He took a lazy sip of coffee before putting the cup down on the chipped table.
Id like to know why you seem to be so determined to pretend weve never met, when in fact were intimately acquainted.
Gypsy blushed to the roots of her hair at the way he said intimately. Tightly, she answered, knowing it was futile to keep pretending otherwise. I am well aware of the fact that weve met before, but Ive no desire to become reacquainted.
He regarded her for an uncomfortably long moment and then said, You may not believe this, but I regretted leaving you the way I did that morning.
A spasm of emotion made Gypsy clamp her lips together. She didnt doubt this was just a smooth movehe most likely hadnt given her a second thought. Perhaps hed seen her last night and assumed she might be as easy to seduce again. Well, I dont. And youre forgetting that you left your kindly informative note.
His face tightened. Contrary to what you might have thought after that night, Im not in the habit of picking women up in clubs and booking into the nearest hotel for a night of anonymous sex.
Gypsy burned inside, but shrugged nonchalantly. Look, what do I know or care? Its not something I gave much thought to.
He sent a pointed look towards Lolas pram, and said ascerbically, Clearly I can see that perhaps one-night stands are a habit for you.
Gypsy gasped in affront and sat up straight, hands clenched on her lap, How dare you? Id never had a one-night stand in my life before I met you.
He arched a brow. And yet, he drawled easily, you were remarkably eager to throw yourself into the experience that night, Gypsy Butler.
Gypsys heart stopped. He knew her full nameof course he did; hed found her. Hed be able to track her down no matter where she went now. They must have given it to him at the restaurant.
He asked now, So, that really is your name?
Gypsy nodded, wanting him gone more than ever now, not liking the way he was making her feel so trapped, and said distractedly, My mother had an obsession with Gypsy Rose Lee, hence the name. She left out the fact that for a good portion of her life she hadnt been called by her birth name at all. As far as she was concerned that part of her life had ended when her father had died.
Forcing her mind away from those memories she said, harshly but quietly, mindful of Lola, Look, what is it you want? Im busy.
He cast her a scathing glance. Busy trying to get away from me, for some reason. His eyes narrowed on her, and she felt like a tiny piece of prey in front of a predator, with no escape in sight. And at high costespecially when I happen to know that your disappearing act last night lost you your job
Gypsy held in a gasp but said shakily, How do you know that?
His shoulder moved minutely, The waiters were remarkably indiscreet and loud. Taking her by surprise, Rico Christofides asked then, as if it had just occurred to him, Where is your childs father?
Sitting in front of me, she thought hysterically, and schooled her features, hitching up her chin in an unconscious gesture of defiance. Were alone.
You have no other family?
Gypsy shook her head, and tried to ignore the feeling of vulnerability his words provoked. Rico Christofides was grim. Which proves my point, dont you think? You slept with me and at least one other man soon afterfor I cant imagine that you had left a small baby in the care of a stranger while you were with me that night.
Gypsy shook her head, aghast at the thought of leaving Lola like that while she went off to spend the night with someone. Of course I didnt. I would never have done something like that.
Rico Christofides looked almost smug. Shed proved his point for him, albeit erroneously, because of course she hadnt slept with anyone else since him. With panic galvanising her movements, making them jerky, Gypsy stood up with clenched fists at her sides. Look, Mr Christofides, youre really not welcome here. Id like you to leave.
It was only at his sharply drawn together brows and the way his head snapped up that Gypsy ran over what shed just said and realised with sick horror its import.
He rose slowly and looked down at her, frowning, and Gypsy felt the horror spread through her when he said, You know who I am. So you did know who I was that night?
She shook her head, feeling sick, the possible future implications of her knowledge too much to consider right now. Nono, I didnt. It was only the next morningwhen I saw you on the news
It had been just after shed read his note and realised hed gone. Shed seen the TV in the corner of the room, on a news channel and on mute. Hed obviously been watching it before hed left that morning. To her utter surprise shed seen him, clean-shaven and pristine in a suit, looking almost like a different person, walking down the steps of an official building surrounded by photographers and an important-looking entourage. Gypsy had raised the sound and watched with mounting horror as shed discovered exactly who Rico was.
And yet you never contacted me once you knewyou still left He said this almost musingly, as if trying to work her out. Gypsy knew that in his world women who wouldnt take advantage of a one-night stand with a man like him would be few and far between.
She nodded her head vigorously. Yes, I left. And then, far more defensively than she liked, I got the hint that morning when I woke and you were long gone, leaving a note which made me feel like a call girl, and to be perfectly honest I have no interest in discussing this any further. Id like you to leave now. Please.
At that moment, to Gypsys utter horror and a spiking of panic, a cry came from the pramwhich turned into a familiar wail as Lola woke from her nap and demanded attention.
Chapter Three
SO SHE was upset with how hed left her. Rico forced his mind from that intriguing nugget of information. He could see that she was torn between wanting to go to her child and wanting him gone, and then she blurted out, over the ever increasing wails, Look, now is really not a good time. Please leave us alone.
Please leave us alone.
Something about those words, the way she said us, the hunted look about her face, made Rico dig his heels in. There was some bigger reason she wanted him gone. She felt threatened. That much was crystal-clear.
And, to his utter surprise, the childs piercing wails were not making him want to run in the opposite direction, fast. Gypsys words, her whole demeanour was intriguing him, and he hadnt found much intriguing at all lately. He wanted answers to her behaviour, wanted to know why she wanted him gone so badly, and her crying baby wasnt about to deter him.
That realisation shocked him slightly, as his only experience with kids to date was his four-year-old niece and her baby brother. While they amused himespecially his precocious niecehis younger half-brothers besottedness had left him perplexed. He just didnt really get the whole kids thing. And certainly had no intention of having any himself any time soonnot after the childhood he and his brother had enduredBut that path led to dark memories he wasnt prepared to contemplate now.
With a brusqueness brought on by those thoughts Rico bit out, Shouldnt you see to your child?
With obvious dismay at his intractability, Gypsy went over to the pram and pulled back the cover. Immediately the child stopped crying, just a few snuffles now as Gypsy cooed at her and leant in to pick her up.
In that moment Gypsys plea to please leave us alone resonated in his head. Ricos skin tightened over his bones imperceptibly. He was aware that hed tensed and stopped breathing. As if he had some prescience of something about to occur, something momentous. Which was crazy
Gypsy lifted out the solidly warm weight of her still sleepy daughter, unable, despite everything, to keep an instinctive smile off her face. Lola was a happy little girlrarely grouchy, invariably even-tempered and smileywhich was impossible not to respond to. Gypsy might have castigated herself for her behaviour that night, but shed never for one second regretted Lola, or contemplated not having her.
Gypsy automatically started to take off Lolas outdoor jacket, as she would be warm after her nap, and tried valiantly to ignore the fact that Rico Christofides would now be looking upon his own flesh and blood for the first time. Pushing that scary thought away, she thought surely now hed balk at the reality of a toddler and leave them alone?
A child demanding attention was hardly conducive to discussing a one-night stand? Surely hed see that she wasnt in the market for that again? But even at that thought her lower belly clenched with desire, as if in denial.
Lolas coat was off, and she sat up in Gypsys arms, more awake now. Having spied Rico Christofides she looked at him shyly, leaning into her mother more, sticking her thumb in her moutha habit shed developed as Gypsy had tried to abstain from using pacifiers.
With the utmost reluctance Gypsy followed her daughters gaze, knowing what Rico Christofides would be looking at: a delicately built toddler, with wide slategrey eyes ringed with long dark lashes, slightly darker than pale skin, and a shoulder-length mop of golden corkscrew curls which habitually refused to be tamed. She was adorable. People stopped Gypsy on the street all the time to exclaim over Lola.
At that moment Lola took her thumb out of her mouth and looked at Gypsy, while pointing at Rico Christofides, and said something unintelligible with all the confidence of having uttered a coherent word.
She gave a determined wriggle that Gypsy knew better than to resist, and she had no choice but to put Lola down on her feet and watch as she toddled, still a little unsteady after her nap, over to Rico Christofides, to look up, clearly certain shed get a warm response. When he just stared down at her, with a slightly shell-shocked expression, Gypsy felt foreboding surround her like a thick ominous fog.
Lola looked from Rico back to Gypsy and then, uncertain because of his lack of response, she came back and held her arms out to Gypsy, who picked her up again and held her close.
What did you say her name was? asked Rico after an interminable moment of tense silence, and Gypsy nearly closed her eyes in despair. He knew. Hed have to be blind not to know. They had exactly the same uniquely grey eyes, and now that Gypsy had seen him again she could see they shared the same determined chinand forehead. She was his feminine miniaturea stunning biological example of nature stamping the fathers mark on his child so that there could be no doubt she was his.
Lola, Gypsy replied faintly.
As if forcing himself to ask the question, not having taken his eyes off Lola yet, he asked hoarsely, How old is she?
Gypsy did close her eyes nowjust for a second. The weight of fate and inevitability weighed her down. She was to be given no reprieve, and even if she did try to bluff her way out of this now, and run, shed have to change her identity to evade Rico Christofides. An impossibility, considering her already precarious circumstances.
Fifteen months
I didnt hear you, he said quickly, curtly.
Gypsy winced at the harsh tone of his voice, and said again, with fatality sinking into her bones along with a numbness which had to be shock, Fifteen months.
For the first time his gaze met hers, and she could see what was burning in those increasingly stormy grey depths. Stark suspicion, realisation, shock, horrorall tangled up.
But, he said carefully, too carefully, thats impossible. Because if shes fifteen months old then, unless you slept with someone else directly after me, that would make hermine. And as you havent contacted me then I can only assume that she isnt mine.
Gypsys breath became more shallow. She tightened her hold on Lola, who was beginning to pick up on the tension. That sense of guilt surged back; she couldnt deny him this, no matter who he was. She looked directly at Rico Christofides and swallowed. I didnt sleep with anyone else. I havent been with anyone elsesince you. It killed her, but she had to say it. And I wasnt with anyone just beforeyou. She didnt think it worth mentioning now that shed only had one previous lover, in college.
Again too carefully, Rico Christofides said slowly, So what youre saying is that your daughter is mine? This little girl is my daughter?
Gypsy nodded jerkily, going hot and cold in an instant. A clammy sweat broke out over her skin, making it prickle. And at that moment, with impeccable timing, clearly bored with the lack of attention, Lola started to squirm and whinge.
Gypsy seized on the distraction. Shes hungry. I need to feed her. And she fled like a coward into the kitchen, where she put Lola into her highchair and started chattering to her saying nonsensical things. She knew she was in shock, close to hysteriaand acutely aware of the man just feet away, who now had the power to rip their lives apart.
Rico wasnt sure if he was still standing. Hed never been so thoroughly shocked, taken by surprise, blindsided in his entire life. All of the control he took for granted had just crumbled around him like a flimsy fa?ade, and he saw how precarious it had really been since hed taken control of his life at the tender age of sixteen.
He knew anger was there, but couldnt feel it quite yet. He was numbed. And all he could think about was how it had been just those four words which had made him stop: please leave us alone. All he could think about was what it had been like to look into that little girls eyes for the first time and feel as though hed missed a step, even though he hadnt even been moving.
When shed toddled over to look up at him with such innocent guile his heart had jolted once, hard, and hed felt as if he was falling from a great height into an abyss. An abyss of grey eyes exactly the same unique shade as his own, which hed inherited from his own father. Right now, the most curious sensation flooded himas if an elusive piece of himself was slotting into place, something he hadnt even been aware was missing from his life.
It was too much. Acting on blind instinct, he crashed out of Gypsys apartment, through the main door and to his car, where his driver jumped out. Gasping, Rico yanked open the car door and reached inside for what he was looking for. He realised belatedly that it was still raining as he pulled out a bottle of whisky and unscrewed the top, holding it by the neck before taking a deep gulp of the amber liquid.
His driver quickly ducked back into the car, clearly sensing his bosss volatility and his need to be unobserved. With his hand clenched around the bottle, clarity slowly returned to Rico and he welcomed it. This woman had betrayed him in the most heinous way. The worst way possible.
Hed believed that his own biological father had turned his back on him, but in fact he hadnt. His mother and his stepfather had seen to it that he had believed it, though.
And here was Gypsy Butler, repeating history, blithely bringing up his own daughterhis flesh and bloodclearly with no intention of ever letting him know. Shed tried to get him to leave!
Hed vowed at the age of sixteen that he would never be vulnerable or powerless again. That vow had become his lifes code when hed finally found his father and learnt just how terribly theyd both been lied tofor years. Since then, for him trust had become just a word with useless meaning.
The flimsy chance which had led him to choose that restaurant last night made him shudder in horror; at how close hed come to never knowing of his own daughters existence. He looked back towards the still open front door and took in the shabby excuse for a house. Resolve solidified in his chest, and he threw the bottle of whisky back into the car.
He knew that his life was about to change for ever, and damned if he wasnt going to change their lives too. There was a deep primal beat within him now not to let Gypsy or his daughter out of his sight again. The fierce and immediate possessiveness he felt, and the need to punish Gypsy for her actions, were raging like a fire within him.
Gypsy was shaking all over, and had to consciously try to calm herself as she finished feeding Lola and listened out for Ricos car taking off. The speed with which hed left the apartment had in equal measure sent a wave of relief and a wave of anger through her. While it was her worst nightmare to be in this situation, how could he reject his daughter so summarily?
She felt a surge of protectiveness for Lola, and cursed Rico Christofides while acknowledging that shed expected this to be one of his possible reactions. Straight denial and rejectionjust as her father had done with her initially.
She told herself that this was a good thing; shed salved her conscience by telling Rico Christofides, and Gypsy knew that in the long run theyd both be better off. At least she could tell her daughter as she grew up who her father was, and that it just hadnt worked out between them. Guilt hit her again when she thought of how her daughter might perceive the disparity in their circumstances, but Gypsy reassured herself thatas she knew wellthe fact that Rico Christofides was a multibillionaire did not a father make.
Her own life had been changed for ever when her ill and penniless mother had begged her father to take Gypsy in. Hed been the owner of the company where Mary Butler had been a menial cleaner. An impossibly rich man who had taken advantage of his position and taken her to bed, with all sorts of promises, only to drop her and fire her as soon as shed told him she was pregnant. Unable to get another job or make rent payments, shed soon become homeless.
Gypsy had spent her first few months in a womens refuge, where her mother had gone after shed given birth at Christmas time. Slowly her mother had built up her life again, finding more menial work and eventually getting them both a council flat in a rough part of London.
Gypsy had known from a very young age that her mother wasnt coping, and shed learnt to watch out for the signs so that she could take care of her. Of them both. Until shed got home from school one day and found her mother passed out on the couch, with an empty bottle of pills on the floor.
The emergency services had managed to save herjust. And the only thing that had stopped them from putting six-year-old Gypsy straight into foster care had been her mothers assurance that she would send her to live with her father. And so Gypsy had eventually gone to live with the father who had never wanted her, and shed never seen her mother again. Shed only found out later that her father had comprehensively shut her mother out of Gypsys life.
Forcing her mind away from sad memories, she strained to listen out for the car and still couldnt hear anything. What was he doing? She made sure that Lola had a firm grip of the plastic cup she was drinking from and stood up, heart thumping. The door to the apartment was still open, and she crept over to close it.
With one hand on the door, she heard heavy steps. He was coming back. Panic made her clumsy as she tried to shut the door completely, but it was too late. A hand and foot prevented her from closing it, and as she jumped backwards in shock at how quickly hed moved she heard a laconic drawl, edged with steel.
You didnt think it would be so easy to get rid of me, did you?
Chapter Four
SHE watched, dry-mouthed as Rico Christofides stepped back into the room, closing the door with incongruous softness behind him, angry grey eyes narrowed intently on her, face impossibly grim. Rain clung in iridescent water droplets to his hair and jacket. She had an awful feeling of dj?-vuthe same feeling shed had that day when shed found her mother unconscious. Everything was about to change and she was powerless to stop it.
The anger shed felt moments ago at thinking of him rejecting Lola dissipated under a much more potent threat. Just as her father had belatedly and reluctantly swept in and taken over when shed been six, now Rico Christofides was about to do the same. This was the other reaction shed expected and feared.
She fought through her fear and bit out through numb lips, I dont want you here, Mr Christofides. I never intended you to find out
He uttered a curt laugh. Clearly you never intended me to find out. How serendipitous, then, that I just happened to choose that restaurant last night, out of the many thousands in London.
His sensual mouth firmed, and he looked angry enough to throttle Gypsy, but she felt no sense of danger.
Believe me, it makes my blood run cold to think how close I came to never knowing about this.
Gypsy heard herself say, as though from a long way away, You didnt let me finish. I didnt intend you to find out like this. I was going to tell youat some stage.
He arched an imperious brow, derision all over his handsome face, When? When she turned ten? Or perhaps sixteen? When she was a fully grown person whod built up a lifetime of resentment for the father whod abandoned her? His voice became blistering, his accent thickened. Undoubtedly thats what youd planned, no? Feed her lies and tell her that her father hadnt wanted to know her? Couldnt be bothered to stick around?
Gypsy shook her head. She was feeling nauseous at the condemnation in his tone. No, II hadnt planned that at all. I was going to tell herand youI promise.
It sounded so flimsy to her ears now. The fact was shed just proved him right; shed planned on keeping this from him indefinitely and it made Ricos eyes narrow even more. Gypsy could see the effort it was taking for him not to reach out and shake her. Or perhaps even worse. For the first time she did feel fear, and stepped back.
He noted the move with disgust. Dont worry, you and your promises are so far beneath my contempt right now I wouldnt touch you with a bargepole. If you were a man, however He didnt need to finish that sentence.
Gypsy bit back the impulse to explain that shed wanted to use her degree, set up as a practising child psychologist and be solvent before she went looking for him to deliver the news. Shed known how defenceless she would be to someone like him unless she could stand on her own two feet and demonstrate that she was successfully independent. And this situation was proving exactly how right shed been to be scared.
Yet even now she was impossibly aware of him physically. The way his suit clung to his powerful frame, the way his hands on his hips drew the eye to their leanness. Hips which she could remember running her hands over as hed thrust into her so deeply that sometimes she still woke from dreams that were disturbingly real
Half dizzy with shock, and a surge of very unwelcome lust, Gypsy sank down helplessly into the chair behind her. Rico Christofides just looked at her, without an atom of sympathy or concern, even though she could feel her blood draining southwards and knew she must have gone white. She was scared to stand in case she fainted. But she drew on the inner strength which had got her through years of dealing with her domineering father and stood again, albeit shakily.
At that moment a plaintive cry came from the kitchen, and they both turned to see Lola looking from one to the other with huge grey eyes and an ominously quivering lip. Gypsy could see that she was picking up on her distress, and moved to take her up and hold her.
With Lola securely on her hip, she looked back to Rico Christofides, slightly shocked to see a stricken look on his face. She steeled herself and said, Look, please leave us be. You know nowyou know where we are. I dont want anything from you. We dont need anything from you.
He dragged his eyes from Lola to her, and Gypsy felt the cold sting of his condemnation like a whip against her skin. Well, Im afraid thats just not good enoughbecause I want something from you. My daughter. And, until such time as she can speak for herself, Ill determine what she needs.
His effortlessly autocratic tone made chills run up and down Gypsys spine. It reminded her so much of her father. She instinctively pulled Lola closer. Im her mother. Anything to do with her welfare is my decision. I chose to have her on my own. Im a single mother.
His eyes speared her then, and she saw a suspicious light. You must have deliberately led people to believe that Id refused to come forward to acknowledge my own daughter. Am I even mentioned on the birth certificate?
Gypsy blanched and recalled how shed lied about knowing his identity when asked in the hospital. Shed reassured herself that if she hadnt seen the news that morning she wouldnt necessarily have realised who he was. All of this behaviour; the lying was so unlike her.
She shook her head quickly and visibly flinched when he made a move towards her. For a second she thought hed rip Lola out of her arms and take her away. Lola started to make sounds of distress.
Rico stopped dead still and said, his face pale with anger, Damn you to hell, Gypsy Butler. How dare you refuse to name me as her father. You knew who I was.
Gypsy was trying not to shake, and to pacify Lola at the same time, keeping her voice carefully calm. I was protecting her, protecting us.
As if aware of his daughters distress too, he surprised Gypsy by lowering his voice. But that didnt make it any less angry. From what? You had no right to take that decision.
Gypsy couldnt speak. How could she explain to this man that once shed found out she was pregnant shed known for sure that he could not be told until she was ready to deal with him?
He was waiting for her response, for her justification. She blurted out, I saw you on the news that morning.
He frowned.
Gypsy went on, I saw you come out of court after youd reduced that woman to a wreckand all because she tried to prove that her baby was yours.
Rico slashed a hand through the air and said curtly, You know nothing of that case. I was making an example of her so that no other woman would be inclined to think they could take advantage of me in such a way.
Gypsy hitched up her chin. So how can you blame me for not running to tell you of my pregnancy? You made it clear when you left that morning that you didnt want to see me again, and then I saw how you dealt with a woman who claimed to be the mother of your child.
.
.
, (https://www.litres.ru/abby-green/in-christofides-keeping/) .
Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, , , , PayPal, WebMoney, ., QIWI , .
ABBY GREEN
Pregnant and alone When one night with ruthless playboy Rico Christofides leaves her pregnant, Gypsy Butler is determined to spare her unborn baby the heartache of her own neglectful childhood. But a shock meeting is about to change her plansCaptured and claimed!Rico has never forgotten or forgiven the one woman who managed to smash through his cast-iron defences. Now hes discovered hes a father, nothing will stop him from claiming his childeven if unwilling Gypsy craves her freedom!
I will not be sharing your bed. Gypsy was terrified that sleeping with Rico would crumble her precious defencesHe already had so much controltoo much control. If he had her, then he would have it all.
He shrugged. We both know if I started kissing you that I could have you on the bed in the back of this cabin within minutesBut with respect to our daughter Ill desist from making my point here and now.
In Christofides Keeping
By
Abby Green
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
About the Author
ABBY GREEN got hooked on Mills & Boon romances while still in her teens, when she stumbled across one belonging to her grandmother in the west of Ireland. After many years of reading them voraciously, she sat down one day and gave it a go herself. Happily, after a few failed attempts, Mills & Boon bought her first manuscript.
Abby works freelance in the film and TV industry, but thankfully the four a.m. starts and the stresses of dealing with recalcitrant actors are becoming more and more infrequent, leaving her more time to write!
She loves to hear from readers, and you can contact her through her website at www.abby-green.com She lives and works in Dublin.
This is for Lindi Loo and Lola, my two favourite girls.
Chapter One
RICO CHRISTOFIDES stifled his irritation and tried to rein in his wandering attention. What was wrong with him? He was in one of the most exclusive restaurants in London, dining with one of the most beautiful women in the world. But it was as if someone had turned the sound down and all he could hear was the steady thump-thump of his heart.
He saw Elena gesticulating and speaking with a little too much animation, her eyes glittering a little too brightly as she tossed her luxurious mane of red hair over one shoulder, leaving the other one bare. It was meant to entice but it didnt.
He knew all the moves. Hed seen countless women perform them for years, and hed enjoyed them. But right now he felt no more desire for this woman than he would for an inanimate wooden object. He regretted the impulse hed acted on to call her up once hed known hed be in London for a few days.
Curiously, he was being enticed by a tantalising memory. Hed glanced fleetingly at one of the waitresses as theyd walked in and in an instant something about the way she moved had registered on his brain, throwing him back in timetwo years back in time, to be precise. Hed found himself thinking of the one woman who hadnt been like all the others. The one woman who had managed to smash through the high wall of defences he kept rigid around himself and his emotions.
For just one night.
His fist clenched on his thigh under the table. It had to be just because he was back in London for the first time since that night. He forced himself to smile tightly in answer to something Elena had said, which seemed to require that response, and to his relief he could see that she was off again, clearly loving the sound of her voice more than she cared if he was listening or not.
The night hed met herGypsyif that even was her nametheyd just come out of the club and hed been about to tell her his name. Shed put a hand over his mouth, saying fervently, I dont want to know who you aretonight isnt about that.
Scepticism hadnt been far away. Either she knew damn well who he was, as hed been splashed all over the tabloids for days before that night, or elseBut Rico had found himself pausing as hed looked down at her. Shed looked so lovely and young and freshand untainted. And for that moment, for the first time in his life, hed pushed aside cynicism and suspicionhis constant companionsand said, OK, then, temptresswhat about just first names?
Before she could say anything and still believing deep down and with not a little arrogance that she had to know who he was, hed held out his hand and said with a flourish, Ricoat your service.
Shed placed her small soft hand in his and hesitated for a long moment before saying huskily, Im Gypsy.
A made-up name. It had to be. Hed chuckled, and he could remember even now how alien it had felt to allow that emotion to rise up. Fair enough. Play your silly game if you wantRight now Im interested in a lot more than your name
Someone laughed raucously at a nearby table, jerking Rico out of the memory, but even so a hot spiral of desire ran through him and he had a sudden memory flash of hearts beating in unison, sweat-slicked skin, her sleek body around his in an embrace so velvet hot and tight that hed fought just to keep control. And then her muscles had started to spasm around him, shed given a fractured breathy moan, and hed lost it in a way that hed never lost it before or since.
Rico, darling Elena was pouting at him, lips too blood-red. Youre miles away. Please tell me youre not thinking of boring work.
Rico stifled a cynical grimace. It was that very boring work, and all the many millions hed made in the process, that had women like Elena hovering around him in droves, waiting for little more than a crooked finger to signal his interest. Even so, the acknowledgement couldnt stop him from shifting uncomfortably in his seat, very disturbed by the fact that he was being turned on not by the woman opposite him, but by a ghost from the past. Because that ghost was the one woman who hadnt fallen at his feet in sycophantic ecstasy when hed singled her out.
On the contrary: shed tried to walk away from him. And then the following morning she had walked away from him. But not before hed left her on the bed, like a callow, unsophisticated youth. Regret burned him, and Rico didnt do regret.
He forced another tight smile and reached across for Elenas far too available hand. She practically purred when he took it. He opened his mouth to offer some platitude as a waitress walked past their table, and he frowned when his body inexplicably reactedtightening almost as if it sensed something his brain hadnt yet registered. He looked up; it was the waitress hed noticed on the way in. The waitress who had sparked a veritable torrent of memories.
Was he going completely insane? An evocative scent lingered on the air in her wake. He tried to sound casual, and not as if he was afraid he was going crazy. He looked back to his date. What scent are you wearing?
Elenas lips curled seductively as she offered Rico her wrist to smell. Poisondo you like?
He bent his head, but even before he smelt the distinctive perfume he knew it was all wrong. Nausea clenched his belly. He looked up again, as if drawn helplessly, to see the back of the waitress. She was taking an order at a nearby table. That evocative scent reminded him ofAbruptly Elena pulled her hand from his with a barely disguised huffy sigh and stood from the table, smoothing a hand over one artfully cocked hip sheathed in silk.
Im going to go and powder my nose. Hopefully by the time I get back you wont be so distracted.
Rico disregarded the reproach in her voice and didnt watch her walk away. He was transfixed now by the slim back of the petite waitress just a few feet away. She had a neatly shaped figurefirm buttocks, defined by the close-fitting black skirt which hid her legs to the knee, and slender but shapely calves and tiny ankles. Feet in low-heeled black shoes. So far so unremarkable.
His gaze travelled back up, past the plain white shirt, with just a hint of the bra underneath, taking in her hair, which looked a dark honey-brown but which he guessed might be lighter in daylight. It was densely curled, tied back into a tight bun, but he could already imagine the wild corkscrew curls that would burst free. Almost exactly likeHe shook his head again, cursing softly. Why was that memory so hauntingly vivid tonight?
The woman turned slightly then, before stopping to respond to something the man at the table was saying, and it was enough to give Rico a proper glimpse of her profile. A small straight nose, determined chin, and a lush mouth with the slightest hint of an overbitewhich he remembered thinking an adorable imperfection in a world obsessed with perfection. Certainty slammed into him on the heels of that thoughtit had to be her. He wasnt going crazy.
His breath stopped. Everything went into slow motion as she finally turned and faced him directly. She was looking down at her notepad, scribbling something, juggling the big menus under her arm as she walked closer, and before he knew what he was doing, with something that felt horrifyingly exultant rushing through him, Rico stood and grasped the womans arm, stopping her in her tracks.
Gypsy didnt know what was happening at first. All she knew was that someone had a tight grip on her arm. She looked up with a retort on her lipsand fell into steely grey eyes.
And stopped breathing, stopped functioning.
She blinked. Words died in her mouth. It couldnt be him. She was dreamingor it was a nightmare. She was certainly tired enough to be sleep-walking. But she could feel the colour draining from her face, the peripheral noise fading into the background.
She was looking into exactly the same colour eyes asThere her mind shut down. It was him. The man who had haunted her dreams for nearly two years. Rico Christofides. Half-Greek, half-Argentinian, billionaire entrepreneur, a legend of his own making.
It is you. He spoke her thoughts out loud in his deep voice, and sent Gypsys brain into a tailspin. Very distantly she was aware of a voice screaming at her to run, get away. Escape.
She shook her head, but it felt as if she was under water. Was she still standing? All she was aware of was the dark depths of those deep-set stormy grey eyes, boring into her all the way to her soul, his hand tight on her arm. Midnight-black hair, slightly crooked nose, dark brows, defined jawIt was all so familiar to herexcept her dreams hadnt done him justice. He was so tall, towering over her, his shoulders so broad that she couldnt see anything but him.
Absurdly through the shock came the hurtagainthat hed wasted little time in walking away from her the next morning. Leaving just an abrupt note which had read: The room is paid for. R.
A pointed cough sounded nearby. He didnt move, and Gypsy couldnt look away. Her carefully constructed world was crumbling into pieces around her.
Rico? Is something wrong with our order?
A voice. A female voice. Confirming what Gypsy didnt want to know by saying his name out loud. She registered dimly that it must be the stunning red-haired woman shed walked past and noticed just minutes before. She couldnt believe now that shed passed him so blithely, with no hint of warning.
But he ignored the woman and said again faintly, Its you.
Gypsy managed to shake her head and at the same time somehow miraculously extricate her arm from his long-fingered grasp. She prayed that she could speak and say something that made sense. Something that would get her out of this situation and away from him. After all, it had been one nightmere hourshow could someone like him possibly remember her? After the way hed left, why would he want to remember her? How could this awful fiery awareness be snaking through her veins?
Im sorry. You must be confusing me with someone else.
Gypsy left him standing there and went straight to the staff bathroom, seriously afraid that she might be sick. Taking deep breaths over the sink, she felt clammy and sweaty. And all that was going through her mind was the imperative need to run, get away.
Ever since shed found out that she was pregnant after their cataclysmic night together shed known that some day she would have to tell Rico Christofides that he had a daughter. A fifteen-month-old daughter, with exactly the same colour eyes as her father. Gypsy felt nauseous again, but willed it down.
She could remember her terror at the prospect of becoming a mother, along with her instantly deep and abiding connection with the tiny baby growing within her. And with that had come the intense desire to protect her child. Shed seen how Rico Christofides dealt with women who dared to name him as the father of their child, and had had no desire to expose herself to that public humiliation. Even if shed been certain that she could prove paternity.
Pregnant, and feeling extremely nervous and vulnerable at the daunting prospect of how Rico Christofides might react to the news, Gypsy had taken the difficult decision to have Lola on her own. Shed wanted to be in a strong and solvent position when she contacted him. Working as a waitress, albeit in an upmarket restaurant, was not the ideal situation for her to be in when dealing with someone as powerful as him.
Panic surged again. Gypsy didnt even see her own white face in the mirror. If she didnt get out of there now, Rico Christofides couldnt fail to recall the woman who had acted completely out of character and who, on a tide of desire so intense that she still woke sometimes at night aching, had succumbed to his masterful seduction and indulged in a one-night stand.
Making a fateful decision, uncomfortably aware that she was acting on blind instinct and panic but seeing no other solution, she splashed some water on her face and went to find her boss.
Tom, please, Gypsy begged, and mentally crossed everything. She hated lying, and especially using her daughter to do it. But she had no choice. Not with the father of her child just through the kitchen doors.
I have to get home to Lola. Something hascome up.
Her boss raked his hand through his short sandy hair. Jeez, Gypsy you really pick your momentsyou know were short staffed as it is. Cant it wait for another hour, until we have the main rush over with?
Gypsy hated herself for this. She shook her head, already taking off her apron as she did so. Im sorry, Tom. Really sorrybelieve me.
His face tightened and he crossed his arms. Gypsy felt the slither of fear trickle down her spine. So am I, Gypsy. I dont want to do this to you, but its come to this: youve been late nearly every day for the past two weeks.
Gypsy started to protest, saying something about the inflexible hours of her daughters minder conflicting with her shift hours, but her boss cut her off.
Youre a good worker, but theres a line of people behind you waiting to get a job here who wont let me down like this.
He took a breath, and Gypsys foreboding increased. If you leave like this now then Im afraid you wont have a job to come back to. Its that simple.
A vivid memory surged back of the moment shed found out that the man who had turned her world upside down was none other than one of the worlds most powerful men, and nausea returned.
The thought of going back out to the dining room and trying to function normally was inconceivable. Shed end up getting fired anyway for spilling someones dinner into their lap, she was shaking so much. She looked at Tom and shook her head again sadly, already anticipating the drudge of having to look for another job, silently giving thanks that she had some savings to tide them over for a couple of weeks. Im sorry, Tom, I have no choice.
Her boss stood back after a long moment and gestured with his arm. Then Im sorry too, Gypsy, because youre leaving me no choice.
She couldnt say anything. Her throat was too tight. She gathered up her things and left through the back kitchen door, stepping out into the dark and dank alleyway behind the exclusive restaurant.
Later that night Rico stood at the floor-to-ceiling window of his central London penthouse apartment, hands dug deep into his pockets. His pulse was still racing, and it had nothing to do with the beautiful woman hed said a curt and sterile goodnight tomuch to her obvious disgustand everything to do with a pretty waitress who had confounded him by doing a disappearing act.
Shed done a disappearing act the first time round, but he only had himself to blame for that. He grimaced; if he hadnt panickedIt still rankled with him that hed let her get under his guard so easily. He could remember watching her sleeping, sprawled across the bed, feeling seriously stunned at the depth of his desire, still, and the depth of his response to her.
It was that and the overwhelming feeling of possessiveness which had driven him from the room as if hounds were snapping at this heels. He never felt possessive of women. But this evening, the minute hed recognised her, it had surged upwards again, as fresh as if no time had passed. And shed run. And he had no idea why.
He pulled out a small piece of paper from his pocket. Hed got her name from the manager of the restaurant, and his men had made short work of tracking her down. He now had Gypsy Butlers addressfor apparently that was her name. He smiled grimly. He would soon find out what exactly he found so compelling about a woman hed slept with for just one night, and why on earth shed felt the need to run from him.
The following morning, as Gypsy walked home in drizzly rain from the local budget supermarket, pushing a sleeping Lola in her battered buggy, she was still reeling at what had happened the previous evening.
Shed seen Rico Christofides and shed lost her job.
The two things shed been most terrified of happening had happened in quick succession. She defended herself again: shed had no choice but to leave last nightshed have been in no fit state to work or deal with Rico Christofides. Her legs felt momentarily weak when she recalled how hed looked, and how instantaneous his effect on her had been.
Hed been tall and strong and devastatingly powerful. And still as bone-meltingly gorgeous as the first time shed seen him across that crowded nightclub two years ago.
The night shed met Rico had been a moment out of timeand most definitely a moment out of character. Hed caught her on the cusp of her new life, when shed been letting go of a lot of pain. Shed been vulnerable and easy prey to the practised charm of someone like Rico Christofides. But shed had no clue then just exactly who he was. A world-renowned tycoon and playboy.
Seeing him had made everything shed ever known pale into insignificance. She knew if hed been dressed like the other men in the clubin a natty shirt and blazer, pressed chinosit would have been easy to dismiss him as being like all the rest. But he hadnt been dressed like that. Hed been dressed in a T-shirt and faded denims which had fit lean hips and powerful legs so lovingly that it had been almost indecent. An air of dangerous sexuality had clung to his devastatingly dark good-looks in a way that had left everyone around him looking anaemicand awestruck.
But that in itself would have just made him a spectacularly handsome guy; it had been more than that. It had been in the intensity of his gaze across that heaving chaotic clubon her. Dark and mesmerising, stopping Gypsy right where shed been dancing alone on the dance floor.
The impulse to get out of her tangled head and engage in something physical had called to her as shed passed the club doors and heard the heavy bass beat just a short while before. It was a primal celebration of the fact that she was finally free of her late father and his corrupt and controlling legacy. When hed died six months previously shed felt more emptiness than grief for the man who had never shown her an ounce of genuine affection.
But when the gorgeous stranger had started to come towards her in the club, with singular intent, all tangled thoughts and memories had fled. Hed cleared an effortless path through the thronged crowdand sanity had returned to Gypsy in a rush of panic. He was too handsome, too dark, too sexytoo much for someone like her. And the way hed looked at her as he grew ever closer had scared the life out of her.
But, as if rooted to the spot by a magic spell, she hadnt been able to move, and had just watched, dry-mouthed, as he came to stop right in front of her. Tall and forbidding. No easy sexy smile to make it easier. It was almost as if something elemental had passed between them and this man was claiming her as his. Which had been a ridiculous thing to feel on a banal Friday night in a club in central London.
Why have you stopped dancing? hed asked innocuously, his deep voice pitched to carry across the deafening beat, but even so shed heard the unmistakably subtle accent.
He was foreign. As if his dark looks wouldnt have told her that anyway. A frisson of awareness had made her tremble all over when shed noted his steely grey eyes, their colour stark against his olive skin. Shed shaken her head, as if to clear it of this madness, but just then someone had jostled her, heaving her forward and straight into the mans arms, into hands which held her protectively against his hard body.
Instantaneous heat had exploded throughout Gypsys body at the sheer physicality of him. Shed looked up, utterly perplexed, and had sensed real fearNot fear for her safety, but an irrational fear for her sanity. On a rising wave of panic shed used her hands to push against his chest and stepped back, answering tightly, I was just leaving, actually
His big hands had tightened on her armsbare because she was wearing a sleeveless vest. Her light jacket was tied about her waist, her bag slung across her chest. You just got here.
Hed been watching her from the moment shed arrived. Gypsy had felt weakness pervade her limbs to think of how shed been dancing: as if no one was watching.
And then hed said, If you insist on leaving, then Im coming with you.
Gypsy had gasped at his cool and arrogant nerve. But you cantyou dont even know me.
His jaw had been hard and implacable. Stern. Then dance with me and Ill let you go The fact that he hadnt been cajoling, hadnt been drunkenly flirting, had imbued his words with something too compelling to resist.
Gypsys focus came back to grim and grey reality as she was forced to stop by the traffic lights. She didnt need to recall the pitifully pathetic attempt shed put up to resist before agreeingostensibly to make him let her go.
But it had had completely the opposite effect. After dancing with her so closely that her body had been dewed with sweat and heat and lust, hed bent low to whisper against her ear. Do you still want to leave alone? To her ongoing shame and mortification, shed shaken her head, slowly and fatefully, her eyes glued to his in some kind of sick fascination. Shed wanted him with a hunger the like of which shed never experienced in her life.
Shed let him take her by the hand and lead her out of the club, seeing him as somehow symbolic of the cataclysmic events of the day that had just passed, during which shed finally let go of everything that had bound her to her father.
Shed allowed herself to be seducedand then summarily dumped like a piece of trash the following morning. She remembered seeing the curt note hed left, and how cheap shed feltas if all that was missing was a bundle of cash on the dresser.
With an inarticulate sound of disgust at herself to be thinking of this now, the fact that shed let a man like hima powerful man just like her fatherseduce her, Gypsy strode on across the road once the traffic had stopped. With any luck Rico Christofides would have become distracted by the vision of perfection hed been dining with last night and forgotten all about her. But he remembered you She realised that any other woman would be feeling an intensely feminine satisfaction that a man like him hadnt forgotten her, but she just felt panicky. Why on earth did a man like him remember someone like her?
A familiar sense of despair gripped Gypsy as she turned into her road, full of boarded-up houses and disaffected-looking youths loitering on steps. As much as shed relished her freedom after her fathers death, and as much as she wouldnt have minded living somewhere like this if shed only had herself to worry about, it did bother her that her daughters first home was in such a decrepit part of London. Even the nearby childrens playground was vandalised beyond use, with just one pathetic swing left.
She sighed heavily, very aware of the irony that, but for her hot-headedness and determination to dissociate herself from her father, she might have been living in much more upmarket surroundings. But then she knew she could never have lived off her fathers moneyand shed never have dreamed that shed become pregnant after a one-night stand with a ruthlessly seductive
Gypsys heart stopped stone-cold dead in her chestand it had nothing to do with the faintly menacing-looking youths crowded around the steps of a nearby house and everything to do with the stunning car they were eyeing up.
The gleaming black luxury vehicle with tinted windows should have belonged to one of the gangsters that had a stranglehold on the area, but Gypsy knew immediately it was a world apart from their cars. The gangsters around here could only wish to own a car like this.
And as she drew closer, and saw the back door swing open, her heart picked up speed, so that it was nearly leaping from her chest as she watched a tall, dark and powerfully built figure uncoil like a panther stretching lazily in the sun.
As if she didnt already know who it was, he turned to face her. Just feet away, and right outside her front door. No escape.
Rico Christofides.
Chapter Two
GYPSY knew she couldnt run. The very thought was futileas evidenced by Rico Christofides clear determination to find her. Why was he so intent? All Gypsy had to do was picture the woman from last night and the contrast between them was laughable.
Today she was in her habitual uniform of too baggy jeans bought from a local charity shop, layers of threadbare jumpers to block out the January cold, sneakers, a secondhand parka and a woolly hat pulled down low over her ears and too wild hair. He, on the other hand, looked every inch the successful tycoon, in a long, black and expensive-looking coat, with the hint of a pristine suit underneath.
She saw his slaty grey eyes narrow on her as she approached. No doubt he was regretting his impetuous decision to find her. And then her skin prickled as she saw his gaze drop to the pram she pushed, with a sleeping Lola inside, obscured by the rainshield.
His daughteroh, Godcould he know?
Gypsy immediately reassured herself there was no way he could know. Why would he assume for a second that Lola was his? She just had to take advantage of the undoubted regret hed already be feeling at seeking her out and get rid of him. As soon as possiblebefore he could see Lola and guess.
Even if he didnt guess she knew that once she told him about Lola hed move heaven and earth to prove that she wasnt hiswhich was what shed seen him do before. And then, when paternity was proved, hed set out to control his daughter utterly. Exactly as her father had done to her once hed had no choice but to accept her.
She knew this because Rico came from her fathers world of powerful men who thrived on being ruthless. Men who dominated those around them.
As soon as shed heard his name she hadnt been able to believe she hadnt recognised him. She even recalled overhearing her father speaking bitterly of Rico Christofides on more than one occasion: If you think Im ruthless then dont ever cross Rico Christofides. The man is a cold machine. If I could beat him I would, but the bastard wouldnt rest until hed resurrected himself from the dead and ruined me in the process. Some fights just arent worth it, but Id give anything to see his arrogance smashed
Her father had been obsessive, and the memory of that almost grudging admiration had blasted away any chance that she might have contacted Rico Christofides before today.
The best that Gypsy could hope for was that that day wasnt going to be today, and that perhaps she could escape with Lolago somewhere new, away from Londonuntil such time as she could get her wits about her again and decide what was best for them both.
She was glad now of her plain and dowdy appearance. Rico Christofides must already be forming some escape route of his own. Shed help him along, agree with him that he must have the wrong person, and then hed get back into his luxury car and be off, out of her life, until such time as she invited him back in, when she was ready to deal with him. With that assurance, she steeled herself and walked forward.
Rico watched the woman come towards him. For a second he faltered. Was this her? The woman approaching slowly looked impossibly plain from a distance, bare of any make-up or artifice. Pale. And her body was all but swamped in clothes that looked as if theyd just been dragged out of a skip.
And she had a child. Something which felt suspiciously like disappointment sent his brain reeling, and he clamped down on that emotion hard. A child was a complication. She came closer, and as he lifted his gaze back to her face he was already trying to come up with some excuse for having come all this way to find her, still doubting that it might be her. Perhaps he had been completely mistaken. Perhaps the name was a freak coincidence.
But then she drew closer, and all thoughts of children and complications fled as his body reacted with a helpless lurch of desire. It was her.
Despite her appearance, he could see the intensity of those huge green eyes now, framed with long black lashes, the delicate bone structure, her lush mouth. And her hair, with its irrepressible curls trailing out from under the tatty hat over her shoulders. It reminded him of the moment hed first set eyes on her in that club. Hed been cursing himself for having gone at all, hating that hed given in to weak restlessness, and then shed walked in. Dressed in snug jeans and a vest top, completely at odds with the glitter of the too coiffed women whod thronged the place. The expression on her face had been intense, as if she was being driven by inner demons, and it had resonated within Rico.
The firm swell of her breasts had been clearly outlined against the thin material of her top, and hed watched, entranced, as shed walked straight to the middle of the dance floor and started to dance with completely uninhibited grace. Hed seen plenty more beautiful women in his time, clothed and unclothed, but something about her lithe little figure, with its hint of sensual plumpness, had been more enticing than any gazelle-like beauty hed ever known. With her tawny curly hair shed looked wild, and free, and it had called to him on a base level too urgent to ignore
Shed been exquisite. She was exquisite. Even though he could see at a glance now that shed lost weight. Relief flooded him in a way that made him very nervous as she came to a standstill where he blocked the path. And along with the relief came irrational anger to find her living in such an obviously dangerous area. The anger surprised him; women didnt normally arouse feelings of protectiveness within him. Hed noted the local thugs with distaste after hed knocked and got no answer from her door, and retreated to his car to wait. Theyd tried to intimidate him, but after one quelling look theyd recognised the danger within him and maintained a respectful distance.
Right at that moment hed completely forgotten that hed just considered making his excuses and leaving. That was now the last thing on his mind.
Gypsy decided to pretend that she didnt know who he was, that she hadnt just seen him again last night. It was cowardly, she knew, but she was counting on him wanting to make his escape from someone who looked like a bag lady.
Excuse meyoure blocking my way.
He didnt move aside. Those penetrating grey eyes were fixed on her with unnerving intensity, and Gypsy could feel a flush of response rise up through her body as it reacted with dismaying helplessness to his proximity. As it was she was battling to keep back the images that threatened to burst free. Images of sweat-slicked bodies moving in desperate tandem, straining to reach the pinnacle
Why did you run last night?
His deep voice cut through those disturbing images. Her lie fell out with an ease that would have had her horrorstruck in any normal circumstance. My daughterI had to get home to my daughter. And then she cursed herself. She hadnt denied that shed run.
At that moment the rain started to fall more heavily, scattering the local teens around them. Rico Christofides gestured to her door, which was up a few steps. Let me help you with the pram.
Panic rose. Gypsy protested, not wanting him anywhere near her place or Lola. No, really, I can manage But even as she spoke Rico Christofides took hold of the pram and lifted it bodily against him, as if it weighed no more than a bag of sugar. She had to let go or it would have become a tug of war. The irony that Lola could become an object of a tug of war was not lost on Gypsy at that moment.
The rain was teeming down now, flattening his black hair against his skull. Gypsy could feel drops of water falling down her back. When he gestured with his head, she had no choice but to precede him up the steps to the front door. In the manoeuvring that was done to open the door and get Lola inside, with Rico Christofides hanging onto the buggy relentlessly, he was in her tiny one-bedroomed apartment before she knew what was happening or could stop it.
He placed the buggy back down in the pitiful excuse for a sitting room with a gentleness that momentarily disarmed Gypsy. She was a little stunned. With a brusque economy of movement he shut the main front door and came back to shut her ground-floor apartment door. Now he was looking around, and asked, Have you got a towel?
A towel? Gypsy repeated stupidly, knowing on some level that she was going into shock.
Yes, he said slowly. A towelYoure soaked through and so am I.
A towel, she repeated again, and then, as if jolted by a stun gun, she came out of her shocked inertia. A towelof course. Get the towel, let him dry off and hell be gone.
Gypsy walked on stiff legs to the tiny bedroom she shared with Lola and opened the cupboard to take out a towel. Coming back, she handed it to Rico Christofides, trying not to notice how huge he appeared to be in the small room.
Immediately he frowned and handed the towel back to her. You firstyoure soaked. Surely you have more than one?
Gypsy looked at it stupidly, and then gabbled, Of course. She gestured jerkily. You take that one. Ill get another. She tried not to let the mounting impatience she felt be heard in her voice. Why wouldnt he just leave?
Coming back to the sitting room, she saw him drying his hair roughly with big hands. Hed taken off his coat to drape it over a threadbare chair, and his impeccable suit was moulded to his strong frame, making her throat dry at recalling the body underneath.
He turned to face her, taking his hands down, leaving his short hair sexily dishevelled. He glowed with vitality and health, making Gypsy feel pale and wan.
He frowned down at her. You should take off your coat and hat He looked around. Do you have a heater in here?
Reluctantly she pulled off her hat and started to undo her coat, knowing he was right; the last thing she needed was to get ill. She shook her head when those grey eyes settled on her again, expecting an answer, and flushed when they dropped imperceptibly to take in her shabby clothes as her coat slid off. She was very aware of her hair, which now curled in wild abandon around her shoulders, and could just imagine how frizzy it would be from the rain. She wanted to pull it back and tie it up. And she hated that he was making her aware of herself like that.
Our heater broke this morning. The storage heating will come on in a couple of hours.
Rico Christofides looked comically shocked. Youve no heat? But you have a childits freezing outside.
Gypsy flushed with a mothers guilt. This is the first day its been broken. Well manage until we can get a replacement She trailed off, suddenly thinking of the fact that now she was out of work her meagre savings wouldnt be stretching to cover a new heater. As if she could explain shed lost her job because of him. How irresponsible was she?
She looked at Rico Christofides and recognised his wide-legged stance with dismay. He wasnt going anywhere any time soon. With extreme reluctance she finally said, Can I get you tea or coffee?
His eyes narrowed on her once again. The barest hint of a smile tipped up one corner of his wickedly sensual mouth as he recognised her capitulation. Id love a coffee, please. Black, no sugar.
Stark, with no sweetenerjust like him, Gypsy thought churlishly as she went into the kitchen to put on the kettle. All she could hope for now was that Lola wouldnt wake up and Rico Christofides would satisfy whatever bizarre lingering curiosity he had about her and leave. Soon.
Rico looked around the bare apartment as Gypsy moved about the kitchen and he suppressed a shudder of distaste. Without her presence right in front of him his brain seemed to clear slightly. Once again he questioned his sanity in pursuing her here, especially when his eyes fell on the battered-looking buggy which sat just feet away against the wall. His sane impulse was to come up with some plausible excuseeven just ask her why she seemed to be determined to pretend she didnt know himbut a greater overriding impulse was urging him to stay. Even if there was a child in the picture.
He could only make out the fact that her daughter was quite small, so therefore she must have had her since shed been with him. And even though Rico knew he had no right to feel a surge of anger at that, he did.
Even just watching her pull off that damned unflattering hat and coat had scrambled his brain and made him almost forget the presence of the child. The quick movement of her small hands had reminded him of how theyd felt on him, stroking along the most sensitive part of his anatomy until hed had to beg her to stopHe frowned. Why was she so intent on denying she knew him? And that night? Even if he had left the way he had, he knew it had been as cataclysmic for her too. The shocked look of awe on her face just after shed exploded around him had told him that.
With no false pride he knew he was a good lover, but what hed experienced that night with Gypsy had gone beyond anything hed ever known before. Or since. It had shaken him out of his complacency. Was that why he needed to see her again? To recapture that moment? To see if it had been his imagination or somethingmore? He balked at that. He never wanted anything more with any woman. But that night with Gypsy had touched him on a level that had left him feeling an ache of dissatisfaction, and it had only grown since then, pervading everything around him and tainting the few liaisons hed had with women in the interim.
He knew seeing her last night had thrown the fact that hed been trying to recapture that fleeting transcendence hed experienced with her into sharp relief. With that thought reverberating through his mind he heard Gypsy re-enter the room. He turned to face her and took the coffee she held out. She was avoiding his eyes.
Gypsy escaped Ricos gaze and occupied herself by going to peek in at Lola who, to her relief, was still sleeping peacefully, her cheeks pink and her rosebud mouth in a little moue. Long black lashes rested against plump baby cheeks. Gypsys heart swelled, as it did every time she looked at her daughter, and at that moment she felt an overwhelming surge of guilt at knowing she was denying Lolas father knowledge of her when he stood only feet away.
She quashed it down, telling herself that she was doing it for good reasons, and straightened up, crossing her arms defensively over her chest. To her surprise she saw that Rico Christofides had taken a saucepan from the kitchen and was placing it in the corner of the room where, to her dismay, she saw that hed spotted a leak.
As he straightened up again she said, more caustically than shed intended, Look, what is it you want from me? The rogue thought that he could be there because after seeing her again hed been overcome with lust set her mind spinning, before she realised how unlikely that had to be.
Rico Christofides calmly sat down on the two-seater sofa and indicated for Gypsy to sit down too. With a barely disguised huff, which was really more fear than impatience, she took the chair opposite the sofa. He took a lazy sip of coffee before putting the cup down on the chipped table.
Id like to know why you seem to be so determined to pretend weve never met, when in fact were intimately acquainted.
Gypsy blushed to the roots of her hair at the way he said intimately. Tightly, she answered, knowing it was futile to keep pretending otherwise. I am well aware of the fact that weve met before, but Ive no desire to become reacquainted.
He regarded her for an uncomfortably long moment and then said, You may not believe this, but I regretted leaving you the way I did that morning.
A spasm of emotion made Gypsy clamp her lips together. She didnt doubt this was just a smooth movehe most likely hadnt given her a second thought. Perhaps hed seen her last night and assumed she might be as easy to seduce again. Well, I dont. And youre forgetting that you left your kindly informative note.
His face tightened. Contrary to what you might have thought after that night, Im not in the habit of picking women up in clubs and booking into the nearest hotel for a night of anonymous sex.
Gypsy burned inside, but shrugged nonchalantly. Look, what do I know or care? Its not something I gave much thought to.
He sent a pointed look towards Lolas pram, and said ascerbically, Clearly I can see that perhaps one-night stands are a habit for you.
Gypsy gasped in affront and sat up straight, hands clenched on her lap, How dare you? Id never had a one-night stand in my life before I met you.
He arched a brow. And yet, he drawled easily, you were remarkably eager to throw yourself into the experience that night, Gypsy Butler.
Gypsys heart stopped. He knew her full nameof course he did; hed found her. Hed be able to track her down no matter where she went now. They must have given it to him at the restaurant.
He asked now, So, that really is your name?
Gypsy nodded, wanting him gone more than ever now, not liking the way he was making her feel so trapped, and said distractedly, My mother had an obsession with Gypsy Rose Lee, hence the name. She left out the fact that for a good portion of her life she hadnt been called by her birth name at all. As far as she was concerned that part of her life had ended when her father had died.
Forcing her mind away from those memories she said, harshly but quietly, mindful of Lola, Look, what is it you want? Im busy.
He cast her a scathing glance. Busy trying to get away from me, for some reason. His eyes narrowed on her, and she felt like a tiny piece of prey in front of a predator, with no escape in sight. And at high costespecially when I happen to know that your disappearing act last night lost you your job
Gypsy held in a gasp but said shakily, How do you know that?
His shoulder moved minutely, The waiters were remarkably indiscreet and loud. Taking her by surprise, Rico Christofides asked then, as if it had just occurred to him, Where is your childs father?
Sitting in front of me, she thought hysterically, and schooled her features, hitching up her chin in an unconscious gesture of defiance. Were alone.
You have no other family?
Gypsy shook her head, and tried to ignore the feeling of vulnerability his words provoked. Rico Christofides was grim. Which proves my point, dont you think? You slept with me and at least one other man soon afterfor I cant imagine that you had left a small baby in the care of a stranger while you were with me that night.
Gypsy shook her head, aghast at the thought of leaving Lola like that while she went off to spend the night with someone. Of course I didnt. I would never have done something like that.
Rico Christofides looked almost smug. Shed proved his point for him, albeit erroneously, because of course she hadnt slept with anyone else since him. With panic galvanising her movements, making them jerky, Gypsy stood up with clenched fists at her sides. Look, Mr Christofides, youre really not welcome here. Id like you to leave.
It was only at his sharply drawn together brows and the way his head snapped up that Gypsy ran over what shed just said and realised with sick horror its import.
He rose slowly and looked down at her, frowning, and Gypsy felt the horror spread through her when he said, You know who I am. So you did know who I was that night?
She shook her head, feeling sick, the possible future implications of her knowledge too much to consider right now. Nono, I didnt. It was only the next morningwhen I saw you on the news
It had been just after shed read his note and realised hed gone. Shed seen the TV in the corner of the room, on a news channel and on mute. Hed obviously been watching it before hed left that morning. To her utter surprise shed seen him, clean-shaven and pristine in a suit, looking almost like a different person, walking down the steps of an official building surrounded by photographers and an important-looking entourage. Gypsy had raised the sound and watched with mounting horror as shed discovered exactly who Rico was.
And yet you never contacted me once you knewyou still left He said this almost musingly, as if trying to work her out. Gypsy knew that in his world women who wouldnt take advantage of a one-night stand with a man like him would be few and far between.
She nodded her head vigorously. Yes, I left. And then, far more defensively than she liked, I got the hint that morning when I woke and you were long gone, leaving a note which made me feel like a call girl, and to be perfectly honest I have no interest in discussing this any further. Id like you to leave now. Please.
At that moment, to Gypsys utter horror and a spiking of panic, a cry came from the pramwhich turned into a familiar wail as Lola woke from her nap and demanded attention.
Chapter Three
SO SHE was upset with how hed left her. Rico forced his mind from that intriguing nugget of information. He could see that she was torn between wanting to go to her child and wanting him gone, and then she blurted out, over the ever increasing wails, Look, now is really not a good time. Please leave us alone.
Please leave us alone.
Something about those words, the way she said us, the hunted look about her face, made Rico dig his heels in. There was some bigger reason she wanted him gone. She felt threatened. That much was crystal-clear.
And, to his utter surprise, the childs piercing wails were not making him want to run in the opposite direction, fast. Gypsys words, her whole demeanour was intriguing him, and he hadnt found much intriguing at all lately. He wanted answers to her behaviour, wanted to know why she wanted him gone so badly, and her crying baby wasnt about to deter him.
That realisation shocked him slightly, as his only experience with kids to date was his four-year-old niece and her baby brother. While they amused himespecially his precocious niecehis younger half-brothers besottedness had left him perplexed. He just didnt really get the whole kids thing. And certainly had no intention of having any himself any time soonnot after the childhood he and his brother had enduredBut that path led to dark memories he wasnt prepared to contemplate now.
With a brusqueness brought on by those thoughts Rico bit out, Shouldnt you see to your child?
With obvious dismay at his intractability, Gypsy went over to the pram and pulled back the cover. Immediately the child stopped crying, just a few snuffles now as Gypsy cooed at her and leant in to pick her up.
In that moment Gypsys plea to please leave us alone resonated in his head. Ricos skin tightened over his bones imperceptibly. He was aware that hed tensed and stopped breathing. As if he had some prescience of something about to occur, something momentous. Which was crazy
Gypsy lifted out the solidly warm weight of her still sleepy daughter, unable, despite everything, to keep an instinctive smile off her face. Lola was a happy little girlrarely grouchy, invariably even-tempered and smileywhich was impossible not to respond to. Gypsy might have castigated herself for her behaviour that night, but shed never for one second regretted Lola, or contemplated not having her.
Gypsy automatically started to take off Lolas outdoor jacket, as she would be warm after her nap, and tried valiantly to ignore the fact that Rico Christofides would now be looking upon his own flesh and blood for the first time. Pushing that scary thought away, she thought surely now hed balk at the reality of a toddler and leave them alone?
A child demanding attention was hardly conducive to discussing a one-night stand? Surely hed see that she wasnt in the market for that again? But even at that thought her lower belly clenched with desire, as if in denial.
Lolas coat was off, and she sat up in Gypsys arms, more awake now. Having spied Rico Christofides she looked at him shyly, leaning into her mother more, sticking her thumb in her moutha habit shed developed as Gypsy had tried to abstain from using pacifiers.
With the utmost reluctance Gypsy followed her daughters gaze, knowing what Rico Christofides would be looking at: a delicately built toddler, with wide slategrey eyes ringed with long dark lashes, slightly darker than pale skin, and a shoulder-length mop of golden corkscrew curls which habitually refused to be tamed. She was adorable. People stopped Gypsy on the street all the time to exclaim over Lola.
At that moment Lola took her thumb out of her mouth and looked at Gypsy, while pointing at Rico Christofides, and said something unintelligible with all the confidence of having uttered a coherent word.
She gave a determined wriggle that Gypsy knew better than to resist, and she had no choice but to put Lola down on her feet and watch as she toddled, still a little unsteady after her nap, over to Rico Christofides, to look up, clearly certain shed get a warm response. When he just stared down at her, with a slightly shell-shocked expression, Gypsy felt foreboding surround her like a thick ominous fog.
Lola looked from Rico back to Gypsy and then, uncertain because of his lack of response, she came back and held her arms out to Gypsy, who picked her up again and held her close.
What did you say her name was? asked Rico after an interminable moment of tense silence, and Gypsy nearly closed her eyes in despair. He knew. Hed have to be blind not to know. They had exactly the same uniquely grey eyes, and now that Gypsy had seen him again she could see they shared the same determined chinand forehead. She was his feminine miniaturea stunning biological example of nature stamping the fathers mark on his child so that there could be no doubt she was his.
Lola, Gypsy replied faintly.
As if forcing himself to ask the question, not having taken his eyes off Lola yet, he asked hoarsely, How old is she?
Gypsy did close her eyes nowjust for a second. The weight of fate and inevitability weighed her down. She was to be given no reprieve, and even if she did try to bluff her way out of this now, and run, shed have to change her identity to evade Rico Christofides. An impossibility, considering her already precarious circumstances.
Fifteen months
I didnt hear you, he said quickly, curtly.
Gypsy winced at the harsh tone of his voice, and said again, with fatality sinking into her bones along with a numbness which had to be shock, Fifteen months.
For the first time his gaze met hers, and she could see what was burning in those increasingly stormy grey depths. Stark suspicion, realisation, shock, horrorall tangled up.
But, he said carefully, too carefully, thats impossible. Because if shes fifteen months old then, unless you slept with someone else directly after me, that would make hermine. And as you havent contacted me then I can only assume that she isnt mine.
Gypsys breath became more shallow. She tightened her hold on Lola, who was beginning to pick up on the tension. That sense of guilt surged back; she couldnt deny him this, no matter who he was. She looked directly at Rico Christofides and swallowed. I didnt sleep with anyone else. I havent been with anyone elsesince you. It killed her, but she had to say it. And I wasnt with anyone just beforeyou. She didnt think it worth mentioning now that shed only had one previous lover, in college.
Again too carefully, Rico Christofides said slowly, So what youre saying is that your daughter is mine? This little girl is my daughter?
Gypsy nodded jerkily, going hot and cold in an instant. A clammy sweat broke out over her skin, making it prickle. And at that moment, with impeccable timing, clearly bored with the lack of attention, Lola started to squirm and whinge.
Gypsy seized on the distraction. Shes hungry. I need to feed her. And she fled like a coward into the kitchen, where she put Lola into her highchair and started chattering to her saying nonsensical things. She knew she was in shock, close to hysteriaand acutely aware of the man just feet away, who now had the power to rip their lives apart.
Rico wasnt sure if he was still standing. Hed never been so thoroughly shocked, taken by surprise, blindsided in his entire life. All of the control he took for granted had just crumbled around him like a flimsy fa?ade, and he saw how precarious it had really been since hed taken control of his life at the tender age of sixteen.
He knew anger was there, but couldnt feel it quite yet. He was numbed. And all he could think about was how it had been just those four words which had made him stop: please leave us alone. All he could think about was what it had been like to look into that little girls eyes for the first time and feel as though hed missed a step, even though he hadnt even been moving.
When shed toddled over to look up at him with such innocent guile his heart had jolted once, hard, and hed felt as if he was falling from a great height into an abyss. An abyss of grey eyes exactly the same unique shade as his own, which hed inherited from his own father. Right now, the most curious sensation flooded himas if an elusive piece of himself was slotting into place, something he hadnt even been aware was missing from his life.
It was too much. Acting on blind instinct, he crashed out of Gypsys apartment, through the main door and to his car, where his driver jumped out. Gasping, Rico yanked open the car door and reached inside for what he was looking for. He realised belatedly that it was still raining as he pulled out a bottle of whisky and unscrewed the top, holding it by the neck before taking a deep gulp of the amber liquid.
His driver quickly ducked back into the car, clearly sensing his bosss volatility and his need to be unobserved. With his hand clenched around the bottle, clarity slowly returned to Rico and he welcomed it. This woman had betrayed him in the most heinous way. The worst way possible.
Hed believed that his own biological father had turned his back on him, but in fact he hadnt. His mother and his stepfather had seen to it that he had believed it, though.
And here was Gypsy Butler, repeating history, blithely bringing up his own daughterhis flesh and bloodclearly with no intention of ever letting him know. Shed tried to get him to leave!
Hed vowed at the age of sixteen that he would never be vulnerable or powerless again. That vow had become his lifes code when hed finally found his father and learnt just how terribly theyd both been lied tofor years. Since then, for him trust had become just a word with useless meaning.
The flimsy chance which had led him to choose that restaurant last night made him shudder in horror; at how close hed come to never knowing of his own daughters existence. He looked back towards the still open front door and took in the shabby excuse for a house. Resolve solidified in his chest, and he threw the bottle of whisky back into the car.
He knew that his life was about to change for ever, and damned if he wasnt going to change their lives too. There was a deep primal beat within him now not to let Gypsy or his daughter out of his sight again. The fierce and immediate possessiveness he felt, and the need to punish Gypsy for her actions, were raging like a fire within him.
Gypsy was shaking all over, and had to consciously try to calm herself as she finished feeding Lola and listened out for Ricos car taking off. The speed with which hed left the apartment had in equal measure sent a wave of relief and a wave of anger through her. While it was her worst nightmare to be in this situation, how could he reject his daughter so summarily?
She felt a surge of protectiveness for Lola, and cursed Rico Christofides while acknowledging that shed expected this to be one of his possible reactions. Straight denial and rejectionjust as her father had done with her initially.
She told herself that this was a good thing; shed salved her conscience by telling Rico Christofides, and Gypsy knew that in the long run theyd both be better off. At least she could tell her daughter as she grew up who her father was, and that it just hadnt worked out between them. Guilt hit her again when she thought of how her daughter might perceive the disparity in their circumstances, but Gypsy reassured herself thatas she knew wellthe fact that Rico Christofides was a multibillionaire did not a father make.
Her own life had been changed for ever when her ill and penniless mother had begged her father to take Gypsy in. Hed been the owner of the company where Mary Butler had been a menial cleaner. An impossibly rich man who had taken advantage of his position and taken her to bed, with all sorts of promises, only to drop her and fire her as soon as shed told him she was pregnant. Unable to get another job or make rent payments, shed soon become homeless.
Gypsy had spent her first few months in a womens refuge, where her mother had gone after shed given birth at Christmas time. Slowly her mother had built up her life again, finding more menial work and eventually getting them both a council flat in a rough part of London.
Gypsy had known from a very young age that her mother wasnt coping, and shed learnt to watch out for the signs so that she could take care of her. Of them both. Until shed got home from school one day and found her mother passed out on the couch, with an empty bottle of pills on the floor.
The emergency services had managed to save herjust. And the only thing that had stopped them from putting six-year-old Gypsy straight into foster care had been her mothers assurance that she would send her to live with her father. And so Gypsy had eventually gone to live with the father who had never wanted her, and shed never seen her mother again. Shed only found out later that her father had comprehensively shut her mother out of Gypsys life.
Forcing her mind away from sad memories, she strained to listen out for the car and still couldnt hear anything. What was he doing? She made sure that Lola had a firm grip of the plastic cup she was drinking from and stood up, heart thumping. The door to the apartment was still open, and she crept over to close it.
With one hand on the door, she heard heavy steps. He was coming back. Panic made her clumsy as she tried to shut the door completely, but it was too late. A hand and foot prevented her from closing it, and as she jumped backwards in shock at how quickly hed moved she heard a laconic drawl, edged with steel.
You didnt think it would be so easy to get rid of me, did you?
Chapter Four
SHE watched, dry-mouthed as Rico Christofides stepped back into the room, closing the door with incongruous softness behind him, angry grey eyes narrowed intently on her, face impossibly grim. Rain clung in iridescent water droplets to his hair and jacket. She had an awful feeling of dj?-vuthe same feeling shed had that day when shed found her mother unconscious. Everything was about to change and she was powerless to stop it.
The anger shed felt moments ago at thinking of him rejecting Lola dissipated under a much more potent threat. Just as her father had belatedly and reluctantly swept in and taken over when shed been six, now Rico Christofides was about to do the same. This was the other reaction shed expected and feared.
She fought through her fear and bit out through numb lips, I dont want you here, Mr Christofides. I never intended you to find out
He uttered a curt laugh. Clearly you never intended me to find out. How serendipitous, then, that I just happened to choose that restaurant last night, out of the many thousands in London.
His sensual mouth firmed, and he looked angry enough to throttle Gypsy, but she felt no sense of danger.
Believe me, it makes my blood run cold to think how close I came to never knowing about this.
Gypsy heard herself say, as though from a long way away, You didnt let me finish. I didnt intend you to find out like this. I was going to tell youat some stage.
He arched an imperious brow, derision all over his handsome face, When? When she turned ten? Or perhaps sixteen? When she was a fully grown person whod built up a lifetime of resentment for the father whod abandoned her? His voice became blistering, his accent thickened. Undoubtedly thats what youd planned, no? Feed her lies and tell her that her father hadnt wanted to know her? Couldnt be bothered to stick around?
Gypsy shook her head. She was feeling nauseous at the condemnation in his tone. No, II hadnt planned that at all. I was going to tell herand youI promise.
It sounded so flimsy to her ears now. The fact was shed just proved him right; shed planned on keeping this from him indefinitely and it made Ricos eyes narrow even more. Gypsy could see the effort it was taking for him not to reach out and shake her. Or perhaps even worse. For the first time she did feel fear, and stepped back.
He noted the move with disgust. Dont worry, you and your promises are so far beneath my contempt right now I wouldnt touch you with a bargepole. If you were a man, however He didnt need to finish that sentence.
Gypsy bit back the impulse to explain that shed wanted to use her degree, set up as a practising child psychologist and be solvent before she went looking for him to deliver the news. Shed known how defenceless she would be to someone like him unless she could stand on her own two feet and demonstrate that she was successfully independent. And this situation was proving exactly how right shed been to be scared.
Yet even now she was impossibly aware of him physically. The way his suit clung to his powerful frame, the way his hands on his hips drew the eye to their leanness. Hips which she could remember running her hands over as hed thrust into her so deeply that sometimes she still woke from dreams that were disturbingly real
Half dizzy with shock, and a surge of very unwelcome lust, Gypsy sank down helplessly into the chair behind her. Rico Christofides just looked at her, without an atom of sympathy or concern, even though she could feel her blood draining southwards and knew she must have gone white. She was scared to stand in case she fainted. But she drew on the inner strength which had got her through years of dealing with her domineering father and stood again, albeit shakily.
At that moment a plaintive cry came from the kitchen, and they both turned to see Lola looking from one to the other with huge grey eyes and an ominously quivering lip. Gypsy could see that she was picking up on her distress, and moved to take her up and hold her.
With Lola securely on her hip, she looked back to Rico Christofides, slightly shocked to see a stricken look on his face. She steeled herself and said, Look, please leave us be. You know nowyou know where we are. I dont want anything from you. We dont need anything from you.
He dragged his eyes from Lola to her, and Gypsy felt the cold sting of his condemnation like a whip against her skin. Well, Im afraid thats just not good enoughbecause I want something from you. My daughter. And, until such time as she can speak for herself, Ill determine what she needs.
His effortlessly autocratic tone made chills run up and down Gypsys spine. It reminded her so much of her father. She instinctively pulled Lola closer. Im her mother. Anything to do with her welfare is my decision. I chose to have her on my own. Im a single mother.
His eyes speared her then, and she saw a suspicious light. You must have deliberately led people to believe that Id refused to come forward to acknowledge my own daughter. Am I even mentioned on the birth certificate?
Gypsy blanched and recalled how shed lied about knowing his identity when asked in the hospital. Shed reassured herself that if she hadnt seen the news that morning she wouldnt necessarily have realised who he was. All of this behaviour; the lying was so unlike her.
She shook her head quickly and visibly flinched when he made a move towards her. For a second she thought hed rip Lola out of her arms and take her away. Lola started to make sounds of distress.
Rico stopped dead still and said, his face pale with anger, Damn you to hell, Gypsy Butler. How dare you refuse to name me as her father. You knew who I was.
Gypsy was trying not to shake, and to pacify Lola at the same time, keeping her voice carefully calm. I was protecting her, protecting us.
As if aware of his daughters distress too, he surprised Gypsy by lowering his voice. But that didnt make it any less angry. From what? You had no right to take that decision.
Gypsy couldnt speak. How could she explain to this man that once shed found out she was pregnant shed known for sure that he could not be told until she was ready to deal with him?
He was waiting for her response, for her justification. She blurted out, I saw you on the news that morning.
He frowned.
Gypsy went on, I saw you come out of court after youd reduced that woman to a wreckand all because she tried to prove that her baby was yours.
Rico slashed a hand through the air and said curtly, You know nothing of that case. I was making an example of her so that no other woman would be inclined to think they could take advantage of me in such a way.
Gypsy hitched up her chin. So how can you blame me for not running to tell you of my pregnancy? You made it clear when you left that morning that you didnt want to see me again, and then I saw how you dealt with a woman who claimed to be the mother of your child.
.
.
, (https://www.litres.ru/abby-green/in-christofides-keeping/) .
Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, , , , PayPal, WebMoney, ., QIWI , .