Greek Mavericks: The Greek's Unforgettable Secret. Кейт Хьюит

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      Lizzie sat in her seat motionless long after the other audience members had left. People moved past her. She barely registered them. She felt cloaked in doom, and it was a doom of her own making. Of all the ways for Damon to find about Thea, this had to be the worst. How must it have felt for him to be sitting next to his daughter’s mother, only to discover that the woman he had made love to was apparently as untrustworthy as her scumbag father?

      She had felt Damon quite literally shrink away from her. And she’d seen the look he’d given Thea. It had been the leader of the wolf pack acknowledging his cub. If the thought of a blood relationship between Damon and Thea hadn’t struck anyone else yet, it soon would. The ease between them, coupled with their incredible likeness, signalled their bond like a flashing beacon.

      Thea was a bright child. How long would it take her to work it out?

      Having never heard Thea express the need for a father, Lizzie began to wonder if that had been to save her feelings. They had been a team of two for ever, and now they were three—though not a team, and without any explanation from Lizzie.

      She found herself flinching when Thea came running down the aisle, swinging her violin case as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

      And why should she?

      But everything was about to change for Thea. Remembering how that had felt for herself when she was eighteen—almost twice Thea’s age, with twice Thea’s experience of life—Lizzie shrank a little more inside.

      ‘Mama!’ Thea exclaimed. ‘Did you enjoy the concert?’ Thea was hopping from foot to foot, still fired up on adrenalin, when she reached Lizzie’s side. ‘Did you notice that note I got wrong?’

      ‘I only noticed that you played beautifully,’ Lizzie said honestly, on a throat so tight she could hardly breathe.

      ‘I played for you,’ Thea announced, throwing her arms around her mother to hug her tight.

      This was the wake-up call she needed, Lizzie realised. She wasn’t a useless mother. She was just a mother and she’d always done her best. She was a hostage for life, and she welcomed that knowledge. She’d no doubt get things wrong again in the future, but she’d always strive to put them right. She would never stop trying when it came to Thea.

      ‘I can’t wait to hear you play again,’ she said warmly when a few of Thea’s friends gathered round. ‘I think you’re amazing—all of you.’

      Lizzie’s heart melted when Thea turned a beaming smile on her friends, as if to say, This is my mother and she really gets us.

      ‘Love you, darling!’ Lizzie called out as Thea raced away with her friends.

      Glancing across the playing fields, Lizzie could see Thea and her group of friends gathering up a feast from the buffet, to carry off and eat beneath the shade of the olive trees. Sensing Lizzie was still staring at her, Thea turned and gestured vigorously that Lizzie must join them.

      Lizzie drew a deep breath and told herself firmly that whatever happened next she could deal with it. She had dealt with things for eleven years now, and would continue to do so. She would do anything to protect Thea.

      And Damon? What about him?

      She’d lost him before she’d had chance to know him. He could never be part of her life now—though he would surely be part of Thea’s. That would be up to Thea, Lizzie determined as she hurried across the parched playing field to join the children.

      ‘There he goes!’ Thea yelled, pointing to the sky as Lizzie approached.

      Shading her eyes, Lizzie stared up as the rhythmical thwack of a helicopter’s rotor blades passed overhead. Damon would be flying off to wherever he was needed most, she guessed.

      Guilt flooded her again. She’d worked so hard to get things right for Thea, and now she’d fallen at this, the last hurdle. She might never get the chance to speak to Damon again except through lawyers, and she had always planned to bring Thea and Damon together carefully, sensitively—anywhere but in a courtroom.

      She shuddered at the thought. There was no excuse, although her reasons for not telling Damon sooner were complex and mostly rooted in the past. Believing he’d deserted her too, so soon after her father’s rejection, she’d vowed never to love again, never to risk her heart again—and she had kept that vow until Thea was born, when she had discovered a love so deep it had almost drowned her.

      Her father’s rejection, coming at such a vulnerable and hormonal time in Lizzie’s life, had left her with an overwhelming desire to protect Thea from that same pain.

      Looking back, she saw that the world her father had aspired to was shallow, and based on what people had in the bank rather than what they were really worth, and that in turn had left her with a lifelong suspicion of wealth. She knew deep down that Damon was a different kind of rich, and that he’d not only worked hard for everything he’d got but had done good with that money. But the glamorous world he inhabited still troubled her. She would never belong in a world like that—though in time Thea might, Lizzie allowed.

      ‘Okay…’ Thea looked up expectantly at her mother.

      ‘Okay, what?’ Lizzie asked lightly, pinning a smile to her face.

      ‘Do. You. Like. Him?’ Thea asked, testing her facial muscles to their limit. ‘Damon Gavros,’ she explained impatiently. ‘I saw him sitting next to you. We all did,’ Thea added, grinning as she gazed around at her friends.

      So now she had an audience. Lizzie’s stomach sank. She shrugged and smiled through it. ‘Of course I like him. What’s not to like?’

      ‘Well, that’s good,’ Thea said. ‘Because he’s on his way over—’

      ‘What?’ Lizzie’s world tilted СКАЧАТЬ