The Kristallis Baby. Natalie Rivers

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СКАЧАТЬ practised flick of her wrist and snap the safety catch into place with her foot. All the time she was holding the baby tightly, engaging his attention with a constant stream of chatter and smiles.

      ‘In you go, Danny,’ she said, securing the child in the seat with the harness. ‘Off we go—tube or bus? What do you think?’ She glanced down the street at the queue by the bus stop.

      ‘We still need to talk,’ Nik said, coming up beside her.

      She gasped in surprise. But the change in her body language made him sure she had recognised his voice before she looked round.

      ‘Anyone would think you were stalking me!’ She flicked her silky black fringe out of her eyes as she turned to him.

      Nik looked down at her upturned face. Her almond-shaped eyes were a dazzling green, framed by arching brows and accentuated by long black lashes. He saw no sign of any make-up, and her flawless skin was incredibly pale, but it was lit somehow by a shimmering vitality.

      It suddenly struck him as odd that she wasn’t wearing any make-up. Surely that natural look didn’t usually accompany the style of outfit she was wearing? But then, the denim jacket buttoned up to her chin and the sporty backpack seemed somewhat incongruous, too.

      ‘You left before we finished our conversation,’ Nik said.

      ‘I don’t have anything to say to you,’ Carrie said. She looked so cool, standing there, but he knew from experience that her nubile body was anything but.

      ‘Really?’ Nik asked coldly. ‘Tell me, why did you steal my brother’s baby?’

      ‘I…I…’ Carrie stammered. She gripped the handles of the buggy tightly and took a step backwards across the pavement. ‘I didn’t steal Danny.’

      She stared at him with wide, frightened eyes, suddenly looking even paler than before, if that was possible. She looked genuinely shocked by his words. Maybe she hadn’t expected him to cut to the chase so quickly.

      ‘What else would you call taking a baby that doesn’t belong to you?’ Nik asked. She couldn’t really be surprised by his question, could she? In a moment she’d probably recover herself and start spouting a prepared speech in her defence.

      ‘Babies don’t belong to people!’ Carrie gasped. ‘They belong with the people who love them.’

      ‘They belong with their family,’ Nik said, hearing an edge of menace in his own voice as he took a step closer to her. ‘And, like I said, you stole that baby from his family.’

      ‘I didn’t steal Danny,’ Carrie said. ‘When his parents were killed in the accident no one else wanted him.’

      ‘No one else was given the chance,’ Nik said.

      ‘Your father—’

      ‘My father is dead,’ Nik interrupted coldly.

      She drew in a sharp breath and stared up at him with puzzled green eyes. He had clearly startled her again, yet as he watched an expression of genuine sympathy passed across her face.

      ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I—’

      ‘No.’ He cut her off abruptly with an impatient gesture. Her sympathy was the last thing he wanted.

      His father had died suddenly just two months ago—four months after Leonidas had been killed in the motorway accident. Nik had had a heavy couple of months, taking over the areas of the family business that his father had still controlled, but things had finally been coming into order when he’d made an astonishing discovery amongst his father’s personal papers. Leonidas had left behind an orphaned baby boy.

      His gaze dropped to study the baby sitting in the buggy beside him—his brother’s son—then he looked back up at the woman who had taken him.

      She swallowed convulsively as their eyes met, obviously unnerved by him, and took an awkward step backwards into the crowd of commuters.

      ‘Oi! Watch out!’ a young man shouted as he careered into her back, nearly knocking her off her feet. Her stiletto heels didn’t help, and she staggered forward, ramming the buggy hard into Nik’s shins.

      He swore in Greek. ‘We need to get off the street,’ he grated, hauling Carrie and the buggy sideways, into the relative safety of a café doorway. ‘I’ll signal my driver.’

      ‘I’m not getting into a car with you.’ Carrie shrugged his hand off her arm and bobbed down to check on Danny. ‘I hardly know you,’ she said, rising to her full heel-enhanced height and meeting his eye.

      ‘We have to talk, and the street is not the place for it,’ Nik said categorically. ‘We’ll go in here.’ He indicated the stylish Italian café they were standing beside.

      Carrie hesitated, biting her lip as she thought about it. She knew she’d have to talk to Nikos Kristallis some time, and quite honestly she’d rather get it over with.

      ‘All right, but I’m not staying long.’ She stooped to lift Danny out of his buggy. ‘He’ll be getting tired soon.’

      A few minutes later they were sitting at a table in a quiet corner at the back of the café. Danny was balanced on Carrie’s lap, making alarming lunges for her cappuccino.

      She edged her chair away from the table, automatically shifting Danny out of reach of the hot drink, and glanced surreptitiously at Nik. She couldn’t let herself believe that he really wanted to take Danny from her. It was six months since she’d contacted his family with news of Leonidas’s death, and if Nik had genuinely intended to take Danny he wouldn’t have waited so long to seek her out.

      She was anxious to know what he really wanted, but she resisted the urge to ask him straight out. She wanted him to put his cards on the table first, to give her a chance to process what he said. But he’d hardly spoken since they’d sat down, and now he sipped his espresso in silence.

      She couldn’t help letting her eyes run over him, drinking in his amazing good looks. His designer suit hung immaculately on his lean, athletic body, emphasising the powerful width of his shoulders and the strong hard planes of his chest. The crisp white shirt he wore was the perfect foil for his bronzed skin, which glowed with an attractive health and vigour.

      ‘I’m sorry about your father.’ She was still wary of Nik, but she couldn’t stand sitting in silence any longer. ‘It must have been awful to lose him so soon after Leonidas.’

      ‘Thank you for your concern,’ Nik said, putting his espresso cup down and lifting cold blue eyes to meet hers. ‘But I didn’t come here to discuss my recent bereavement. I’m here to make arrangements regarding the child.’

      ‘What do you mean?’ A bolt of alarm shot through Carrie, making her heart lurch and her stomach churn unpleasantly.

      ‘Danny belongs in Greece with me.’

      Carrie swayed back in her chair, clutching Danny tightly as she stared at Nik in disbelief. It couldn’t be true. He didn’t really want Danny, did he?

      ‘I’m sorry for your loss,’ she said tautly. ‘But Danny is staying with me.’

      ‘No,’ СКАЧАТЬ