The Mills & Boon Sparkling Christmas Collection. Kate Hardy

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      Theo glanced at Madison as he paced the room. He really wasn’t being fair to her. Here, in London, his background wasn’t an issue. She saw him as Theo the man, the doctor, not the heir to the Petrakis hotel chain. And it wasn’t her fault that his family drove him crazy.

      He sighed and sat on the sofa next to her. ‘Signomi, Maddie. I’m sorry. I should have explained. My family owns a chain of hotels—little romantic boutique hotels. Expensive hotels.’

      ‘So you’re telling me you’re rich?’

      ‘My family is.’ He paused. ‘Though I’ve told Dad that because I’m the only one who hasn’t joined the family firm, I don’t expect to inherit anything. The others have worked for it, so my share belongs to them. And if he ignores me, I’ll divide up my share between them anyway.’

      Her approving look warmed him.

      ‘But they still keep trying to set me up with a suitable bride. The daughters of friends who also own hotel chains and whose families are all very involved in the business.’ He grimaced. ‘It’s one of the reasons I left Greece. I’m tired of them trying to marry me off to form a dynasty.’

      ‘You never wanted to be part of the business?’

      He shook his head. ‘I’m a doctor, Maddie. It’s who I am. It’s what I’ve always wanted to be.’

      ‘If they know how you feel and they love you,’ Madison said softly, ‘then they’ll accept it.’

      ‘They do…know how I feel and love me, I mean. And they sort of accept it, but I suppose they’re still hoping I’ll change my mind and go back to Greece. They miss me.’ He smiled ruefully. ‘And I miss them.’

      ‘So go back to Greece and make your peace with them. Properly.’

      ‘There’s no peace to make.’ He shook his head. ‘We didn’t fight. They knew I wanted to come to England and get to know the other side of my family.’

      ‘Your English grandparents.’

      She remembered that? ‘Yes. But it’s…complicated.’

      ‘And you’re a very private man. On the surface, you’re all fun and fantastic company. But if anyone gets too close, they hit the barrier you’ve thrown up.’ She smiled wryly. ‘I know the rules, Theo. And I’m not going to nag you or push you into talking about things you’d rather not discuss.’

      ‘Even though you want to make everything perfect for everyone?’

      ‘Hey. We all have our bad habits.’

      ‘Maybe you’re right. Maybe I should talk about it.’ He took a deep breath. ‘It’s messy. And I don’t even know where to begin.’

      Gently, she took his hand. Squeezed it. ‘Don’t worry about it being messy. I’m not going to judge you. Talk to me, Theo. It doesn’t matter where you start. Just talk to me.’

      He was silent for so long she began to think that he’d changed his mind.

      And then he spoke.

      ‘You know my mother was English.’

      ‘Mmm-hmm.’

      ‘Her parents didn’t approve of her seeing my father. They thought he was a waiter, not good enough for their daughter.’ He smiled wryly. ‘He was a waiter when he met her, admittedly—but that’s because my grandparents owned the hotel and insisted he spend a fortnight in every single job in the business, so he could understand exactly how things worked and what kind of issues the staff faced.’ Then his smile faded. ‘Dad loved my mother. Really loved her. And she loved him. He married her, even though her parents refused to come to the wedding. When they found out they were expecting me, they were overjoyed.’ He swallowed hard. ‘And she died giving birth to me.’

      Madison’s heart contracted. Now at last she understood why he’d been so adamant about not having children of his own, even though he adored babies. She’d assumed that he and a former partner had lost a baby and their relationship hadn’t survived the tragedy, but she really hadn’t expected this. And if he’d been feeling this way for years and years…Something so deeply rooted he might never be able to let go.

      She said nothing, just put her arms round him and held him close. Because giving him a hug was the only thing she could think of to make him feel better.

      ‘Dad fell apart. And he couldn’t face seeing me because I reminded him of my mother and everything he’d lost. So my grandparents—my Greek grandparents, that is—looked after me for the first two years of my life.’

      ‘What about your mother’s parents?’

      ‘Same as Dad. They saw me as the cause of her death.’

      So they’d abandoned him, too? She could have cried for the little boy he’d been back then. Pushed away by those who should have loved him when he had been too little to understand what was going on. ‘Theo, that’s so unfair. And it wasn’t your fault.’

      He sighed. ‘Yes and no. If she hadn’t had me, she’d still be alive. Anyway, I don’t remember the next bit—it’s what Dad and Yiayia told me, years later.’

      ‘Yiayia?’

      ‘My Greek grandmother. Apparently I caught chickenpox when I was two. I was pretty ill with it, so my grandparents called my father. Made him see me. And from that moment I think he realised that he hadn’t lost my mother completely—he still had part of her, in me. So he moved in with my grandparents and me. And then he met Eleni, and she mended his broken heart.’ He smiled. ‘They got married. And they’ve been happy together. Though every time Eleni was going to have a baby, Dad used to get really tense. I didn’t understand why until just after she had Stefanos—and then, when they were sure he was their last baby, they told me. They thought I was old enough to understand by then, and they didn’t want to lie to me about my past.’

      ‘And that’s why you became an obstetrician?’

      ‘Yes. So I could stop it happening to another family. I’ve never regretted having Eleni as a stepmother—she’s a sweetheart and I love her dearly—but the idea that my father went through such unhappiness when I was small…’ He dragged in a breath. ‘I wanted to stop someone else going through that. Wanted to save another child from the knowledge and the guilt that his birth had killed his mother.’

      ‘Theo.’ She stroked his face. ‘It wasn’t your fault. I’m sure if you talked to your dad and your stepmother about it, they’d say the same.’

      ‘How can I drag it all up again?’ he asked. ‘They’ve been through enough. I can’t discuss it with them, hurt them like that.’

      ‘I don’t know them so I can’t speak for them, but I know how my family would react—and they’d hate to think you were still feeling so bad about things.’

      He shrugged. ‘I’ve come to terms with it.’