He addressed her mother directly, speaking in a quiet tone that carried an impressive intensity of purpose. ‘Helen, I want you to know I will look after your daughter with much more care than I did in the past. Please trust me on that.’
‘Tina and Theo are very precious to me, Ari,’ her mother answered. ‘I hope your caring will be as deep as mine.’
He nodded and turned his gaze to Tina. ‘Theo wants me to see his train station.’
‘I’ll take you to our room. He did a great job putting all the Lego together.’ She smiled at her son. ‘It was very tricky, wasn’t it, darling?’
‘Very tricky,’ he echoed, then grinned triumphantly at Ari. ‘But I did it!’
‘I knew you were a clever boy,’ he warmly approved.
‘Will you wait here, Mama?’ Tina asked.
‘Yes, dear. Go on now.’
Theo was full of questions about Ari’s nephews whom he’d spent most of his time with at the wedding reception. Tina didn’t have to say anything on their walk to her room. She was acutely conscious of the easy bond Ari had already established with their son and felt fairly sure there would be no trauma attached to revealing the truth. If she made it like a fairy-tale to Theo, he might accept it unquestioningly. On the other hand, there could be a host of questions both of them would have to answer.
Her chest ached with tension as she opened the door to her room and stood aside for Ari to carry Theo inside. He paused a moment, giving her a burning look of command as he said,
‘I’ll
tell him.’
She felt an instant wave of resentment at his arbitrary taking over from her, yet it did relieve her of the responsibility of explaining the situation to Theo.
Let him get it right for their son,
she thought, closing the door behind them, then parking herself on the chair at the writing desk while Ari duly admired the Lego train station.
‘Does your Mama tell you bed-time stories, Theo?’ he asked, sitting down on the bed beside the fully constructed station.
‘Yes. She points to the words in the book and I can read some of them now,’ he answered proudly.
‘I think you must be very quick at learning things. If I tell you a story, I wonder if you could guess the ending,’ Ari said with a teasing smile.
‘Tell me! Tell me!’ Theo cried eagerly, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of Ari, his little body bent forward attentively.
Ari bent forwards, too, his forearms resting on his knees, his gaze locked on the amber eyes shining up at him. ‘Once upon a time a prince from a faraway country travelled to a land on the other side of the world.’
Tina was totally stunned that Ari had chosen to use a fairy story to convey the truth, yet how much of the truth would he tell? The tension inside her screwed up several notches.
‘There he met a beautiful princess and she was like no one else he’d ever met. He wanted to be with her all the time and she wanted to be with him so they were together while he was in her country. But eventually he had to leave to carry out business for his kingdom back home. It hurt the princess very much when he said goodbye to her and when she found out that she was going to have a baby she decided not to send any message to the prince about it. She didn’t want him to come back, then leave her again because it would hurt too much. So she kept the baby a secret from him.’
‘Was the baby a boy or a girl?’ Theo asked.
‘It was a boy. And he was very much loved by her family. This made the princess think he didn’t need a Papa because he already had enough people to love him. She didn’t know that the boy secretly wished for a Papa.’
‘Like me,’ Theo popped in. ‘But I didn’t wish for one until I went to school. It was because my friends there have fathers.’
‘It is only natural for you to want one,’ Ari assured him.
‘Does the boy in the story get his?’
‘Let me tell you how it happened. After a few years the sister of the princess was to marry a man who came from the same country as the prince, so her family had to travel halfway around the world to attend the wedding. The princess didn’t know that this man was a cousin of the prince and she would meet him again. It was a shock to her when she did, and when the prince saw her son, he knew the boy was his son, too. They had the same eyes.’
‘Like you and me,’ Theo said, instantly grasping the point.
‘Yes. Exactly like that. But the princess asked the prince to keep her secret until after her sister’s wedding because she didn’t want to take people’s attention away from the bride. The prince understood this but he wanted to spend as much time as he could with his son. And he also wanted the princess to know that being a father meant a lot to him. It made him very sad that he had missed out on so much of his son’s life and he wanted to be there for him in the future.’
‘Can I guess now?’ Theo asked.
Ari nodded.
Theo cocked his head to the side, not quite sure he had it right, but wanting to know. ‘Are you my Papa, Ari?’
‘Yes, Theo. I am,’ he answered simply.
Tina held her breath until she saw a happy grin break out on Theo’s face. The same grin spread across Ari’s. Neither of them looked at her. This was their moment—five years in the waiting—and she couldn’t resent being excluded from it. It was her fault they had been kept apart all this time. Ari had been fair in his story-telling and she now had to be fair to the bond she had denied both of them.
‘I’m glad you’re my Papa,’ Theo said fervently, rising to his feet. ‘After my birthday party I dreamed that you were.’
Ari lifted him onto his knee, hugging him close. ‘We’ll always celebrate your birthday together,’ he promised huskily.
‘But I don’t want you to hurt Mama again.’
Tears pricked Tina’s eyes, her heart swelling at the love and loyalty in Theo’s plea to his father.
‘I am trying very hard not to,’ Ari said seriously. ‘I kept her secret until today, and now your Mama and I are going to work out how best we can be together for the rest of our lives. Will you be happy to be with your grandmother while we do that?’
‘Does Yiayia know you’re my Papa?’
‘Yes. Your Mama told her this morning. And now that you know, too, you can talk about it to your grandmother. Tomorrow, if it’s okay with your Mama, I’ll take you to visit your other grandparents whom you met at your birthday party.’
Theo’s eyes rounded in wonderment. ‘Is Maximus my Papou?’
‘Yes, and he very much wants to see you again. So does my mother. You will have a much bigger family. The boys you played with at the wedding are your cousins.’
‘Will they be there tomorrow?’
‘Yes.’ Ari rose to his feet, hoisting Theo up in his arms. ‘Let’s go back to your grandmother because your Mama and I need to have some time to talk about all this.’
The face Theo turned to Tina was full of excitement. ‘Is it okay with you, Mama?’ he asked eagerly.
‘Yes,’ she said, not yet ready to commit to a mass family involvement until after her night with Ari, but smiling at her son to remove any worry from his mind.
It was enough for Theo.
He was content to be left with her mother, happy to share the news that his birthday wish had come true and ask a million questions about what might happen next. He waved goodbye to Tina and Ari without a qualm.
All the qualms were in Tina’s stomach.
She was about to face a new beginning with Ari Zavros or an end to the idea of marrying him.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
A
RI
took her hand as they walked up the ramp to the courtyard in front of the reception building. The physical link flooded her mind with thoughts of the intimacy to come. For him it was probably just another night of sex—the performance of an act that had been commonplace in his life, varied only by the different women he’d taken to bed with him.
For her … a little shiver ran down her spine … it had been so long, and she wasn’t dazzled by him this time.
Could she really shut off her disillusionment with the love she’d believed he’d shared and take pleasure in what he could give her? He’d said he’d try very hard not to hurt her. There was no need to be frightened of him, but she was frightened of the feelings he might evoke in her. This was not a time to be weak or confused. There was too much at stake to blindly follow instincts that had led her astray in the past.
Though she had to concede that Ari had been very good with Theo. He’d also saved her from the dilemma of how to explain the truth to their son. At least that was done with, and done well, which was only fair to acknowledge.
‘I liked your fairy story,’ she said, slanting him an appreciative little smile.
He flashed a hopeful smile back. ‘We have yet to give it a happy ending.’
‘To dream the impossible dream …’ tripped straight off her tongue.
‘Not impossible, Christina. Open your mind to it.’
They reached his car and he opened the passenger door for her. She paused, looking directly at him before stepping in. ‘I don’t know
your
mind, Ari. That’s the problem.’
Intensity of purpose glittered in his amber eyes as he answered, ‘Then I hope you’ll know it better by tomorrow morning.’
‘I hope I do, too.’ She gestured to the car. ‘Where are you taking me?’
‘To Oia, the northern village of Santorini, the best place for watching the sunset. I’ve arranged for a suite in a boutique hotel which will give us the perfect view. I thought you would like it.’
‘That’s … very romantic.’
‘With you I want to be romantic,’ he replied, his whole expression softening with a look of rueful tenderness that twisted her heart.
She tore her gaze from his and quickly settled herself in the passenger seat, silently and furiously chastising herself for the craven wish to be romanced out of all her mistrust of his fairy-tale happy ending. He was going to make it all too easy to surrender to his charm and there was a huge vulnerable part of her that wanted to believe she was special to him this time and there would be no turning away from her ever again.
But it was his child he really wanted. She was the package deal. And she had no idea how long the package would stay attractive to him. Even if Ari romanced her beautifully tonight, she had to keep her head on straight and insist on the prenuptial agreement he’d offered. It was her insurance against making another big mistake with him.
He chatted to her about the various features of the island they passed on their way to Oia, intent on establishing a companionable mood. Tina did her best to relax and respond in an interested fashion. She remembered how interested he had been in Australia, always asking her questions about it whenever they were driving somewhere together.
‘Where would you want us to live if I marry you, Ari?’ she asked, needing to know what he had in mind.
He hesitated, then bluntly answered, ‘Australia is too far away from my family’s business interests, Christina. We could base ourselves anywhere in Europe. Athens if you would like to be near your relatives. Perhaps Helen would like to return there. She would see more of Cassandra and George in the future if she did, and put her closer to us, as well.’
It meant completely uprooting herself. And Theo. Though Ari had made a good point about her mother. So much change … she would end up leading an international life like Cass. Her sister had acclimatised herself to it. Loved it. Perhaps she would learn to love it, too.
‘It’s also a matter of choosing what might be best for our children’s education,’ Ari added, shooting her a quick smile.
Our children …
It was a very seductive phrase. She adored having Theo. She’d love to have a little girl, as well. If she didn’t marry Ari, it was highly unlikely that she would have any more children. But if she had them with Ari, she didn’t want to lose them to him.
‘Are you okay with that, Christina?’ he asked, frowning at her silence.
‘I’m opening my mind to it,’ she tossed at him.
He laughed, delighted that it wasn’t a negative answer.
They had to leave the car on the outskirts of the village and continue on foot through the narrow alleys to the hotel. Both of them had brought light backpacks with essentials for an overnight stay. It only took a minute to load them onto their shoulders and Ari once again took possession of Tina’s hand for the walk into the village. It felt more comfortable now, especially as they navigated past the steady stream of tourists that thronged the alleys lined with fascinating shops.
Again she was acutely aware of women looking Ari over but the handhold meant he belonged to her, and she firmly reminded herself that not even Cass’s beautiful model friends had turned his head last night. If she could just feel more confident that he could be content with only having her, the female attention he invariably drew might not worry her so much. It hadn’t worried her in the past. She had been totally confident that he was hers. Until he wasn’t hers any more.
But marriage was different to a
charming episode.
A wedding ring on Ari’s finger would make him legally hers.
Very publicly hers.
That should give her some sense of security with him.
In fact, being the wife of Ari Zavros would empower her quite a bit on many levels.
If she could make herself hard-headed enough to set aside any possible hurt from him in the future and simply go through with the marriage, dealing with each day as it came, her life could become far more colourful than she would ever manage on her own. Besides which if it ended in divorce, the financial settlement would give her the means to do whatever she chose. Wanting Ari to love her … well, that was probably wishing for the moon, but who knew? Even that might come to pass if her mother was right about sharing what was precious to both of them.
All the buildings in Oia were crammed up against each other, using every available bit of space. The entrance to the hotel opened straight onto an alley with pot-plants on either side of the door its only adornment. It was certainly boutique size. The man at the reception desk greeted Ari enthusiastically and escorted them to a suite on what proved to be the top level of three built down the hillside facing the sea. The bathroom, bedroom and balcony were all small but perfectly adequate and the view from the balcony was spectacular.