She’d worn no bra.
She’d smiled with those stunning blue-grey eyes and suddenly he’d known he could lose himself in them.
And just like that he’d been in a full state of arousal.
Forget comforting. She wasn’t comforting. She was the sexiest creature on the planet and his desire for her in that moment had been the most concentrated, intense desire he’d ever experienced.
By the time he’d pulled her T-shirt off and wriggled out of his shorts he’d been ready to devour her. And he had done just that.
He’d fallen asleep as soon as it was over and had slept until she’d gently woken him to say that the ferry was approaching the island.
‘That night in Illya,’ he asked quietly, ‘was I your first?’
‘My first?’
‘Lover.’
Understanding flashed over her and she covered her mouth with her hand.
‘I was, wasn’t I?’
She gave the barest of nods. ‘I’m surprised you remember anything.’
Her face was suffused with colour. Abruptly she got to her feet, knocking into the table as she did so, spilling water from her glass.
‘I need to use the ladies’,’ she said starkly.
He captured her wrist and stared at her, concerned. ‘Are you okay?’
She nodded, but her eyes were wild. She tugged her hand free. ‘I won’t be long.’
Puzzled, he watched her flee inside.
No sooner had the door shut behind her than her phone began to vibrate and dance on the table.
CHAPTER SIX
JOANNE STARED AT her reflection in the lavish ladies’ restroom—which was mercifully empty—and prayed for courage. Her hands were clammy, her skin burned and a heavy beat played in her head.
She had to tell him. Tonight. Forget waiting until the biography was finished. Things had gone too far to keep it hidden from him any longer. He was seducing her with his every word and every look.
She hadn’t tasted a morsel of her food; could hardly remember what she’d had. Her senses had been too busy relishing the taste of his earlier kisses, the whispers of which still lay on her tongue and lips. She could still feel his huge hand warm on her wrist.
She inhaled deeply a couple of times before smoothing her hair and straightening her dress. She would drink her coffee, Nikos would drive them back to the palace and then, as soon as they were alone, she would tell Theseus the truth.
She slipped back into the club’s restaurant and weaved her way through the tables of beautiful people, all looking at her with unabashed curiosity. She heard their whispers as she passed: this stranger in their midst was the guest of one of Agon’s most eligible bachelors.
Avoiding Theseus’s eyes, she took her seat and reached for her coffee, which had been brought in her absence.
Before she could plead a headache and ask if they could return to the palace, Theseus said, ‘Jonathan called.’
Startled, she looked at him.
Impassively he handed over her phone. ‘He called when you were in the bathroom.’
In her rush to escape from him and in the haze she’d fallen into she’d left her phone exposed on the table.
She swallowed, her heart immediately starting to hammer. ‘Did you answer it?’
‘Yes. I thought it might be important.’ Curiosity rang from his dark eyes. And something else...something darker.
‘What did he say?’ she croaked, fighting the cold paralysis sweeping through her.
‘Only that he was calling for a chat and that his scanner’s broken, so he’ll give you Toby’s pictures when you get home.’
Jo felt the colour drain from her face at hearing him vocalise their son’s name, the blood abandoning her head and leaving a cold fog in its place.
She hadn’t told Jonathan or Cathy about finding Toby’s father. She hadn’t told anyone.
This was it. This was where the truth came out.
A pulse flickered in Theseus’s jaw. ‘So who are they?’
‘Jonathan’s my brother.’
‘And Toby? Is he your nephew?’
It was a struggle to breathe. Her body didn’t know what it was doing. She was hot and cold, thrumming and paralysed all at once.
Hot. Cold. Hot. Cold.
Fat tears welled in her eyes and spilled over before she had the chance to feel them form.
She took the biggest, most painful breath of her life.
‘Toby is my son.’
The shock on his face was so stark it was clear that hadn’t been the answer he’d expected. ‘You have a child?’