Even when Jo had spent a month in hospital whilst pregnant her mother had paid only one visit, and that had been to drive her back to the frigid shell she called a home.
At least her father had shown some kindness—but she’d had to catch him at the right time if she’d wanted any coherence from him, considering he started drinking in the morning and was generally comatose in the chair in his study by mid-afternoon.
Her poor father... That weak-willed, spineless man, who’d realised too late that the pretty young woman he’d impregnated and been forced to marry was far too strong for him. He’d once said, intoxicated over Sunday dinner, that she’d emasculated him. Her mother had replied in her usual no-nonsense manner that one needed balls to begin with in order to be emasculated.
Jo had not understood why they stayed together—and had never understood how they’d come to make her.
She knew she must get some sleep. Even if she only managed a couple of hours that would be better than nothing at all.
As she was about to climb back into the huge four-poster bed she froze when she heard the click of a door being unlocked, followed by a creak.
Slowly she turned her head to look at the door adjacent to her dressing room. She’d never been able to open it and had wondered a couple of times what lay on the other side. Now she stared as it opened, too frozen with fear to move.
Fight or flight? At that moment she wasn’t capable of either option.
And then Theseus stepped over the threshold, allowing her to expel the breath she’d been holding.
He looked haggard, as if the events of the night had caused him to unravel.
‘You scared the life out of me!’ she said, on the verge of tears with shock. Her heart had been kick-started and was now pumping at the rate of knots. ‘Where did you come from?’
‘You didn’t answer my knock so I came through the hidden passageway connecting your apartment with mine.’ He pushed the door shut with his back and folded his arms. ‘We need to talk.’
‘It’s four o’clock in the morning.’ And she was wearing nothing but an old T-shirt that only just skimmed her fortunately covered bottom.
‘And you’re managing to sleep as well as I am.’ His eyes flickered over her, taking in her attire. ‘Nikos is on his way to England. There’s a helicopter on standby to fly him and the ambassador to Oxford,’ he added.
Jo gnawed at her lip and tried to fight the fresh tide of panic she felt as she did the maths. With the time difference between Agon and the UK, Nikos and the ambassador would easily make it to Toby by midday—just as Theseus had promised.
‘I think it would be best if I meet him at the airport.’ She mentally prepared herself for another fight she knew she was in no position to win.
To her surprise he gave a sharp nod of agreement. ‘I’ll get that arranged.’
‘And we’ll go straight to your villa?’ she clarified.
‘Yes.’
She chose her next words with care. Theseus might have calmed down, but she was aware that his temper was currently as flammable as dry kindling. ‘I know you want us to stay until the Gala, and then introduce Toby to your family, but I need to know how long you’ll want us to stay afterwards so I can make arrangements with work.’
At that moment she couldn’t think about the biography and the work that still needed to be done to finish it.
When Theseus didn’t answer, and simply stared at her with an unfathomable expression on his handsome face, alarm bells began to chime softly, reverberating through her stomach.
‘How long do you envisage us staying on Agon for?’ she asked again, more forcefully.
He rubbed the back of his neck. ‘Dimitris and I have been refreshing our memories of Agon laws...’
‘What’s that got to do with how long Toby and I stay?’
‘Everything.’
The alarm bells in her stomach upped their tempo, clanging loudly enough that they seemed to echo through her skin.
The silence thickened, closing in.
‘You’ll be staying on Agon indefinitely.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘The only way Toby can be my heir is if we marry.’
Jo felt her jaw go slack. ‘You have got to be joking.’
‘I wish I was.’ Theseus closed his eyes, then snapped them open to focus on her. ‘Agon law states clearly that only legitimate heirs of the royal family can be recognised and allowed to inherit.’
‘I don’t understand...’ she whispered, although the implications were already rushing through her.