Then that searing flash of joy was gone—shot to pieces in its turn.
Her arms were clamped in steel. His voice speared into her in fury.
‘You’re not doing it. Do you understand me? You’re not doing it. I’ll never let you do it. I don’t care what the law says—I will never let you do that!’
Rage was boiling from him, burning in his eyes, and his face was twisted with anger as his words struck into her. She could only stare at him, not understanding...
Nikos saw the incomprehension in her face, layered over her shock at seeing him, and it maddened him yet more.
‘How could you even think of it? How could you?’
The paper in her hand fluttered from her fingers to the ground. Automatically she tried to bend her knees to pick it up, but Nikos was still pinioning her and she couldn’t move. He saw her movement and his eyes went to the letter on the ground. With a snarl he seized it himself, staring at it. His face whitened.
‘Thee mou...’ His voice was hollow. ‘You’re going there now—aren’t you? Aren’t you?’
From somewhere—she didn’t know where—she found her voice. It was strained, as if it was being pulled unbearably tight.
‘I didn’t want you to know,’ she said.
But it was too late now—the written proof of her medical appointment had revealed everything to him.
Another snarl broke from him. ‘No! You were going ahead with it without even telling me, weren’t you?’
Greek words burst from him—ugly and accusing. She didn’t know what he was saying—only that it contained fury. Sickness rose in her. Dear God, she had been right in her decision not to tell him.
She made herself speak again as he stood there, the betraying letter in his hand, his face contorted with fury.
‘It...it seemed the best thing to do, Nikos. I...I didn’t want to involve you in any of this...’
‘Involve me?’
He stared at her as if she’d spoken in an alien tongue. Then a sudden, sickening realisation hit him. His hand, which had been still clamped around her arm, dropped away. He took a step back.
‘Is it mine?’
Three little words—but in them a wealth of accusation. She paled, and he heard his voice going on, cutting at her with slashing words.
‘It’s a reasonable question to ask. After all, I picked you up easily enough, didn’t I? Maybe you got a similar offer when you went off to New York without me? Maybe he’s the guy who got you pregnant?’
She gasped as if he had struck her. ‘No!’ she cried, the word tearing from her in rejection.
Emotion leapt in his eyes. ‘So you admit it’s mine? You admit it—and yet here you are, with the evidence of your damnable intentions in your hand, and you were going to say nothing to me—nothing!’
She shut her eyes, misery overwhelming her. ‘I told you—I thought it would be for the best. It wasn’t an easy decision, Nikos—truly it wasn’t.’
More Greek broke from him, dark and furious. ‘You never wanted to be pregnant, did you? Don’t tell me otherwise, because I won’t believe it.’
Her features convulsed. ‘No—I didn’t want to be pregnant,’ she said, the words torn from her. ‘When I realised it seemed...it seemed...’
Nikos supplied the words. ‘An end to your freedom?’ His voice was heavy, crushing.
‘Yes. Pregnancy seemed...seemed the last thing I wanted...’ She spoke faintly, as if the words could barely be spoken.
He turned her appointment letter over in his hand, his eyes never leaving her. ‘And so you decided to regain your freedom,’ he said, and now his words were not just heavy and crushing—they were swords, stabbing into her, strike after strike, pitiless and condemning. ‘You decided to end the pregnancy.’
He saw her whiten like a sheet. The blood drained from her face. Inside him, unbearable fury lashed. Fury and something so much more.
All she wants is to get rid of the baby we created between us. It means nothing to her but a burden, a curb on her freedom!
And that was why she had bolted. Because surely she must have known that the moment he knew she was carrying his child there could be only one outcome?
For a second—just a fraction of a second—he felt his heart leap within him.
Mel—back with him. Back with him and bringing with her a gift even more precious than herself.
He felt his lungs squeezed, the air crushed from them.
But she didn’t want that—didn’t want him. And she had never wanted his baby.
Instead she wanted what she was set on doing now. What that starkly condemning report had told him. The report that had informed him she had been spotted entering a high street charity for a walk-in consultation.