‘It was an exceptional circumstance,’ Nik said with a shrug. ‘Hopefully the child won’t keep you up all night again any time soon.’
His glib response was infuriating, but Carrie bit her tongue because at that moment the young woman returned, carrying a tray loaded with food and drink.
‘Here is your breakfast,’ Nik said, gesturing to the young woman to take the food outside onto the balcony. ‘Danny has eaten and taken some milk. Now, if you’ll excuse me, there are things I must attend to.’
With that he walked out of the room, leaving her alone with Danny. Carrie stared after him in irritation, then turned and stepped through the open door onto a long balcony that seemed to wrap itself around that end of the villa. The young Greek woman was waiting by the table, which was laid with a generous breakfast.
‘Would you like some coffee? Or anything else to eat?’ she asked politely.
‘No, no, there’s more than enough here,’ Carrie said, realising just how thirsty she was as her eyes settled on the frosty jug of juice.
‘Would you like me to hold the baby while you eat?’ the young woman offered.
‘No, thank you.’ Carrie smiled. ‘He can sit on my lap. We’ll be fine on our own. Thank you,’ she said again, relieved when she took the hint and left them alone.
Carrie sat down at the table and looked at the array of food, feeling slightly overwhelmed. She’d hardly eaten yesterday, and although she was absolutely ravenous she didn’t know where to start.
She poured herself a glass of fresh juice and lifted it to drink.
She paused, the glass forgotten halfway to her lips, and stared with wide eyes at the incredible view from the balcony.
Nik had said his house was in the mountains, but Carrie had never imagined the sheer breathtaking beauty of its setting. Verdant wooded slopes, shimmering with the iridescent silver-green leaves of olive trees, dropped dramatically down to a glittering turquoise sea. The tall thin spikes of cypress trees punctuated the landscape, and the rusty brown exposed rock of the mountain across from Nik’s house provided a stunning backdrop.
It was a perfect Mediterranean day, and a more beautiful setting would be hard to picture. Carrie stood up and carried the now sleeping Danny nearer to the edge of the balcony, so she could look at the view properly.
For the last seven years she’d lived in London, where the view from her window was the rather dull sight of the flats across the road from her. Before that, at her aunt and uncle’s house, she’d had a small side room with a view of their neighbours’ garage roof. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what it must be like to live somewhere so beautiful.
She took a long drink of the cool juice and looked out at the clear blue sky. The ground fell away sharply beneath the villa, and the tops of the cypress trees undulating gently in the breeze close to the balcony made her feel as if she was in a tree house, suspended above the awe-inspiring terrain.
Awakened by the orange juice, her stomach growled, and Carrie turned back to the table. Her mouth watered at the sight of the succulent fresh figs with their rosy centres, and thick white Greek yoghurt drizzled with amber honey. She sat down and started tucking in to a hearty breakfast, making up for the meals she’d missed the day before.
Carrie took a last bite of a very sweet sticky pastry, covered with chopped nuts and a delicately flavoured orange syrup, then leant back in her chair with a sigh.
The balcony was a very pleasant place to sit, and after all the stress of the previous day it felt good to hold the sleeping baby in her arms, but she really ought to transfer him to his cot.
She stood up, carried Danny inside, and laid him in the travel cot that had been set up in the small living room adjacent to the bedroom. She stood back and held her breath, hoping he wouldn’t wake. Then she tiptoed quietly through the bedroom into the en-suite bathroom, removed the clothes she’d been wearing for more than twenty-four hours and took a quick shower.
A few minutes later she was just slipping into a clean dress when Nik’s voice coming from behind nearly made her jump out of her skin.
‘He’s asleep,’ he said. ‘Good. We need to talk.’
She spun round to see Nik standing in the doorway, watching her with an unnerving intensity in his deep blue eyes. He reminded her of a predator, waiting for its moment to strike, and she felt her heart start to beat faster.
‘Don’t you ever knock?’ she asked hotly, quickly buttoning up the front of her dress. She was acutely conscious of how his dark gaze had settled on her exposed cleavage and a wave of heat washed through her body. Suddenly her stomach was fluttering, and she was catapulted straight back to the way he’d made her feel in the hotel room in Menorca. A minute earlier and he’d have caught her in her underwear—or even wearing nothing at all.
‘I’m sorry if I startled you.’ Nik sounded far from apologetic as he strode right into the bedroom and shut the door. ‘I approached quietly, so as not to disturb the child. We should talk without distraction.’
Carrie’s eyes flicked to the closed bedroom door and a sense of danger coiled through her. She wanted to suggest they move to a different room, but she didn’t want Nik to realise that she was feeling intimidated by him.
She looked back at him, noticing for the first time that he’d taken the opportunity to freshen up too—his hair was still wet from the shower and he had changed his clothes. The short-sleeved ivory shirt and dark trousers were less formal than his usual sleek designer suits, but they didn’t make him seem any less imposing.
‘I’m here to discuss Danny’s future,’ Nik said. ‘There are decisions that must be made immediately.’
‘Good.’ Carrie straightened her shoulders and looked him squarely in the eye. ‘I appreciate you getting right to the point, but before we continue there is something I need to make absolutely plain.’
‘What is that?’ He watched her through narrowed eyes, looking irritated that she had something to say that delayed his personal agenda.
‘You are not to do anything without my agreement,’ Carrie said. ‘Bringing us to Corfu without my permission was unacceptable. I won’t be naïve enough to fall for anything like that again.’