‘I share that desire too,’ he said quietly. ‘That is why I came for Danny—he needs a decent father figure.’
‘You still haven’t answered the question I asked,’ Carrie pressed. She blinked away unshed tears and started to walk along the beach again. ‘If your father didn’t tell you, how did you find out abut Danny?’
‘Going through my father’s personal papers after he died,’ Nik said. ‘There was a lot to sort through, but as soon as I found references to Leonidas’s son I turned my attention to following the trail that led to you.’
‘I’m glad you did,’ Carrie said.
Suddenly she stopped stock-still, aware that she’d just said something momentous.
‘I meant…I meant that…’ She stumbled over the words. ‘I don’t mean that I approve of the way you brought us here to Corfu—it was underhand and unacceptable—but I do accept that it’s good for Danny to get to know his father’s brother.’
Nik stopped abruptly beside her and turned to fix her with a powerful stare. The atmosphere between them was suddenly super-charged.
‘Carrie…’ His voice throbbed with intensity. ‘We have to move past the events that led us to this time and place. We can’t change what has happened—but we can make a good life for Danny.’
‘I know,’ she replied, trying to keep the words steady despite the sudden pounding of her heart. They were standing beside the vast open space of a calm sea—but at that moment she felt as if she was enclosed with Nik in a small stormy space.
‘If I could go back and change what happened to Leonidas and Sophie I would,’ Nik said. ‘But that was out of my control. More than anything I wish I had not ignored what was in my control. I should have put things right between us before Leonidas died.’
Carrie stared at him, overwhelmed by the depth of feeling that coloured his voice. He’d always seemed so controlled when talking about his brother, but now he was showing real emotion.
‘What happened between you?’ she asked in a small voice.
‘It was after my mother died,’ Nik explained. ‘She was the one person who kept our family together. Just like your father, my father lived and breathed his work. Kristallis Industries was everything to him, and he had no time for his family.’ He paused and took a breath. ‘My mother eased the tensions between us. She softened my father and kept Leonidas from overreacting when he couldn’t see eye to eye with him.’
‘What happened after she died?’ Carrie prompted quietly.
‘Leonidas was grief-struck—we all were,’ Nik said. ‘He had a blazing row with my father—I can’t even remember what it was about—which ended with him storming off, saying he wanted nothing more to do with our family.’
‘Did you try to talk to him?’ Carrie asked gently.
‘We argued,’ Nik said. ‘I accused him of taking the easy way out. I accused him of showing no respect for my mother’s memory—she had dedicated years to keeping the family together, and as soon as she was gone he was ready to walk out.’
‘It must have been a terrible time,’ Carrie said. She knew how forceful and single-minded all three of the Kristallis men could be.
After Leonidas had married her cousin she had grown to love him, but he had always displayed a fiery Greek temper. Her one encounter with Cosmo had told her all she needed to know about his personality. And she knew from first-hand experience how ruthlessly Nik operated to get what he wanted.
She shuddered, imagining the fireworks that must have flown when the three Kristallis men had clashed.
‘I have to head back to the villa now.’ Nik’s voice jolted her out of her thoughts.
‘But…but you’ve only just got here,’ she stammered, surprising herself with how much she wanted Nik to spend more time with them. ‘Why do you have to go so soon?’
‘Work,’ Nik said shortly, passing Danny over to Carrie. ‘It’s unavoidable.’ He was already crunching away across the pebbles to the gate.
CHAPTER NINE
CARRIE leant over the cot and brushed her fingertips lightly over Danny’s hair. He looked blissfully content as he slept, and her heart swelled with her love for him.
She crossed the room and walked onto the balcony overlooking the mountainside that dipped down to the bay. The sun was setting, and she gazed out at a sea that looked like molten gold. It was a beautiful view, but it didn’t improve her mood.
She hadn’t seen Nik again since that morning—apparently he was still working—and she’d begun to worry about what her life would be like, married to him. She was really starting to feel like a pampered princess locked up in a tower. All the material things she could want were provided for her—but she didn’t have her freedom. Danny would need to make friends with other children, and she needed contact with other people. She was missing her job and friends at home.
When it came right down to it, she had to admit that being ignored by Nik was hurting her feelings. That walk along the beach had seemed special to her—it had felt as if they were finally making a connection—but to him it had obviously been just something he had to fit in around his work.
Growing up, it had been hard for Carrie to come to terms with the fact that her occasional visits with her father had had to be fitted in around his work. She didn’t like the thought that she was in the same situation with Nik.
She decided then and there that the next time she saw Nik she would challenge him on the subject. She had started to hope that there was a way they could work together to bring up Danny—but if he was never there what was the point of being married at all?