She felt so unhappy. In all her life, Grace had never felt quite so unhappy. She had always been alone but she had never felt lonelier than she did at that moment, cut off from everything familiar and at her third change of address in the space of a week. The following week term started and she would be back in class and facing hospital placements. But for the first time ever Grace wasn’t looking forward to getting back to her studies. The events of the past worrying weeks had taken their toll and she was exhausted.
Leo had broken off his engagement so that he could ask her to marry him. A sudden involuntary surge of tears stung Grace’s gritty eyes. Only now was her brain calmed enough to consider that truth. He was trying so hard to do the right thing even though he had started out doing the wrong thing by not telling her that he was engaged. Did she give him points for that? Grace heaved a heavy sigh. She had been falling in love with him, weaving dreams, seeing a future that might include him, and then Marina had blown that fantasy out of the water. Marina had spelt out the reality that Leo had not only lied to Grace, but was also a regular playboy. That crack Marina had made in which she admitted having expected Grace to be a blonde bombshell in a pole dancer’s outfit had lingered longest with Grace. Evidently Leo had betrayed his fiancée more than once. He was a liar and a cheat just like her father, who had also turned out to be a great deal less interested in raising his own child than he had first pretended to be.
* * *
Della Donovan was seated in a corner of the busy coffee shop when Grace arrived. She was immaculate in a smart suit, her blonde hair in a chignon; her critical gaze scanned her niece in her trademark jeans. And for the first time ever, Grace felt like picking up on that faintly scornful appraisal and asking when she had ever had the money to dress as smartly as the rest of the family. She suppressed the urge, recognising that now that she had moved out of her aunt’s home, where she had always had to watch every word to keep the peace, such humility no longer came naturally to her.
‘Grace...’ Della murmured with a rather forced smile. ‘How have you been?’
And to Grace’s astonishment, her aunt engaged her in polite small talk.
‘You said this was urgent,’ Grace finally reminded the older woman, wondering what the heck was holding her aunt back from simply saying whatever it was she wanted to say.
‘I’m afraid I have to ask you a rather personal question first.’ Her aunt pursed her lips. ‘Is Leos Zikos the father of your child?’
‘That’s private—’ Grace began.
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, I wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t important!’ Della snapped, for the first time sounding like her usual self.
‘Yes...he is,’ Grace confirmed grudgingly.
The older woman paled. ‘I was hoping I was wrong because I was very rude to him and even ruder when he asked for you.’
Grace was unsurprised. ‘I’m sure he’ll get over it.’
‘A man that rich and influential doesn’t have to get over anything!’ Della Donovan argued in a fierce undertone. ‘Leos Zikos owns the company your uncle works for. He channels work for that company through the legal firm I work for. You’re far from stupid, Grace. The father of your baby has a huge amount of power over your family and if you don’t keep him sweet, he could punish all of us.’
It was a bittersweet moment for Grace, hearing herself described as part of the family for the very first time, but she was thoroughly disconcerted by the genuine apprehension she could see in Della’s anxious face. ‘You’re seriously worried about that risk?’
‘Of course I am. Zikos has a name for being hard, ruthless and unforgiving and I’m asking you to smooth things over with him for your family’s sake.’
Grace realised why she was being temporarily promoted to family status and almost laughed. ‘Della, Leo hasn’t ever mentioned either you or Declan.’
Unimpressed, Della curled her lip. ‘We looked after you when you were a child, Grace. Now I expect you to look after us and ensure that there is no reason for Leo Zikos to sack your uncle from his job or withdraw business from my legal firm. After all, it’s your fault that I was brusque with him... I know I offended him but he arrived in the middle of a family crisis... Make sure he understands that.’
Grace was astonished by the entire tenor of the conversation. Della was scared that her comfortable life was under threat. Only genuine anxiety on that score would have persuaded the older woman to meet up with her despised niece and ask her for help to smooth over any offence caused. Grace thought it best not to mention that she was currently at serious odds with Leo herself, having called him a lying, cheating scumbag without integrity.
‘I’ll check out the situation for you and, if necessary, explain things,’ Grace promised to bring the uncomfortable meeting to an end. ‘But I really don’t think you have anything to worry about.’
‘Grace, you have about as much idea as to how the very wealthy expect to be treated as a farm animal!’ her aunt told her with raw-edged impatience.
Back at the hotel, Grace ordered a meal from room service and lay on the bed, pondering that strange encounter. She believed that her aunt was panicking without good cause. But hadn’t she already discovered that she did not know Leo as well as she had assumed? It was not a situation she could ignore, was it? Leo could well be the vengeful type when people crossed him. Della had probably been very rude to him: Della in a temper didn’t hold back. As Grace thrust her tray away, she lifted her phone, her conscience twanging. She couldn’t simply ignore her aunt’s fears simply because she herself did not want to speak to Leo.
‘Grace...’ Leo growled down the phone like a grizzly bear, apparently not in any better a mood than when she had last seen him.
‘I need to talk to you,’ Grace advanced stiffly.
‘I’ll be with you in an hour.’ At the other end of the phone, Leo smiled with a strong sense of satisfaction. Clearly, Grace had calmed down and finally seen sense. Nobody was perfect. He had made one mistake. And she needed him, of course she did; he was the father of her baby...
An hour later, a knock sounded on the door and Grace used the peephole, recognising one of Leo’s bodyguards before opening the door. ‘Yes?’
‘The boss is on the top floor waiting for you,’ she was told.
Grace grabbed her key card and followed the man into the lift. Of course, if Leo owned the place he would have an office or something in the building, she guessed. She breathed in slow and deep at the thought of seeing Leo again. She could handle it; she could handle him without letting herself down. Couldn’t she? She had never been one of those girls who was a pushover for a good-looking, smooth-tongued male, although to be honest, she reasoned, she had met none before Leo, which meant that Leo kind of reigned supreme in her imagination as the ultimate player.
She smoothed damp palms down over the denim skirt she had teamed with a green T-shirt. Dressing up for him? That suspicion was a joke when she recalled how Marina had looked, all glossy and glitzy with wonderfully smooth straight hair and amazing make-up. No bad fairy had cursed Marina at birth with red curly hair and freckles, not to mention breasts and hips that would have suited someone much taller.
She walked into a beautifully decorated large room. It had a bed like hers but there the similarity ended because it was much more of a five-star suite. Leo was by the window, broad, straight shoulders taut with a tension she could feel, and in spite of her inner strictures her heart leapt even before he swung round to face her.
‘Grace...’ he said and his dark deep drawl shimmied down her spine with the potent sexual charisma that was so much a part of him.
Leo felt a hard-on kick in as he focused momentarily on the swell of Grace’s high, full breasts below the thin top and