Her words had the power to change his world. That was how he felt. As if his world had shifted.
The first time they’d met they’d been surrounded by glittering royalty, the royal ball in full swing. Giorgos had been flaunting his young glamorous wife, taunting him. Telling him there was no way he’d inherit the throne.
But as his uncle had walked past Lily the King’s corset had creaked. Lily’s lips had twitched. They had, it seemed, a shared sense of the ridiculous.
Intrigued, he’d asked her to dance.
She’d laughed about the chandeliers. She’d gently mocked his tuxedo.
She’d felt like a breath of wind against his heart.
That was the start. They’d laughed and talked for two days. They’d become as close as two people could get.
That she’d had this threat hanging over her…
‘So… ’ He was struggling to find his voice.
‘So I slept with you.’ Her chin tilted upward in that wonderful, defiant way he was learning to know. ‘It was crazy, but crazy was how I felt that night. Crazy wonderful. Yes, we took precautions but maybe I wasn’t as careful as I should have been. It was like nothing was real.’
She smiled then, a real smile, with real humour. Making him remember why he’d wanted her. Making him remember why he’d thought she was different. ‘It’s okay,’ she said softly. ‘It was great that night. It was fantastic.’
He didn’t feel like smiling. ‘I wasn’t as careful as I should have been,’ she’d said. How careful had he been?
Not careful enough.
‘I got you pregnant.’
She nodded. ‘You can’t imagine how I felt when I found out. I couldn’t work. I had no money. I was having a baby and the headaches were getting more and more frequent. Nevertheless, even after I phoned you… I couldn’t consider abortion. I had tests and it was a little boy and he was so real. I wanted… I so wanted… ’
She shook her head, seemingly shaking away a memory that held nothing but despair. Moving on. ‘Well, finally I contacted Mia again,’ she whispered. ‘She gave me the same dumb line. It was my business. Not hers. But then she phoned back. Excited. It seemed Giorgos was infertile. They’d been quietly trying to arrange an adoption, but they’d so much rather it was my baby. I know her reasons now—Giorgos’s reasons. But by then I was so sick I couldn’t enquire and even if I’d known maybe I wouldn’t have cared. All I could think was that Mia would give my baby a chance of life.’
He didn’t respond. The audacity of the scheme still left him dumbfounded. Mia and Giorgos using Lily’s desperation for their own ends… How could Lily have guessed their intention?
And of course Lily had accepted their offer. It was the child’s best chance. In a royal household, she knew the baby would at least be well taken care of. Like Lily, the alternatives seemed unbearable.
He looked down at the almost sleeping Michales. His son. To not bring this little boy into the world… The child of two mature parents, conceived in what could almost be taken as love…
He thought again of the call she’d made to him in early pregnancy, and of his response, and he felt sick.
There was a drawn-out silence. Silence and silence and more silence.
She hated it. He could see it. She hated anyone knowing, but to tell him… It was making her feel exposed and frightened and very, very small.
‘But you survived?’ he said softly, finally, into the stillness.
‘So I did,’ she said humourlessly. ‘You think I’m lying?’
‘I didn’t say that.’ He shook his head. Definite. ‘My God, Lily… ’ Once again he put a hand out towards her but she backed even further. Standing against the French windows as if preparing to flee.
‘Let me finish.’ She hesitated, then forced herself to go on. ‘Part of this I’ve only heard from others,’ she said. ‘But I need to tell you. Mia and Giorgos paid for me to be admitted to a private hospital in France, a place known for its discretion. Mia arrived as I was getting really ill. I know now that her plan was to tell the people back on the Diamond Isles that she was pregnant and suffering complications. If my baby survived to term she’d take him as hers. Giorgos would bribe anyone who needed to be bribed.’
‘But how did she… ?’
‘I can’t tell you what I don’t know,’ she said bluntly. ‘I gather I ended up in a coma. I gather Michales was born. I also gather one of the nurses in the hospital became really troubled that I was lying untreated. Apparently, until Michales was born, Mia acted concerned, but after she took him I was left alone.’ She took a deep breath. ‘The nurse saved my life. She risked her job and contacted a doctor she knew who was doing groundbreaking surgery. He checked me out and figured he had nothing to lose if he tried operating. Mia had left my mother’s contact details for when I died. The surgeon contacted her for permission to operate—offering to do it for free.’ She managed a smile again. ‘Even my mother couldn’t knock that back. So finally I woke. The tumour was gone. Unbelievably gone. I had my life.’
He didn’t know what to say. He just gazed at her in awe.
‘Unreal, isn’t it?’ she said, half mocking. ‘Unbelievable. Parts of it I didn’t figure out myself until I arrived here at your coronation, and even now I’m having trouble coming to terms with it. But it’s okay. I’m not asking for belief. I’m not asking for anything. I just want to build boats and care for my son. I want to live.’
Her chin tilted forward again, pugnacious, defensive.
How could he believe such a story?
But then he thought of Mia. He’d been present at the wedding, and he remembered Mia’s mother as well. They were two of a kind. Grasping, greedy, social climbers. Flaunting their connection to the Greek royal family and to English aristocracy.
They were about as different from this woman as it was possible to be.
‘I won’t impinge on your freedom,’ he said softly and she nodded.
‘Good, then.’
‘But… no one came near you?’
‘Spiros and Eleni would have if I’d told them. I didn’t tell them.’
‘I would have if you’d let me.’
‘Would you?’
‘You can believe it. It’s true. Hell, Lily, you could have died.’
‘That’s what I expected,’ she said. ‘I guess nothing will ever be so bad again. Drifting into unconsciousness, knowing there was no return ticket. Knowing I had to leave my baby in Mia’s care.’
‘If I could get my hands on her… ’
‘There’s no joy down that road,’ she said simply. ‘Being angry just makes everything worse. Anyway… ’ she shrugged ‘… now you know. We can get on with it.’
‘With what?’
‘With our sham marriage. With doing what we have to do before I can go home.’
‘Where’s home?’
‘Where Michales is,’ she said simply. ‘I don’t care about places. I care about my baby. That’s all.’