Modern Romance August 2018 Books 5-8 Collection. Julia James

Suddenly Giannis was standing in front of her, his chiselled features softening as he studied her. ‘What’s the matter, glykiá mou?’

      His voice was husky with concern, and Ava despised herself for wishing that she could ignore the rumours she had heard about him. But why would the party guest have made up lies about Giannis?

      ‘Migraine,’ she muttered. ‘I get them occasionally and the bright disco lights are making it worse. If you don’t mind I’d like to go to bed and hopefully sleep it off.’

      ‘I’ll take you back to our room and stay with you,’ he said instantly.

      ‘No, you should remain at the party and celebrate winning your business deal.’

      Giannis swore softly. ‘The deal isn’t important.’

      ‘How can you say that, when it was the reason we have pretended to be engaged?’

      His smile made Ava’s heart skip a beat, despite everything she had heard about him. ‘Our relationship may have started out as a pretence but I think we both realise that the spark between us shows no sign of fading,’ he murmured. He frowned when she swayed on her feet. ‘But we won’t discuss it now. You need to take some painkillers.’

      She needed to be alone with her chaotic thoughts, and she was relieved when she saw Stefanos beckon to Giannis from across the room. ‘I think you are needed. I’ll be fine,’ she assured him, and hurried out of the ballroom before he could argue.

      Later that night, when Giannis quietly entered the bedroom and slid into bed beside her, Ava squeezed her eyes shut and pretended to be asleep. And the next morning when she rushed to the bathroom to be sick he was sympathetic, believing that a migraine was the cause of her nausea. His tender concern during the helicopter flight back to Athens added to her confusion. It seemed impossible that he could be involved with the criminal underworld.

      Her father had given the appearance of being a loving family man and she had adored him, Ava remembered bleakly. She had been devastated when details of Terry McKay’s violent crimes were revealed during his trial. For seventeen years her father had hidden his secret life from her. In the one month that she and Giannis had pretended to be engaged she’d learned virtually nothing about him, except that he was a good actor.

      A car was waiting to drive them from Athens airport to the city centre. On the way, she persuaded Giannis to drop her off at a pharmacy, making the excuse that she needed to buy some stronger painkillers for her headache.

      ‘I wish I didn’t need to go to the office but I have an important meeting.’ He pressed his lips to her forehead. ‘Take the migraine tablets and go to bed,’ he bade her gently.

      One lie always led to more lies, Ava thought miserably when she bought a pregnancy test and hurried back to the penthouse apartment. Her hands shook as she followed the instructions on the test. She still clung to the hope that her late period and bouts of sickness were symptoms of a stomach upset.

      The minutes went by agonisingly slowly while she paced around the bathroom. Finally it was time to check the result. Taking a deep breath, she looked at the test and grabbed the edge of the vanity unit as her legs turned to jelly. Her disbelief as she stared at the positive result swiftly turned to terror.

      She was expecting Giannis’s baby. But who—and more importantly what—was Giannis Gekas? Was he the charismatic lover who she had begun to fall in love with? Or was he a criminal who hid his illegal activities behind the façade of a successful businessman and philanthropist?

      Feeling numb from the two huge shocks she had received in the space of twenty-four hours, Ava placed a trembling hand on her stomach. It seemed incredible that a new life was developing inside her and she felt an overwhelming sense of protectiveness for her baby. She would have been worried about telling Giannis of her pregnancy before she had heard the rumours about him. This was the man, after all, who had insisted that he did not have a heart.

      Now the prospect filled her with dread. Supposing he was a man like her father—a criminal and a liar? A cold hand squeezed her heart. What if her ex, Craig, was right and there was a criminal gene that her baby might inherit from both parents? Ava was the absolute opposite of her father, and she had spent her adult life subconsciously trying to atone for his crimes in her job supporting victims of crime. She would bring her child up to be honest and law-abiding, but would Giannis share her ideals?

      She sank down onto the edge of the bath and covered her face with her hands. Even if she could bring herself to ask him outright if he was a criminal, he was bound to deny it. She did not know if she could trust him—and for that reason she dared not tell him that she was having his baby.

      * * *

      Giannis let himself into the apartment and walked noiselessly down the passageway towards the bedroom. He had a ton of work to do following his successful bid to buy Markou Shipping, but he’d been unable to concentrate during his meeting with TGE’s board because he had been worried about Ava. She had looked pale and fragile when he’d left her at the pharmacy and he felt guilty that he had not taken care of her. His conscience pricked that he should have brought her home and stayed with her while he sent his housekeeper out to buy medication for Ava’s migraine.

      He did not understand what had happened to him over the past month. His plan that Ava should pose as his fake fiancée had seemed simple enough. But they had become lovers and, more surprisingly, friends. He had even taken her to Spetses, although he’d never invited any of his previous mistresses to Villa Delphine, which he regarded as his private sanctuary. He’d told himself that the trip to the island was to promote the pretence that they were engaged but, instead of staying for a weekend as he’d intended, they had spent two weeks there. He had even found himself resenting the few hours each day that he’d had to get on with some work because he’d wanted to spend time with Ava, at the pool or the beach or—his preferred option—in bed.

      She was beautiful, intelligent, sometimes fierce, often funny and always sexy. It was little things, Giannis mused. Like the way she ate a fresh peach for breakfast every morning with evident enjoyment, licking the juice from her lips with her tongue. Or how she migrated over to his side of the bed in the middle of the night so that when he woke in the morning she was curled up against his chest, warm and soft and infinitely desirable.

      Theos, he was behaving like a hormone-fuelled teenager, Giannis thought impatiently as he felt the aching hardness of his arousal. He opened the bedroom door quietly, not wanting to disturb Ava if she was asleep. But the bed was empty. He recognised the suitcase standing on the floor as the one she had brought with her from London. A passport was lying on top of it. The wardrobe doors were open and he could see hanging inside were the dresses that the personal shopper in Paris had helped Ava choose.

      Something was not right and he felt a sinking sensation in his stomach as Ava walked out of the bathroom and froze when she saw him. She carefully avoided his gaze and Giannis’s eyes narrowed. He leaned nonchalantly against the door frame and kept his tone deliberately bland. ‘Are you going somewhere, glykiá mou?’

      ‘There is no need for you to refer to me as your sweetheart now that you have secured your deal with Stefanos.’ She finally glanced at him and he wondered why she was nervous. ‘I managed to book a seat on a flight to London leaving this afternoon.’

      Icy fingers curled around his heart. ‘You need to get back to the UK in a hurry? How is your headache, by the way?’ he said drily.

      A pink stain swept along her cheekbones. ‘It’s much better, thank you.’ She caught her bottom lip between her teeth and Giannis fought the urge to walk over to her and cover her mouth with his. ‘I thought that now you have persuaded Stefanos to sell his company to you, there is no point in me staying in Greece. I really want to go back and focus on my career.’

      Anger flickered inside him and he wanted to tell her that there was every bloody point. They were good together—in bed and out of it. Not that he had any intention of admitting how much he enjoyed her company. This inconvenient attraction he felt for her—he