Claiming My Hidden Son / Bride Behind The Billion-Dollar Veil. Clare Connelly

about them,’ he spat out the words. ‘But because they were tied together my grandfather was forced to work twice as hard to maintain both arms of the business. The only way Petras would agree to dissolve the partnership was to leave without taking his quarter-of-a-million-dollar share of the business immediately. If he had done so he would’ve bankrupted the company. But that didn’t stop him from demanding crippling interest on the loan, and an agreement promising a percentage of Xenakis Aeronautics should he or any other Petras need a future bail-out. But even then, it was too late. My grandfather had spread himself too thin, trying to maintain two suffering businesses, but he was too proud to declare bankruptcy. The strain broke his marriage and his family, and after my grandmother died his heart just…gave up.’

      My heart twisted at the anguish in his voice. ‘I…’

      What could I say? I’m sorry? Would Axios even believe me? What did it matter? My father had cunningly used the past against him. Against both of us.

      ‘I didn’t know any of this.’

      His jaw rippled. ‘My grandfather was my mentor. He taught me everything I know. But he withheld the extent of how bad things were until it was too late. Until I had to watch him wither away.’

      After an age of losing himself in the bleak past, his eyes zeroed in on me.

      ‘Why? If you didn’t know all this, why present yourself to me at that altar like a sacrificial lamb?’

      The cynicism was back full force. ‘I’m not a lamb!’

      One corner of his mouth lifted. ‘No, I’m learning that my initial impression was mistaken. But I still want to know why,’ he pressed with quiet force.

      How could I tell him without speaking of the very thing I’d done all this to avoid? If my father had managed to pressure a powerful man like Axios Xenakis to do his will, what would he do to my mother if he found out I’d been divulging family secrets?

      ‘Perhaps I had something to gain too,’ I responded truthfully, knowing how it would be viewed.

      True to form, his eyes slowly hardened, and that disappointment I’d briefly spotted at the altar flashed across his face.

      As one of his hands slowly rose to cup my face, it seemed he wanted to delve deeper, perhaps even attempt to understand how we had become caught in this tangled web. But then he slowly withdrew, his demeanour resigned, even a little weary.

      An urge to soothe him spiked through me. I managed to curb it, barely managing not to fidget under his piercing scrutiny.

      ‘Did the agreement stipulate that we needed to…to consummate the marriage?’ I asked.

      He froze, and a sizzling, electrifying look entered his eyes. I got the feeling that he’d been waiting for this…that somehow coming to this point was what that sense of heightened expectancy had been all about.

      ‘Not specifically, no.’

      ‘But you don’t know that it won’t be held against you…against us…further down the line?’

      He gave an indolent shrug even while his eyes continued to pin me in place. ‘He’s your father, Calypso. You tell me.’

      I couldn’t rule it out. And I suspected Axios knew that.

      ‘Maybe he will. Maybe he won’t. But I can’t take the risk.’

      With my mother’s words echoing in my heart, my hunger for freedom grew with every second.

      He took a slow, steady step towards me. His hands at his sides, he simply stared down at me, his only movement the deep rise and fall of his chest.

      ‘What does that mean, Calypso?’ he queried softly.

      ‘It means I want there to be no room for misunderstanding later.’

      Slowly, his hand rose again, his knuckles grazing my cheek. My shiver made his eyes darken.

      ‘I need to hear the words, so there’s no misunderstanding now.’

      Heat suffused my face, as if chasing his touch. But his gaze wouldn’t release me. Not until the words trembling on my lips fell free.

      ‘I want to consummate this agreement. I want you to…take me.’

      The full force of the words powered through me, shaking me from head to foot. Dear God, this wasn’t how I’d imagined losing my virginity. None of this was how I’d dreamed it. So why did my insides twist themselves with…excitement?

      For the longest time he simply stared at me, a myriad of emotions crossing his face. Eventually that dark gleam returned in full force, his presence filling the room as he turned his hand and brushed a thumb over my lips.

      ‘Are you sure you don’t wish to discuss…art?’

      The thickness of his voice displaced any levity his words attempted. And it drove home that this was happening. My wedding night. No, it wasn’t the one I’d dreamed about, but really, if life was fair, would my father have tossed me in as part of a hundred-million-euro deal?

      That thought was buried beneath the turbulent need climbing through me as he dragged his digit back and forth over my lip.

      ‘I’m sure,’ I answered, in a voice that sounded nothing like mine.

      He tilted my gaze to his, making a gruff sound at whatever it was he saw on my face. His head started to lower—just as the other delicate subject raced to the forefront of my mind.

       Tell him. He’s going to find out soon enough.

      ‘There’s something you should know.’

      One eyebrow rose in silent question.

      ‘I’m a virgin.’

      His fingers froze beneath my chin, his whole body turning to marble. ‘What did you say?’

      I swallowed the knot in my throat, praying the shivers would stop coursing through my body. ‘I’ve never done…never been with a—’

      A curse fell from his lips, raw and stunned. ‘Why?’

      Finally—finally—that burst of hysteria filtered through. ‘You’re asking why your wife is a virgin? Isn’t that an odd question?’

      ‘Ne—and it is precisely why I want to know why a twenty-four-year-old who looks the way you do is still untouched.’

      Heat flowed through me. ‘Looks the way I do…?’

      The faintest colour washed his cheekbones. ‘You must be aware of your beauty, Calypso,’ he rasped, and his deep, husky voice set fire to my belly.

      I blushed at the raw intensity in his words that reached into a secret part of me and took control of it. Hot tingles raced over my skin, warming me from the inside, tightening low in my belly and hardening my nipples. A gasp tore from my throat. His gaze dropped to my parted lips, his eyes darkening with each charged second that ticked by.

      Then his eyes narrowed. ‘Surely Petras didn’t keep you under lock and key simply for this possibility?’ Incredulity racked his voice.

      Pain lashed through me, because the same thought had occurred to me. My father might not have visited the ultimate indignity upon me by spelling it out in black and white, but by thwarting all my previous attempts at a relationship he’d ensured his deal would be sweetened with my virginity. Another indication as to how little he cared for me.

      Despite the anguish racking me, I raised my chin, pride insisting I did not confirm his suspicion. ‘Does it not occur to you that I’ve simply not met anyone interesting enough?’

      Shrewd grey eyes conducted a slow scrutiny. ‘Your pulse is racing. Your face is flushed. I don’t need a crystal ball to tell me you’re excited. It is safe to say that, regardless of why you’ve remained untouched before, you’re definitely interested now, Calypso.’