Modern Romance November 2019 Books 5-8. Dani Collins

dubious pleasure of calling my husband.

      My heart leapt into my throat even as I pushed Axios’s image away. He would need to be dealt with soon.

      But not just yet.

      I lifted my face to the blazing sun, willed it to pierce through my desolation and touch my wounded soul. I needed brightness and mirth, sunshine and positivity. If only for a little while longer… It might all be gone soon, slipping through my fingers like mercury.

      Gripping the railing of the sleek sailboat transporting me from an exclusive Bora Bora resort to the adjoining uninhabited island where I’d ordered my picnic, I mentally went through my list from bottom to top.

      Number five: Take control of my life. Check.

      Contrary to my fears, walking away hadn’t doomed me or my mother. My monthly phone calls reassured me that she was fine. My father, now a hundred million euros richer, was engrossed in yet another business venture. Better still, he hadn’t challenged any of the terms of the contract he’d made with Axios.

      Number four: Do something worthwhile with my painting. Check.

      The past year had been frightening in some ways but immensely fulfilling in the exploration of my talent. I was still basking in the knowledge that I could have had a career if fate hadn’t pushed me down a different path.

      Number three: Accept that my condition might not have a happy ending and that my prognosis might follow my grandmother’s. Check.

      It had been a difficult acceptance, often pitted with tears and heartache and grief for all the things I might never have. For what this would do to those I love.

      Number two: Cherish my precious gift for as long as I can. Check. Check. Check.

      The last item on my list filled me with equal parts desolation and trepidation. But it needed to be done.

      Number one: Hand over my precious gift to Axios Xenakis.

      As if that gift knew he was in my thoughts, a soft cry rippled through the sun-drenched breeze, followed by a sharper one, demanding attention.

      Smiling, I turned from the railing and crossed the deck to the shaded lounge. There, lying amongst the cushions, was the reason for my heartbeat. The reason I needed to keep fighting for my unknown future.

      ‘Are you awake, my precious boy?’

      At the sound of my voice Andreos Xenakis kicked his plump legs, his arms joining in his giddy response as his searching eyes found mine. For an instant my breath caught. The similarity between the piercing grey eyes of father and son was so visceral, I froze.

      Another insistent cry had me reaching for him. His warm, solid weight in my arms quieted the worst of my trepidation, and soon even that evaporated beneath the sheer joy of cradling him, feeding him, doing such mundane things as changing his nappy and handing him his favourite toy, basking in his sweet babbling while I enjoyed the stunning view and just…being.

      Pushing away the terrifying news the doctor had given me that day in Switzerland and the choice I’d had to make, I breathed in relief when the boat slowed and a staff member approached with a courteous smile.

      ‘We’re here, miss. Your picnic is set up for you on the shore.’

      Whatever the future held, I would deal with it.

      After all, I’d dealt with so much this past year.

      Except the future had found me before I was ready. And it came in the form of a solitary figure with furious gunmetal eyes and a gladiator stance, waiting with crossed arms on the jetty as the sailboat returned to the exclusive resort.

      My heart leapt into my throat, my breath strangled to nothing as I watched the figure grow larger, more broody, more formidable.

       More everything.

      He’d grown harder. Edgier. Or perhaps that was all imagined. A product of those feverishly erotic dreams that frequently plagued me.

      Whatever… The man who watched me in silent condemnation as the boat gently butted the wooden planks on the jetty had zero mercy in him. And when his gaze shifted to Andreos and widened with chilled shock I had the distinct notion that I’d played this wrong.

      I’d been too selfish.

      Taken too much time for myself.

      Too much time with my son.

      ‘Axios.’

      He didn’t respond to my whispered utterance of his name. He couldn’t take his eyes off Andreos. His strong throat moved in a swallow and his pallor increased as several expressions charged through his eyes.

      Shock. Amazement. Utter fury.

      ‘What are you doing here?’ I asked.

      Finally eyes the colour of a dark arctic night clashed with mine. ‘What am I doing here?’ he asked with icy incredulity. ‘This is what you have to say to me after the stunt you have pulled?’

      My insides shook but I forced myself to hold his gaze. ‘You’ll want to discuss this, I’m sure, but can it wait till—?’

      ‘I’ll want to discuss this? Are you for real?’

      A drowsy Andreos stirred in my arms, his senses picking up on the frenetic emotions charging through the air.

      ‘Miss, would you like us to—?’

      ‘Leave us.’ Axios’s tone was deep. Implacable.

      I wasn’t in the least bit surprised when the staff hurried away.

      ‘How did you find me?’

      It seemed a monumental feat for him to drag his gaze from Andreos.

      ‘Through an act of sheer coincidence. The owner of this resort happens to be a business acquaintance of mine. He was on a rare tour of his property when he spotted you. Had he not chosen to take his yearly tour this last week…’ He stopped, shaking his head as if grappling with the sheer serendipity of the occurrence that had led him to me.

      My chalet was on the beach, and I made the short walk to the gorgeous timber-clad structure aware of his every step behind me.

      ‘I intended to come back—I promise.’

      ‘You promise? Why should I take your word on anything? You told the staff you were visiting friends when all along you intended to abscond from our marriage. And now you’re hiding in a resort on the other side of the world under a false name. Not to mention you seem to have had a child during that time. I am assuming the child is yours?’

      ‘Of course he his. Who else’s would he be?’

      He went as rigid as an ice statue, and what little colour had flowed back into his face on the walk from jetty to chalet receded momentarily before fury reddened his haughty cheekbones once more.

      ‘So I can add infidelity to your sins?’

      ‘Infid—? What are you talking about?’ Shock made my voice screech.

      Andreos whimpered as I laid him down in his cot, and then went back to sound sleep.

      ‘We used contraception on our wedding night, as I recall,’ he rasped with icy condemnation.

      ‘Well, I wasn’t on birth control. I never have been. And, while I’m not an expert, I’m sure there’s a caution that states that condoms aren’t one hundred percent foolproof.’

      ‘And I’m suddenly to accept that the protection that has never failed me before suddenly malfunctioned with you?’

      I wasn’t sure why the reference to other lovers drilled such angst through me. His lovers, past or present, were of no consequence to me. I had no hold over him, nor did he over me, when it came right down to it. All that had brought us together was my father’s greed and manipulation.