Page 14 of Billion-Dollar Baby Shock

‘I have the results here—shall I go ahead?’

Tara was sitting on the edge of a chair in Dion’s office, tense. He was standing facing away from her, looking out of the window, hands behind his back. The doctor’s disembodied voice, coming from the phone on the desk, hung in the air.

As if startled out of a reverie, Dion turned around and said, ‘Yes, please do.’

The doctor coughed a little and then said, ‘Well, the test is ninety-nine point nine per cent conclusive that Tara Simons is Niko’s mother.’

Tara felt a surge of emotion and looked at Dion, who was looking at the phone, his expression unreadable. Then he said, ‘Is there any possibility it’s not correct?’

Tara absorbed that like a blow to her belly.

The doctor said, ‘Of course, we can run the test again, or you could go elsewhere, but I think you’ll find that—’

‘No, that’s fine, thank you for your time.’ Dion came over and reached forward and pressed a button, cutting off the doctor.

Reeling a little with the confirmation she was Niko’s mother, Tara said jokily to hide her hurt, ‘You really don’t want me to be Niko’s mother, do you?’

He looked at her and his eyes were dark. No hint of gold today. ‘It’s nothing personal.’ He waved a hand. ‘This is not how I expected things to go. I had never intended having any kind of relationship with the mother.’

Still feeling hurt and defensive now, Tara said, ‘For what it’s worth, I’m glad Niko will have a mother. He has a whole family in Ireland, aunts, uncles…presumably cousins one day. Did you consider that?’

To Tara’s eye, Dion went a little pale. ‘No,’ he admitted. ‘But you’re assuming a lot to think Niko’s life will intersect with theirs.’

Tara stood up. ‘ Intersect? He’s not a Venn diagram.’

They stared at one another across the space. And then Dion said, ‘You’ll probably want to make arrangements to go home now, I can organise that for you.’

‘Why would I want to leave? My son is here!’

‘You have a career to get back to. Your family.’

‘I hadn’t actually got a job placement yet and for the first time in my life my family don’t depend on me for everything. They’re all adults now.’

‘Well, what are you proposing?’

Tara felt cornered, under pressure. ‘I don’t know yet.

But all I know is that I don’t want to leave Niko.

’ Or you. It sneaked into her head even as she was wondering what she’d ever first seen in this man.

Had he ever been charming? Right now he couldn’t be more closed-off, cold.

And yet something about him called to her—beyond the physical—deep inside in some emotional place that she couldn’t deny.

She’d felt it the first time they’d met.

‘You froze your eggs in a bid to control when you’d have children after becoming a mother too young. How long will it take before you start to resent Niko for taking your freedom again?’

Tara shook her head. ‘I did that because the option was available to me and it seemed to make sense for lots of reasons, not least of which is because I can’t take for granted that getting pregnant would be easy for me.’

Dion pointed out, ‘You have four siblings. I doubt fertility will be an issue.’

Tara lifted her chin, ‘It still could be, in spite of family history, and that’s a luxury women don’t have—endless time to wait and have children.’

He had the grace to look slightly sheepish. ‘Fair point.’ His expression hardened again. ‘That still doesn’t assure me that you’d not end up resenting Niko and ultimately abandoning him to take up your life again.’

Tara put her hands out, ‘This isn’t what I’d planned but, as I’ve learnt, life doesn’t always go according to plan.

My parents shouldn’t have died so young, but they did.

But they left us with a legacy of unconditional love and endless encouragement.

I have a son now, and I will give him the same as my parents gave me.

My life is with Niko and I will never resent him for that.

And if that means taking up work here, and living here to be near him, then so be it.

Only time and my commitment to my son will prove that to you. ’

His gaze narrowed on her now and she felt a frisson of trepidation. He said, ‘The clinic messed up. Badly. I should be taking legal action against them.’

Tara’s insides curdled. ‘You can’t. This wasn’t Mary’s fault but it could ruin them. She’d lose her job.’

‘But how many other people might have been affected by someone’s shoddy work ethic?’

Tara swallowed uncomfortably. She couldn’t answer that.

‘Maybe there’s a way to let them know about the mistake without going as far as suing them.

I’ll do anything.’ She crossed her fingers behind her back because she wasn’t going to leave Athens.

Not even for this. Not now she knew Niko was hers.

She felt a very primal urge to stay close to him.

Dion looked at her for a long moment and Tara, who’d never really given her appearance much thought, was suddenly acutely aware of her bed hair roughly pulled back and up into a knot. The same jeans as yesterday, albeit with a fresh T-shirt. She must look like a messy student.

‘Maria is doing a double shift, as you know.’

Tara nodded. When she’d got up this morning expecting to relieve Maria, the other woman had told her she’d agreed to stay until this evening because Elena was due to come back.

Dion continued, ‘Before you came in here to get the results, I talked to Elena. She was due to return to work later but she’s actually resigned. She realised it wasn’t going to work out.’

‘Oh.’

‘So I’m stuck.’

‘I’m his mother, Dion. You’re not stuck.’

His jaw clenched at that. ‘If I agree to let you stay here, for now, until I get a replacement for Elena, maybe it’ll give you the opportunity to re-evaluate your priorities.’

Tara gritted out, ‘They don’t need re-evaluating.’

As if she’d said nothing, Dion said, ‘I’ll pay you, of course.’

Tara was immediately incensed. ‘You’ll do no such thing. I’m his mother. I don’t expect payment to watch my own son.’

Dion shrugged. ‘Fine.’

She could stay. For now. Be Niko’s mother. Let it sink in. She sat back down again as the enormity of it all washed over her.

‘Are you okay?’

Tara looked at Dion and a tremulous smile she couldn’t stop rose up with the emotion inside her. ‘I just… I’m so happy that he’s mine.’ And now he would have at least one parent who would lavish him with love and not hold him at arm’s length.

But then Tara thought of the previous night and how she’d seen such vulnerability in the way Dion had changed Niko’s nappy. And how he’d been holding him when she’d come back into the room. As naturally as if he’d been doing it all along. Father and son were already changing.

Dion said, ‘I have to go to the office today. Feel free to make yourself at home. Thea, my housekeeper, and the rest of the staff are back today. She’ll provide whatever you need. I’ll be out this evening again.’

He went over to the desk and scrawled something down on a piece of paper and handed it to her, ‘My personal mobile phone number in case you need to contact me.’

Tara took it and felt an absurd urge to giggle. She’d already slept with this man and they were parents to a six-month-old baby boy and they were only now exchanging numbers.

‘What’s funny about that?’ he asked sharply.

Tara shook her head and swallowed down the giggles.

‘Nothing…’ Before she left the room she looked at Dion and said, ‘You know, it mightn’t be the worst thing in the world for Niko to have his mother.

’ And then she left before Dion could sour her mood with his own.

She was going to spend time getting to know her son and try to ignore the fact that his father actively wanted her gone from their lives.

* * *

You know, it mightn’t be the worst thing in the world for Niko to have his mother…

Dion scowled at the words that had reverberated in his head all day and evening as his car stopped outside the villa later that night. The business dinner he’d just endured had been interminable. He’d felt restless to get back home and check on Tara and Niko.

She was Niko’s mother.

As improbable as that might be. He had to admit uncomfortably that her story did stack up.

She’d come to Athens looking for him and hadn’t known who he was at that party, not helped by them agreeing to remain anonymous.

And yet, would he have given up that night—the most erotic of his life—for having known who she was earlier?

His body answered him emphatically: no .

The fact that he still wanted her was inconvenient in the extreme.

As much as her words had dominated his thoughts all day and evening, so had the image of her.

That lithe body, dressed in just jeans and a T-shirt.

Hair messy. No make-up. Pale skin. Tantalising freckles.

He already had a sense of regret for not taking more time that first night…

for not spending hours exploring her body with single-minded dedication.

Maybe if he had, he would have exorcised her from his system.

Dion’s head was so full of Tara as he walked through the darkened silent villa to his bedroom that when he saw her coming out of Niko’s room and pulling the door behind her, he almost wasn’t surprised.

After all, she was filling in for Maria, after the other woman’s double shift.

But that wasn’t the reason. Somehow, he expected to see her now. Wanted to see her.

His gaze devoured her. She was wearing a short robe and her long legs were bare. Hair down her back and a little wild and messy. Copper, even in this light.

Annoyed for noticing her before thinking of his son, he asked in a low voice, ‘Is Niko okay?’

Tara whirled around. She glared at him. ‘Would you stop doing that?’