Page 13 of The Heir Affair (Claimed by a Greek #1)

Ten minutes later, Xander heard the launch power up. He watched the boat head away from the yacht with Theo at the helm. As it trailed across the dark water then approached the Port Gabriel marina, a barrage of flashes went off on the dock.

Paparazzi.

He cursed in Greek, then reached behind the bar to grab the onboard phone. Jack, the captain’s mate—who was on watch for the night—picked up.

‘Mr Caras, what can I do for you?’ the young man asked in French.

‘I’d like to weigh anchor tonight, and leave Galicos before dawn,’ he replied in the same language, one decision made at least.

He did not want to wait until the piranhas hired boats and besieged the yacht for shots of him and Poppy, which they would do by first light. He also had no intention of allowing Poppy to return to shore with those bastards lying in wait.

‘Yes, sir. Do you have a destination in mind?’ Jack asked.

‘Yes, Parádeisos,’ he said, naming the island he had built a home on, but hadn’t visited since that day in April.

If he had Poppy with him, though, there would be no need to stay away any longer.

He let out a bitter laugh, aware of the supreme irony.

Funny to think he hadn’t even been prepared to admit the real reason he hadn’t moved into his villa for five months was because he had been determined to forget her, and sleeping in the bed where they had made love would have made that impossible.

There would be no forgetting her now, though.

He heard shuffling papers. Then Jack came back on. ‘I’ll wake the captain to plot a route, sir. But that’s approximately a three-day journey. Would you like us to factor in some stops en route? Maybe in Italy and Sicily or Malta?’

‘Sure,’ he replied. He didn’t want to give Poppy a chance to walk away from him.

But he had no idea what kind of a sailor she was, especially in her condition—and they would need to purchase her a new wardrobe, as she had nothing but her work clothes and a coat and bag with her.

‘Just ensure we don’t arrive at the first stop until tomorrow afternoon. ’

She would be angry when she discovered they had left Galicos. Knowing Poppy, and her impulsiveness, he wouldn’t put it past her to jump overboard if they were close enough to shore when she woke up.

‘Yes, sir,’ Jack replied. ‘We’ll aim for departure in the next couple of hours.’

‘Good,’ he murmured.

‘Do you want to okay the itinerary before we set off?’ he added.

‘No,’ Xander replied. He didn’t care where they stopped. When Poppy awoke he would have to prevent her from leaving the yacht until he got her assurance she would not run off.

But Theo had given him an idea about how to persuade her.

He had never taken a mistress…never even had a long-term relationship.

But his preference for casual dating seemed to have died a death the moment he’d met Poppy Brown on that beach, because he’d had no desire to make love to any other woman since.

That wouldn’t last, once there chemistry had run its course…

But still, perhaps the solution to controlling Poppy’s headstrong behaviour was much simpler than it appeared.

He placed the phone back in its cradle. And poured himself another glass of ouzo, adding ice and water this time. As the liquor became cloudy, he settled himself on the bench seat.

He sipped slowly, savouring the sharp, bittersweet taste.

His life—not to mention his latest business venture—was a bombsite. But his emotions finally felt as if they were back under some semblance of control.

A smile formed as he listened to the yacht’s engines purring to life in preparation for their departure.

A shot of adrenaline worked its way through his system, languid and provocative as he pictured the woman in the cabin beneath him—her belly round with his child, her breasts swollen with the hormonal changes his seed had caused.

Heat pulsed and throbbed insistently in his groin, as it had so often in the last five months—every time he had remembered the bright, beautiful girl who had looked at him with such yearning, such hope, and then come apart in his arms with such artless and unbridled passion on that hot spring day…

But this time, he didn’t try to control the surge of desire and possessiveness triggered by those recollections.

Poppy was his responsibility now, whether she liked it or not. Because they had made a baby together that day. Why should he not use that physical attraction to his advantage—when it would be in her best interests?

She would not be happy tomorrow morning to find herself trapped aboard his yacht as they cruised down the Italian coastline.

But happiness was not as important as safety.

It was a bitter truth he had learned as a boy.

You did whatever you had to do to survive, and sometimes that meant trampling over other people’s feelings.

He would not risk his child, or her, but that did not mean that they could not come to an accord that would suit them both. Once she had seen reason about her situation.

He rubbed his hand over his mouth, then licked his dry lips as her heady sigh, that little sob of surrender, echoed in his groin all over again.

Poppy was going to have to confront some difficult truths tomorrow morning. One of which was that, as the mother of his child, she no longer had the luxury of doing as she pleased. But there was no reason why they couldn’t both enjoy the fallout. Eventually.

He knocked back the last of the ouzo.

In fact, he was rather looking forward to tomorrow morning’s fireworks. Poppy had already proved to be an enchanting and exciting diversion… But, he’d discovered tonight, she was also a surprisingly formidable opponent.

And when had he ever backed down from a challenge?