A deeply possessive look glinted in his eyes. ‘He’s our son, pethi mou. Yours and mine and no one else’s.’

The very idea of Andreos being anyone else’s child but Axios’s was so profoundly impossible I almost laughed out loud. And then that notion faded under the weight of the electrified atmosphere crackling between us. The feeling of being caught on the edge of a lightning storm that never quite went away.

It didn’t take a genius to see that Axios was in an equally edgy mood.

Attempting to dissipate it, I waved the phone at him. ‘He’s fine, by the way. According to Sophia, he went down without a fuss.’

Axios shrugged. ‘He’s almost four months old. I believe that as long as he’s warm and well fed he has very little to worry about.’

‘It’s a little more complicated than that. He needs love and laughter. He’s also at the stage where he’ll really start recognising his mother’s absence.’

Bleakness flashed across his face, momentarily slashing my insides. ‘What about his father’s? And whose fault is it that I’m not fully equipped with that information, Calypso?’ His voice throbbed with raw emotion.

‘Axios—’

His hand slashed through the air a split-second before he closed the gap between us and settled his hands on my shoulders. ‘I want to move on from this. But there are questions you still haven’t answered.’

My heart dipped. ‘Like what?’

‘What’s the big secret about your whereabouts? I hunted for you high and low. My investigators visited Nicrete—discreetly, of course, since I had to protect my family from untoward gossip. The general consensus there was that Calypso Petras was far too level-headed, far too considerate to have made such a selfish move. At least without assistance or coercion of some sort. Perhaps from a source no one had considered.’

‘What source?’

His tension heightened, his whole body seemingly caught in a live electric feed. ‘You tell me.’

‘Maybe a secret admirer? Perhaps even another man?’ I taunted.

A fierce little muscle ticked in his jaw. ‘Was it? Considering you were a virgin, I wasn’t inclined to think you would jump into another man’s bed that easily. Tell me I wasn’t wrong,’ he bit out.

He hadn’t thought the worst of me.

The idea of it left me nonplussed for several seconds, considering he still had no idea of my whereabouts for the past year. Considering he had to have overheard some of the blatant whispers at the party.

‘Why the interrogation? I thought you were all about keeping up appearances? Convincing the world that my absence was a well-orchestrated plan?’

‘That’s been taken care of. The results will be evident soon enough. Let’s discuss us,’ he said, then immediately frowned as if he hadn’t expected to say that.

Perhaps he hadn’t. After all, wasn’t he the man who’d never engaged in a relationship that lasted more than a few weeks?

‘Us? Are you sure? You seem as surprised by that word falling from your lips as I am to hear it.’