‘How so?’

‘You’re the one who’s in a hurry to leave. You say you were always going to come back? I’m choosing to believe you. If you want to ensure my devotion to my son is as strong as yours, then you need to rethink the urgency of your divorce demands, do you not, pethi mou?’

Despite his silky tone his eyes bored into mine in the dark interior of the car, and the notion that he was attempting to see right into my soul assailed me.

The thick lump wedged in my throat stalled my answer. Because time was the one commodity I might not have.

CHAPTER SEVEN

THE LIMO SWEEPING through the gates of his Athens mansion drew from me a breath of relief. But I soon realised I wasn’t going to be set free from Ax’s presence when he trailed me up the stairs to the door of Andreos’s room.

I hesitated before the doors—partly because I didn’t want to bring charged tension into Andreos’s presence and partly because a tiny part of me wanted space to dissect everything that had happened this evening. But the greater part of me wanted to keep my son all to myself. Just for a little while.

A sharp cry from within dissipated every thought.

As Ax held the door open for me I entered the room in time to see Sophia lifting Andreos from his changing mat.

She stopped and smiled when she saw us. ‘Good evening, Kyria Xenakis. You’re just in time for Andreos’s midnight feed. Would you like me to warm the bottle for you?’

I waved her away and Ax strode forward to take Andreos from her arms. ‘Go to bed, Sophia. I’ll take care of it.’

With a smiling nod, the young girl retreated to the adjoining bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

Ax adjusted his hold on Andreos, his strong hands lifting him aloft so they were face to face. My breath caught and, recalling his words in the car, I watched father and son stare at each other, one expression showing unabashed curiosity while the other probed with raw intensity as Axios absorbed his son’s every expression as if hoarding it for his memory.

A little ashamed at questioning his motives in the car, I bit my lip as something settled inside me. No matter our personal angst, Axios cared for his son. Perhaps in time he’d love him almost as much as I did.

In that moment I wanted to tell him he would have years of special moments like this if I didn’t manage to defuse the time bomb ticking inside me, but the words remained locked tight in my throat, the need not to have this time diluted with unwelcome outside influence stilling my tongue as I joined them.

Sensing another presence, Andreos turned towards me, his chubby arms windmilling as he babbled in delight. Then delight turned into familiar irritation as hunger kicked in and he whimpered his displeasure.

‘Someone is impatient for his feed,’ Ax mused, before his gaze dropped pointedly to my chest.