Page 37 of Billion-Dollar Baby Shock

For a moment he was silent and then he said a little grudgingly, ‘You are.To a point.’

The point where he expected her to leave her son?wondered Tara.She shut out that thought and said, ‘I’ll take him to his room to feed him and try to get him down afterwards.’

‘Daphne has probably left some food.I can prepare it.’

At that moment Tara’s tummy rumbled so she couldn’t very well feign lack of hunger.She cursed her healthy appetite.‘Okay, thanks.’

After Niko had been fed and changed, he went down easily enough, obviously exhausted from his crying jag earlier.Tara stroked a downy cheek.She took the baby monitor and grabbed a loose cashmere cardigan from the clothes in her dressing room and went back to the main part of the villa.

When she went into the kitchen she saw Dion at the cooker, stirring something.He’d obviously showered and changed too, like her, into sweats and a clean T-shirt.He looked around and her heart skipped a beat.

‘Is he okay?’

Tara nodded and tried to get her rampant hormones under control.‘He’s asleep.’

‘Daphne left some stew.’

‘Sounds lovely.Can I do anything?’

‘There’s bread and salad and wine on the counter.We’ll eat outside.’

Tara saw the table on the terrace near the pool.The sun had set but the sky wasn’t totally dark yet.It was a deep lavender.She brought the things out to the table.A candle was flickering.She hated the way she wanted to read something into the romantic setting.

When Dion came out with the plates of stew she said, ‘You didn’t have to go to this trouble.We could have eaten inside.’

Dion sat down and poured wine into their glasses.‘It’s no trouble.’

Tara took a mouthful of stew and almost moaned aloud.‘This is so good.’

Dion made a similar sound.‘Daphne is renowned on the island for her cooking skills.’

After a few more mouthfuls of food, Tara said, ‘The clothes from the boutique… There are too many, Dion.I don’t need all those clothes and they sent over the evening dress too.’

He put down his cutlery and sat back, picking up his glass of wine.Tara wondered a little churlishly how he could look so suave in just a T-shirt.

‘I asked her to include the dress.’

‘Oh…but why?’

‘Because I’ve been considering some things and the fact that it’s bound to come out sooner rather than later that I have a son.The interest will be intense.’

‘And what does this have to do with me?’

‘Well, as you’re his mother, I’d imagine people are going to want to know who you are.’

Tara felt a shiver go down her spine.Her life was not remotely in the media spotlight and she liked it that way.‘Can we avoid it?’

‘I can do my best but generally it’s better to give out some information rather than have people go digging for it.There’s nothing worse than a vacuum of information.’

While Tara was absorbing this, Dion said, ‘There’s a party I’ve been invited to on another island near here, tomorrow night.It’s a gala opera performance with proceeds going to charity.I think we should go together, be photographed, and then when I release a statement about Niko I can name you as his mother and mention a relationship.’

‘A relationship?’Tara said, aware that she was focusing on that and not on the fact that Dion was prepared to name her as Niko’s mother, which was obviously huge.

He nodded, totally sanguine about all of this.‘They’ll be interested for a bit but, if there’s nothing more to it, the interest will soon die down.’

‘What if they find out how Niko was conceived?’

‘They won’t.’