If he’d known he would destroy his beautiful wife with his temper, he would have remained a bachelor.

And yet he’d wanted children. He’d very much wanted to create a family. To have people of his own...

From the corner of his eye he saw Georgia cross one leg over the other, drawing his attention to her legs. The tunic hit high on her thigh and the boots stopped at her knee and her legs, in the gray tights, were slim and shapely.

“We’re about fifteen minutes from the house,” he said roughly, starting the engine, battling his thoughts, battling the desire that made him feel as if he had gasoline in his veins instead of blood.

“And town?” she asked, adjusting the belt across her lap.

His gaze followed, focusing on her waist. For the first time, he could see the gentle swell of her belly. She was most definitely pregnant. The cut of the cashmere tunic had just hidden the bump earlier.

The bump jolted him. His child. His son.

For a split second he couldn’t breathe. It was suddenly real. The life he’d made...his seed...her egg...

“Do you want to touch him?” she asked quietly.

He looked up into her face. Her cheeks were pale, and yet her gaze was direct, steady. “He’s moving around,” she added, lips curving faintly. “I think he’s saying hello.”

Nikos dropped his gaze to her hands resting at her side, and then back to the gentle curve of her belly.

“Isn’t it too soon for me to feel him moving?” he asked.

“It might have been a week or two ago, but not anymore.”

He stared at her bump for another moment, conflicted. He wanted to feel his son kick, but he couldn’t bring himself to touch her, not wanting to feel the tautness of her belly or the warmth of her skin. She wasn’t supposed to matter in any way, and yet suddenly she wasn’t this vessel, this hired womb, but a stunning young woman carrying his son.

“Not right now,” he said, fingers curling around the stick shift, changing gears, driving forward. His gut was hard, tight. Air ached in his lungs. What had he done bringing this woman to him? How could he have thought this would be a good idea? “But it is good to know that he’s moving and seems healthy.”

“He’s very healthy. I trust you’ve been getting the reports and sonograms from my checkups?”

“Yes.” But he didn’t want to talk about the baby. He didn’t want to talk at all. She was here now so she didn’t have to fly late in the third trimester, but he hadn’t brought her to Kamari to create a friendship. There would be no relationship between them. He needed her to be safe, but beyond that he wanted nothing more to do with her, and the sooner she understood that, the better.

“And town?” she repeated, catching a fistful of billowing golden hair.

He shifted gears as he accelerated. “There’s no town. It’s a private island.”

She was looking at him now. “Yours?”

“Mine,” he agreed.

“And the house? What’s that like?”

“It’s close to the water, which is nice in summer.”

“But not as nice in winter?”

He shot her a swift glance. “It’s an old house. Simple. But it suits me.”

Her hand shifted on her mass of hair.