The Greek Billionaire's Innocent Rrincess(40)

him. ‘You’ll be waiting a long time.’



In reply he dropped a brief, stinging kiss on her lips that left her aching for more. ‘I don’t think so,’ he said confidently. ‘The sofa pulls out to a bed, by the way, and it’s extremely comfortable.

Sleep well, Kitty—’ he turned back in the doorway and gave her another mocking smile as he

murmured ‘—if you can.’





CHAPTER NINE


THEsofa bed was as comfortable as Nikos had promised, but Kitty tossed and turned beneath

the sheets for most of the night as she fought the urge to bury her face in the pillows and cry.

Nikos was so in control, and he made her feel so stupid. She didn’t even know now why she had

made such a fuss about sleeping with him; it was just some deeply ingrained instinct for self-

protection that warned her against giving herself to a man who might be her husband, but was a

man she knew very little about.



Eventually she fell into a fitful doze and when she woke sunlight was streaming through the

blinds. She took her time showering and drying her hair, but she could not put off facing Nikos

for ever, and, spurred on by hunger, and the knowledge that she must eat for the baby, she

ventured out of her room.



She found him sitting at the breakfast table on the terrace, engrossed in his newspaper. Dressed

in pale jeans and a cream shirt that contrasted with his bronzed skin, he was impossibly

handsome, and Kitty halted in the living room while she tried to control her desperate awareness

of him.



He stood up when she stepped onto the terrace, and pulled out a chair for her. She had steeled

herself for a sarcastic enquiry about how she had slept, and she knew from the dark shadows

beneath her eyes that he would guess she’d barely slept at all, but to her relief he made no

comment about the previous night.



‘There is fruit and yoghurt and fresh rolls, but if you would like something cooked I’ll tell

Sotiri,’ he greeted her.



‘This will be fine,’ Kitty mumbled, glancing at the dish of mixed summer berries and the

creamy yoghurt, ‘but no coffee, thank you. I haven’t been able to drink it since I fell pregnant.’



‘Have you suffered much from morning sickness?’



‘Not really—I’ve felt nauseous a few times, but unfortunately it hasn’t affected my appetite. I’m

already bursting out of most of my clothes.’ She broke off, blushing furiously when Nikos’s gaze

hovered on her blouse that was too tight and was gaping over her breasts. ‘No doubt I’ll get a lot

bigger yet,’ she muttered dismally as she resisted pouring honey onto her yoghurt.



Nikos’s eyes narrowed at her rueful tone, and he voiced the question that had been gnawing

away at him. ‘How do you feel about this baby, Kitty?’



‘I don’t know,’ she replied slowly. ‘To be honest, it all seems to be part of a dream and I keep

thinking that one day soon I’ll wake up and find I’m at the palace on Aristo with nothing to think

about other than my research work for the museum.’



‘Is that what you wish?’



‘I would be lying if I didn’t say that part of me wishes I was back there,’ she admitted. ‘Aristo

was my home for my whole life and it was a wrench to leave and come to somewhere new. I

don’t know Athens at all, and from what I’ve seen it looks big and busy, and I’ll probably spend

my whole time getting lost.’



Nikos caught the wistful note in her voice, and for the first time he appreciated just how hard it

must have been for her to leave the island she loved. ‘I will do my best to help you settle here,’

he murmured. ‘I haven’t arranged a honeymoon, but I’ve taken some time off work so that I can

show you around the city.’ He paused, aware that for the first time in his life he felt awkward

about how to treat a woman. Kitty was not any woman, she was his wife, and in a few months

she would be the mother of his child. ‘I was thinking about what you said last night,’ he said

quietly. ‘And for the baby’s sake I think you are right to suggest that we should get to know each

other better, and to become…friends.’



Friends! Kitty gave a little start of shock. If she was honest she could not imagine being friends with Nikos. He was too remote, too forbidding, and way too sexy for her to believe they could

establish a comfortable, friendly relationship. But wasn’t this what she wanted? she reminded

herself—an opportunity to learn more about the man behind the mask.



‘As for your pregnancy feeling unreal, it may seem more real after we have seen the