The Greek Billionaire's Innocent Rrincess(67)

She flew to him and touched his face with trembling fingers. ‘I never meant to upset you.’



‘You haven’t.’ He fought to control the emotions that were coursing through him like a

relentless torrent released from a dam. ‘It’s a wonderful present, Kitty. I can’t believe you went

to so much trouble.’ He looked again at the painting and his eyes ached. ‘Why did you?’



‘Because I know how much you loved her.’ She took a deep breath, her heart beating liked a

trapped bird beneath her ribs. ‘And because I love you , Nikos. With all my heart.’



‘Kitty!’ He placed the painting carefully on the table and then turned back to her and gripped her

upper arms so tightly that his fingers bit into her skin. Was he going to shake her until she

retracted her last statement? she wondered, her heart turning over at the hunted expression on his

face.



‘It’s all right,’ she assured him gently. ‘I know you don’t feel the same way about me. I think

you loved Greta, and I understand that after what she did you would never want to love anyone

again.’



Tears blurred her vision and misted her glasses, and when she took them off she missed the flare

of emotion in his eyes. ‘I fell in love with you that night in the cave,’ she told him, her voice

steady and fearless, although inside she was shaking, ‘and although I tried hard to deny my

feelings, I know I will love you until I die.’



She wished he would say something, even if it was the words of rejection she was expecting, but

he continued to stare at her as if he had never really seen her before, and his thoughts were

hidden behind his lashes that were still spiked with moisture.



‘I have something for you, too.’



It was the last thing she had expected him to say, and she bit her lip when he suddenly released

her and strode over to his briefcase. He handed her a square, wrapped package, and she took it

with a sinking heart. At least it felt too heavy to be more jewellery, she thought numbly, hoping

that she could manage to sound suitably pleased with his gift, when inside her heart was breaking

that he hadn’t made any response, bar shock, when she had told him how she felt about him.



‘Open it, agape ,’ he said quietly. ‘I am not good with the words, and I’ve had so little practice in saying what I need to say. But my gift may explain better.’



Startled by the distinct tremor in his voice she fumbled with the packaging, and as she tore off

the paper her heart—time, the universe—seemed to stand still. Even without her glasses she

recognised the familiar book from her childhood, and suddenly her heart began to beat very fast.



‘ Russian Fairy Tales and Fables—the book my father used to read to me,’ she whispered, her

voice sounding as if it came from a long way off. ‘I can’t believe it. It’s the most wonderful

present you’ve ever given me, Nikos. Where on earth did you get it?’ And, more importantly—

why? she wanted to ask. But she was too afraid of his answer to voice the question.



‘One of the reasons I went to New York was to meet the private collector who owned it, and

persuade him to part with it.’ Nikos stroked her hair back from her face with an unsteady hand,

and the emotion that blazed in his eyes made her catch her breath.



‘I know how much you miss your father, and how special this book is to you. I want—’ he

swallowed hard, emotion still clogging his throat ‘—I want to be a good father to our child,

Kitty. A father like you had—who reads stories every night and loves his child unreservedly.’ He

paused, and felt as though he were about to leap off a precipice, into the unknown. But then he

looked into Kitty’s soft brown eyes, saw the love there—her love for him—and he felt an arrow

pierce his heart. ‘But more important than that, I found the book because I didn’t know how else

to tell you that you are my life, Kitty, and all that I am, everything I have worked for, is

meaningless without you.’



Kitty took a ragged little breath, not daring to hope that he meant the words he had uttered in his

velvet-soft tone. ‘You don’t have to pretend…or say things just because you think I want to hear

them. I understand how your past must have affected you, and made it impossible for you to ever

trust another person…’



Nikos placed his finger lightly across her lips. ‘I trust you, Kitty mou ,’ he said, and with the words came an indescribable feeling of release and joy as he had never known before. His wife