Isobel pressed the release button, cursing because she had no time to dress. She ran into the bedroom for her old blue velour robe, tied the sash tightly, raked her fingers through her damp curls, then took a deep breath and opened her sitting room door to Luke's knock.
He was wearing different clothes, he was newly shaved and his hair, like hers, was damp.
'Have you eaten?' he demanded, eyeing the robe.
'No. We weren't hungry.'
A pulse throbbed at the corner of his mouth at the 'we'. 'You must eat,' he said disapprovingly. 'I will take you to my hotel for dinner.'
She shook her head. 'I'd rather not be seen with you in public.'
Colour flared along his cheekbones. 'Why? Am I not dressed suitably?'
'This is a small town. People know me here. Questions would be asked.'
'That you would not care to answer,' he flung at her.
'Why are you so angry? I'm the one expecting the baby!'
Luke controlled himself with visible effort. 'Come,' he said, taking her by the hand. 'Let us sit down and talk like reasonable people.'
'By all means.' Isobel let him lead her to the sofa. She curled up in a corner and waved Luke to the chair.
He looked so overpoweringly male in her feminine room Isobel's heart started thumping again as his eyes locked with hers.
'If,' he began, 'I had not come here to see you, would you have told me about the child? Ever?'
'I don't know,' she said honestly. 'I intended to wait until after she arrived and see how I felt.'
His eyebrows rose. 'You know it is a girl?'
'Not officially. I just feel it in my bones.'
There was silence for a while. 'It is a bad thing for a child to grow up without a father,' he said at last. 'I have experience of this.'
As Isobel well knew. She sat still, waiting for him to go on.
'We must marry,' he said at last.
Oh, must we? 'No,' she said flatly.
Luke sprang up to loom over her. 'You cannot say no this time, Isobel. We have another life to consider, not just yours, or mine.'
She glared up at him. 'Are you seriously expecting me to marry you and acknowledge you as the father of a child you don't believe is yours, Lukas Andreadis?'
'I know the child is mine,' he said impatiently. 'Are you going to make me pay for the rest of our lives, and our child's life, because I am human, and in my shock I said words I regretted the moment they were uttered?'
'They hurt, Luke.' Isobel hugged her arms across her chest. 'Not least because, before I knew about the baby, I was going to put a different proposition to you when the six weeks were up.'
'What was it?' he said quickly.
'I didn't fancy being some sort of playmate you visited when you had time to spare-'
'It would not have been like that!'
'That's how it seemed to me. Anyway, I was going to suggest that we just lived together, as people do. In your apartment in Athens, or your house in Thessaloniki, or wherever. In basic terms, I wanted to share all your life, not just small doses of it, Luke.'
He gazed down at her in disbelief. 'Is this true?'
'Yes.'
He drew in a deep, unsteady breath. 'If you had, I would have agreed with much enthusiasm after several weeks apart from you. So what changed your mind?'
Isobel patted her stomach. 'I found out about her. I couldn't come asking to live with you once I found I was pregnant.'
'Why not?'
'You would have thought that was the only reason for my suggestion. Besides, I was afraid you might question my baby's parentage. And I was right,' she added with rancour.
'I refuse to believe that you would be cruel enough to keep our child from me.'
Isobel's heart did a little skip at the 'our'. 'I suppose not,' she said quietly.
Luke raised her hand to his lips and kissed the palm. 'Our child was conceived in love, ne? So he-'
'She!'
He laughed unsteadily. 'So it is only right that our child should grow up secure in the love of parents who are husband and wife.'
'That's emotional blackmail,' she protested thickly.
'Call it what you wish. But you must agree, Isobel. We have both suffered from the lack of family in our lives. If you marry me, you will never suffer such lack again.' He gave her the rare smile that always stopped her heart. 'You cannot fight fate, kardia mou.'
Luke drew her to her feet with infinite care, his eyes intent on hers, and with a deep, shuddering sigh Isobel surrendered to his arms as his mouth met hers in a kiss that went on and on until neither could breathe. Luke picked her up and sat down with her in his lap, cradling her close.
'Tell me you love me, Isobel,' he commanded thickly.
She gave an unsteady little chuckle. 'There you go, ordering me about as usual. Not that it matters because I do love you, Lukas Andreadis.'
His eyes blazed. 'Then why did you put me through hell? When I read your letter I was like a madman. You did not give your address, and you told me you had destroyed your phone. Andres saved my sanity, Isobel, when he suggested a way to trace you.'
Her lashes were suddenly wet with tears. 'I wasn't doing too well in the sanity department myself. Hormones. I really thought it was the right thing to do at the time.'
Luke smoothed a hand over her hair. 'But now the right thing is very obvious to both of us, ne? Even though you never wished for marriage, I swear I will make ours happy for you!'
'But you never fancied marriage either!'
He bent his head to kiss her. 'Then I met you, agapi mou, and changed my mind.'
'But you asked me to be your mistress-'
'Lover, not mistress,' he said with tender violence. 'I was afraid you would never agree to marriage, Isobel. I was trying to keep you with me in the way I thought you would like best.'
Her stomach gave a sudden audible rumble and they both laughed.
'Was that my baby saying hello to Papa?' said Luke in a tone which brought a lump to Isobel's throat.
She gave him a wobbly little smile. 'I think she was telling me to say yes this time!'
Normally, Isobel enjoyed the short helicopter flight to Chyros, but this time she sent up a prayer of thanks as Luke set the machine down behind the Villa Medusa.
'Are you all right?' he said tightly as he helped Isobel out.
'Fine,' she lied, managing a smile as Eleni and Spiro came hurrying to meet them.
There was a flurry of greetings, then Eleni frowned as Isobel caught her breath on the way into the house. 'It has started?'
'I think so,' said Isobel through her teeth.
'What did you say?' demanded Luke, catching up with them.
'Your daughter has decided it's her birthday.'
Luke swore long and volubly, his face haggard as he helped her up the stairs to the master bedroom they shared. 'I should not have given in to you. We should have stayed in reach of the hospital in Athens.'
'Not a chance,' she panted. 'I wanted our child born here on Chyros, like her father.'
And twelve hours later, by which time Isobel was exhausted and Luke demented, their child came into the world protesting loudly. Dr Riga shook Luke's hand in congratulation as Nurse Pappas passed the tightly wrapped bundle to Eleni, who proudly handed it over to Isobel.
'You took your time,' she told her baby drowsily when she was alone with a very pale, haggard husband. She smiled as Luke knelt on the bed to kiss her. 'Isn't she beautiful, darling?'
'Almost as beautiful as you, hriso mou,' he said huskily, and smiled as he touched a finger to the baby's cheek. 'But our child is a boy, Isobel. We have a son, not a daughter.'
She stared at him blankly. 'Are you sure?'
Luke nodded, laughing. 'He is most definitely male.'
'Just like his papa.' She chuckled weakly. She cuddled the little bundle to her breast, smiling down into the crumpled sleeping face. 'Oh, well, son, we'll just have to try for a sister next time.'
'No!' Luke shook his head vehemently. 'No next time. Ever.' He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it passionately. 'I could not bear it.'
'You don't have to bear it. I do that part.'
'I am not joking!' he said sternly and bent to kiss her. 'I must go. Nurse Pappas says there are things to be done for both of you. Is there something you need first, glykia mou?'
'A huge pot of tea and my phone, please,' said Isobel promptly.
'You may have the tea, but I shall ring Joanna and Alyssa myself, also Andres, who can spread the word in Athens.' He smiled proudly. 'It is the father's privilege, ne?'
Her sleepy blue eyes fastened on his. 'Are you proud of your son, Lukas Andreadis?'
'I do not have the vocabulary to say exactly how much, though I would have been just as proud of a daughter,' he assured her and stroked her hair. 'But I am most proud of my wife. You did not complain once.'
She laughed unsteadily. 'No breath to spare for complaints. Besides, all women go through the same process, Luke.'