Proof 0f Their Forbidden Night (HQR Presents) by Chantelle Shaw

Author:Chantelle Shaw [Shaw, Chantelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction, Forever Love, Bachelor, Single Mother-To-Be, Sensual Story Theme, Hearts Desire, Lifetime Love, Life-Changes, Second Chance Reunion, Honesty & Trust, Home & Family, Romantic Schemes, Beautiful & Feisty, Love-Family & Forever, Small Town & Rural Area, Action & Adventure, Family & Domestic Life-Expected Mother, Accidental Pregnancy, Biological Father, Greek Nationality & Heritage, Multicultural & International, Foreign Country
Publisher: Harlequin Presents; Original Edition
Published: 2020-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

* * *

Through her tears Isla saw Andreas’s shocked expression and her conscience pricked that she could have been gentler when she’d revealed that their baby had nearly died at birth. But maybe he didn’t care, she thought bleakly. She was still traumatised by memories of the routine antenatal appointment when it had been discovered that her blood pressure was sky-high and the baby was showing signs of distress. She had read about pre-eclampsia, but she’d been fit and healthy throughout her pregnancy and hadn’t expected to develop a potentially life-threatening complication.

‘You have no idea how terrified I was when I was rushed into hospital in an ambulance and immediately prepared for theatre,’ she said rawly. ‘Loukas’s heartbeat was dropping and they had to get him out quickly by caesarean section. He spent the first week of his life in the neonatal intensive care unit and it was touch-and-go if he would survive.’

She brushed her hand across her eyes. ‘The worst thing of all was knowing that Loukas was alone while he fought for his life. I was too unwell for a few days after the birth to visit him. Where were you then, Andreas?’ she demanded bitterly. ‘You failed Loukas when he needed you. I don’t know why I thought that there might be a shred of decency in you when I brought him to Louloudi so that you could meet your son.’

Andreas’s hard-boned features gave no clue to his thoughts and he did not say another word as he strode out of the room. It was becoming a regular occurrence for Andreas to walk away from her, Isla thought bitterly. She remembered how he had snatched his mouth from hers when he’d kissed her at Stelios’s house in London more than a year ago. His abrupt departure had left her wondering what she had done wrong.

Loukas gave a loud wail. ‘Don’t cry, baba,’ she whispered, blinking away her own tears. Usually he was a contented baby but he had been restless during his feed and his yells broke her heart even more than Andreas had done. How idiotic she had been to hope that when he saw Loukas he would realise that the baby was his son. They looked so alike, but perhaps all babies looked the same and only their mothers saw every unique detail of their child’s features, she thought. Loukas had even inherited his father’s piercing blue eyes, but the cold rejection in Andreas’s eyes would stay with Isla for ever.

Was this how her mother had felt when David Stanford had abandoned her and left her with a three-month-old baby? Isla refused to think of David as her father. He’d stuck around long enough to put his name on her birth certificate, but Andreas had not even done that for Loukas.

There was no point in feeling sorry for herself. She wiped her eyes with the edge of the baby’s shawl and stood up to rock him in her arms. ‘Don’t cry,’ she told Loukas again, her voice resolute this time.

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