„Little idiot.‟

Mattie didn‟t quite know at what point they divested themselves of the rest of their clothes. She just knew that when they made love there was a sweetness and a feeling of utter happiness underneath the soaring passion.

And afterwards, with this new knowledge between them, they were able to pick up the thread of their conversation again.

„I never meant to manipulate you when I got you that job, you know,‟ Dominic

murmured, one hand lying possessively on her breast, the other arm tucked beneath her head. „I think I loved you then and yes, I admit I wanted you out of that house, away from that man, but I also fiercely believed that you could do the job. And then telling you what I‟d done became more and more difficult, the more involved and dependent I got on you.‟

„Dependent?‟ His words were music to her ears.

„Totally dependent. I went from being a man who couldn‟t stand the thought of a woman thinking she could influence me, to someone who was enraged because the one woman I had told I wanted with no strings attached took me at my word. I wanted you to be possessive with me because I was getting more and more possessive about you.‟

„Good,‟ Mattie murmured with rapturous satisfaction. She slid her hand, very

possessively, over his taut stomach and then down to where his proud manhood told her that she excited him as much as he excited her.

Dominic, repeating her action, felt her honeyed moistness on his fingers and he rubbed her just gently enough to make her squirm.

„I take it it‟s all right for us to be…doing this…? Making love won‟t harm the baby, will it…?‟

„Oh, I think we‟re perfectly safe making love as often as we like.‟ Her breathing quickened in response to his sliding fingers and she moaned softly under her breath. „Our beautiful baby will be born into a house filled with love. What could be better?‟

Alexander Dominic Drecos was indeed born into love and he must have sensed it because he was the happiest of babies. Raven-haired and dark-eyed, he was the spitting image of his proud father and at eight months was crawling energetically around his nursery.

Their wedding had been a quiet affair, with none of the usual tentative ice-breaking necessary between the two sets of parents because Mattie‟s pregnancy was talking point enough, as was the excited long-range planning for the christening, which had taken place in Greece.

Frankie and his girlfriend had come, with Dominic‟s blessing, as had Harry and a couple of the girls from the club Mattie had remained in contact with. And Dominic‟s country house, where they were now living, was large enough to more than accommodate Mattie‟s parents whenever they came up to visit. Which in turn provided them with the occasional opportunity to have a wicked weekend away in the London apartment.

Which, consequently, was where they were now, sprawled in the king-sized bed, replete after a languorous session of lovemaking that had begun at six, when they had returned from a hectic day‟s shopping, and had only been interrupted by the necessity to eat the Thai take-away that had been delivered to their door.

On these occasional weekends away, she had been amused to find that Dominic was more anxious about Alexander than she was. Now he was frowningly contemplating the possibility of an accident because his son‟s crawling had no respect for breakable objects, fragile items of furniture that had not been designed to be crashed into or doors that could unwittingly be opened unexpectedly against the head of an exploring infant.

Mattie allowed him his rant and then curled into him with a smile on her face.

„And here I was,‟ she murmured, tracing the outline of his mouth with a finger, „thinking that I was woman enough to distract you from all your little worries…‟

Dominic caught the finger and placed it between his lips so that he could suck it and watch her expressive face flush with pleasure.

„You know what you need, don‟t you?‟ she asked, before she could lose herself

completely.

„Yes, I most certainly do, you adorable little witch…‟

„Another child…‟ She allowed her inference to filter in and watched his face lovingly, that face that had once been so inscrutable and that now showed every loving nuance.

„You‟re not…‟

„I am. I did the test this morning and I was saving it up to tell you.‟

„Another bambino.‟

„Or bambina.‟ Mattie laughed with delight at the expression on his face.

„Just like her mama.‟ He grinned and kissed the tip of her nose and not for the first time wondered what he had ever done to achieve such perfect happiness as this…

ISBN: 978-1-4268-7725-4

THE GREEK TYCOON‟S SECRET CHILD

First North American Publication 2004.

Copyright © 2003 by Cathy Williams.

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

® and TM are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.

Visit us at www.eHarlequin.com