That reality struck horror into Billie's bones. Furthermore, there was no way she could go down to the village pharmacy and purchase a pregnancy test or visit the doctor without the fear that her movements might become public knowledge. While she trusted Dr Melas, she had less faith in the other surgery staff with access to medical records. Juicy gossip on the island had a way of bypassing all the rules of confidentiality and travelling faster than the speed of light. For that reason, Billie caught the ferry to Athens and bought her pregnancy test there, carrying it out in the privacy of the small hotel room she booked for the night. The result was positive.
In complete shock she sat on the side of the bed and studied the test wand, her green eyes darkening with panic and pain. Now what? Nothing would ever be the same again, she acknowledged sickly. The child of a single parent, who had often mourned the lack of a father in her life, Billie was utterly devastated by this positive confirmation. From her teen years, she had prided herself on her common sense and the restraint she had utilised to ensure that she did not make the same mistakes as her mother had. But, even so, in spite of her awareness of the pitfalls of an unplanned pregnancy, here she was, just like Lauren, alone and pregnant by a man who had made no commitment to her. Her life was suddenly going badly wrong and it was all her own fault for sleeping with Alexei. Billie was appalled by her predicament.
And practising a conveniently short memory in respect of Alexei's amnesia would no longer be possible: he had made her pregnant. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she rocked back and forth in an unconsciously selfsoothing motion while shame, self-loathing and regret flooded her. She had thought she was so clever, but she hadn't been half clever enough when it came to looking out for herself and her own interests. They had both been very foolish that night in letting passion triumph to the extent of running the totally unnecessary risk of her conceiving. Now, unhappily, it was evidently time to pay the piper and her reputation, her entire career, were dead in the water. Everyone would think that Alexei had always used her as a convenient body in his bed between affairs and just as many would think she had contrived to fall pregnant with an eye to the main chance. Mortified by that prospect, she breathed in deep. He was due back on Speros the next week and she would have to tell him. What choice did she have?
That it might not be that clear-cut a question became clear during the subsequent days. Panos phoned her from the yacht to ask her to transfer some computer files that were required.
'Not that I really think we're likely to need them with the boss otherwise occupied,' her colleague groaned.
'What's he occupied with?' Billie prompted as her fingers flew nimbly over the keyboard while she searched out the requested files.
'Not what, who,' Panos corrected wryly. 'There's a new, demanding lady on board Sea Queen and all of a sudden business is taking a back seat. We won't be back tomorrow. The cruise is being extended.'
In response to that announcement, Billie's heart started thumping very, very fast, her skin turning clammy. Of course she had guessed that Alexei would soon find a new woman but the reality of it actually happening hurt like hell. In fact she felt as if someone had knocked her chair over and sent her to the floor with a bone-jolting crash. 'Who is she?'
'An old flame, but one from well before my time—tall and blonde, with the looks of a supermodel…Calisto Bethune, recently divorced,' her colleague supplied.
Already winded by that metaphorical crash, now Billie felt as if she were being brutally kicked. She recognised that name, recalled the gossip. Calisto was possibly the only woman alive who had ever passed over Alexei in favour of another man and now it seemed she had returned to take a second bite from the same apple. Gripped by an awful obsessive need to know more, Billie got busy on the Internet and checked out Calisto. Now the childless ex-wife of a Swiss electronics tycoon, she was truly gorgeous, with a perfect face and a perfect body and a similar heritage to Alexei's own as she was from the upper echelons of Greek society.
Back on Speros that night, Billie phoned her aunt, Hilary, in the UK and talked until she was hoarse about what she had done and how it had all gone hideously wrong. As the sad tale unfolded Hilary made sympathetic sounds and exclamations that allowed Billie to feel that she was no longer quite as alone as she felt.
'I've been worrying about something like this happening for a long time,' her aunt confessed ruefully. 'You're in love with Alexei Drakos and were probably putting out encouraging signals. An opportunistic male like him was certain to take advantage at some stage and the night of the funeral was a given…'
'I just wanted to be there for him…'
'Well, don't be too tough on yourself. Plenty of women have dreamt that same dream as you.' Hilary sighed with something less than tact. 'But what's done is done. Now you need to decide what you want to do and you have to spell out what happened that night to Alexei. Embarrassment shouldn't come into it. You and that baby you're carrying need support.'