IT WAS taken by a telephoto lens. The paparazzo must've been in a boat,' Alexei grated between clenched teeth, and then he swept the newspaper off the bed again in an angry gesture of repudiation. 'What the hell is going on between you and Marios? Is he the father of your baby?'
'No, he is not. We're friends, nothing more. All that happened between us was a rather emotional conversation. Damon was telling me why his marriage had ended.'
'Exchanging sob stories, were you? Getting all touchy-feely?' Alexei glowered at her unimpressed, his lean dark features hard with angry denunciation. 'I don't believe you. Damon was your first love and you've always had a thing for him. I can well understand too why you would want to conceal your child's identity on Speros after Damon chose to reconcile with his estranged wife last year.'
At that crack, Billie turned very pale, for it struck her as terrifying that it could take only one piece of misinformation to provide a foundation for a seemingly convincing case against her. 'I've never been intimate with Damon. He is not the father of my child,' she intoned afresh, desperate to make Alexei listen to her.
Alexei swore only half under his breath. 'Na pas sto dialo! Go to hell,' he told her roughly. 'I'm leaving. In a couple of days the DNA results will be available and I refuse to see you again until then.'
In consternation, Billie watched him stride towards the door. 'Where are you going?'
'London. I'll see you at Hazlehurst in forty-eight hours,' he spelt out grimly.
He didn't even have to pack, Billie acknowledged limply, because Alexei kept capsule wardrobes all over the world at the properties he used the most. He was walking out on her again. After a night that had filled her with a crazy burst of hope for the future, he was leaving and she was devastated by that development.
It was the work of an instant to run to the door and shout furiously down the corridor after him, 'You're a total coward, Alexei Drakos!'
She knew that hurling that accusation at a proud Greek male was like waving a red flag in front of a maddened bull and, sure enough, her tall, muscular husband wheeled straight round in his tracks to throw her an outraged look of incredulity from fierce golden eyes.
'I mean it…every word!' she flung in provocative addition, only belatedly becoming conscious that she was stark naked, and closing the door hurriedly to seek something to wear.
And true to the arrogant Drakos tradition of fearless confrontation, Alexei powered back down the corridor again and thrust the bedroom door back open so violently that it crashed back against the wall. Halfway into his discarded shirt, Billie faltered. She had never seen him so irate, his eyes blazing above the patrician cheekbones showing prominent and pale beneath his bronzed skin, his lean hands clenched into fists. 'How dare you accuse me of such behaviour?'
'Because you've been running away ever since I told you the truth about our child. You left the yacht on our wedding night and you're leaving me now, walking out all over again,' she condemned bitterly. 'How does that solve anything? Last night you wouldn't even talk. You won't discuss anything with me!'
'What the hell is there to discuss?' Alexei raked back at her in a lion's roar of intimidation that made her tremble, his powerful stance as aggressive as it was dogmatic. 'You've told me nothing but stupid stories that a child could tear apart.'
'Those were not stupid stories!'
Alexei came several steps closer. 'You've lied and lied and lied again to me,' he derided. 'Why do you think I would want to listen to more of the same?'
'I had to lie…I didn't know what else to do,' she shot back at him shrilly. 'Why does everything have to be about you? What do you think it was like for me when you took up with Calisto and told me you were thinking about marrying her?'