Claimed by the Sicilian Tycoon (24 page)

It
had only intensified.

“I’ll
get better in my own time,” she said softly. “Leave it be.”

“Andros,”
Rachel began, but Lyra cut her off with a furious shake of her head.

“Don’t.
You know that is completely forbidden territory. We’re talking so out of bounds
it is not even funny”

“But
we’re worried about you.”

“Don’t
be. I’m fine.”

“You
keep saying that.”

“Because
it’s true.”

Rachel
sighed. “Lyra…ohhhhh…”

Her
gasp made Lyra pause, and she leaned forward. “What’s wrong?”

Rachel
shook her head, her face scrunched. “I don’t know. My back’s been hurting all
day but that was… Ouch. It hurts. It felt like…ohhhhh, there it is again.”

Lyra
leapt up, panic hitting, making all thoughts of Andros settle back into their
usual place, lodged in her heart. “Oh my God. Oh my God.”

“What?”

“You’re
totally going into labor,” she gasped, all the books she’d read in preparation
for this tumbling through her mind. “Where the fuck is Pen?”

“I’m
not due for another week,” Rachel gasped. “It’s too soon.”

“The
baby clearly has other plans.” She pulled a twenty from her jean pocket and
dropped it on the table, mentally calculating their bill as she did so. “Where’s
your driver? Ryan?”

Rachel
shook her head. “He’s parked across the way. You need to call him on my cell.”

“Didn’t
Dom tell you not to keep fobbing Ryan off? He’s your bodyguard as well as your
driver,” Lyra said. “Christ, Rach, you need to be more careful. Keep him
close.”

“I
need Dominic,” Rachel moaned.

Heart
racing, Lyra scrolled through Rachel’s contacts until she found Ryan’s number.
A few moments later and he was en route. She hooked an arm under her sister’s
and lifted her up. Rachel swayed on her feet, little beads of sweat dotting her
forehead.

“It
hurts,” she whispered.

“The
possibility of shitting yourself not such an issue now, huh?” Lyra teased.
“Come on.”

She
led Rachel out onto the street as she called through to Dominic. He sounded as
panicked as his wife.

“Meet
us at the hospital,” Lyra said. “We’ll be there soon. Ryan is on his way.”

Dominic
shouted something down the phone, but Lyra cut him off, focusing instead on her
sister. She was so tiny, so delicate, even with the generous bump.

“You’ll
be a mommy soon,” Lyra whispered.

“A
good one,” Rachel whispered back.

“Without
a doubt.”

“But…ahhhh…that
fucking hurts!”

Her
cry made people walking past stop and stare. Some gave them a wide berth, but a
couple offered them help. Lyra thanked them but sent them on their way. She
totally had this. She would make sure Rachel was safe and well, just like she
always had. Just like she always would. They were all she had now, Lyra
thought. Penny and Sebastian. Rachel and Dominic. And now the baby. The baby
she would love and care for with all the spare love that had nowhere else to
go.

Her
family.

The
only people she had ever been able to count on.

“Lyra?”

Lyra
froze.
Oh God no.
It was the voice
from her dreams. The voice, that just like he had promised, woke her first
thing, and held her tight as she fell asleep.
Andros.
She paused, her heart itself seeming to miss a beat, and
turned almost if in slow motion.

“I
knew,” he whispered. “The moment I saw the hair.”

Lyra’s
entire body exploded, every cell, every muscle, everything that knew him,
seeming to come to life. Adrenaline zinged through her veins as she looked into
the eyes of the man she loved. The man she ached for every single fucking day.

“Andros,”
she said stupidly. “It’s you.”

“Who
else?” he asked.

It
was like everything else had dropped away. There was him, there was her, and
there was the bubble. Like the clock had turned back all the months. She looked
into his eyes, he into hers, and the familiar lust pulsed between them, but it
was more than that now, so much more. Lust. Desire. Anguish. Love. Too many
emotions, too caught up in one another.
How
she missed him.

“Lyra!”

It
all came back, the roaring in her ears subsiding, and Lyra snapped back around
to her sister. “It’s okay, Rach.”

Andros
moved forward, so that he was in front of both women. “What is wrong with her?”
he asked.

“She’s
having a baby,” Lyra said, shivering from the sound of his voice, his body so
close.
How she wanted him.

“Right
now?” Andros asked.

“Yep.”

“Good
God,” he breathed. “What shall I do?”

She
almost wanted to laugh at the horror in his voice, but her chest hurt too much
to allow it. “Nothing, we’re fine.”

“But
if the baby is coming…”

“It’s
her first. It’s gonna take a while yet,” Lyra said. “Labor probably just
started.” Words from the books came back to her and she turned to Rachel. “Did
you get your bloody show yet?”

Rachel
moaned. “Never, ever, say those words again.”

“But—”

“Shall
I drive you to the hospital?” Andros interrupted. “Larsson is right there.
Where is she giving birth?”

“I
said we’re fine,” Lyra replied, the thought of being back on those leather
seats again making her feel faint. How the hell was she supposed to keep a hold
of all her emotions when the man that caused them was right fucking next to
her? And there was Rachel to consider here. She could not afford to be
distracted.

“But
you need help,” Andros said. “
Rossa
,
let me help.”

The
use of his pet name for her, after all the months apart, snapped something in
Lyra, and she had to swallow around a lump. “For fuck’s sake, Andros, take the
hint already.”

“So
you are still mad,” he said slowly. “You have not had enough time to think.”

“Think?”

“About
us,” he said. “I planned to give you another couple of months at least before I
came to get you. I have had much time to think whilst we were apart, Lyra. I
can give more.”

“To
get me?” Lyra whispered, unable to believe what she was hearing. “Give more?”

“Yes,
Lyra. You surely did not think I would give up that easily.”

“I—”

“Oh
my God, will you give it a rest? I’m totally in labor here.”

Rachel’s
words penetrated her fogged brain and Lyra looked away from Andros’ intense
stare, flushing. “Sorry, babe. Where’s your Blackberry?”

“You
have it. Call Dominic again,” she moaned. “And where the hell is Ryan?”

“Dominic?
Dominic Rimeria?” Andros demanded. “Why the fuck do you need to call him?”

Lyra
sighed, remembering oh so clearly, the scene outside of Dominic’s building. Was
Andros wondering if she had followed up on her threat to bed another man? Maybe
she should let him think that, Lyra thought. Make him hurt just as she did. But
then she met his eyes all over again, and realized that she could no more hurt
him than she could Rachel. They were beyond that now. She loved him too fucking
much.

 
“Because he’s her baby daddy,” Lyra said,
holding his gaze and feeling her stomach flip when relief filled his eyes, “and
her husband.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

From
his position on the hard seat in the hospital waiting room Andros shifted. He
eyed the coffee machine, wondering whether to bother with the foul instant
brew, then shifted again. Where was Lyra? When was she likely to emerge? He
checked his wristwatch and considered the possibilities. How long did labor
even take? Would she spend the entire time in the room with her sister? Even
though her husband was in there too?

More
to the point, how the fuck had her sister ended up married to Rimeria? Perhaps
if he’d been in the country he would have heard of it, maybe even have been
invited, but Andros had spent the last several weeks holed up in the States.
Desperately trying to get on with his work. Counting down the days until he
came to get Lyra.

He
had not lied to her when he’d said he planned to do just that. But he’d needed
those weeks. Needed time to evaluate everything he thought he knew about
himself. Everything he thought he knew about her.

The Point
. He knew all
about that too, knew about her charity work, and many things had clicked into
place when he’d realized exactly what Lyra
did
spend her time doing. He’d read up on everything he could to understand her
better. Her background. Where she lived. Everything. He suspected their
arrangement had contributed in some way to the work she was now doing, and
intended to ask her about that, but for the moment he could do nothing but
wait, and it was fucking killing him.

Too
many months had passed.

What
if he’d waited too long?

He
shook the thought off as soon as it formed. Lyra was his, whether she knew it
or not, and he was ready now.
Dios
,
he’d probably been ready from the beginning and just hadn’t known it.

A
black haired woman came into view, trailing an olive skinned man behind her.
She looked vaguely familiar and Andros eyed her carefully.

“Where
are they?” she demanded.

He
looked behind him to see who she was talking to but realized it was he. “They?”
he asked.

“Rachel
and Lyra,” she snapped.

“I
am not sure, I—”

“For
fuck’s sake.” She ran off down the corridor, her lean legs eating up the
distance. It was then that Andros realized why she looked familiar. Her air
reminded him of Lyra. That same fire. The same glare.
 

“The
other sister,” he said slowly.

“Penny.
My wife.”

Andros
turned to see the olive skinned man sit down next to him. He too looked
familiar, and Andros narrowed his eyes.

“I’m
Sebastian Demetrious, Penny’s husband,” the other man said, holding out a hand.
“And you must be Andros. We’ve never met, but I know of you.”

“And
I you,” Andros replied, realizing that he had. There were not that many
billionaires based in the UK after all.

“So
you’re the Sicilian,” Sebastian said with a laugh.
 

“I
am.”

“We’ve
been wondering when you might turn up,” he added.

“We
being?”

“Myself,
Dominic, Penny, Rachel.” He reeled the names off and shook his head. “Lyra has
been a nightmare to deal with,” he added. “Stubborn. Penny was giving strong
consideration to flying to the States and dragging you back here. Probably
would have if Rachel’s due date was not so close.”

“I
don’t—”

“She’s
missed you,” Sebastian said simply. “We are all aware of it.”

Andros’
heart thudded at those words, and despite himself, and the fact he barely knew
Sebastian, he couldn’t help asking the question pounding in his brain. “She
has?”

Sebastian
nodded. “We did not know how you felt about her,” he said slowly. “Which was
why I advised Penny to hold off until we did know more. But,” he shrugged. “You
have followed her here to the hospital I assume, at least from the words I
could hear Lyra shouting down the phone to my wife, and so that says plenty.”

“She’s
mine,” Andros stated. “That is all you need to know.”

Sebastian
grinned. “There is no escaping those women when they have their claws in. You
are aware that I met Penny when she broke into my home and lifted a quarter of
a mil from my safe?”

Andros
started. “Excuse me?”

Sebastian
laughed. “Yes, I held her hostage until I could work out what to do with her
She tied me in fucking knots. In the end, it was simpler to just marry her and
be done with it. How else was I going to get any peace from myself? And I
believe Rachel pickpocketed Dominic just as he asked her to marry him. We were
all concerned how that was going to turn out, but Lyra fixed it.”

“The
sisters are thieves?” Andros asked, his mind reeling. That had
not
been in his research.

“More
like…devious
angelos
,” Sebastian
said. “They needed the money for
The
Point.
It’s a sanctuary for vulnerable teens, like they all were.”

The Point.
Andros closed
his eyes as everything clicked into place. Her sisters. Her actions. The first
conversation they’d ever had. The books she’d mentioned. Flashes of Fire. Who
knew exactly where those pieces would be now? Not in Lyra’s possession, that
was for sure.