Page 32 of Penniless Cinderella for the Greek
Dimitris?Shock and pain tore through Savannah. She missed him so much. ‘What did he want?’
‘He asked me to tell you something I should have told you a long time ago. A secret that I have kept from you for far too long.’ Evelyn’s voice shook. ‘I couldn’t tell you when Richard was alive because he had sworn me to secrecy. Since he died...well, I should have been honest with you, but I was afraid that you would hate me.’
‘Nothing could make me hate you,’ Savannah said gently. She could not imagine what secret her mother had kept from her. ‘What do you want to tell me?’
‘Richard wasn’t your father.’
Too shocked to speak, Savannah stared at her mum. From as far back as she could remember, she’d sensed that her father had not loved her. Now finally she understood the reason why she hadn’t felt a connection to Richard. She wasn’t unlovable, as he had made her feel.
‘Then who is my real father?’ A memory came to her. ‘Was he the man in the photo?’
Evelyn nodded. ‘I’ll try to explain. I married Richard only a few months after we had met because I was desperate to escape from my bullying stepfather. I was an assistant at an art gallery and Richard liked to boast to people that I worked for Fortescue’s. He had come from a poor background and was obsessed with social position.’
She sighed. ‘We tried for a baby for five years, but nothing happened. The marriage was strained and I... I fell in love with someone I’d met at the gallery. Johan was a Dutch artist. It was love at first sight for both of us, but I was married. We had a brief affair before Johan returned to Holland and died in a motorbike accident soon after.’
Evelyn wiped her eyes. ‘I discovered I was pregnant and confessed to Richard that the baby wasn’t his. I was sure he would throw me out. I had fallen out with my family and did not have any money. I was terrified that I would have to give my baby—you—up for adoption.’
‘Oh, Mum.’ Savannah handed her mother a tissue.
‘Richard didn’t want a divorce because he thought it would make him look a failure. He agreed to bring you up as his own daughter but made me promise that I would not tell you or anyone the truth. To the outside world we were the perfect family and Richard was a successful businessman. He was determined that you should marry into the aristocracy and encouraged you to accept a proposal from Lord Roxwell’s son. But I knew you were not in love with Hugo, and I was glad when you broke off your engagement.’
Savannah’s thoughts were reeling. ‘You said Dimitris persuaded you to tell me the truth. How did he know that Richard wasn’t my father?’
Evelyn shook her head. ‘I didn’t really understand what he meant. It was something to do with a financial deal that Richard had forced him to accept years ago. Dimitris told me he was worried that your self-confidence had been damaged because Richard hadn’t shown you affection when you were growing up. Apparently there was a boyfriend recently who was not honest with you.’
She had nearly let Matt Collier push her into sleeping with him, Savannah remembered. Dimitris was right to guess that she’d felt she had to put up with being treated badly by men because her father—Richard—had made her feel unworthy of being loved. Everything made sense now. At eighteen she’d had a crush on Dimitris even though he hadn’t given any indication that he wanted a long-term relationship with her.
Evelyn was tired, and before Savannah left she hugged her mum and assured her that she understood why she’d kept the identity of her real father a secret.
‘Richard threatened to stop his financial support for you, including your private school fees,’ her mum said tearfully. ‘He was manipulative. As the years passed I felt guilty for keeping such a huge secret from you. Dimitris said he felt sure you would be able to forgive me, and you had persuaded him to be honest with his sister.’
When Savannah returned to her car she sat for a few moments, trying to make sense of her whirling thoughts. Her main feeling was of relief that she could let go of her difficult childhood now she knew the truth. She realised that her mum had been in an impossible situation, but she didn’t feel so forgiving of Dimitris who, from the sound of it, had been aware for years that Richard was not her father.
On impulse she turned her car towards Richmond. Dimitris had visited her mum the previous day and he might still be in London. The traffic was heavy, and by the time she drove along next to the river the car’s engine was making a strange noise. Taking the car to a garage to be serviced was on her list of jobs that she hadn’t got round to. Savannah gave a sigh of relief when she saw that the gates in front of River Retreat were open, and a black saloon was parked on the driveway. Dimitris must be here. Her car died just as she turned through the gates. She couldn’t change her mind about seeing him now, she thought as she ran through the pouring rain up to the house.
‘Savannah?’
She’d expected the housekeeper to open the front door, and her breath left her lungs in a rush when she stared at Dimitris. He looked gorgeous in black jeans and a storm-grey cashmere sweater. Her heart splintered as she studied his sculpted face that looked leaner, so that his cheekbones were sharp and his eyes held a bleakness that shocked her.
The rain had soaked through her sweatshirt and her hair was stuck to her scalp. She shivered, and he immediately opened the door wider. ‘Come in. My housekeeper and her husband are in Canada visiting their daughter,’ Dimitris explained as he stepped into the cloakroom and returned to hand Savannah a towel. ‘You had better take your sweatshirt off, and it can dry in front of the fire.’
Savannah’s teeth were chattering, and she felt self-conscious as she pulled her sweatshirt off and gave it to him. She hoped he would think it was the cold that had made her nipples harden so that they jutted through her silk blouse. She followed him into the sitting room, where a log fire was blazing. He waved her to an armchair, but she preferred to stand while she confronted him.
But her temper that had simmered while she’d driven to his house was replaced with fierce awareness of Dimitris. He rested his arm on the mantelpiece, and she noticed that he’d lost weight. She knew he kept himself fit by working out regularly in the gym, but his whipcord body was leaner, and he looked weary as if he hadn’t been sleeping.
‘How was Australia?’ She felt a sharp stab of jealousy as she imagined him lounging on a beach with a bevy of tanned, toned beauties. Maybe he’d lost weight from a lot of exercise between the sheets.
His dark eyes searched her face. ‘I missed you,’ he said in an oddly husky voice.
Her heart slammed into her ribs, but she told herself he didn’t mean it. After all, he had made no attempt to stop her leaving him in Rhodes. ‘I’ve just been to see Mum. She told me that Richard was not my real father.’
Dimitris exhaled slowly. ‘Ah.’
Savannah’s anger reignited. ‘Youknew. Why didn’t you tell me? Surely I had a right to know?’ She frowned as a memory of the previous time she had been at Dimitris’s house in Richmond surfaced, and the conversation they’d had over dinner. ‘How did you know about the trust fund that my fa... Richard had set up?’ she demanded.
‘He told me.’ Dimitris sighed heavily. ‘Richard threatened to prevent you from receiving a fortune that he said was held in trust until you were twenty-five if I did not break off my relationship with you.’
Seeing that Savannah was too shocked to speak, he continued, ‘I had initially refused the money he’d offered me as a bribe. But he got nasty and said he wouldn’t allow me to screw up his plans for you to marry into a titled family. I called his bluff and told him that I didn’t believe he would cause financial harm to his own daughter. That was when he revealed that he wasn’t your father. In his words, he had brought up another man’s child and paid for your private education, and in repayment he expected you to marry well and increase his social standing.’
