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Stavros’s face turned briefly pale As if by instinct, he turned his body in the chair, as if protecting the sleeping baby Then, as if a wall ca down, his expression became totally flat

“Hello, Father” His bored gaze glanced diser than Holly, perhaps even younger than her little sister “Friends of yours?”

“Froe clothes Or at least—” he gave a sly grin “—take them off”

Holly looked with disirls, who both looked, if possible, even more bored than Stavros They had to be a third of Aristides’s age One of the Stavros a frankly flirtatious smile that made Holly, who’d never considered herself prone to violence, want to give her a hard smack across the jaw

The olderbaby with a sniff “Is that the baby Eleni was going on about?”

“This is my son, yes,” Stavros said stiffly

“Looks tiny Runt of the litter”

“He’s two months old”

Aristides winked back at the young woh to be a grandfather”

“Uh, yeah,” the blonde replied with an A so that her friend could see her roll her eyes “Look, Aristi, if we’re not going out shopping like you proo”

“Things to see, people to do,” her brunette friend agreed, giving Stavros another flirtatious smile

“No, wait—I have gifts for you girls upstairs Go up and wait”

“Where?”

“Up the top of the stairs The big purple bedroom all the way at the back,” he called jovially, then ran his hands slickly through his hair After they were gone, he turned on Stavros with a scowl “So why did you come here?”

“No reason”