The Greek Billionaire's Secret Baby (Contemporary Romance) by Michele Dunaway

that.
    There, in their own little niche of the noisy NICU, they were isolated from the outside world. It was if they were a real family.  She knew the illusion couldn’t last.
    “I had wanted a quiet evening at home,” Alex told Lauren as the hotel elevator rose upward, “but my mother’s patience is exhausted and she will not wait any longer to see her grandson. She is waiting for us upstairs in the suite. I did manage to send everyone else away. They will wait until the christening.”
    “Okay,” Lauren said gratefully. Maria Pappas she could probably handle. Everyone else, especially Theo and the other uncles and cousins, probably not. Eventually she would have to face them, but not tonight, her baby’s first away from the hospital. “Thank you,” she said.
    Alex shifted and glanced at her. “For what?”
    “For sending them away.”
    “I told you I would try and please you,” Alex said. If there was more he wanted to add, he didn’t because of the nurse’s presence.
    Alex inserted his key into the lock and turned the handle. Always in the latest fashion, this time a simple a-line dress, Maria Pappas rose the moment the door opened and waited as the party came towards her. At five foot two, Alex and Christopher’s mother was a petite woman, her hair long ago having turned a fascinating shade of gray that seemed more silver than white.
    “Mother,” Alex said. He kissed his mother on the cheek. The nurse pushed Lauren closer and at Alex’s curt nod, disappeared to her own private quarters. “Mother, come meet your grandson, Nikolai Christos Pappas. We have decided to call him Nick.”
    “A very good name,” she said. Her dark indigo eyes studied the baby’s face. “He will be a big strong boy. Just like his father.”
    An almost imperceptible line tightened near Alex’s mouth. “Christopher would have been proud.”
    “Of course he would,” Maria said simply. She sat down next to Lauren, who’d already moved to the sofa. “If you’d be so kind as to let me, I would love to hold my grandson.”
    “Of course.” Lauren lifted her arms, and Maria’s hands reached forward. Alex leaned down and put his hands protectively under the exchange. Maria settled herself on the sofa and moved the swaddling cloth away from the child’s face.
    “He looks just like his father did when he was born,” she announced, her gaze locking onto Lauren’s for a moment. “An exact mirror image.”
    Maria stroked a finger down the baby’s cheek. “I see you too, Lauren, in his mouth, but there is no doubt in my mind that he is his father’s son.”
    Alex’s cell phone shrilled and he reached in his pocket and retrieved it. He scowled when he saw the number. “I must take this call,” he said.
    Lauren sighed. The reprieve from Pappas Foods had lasted less than five minutes after returning home. Nick was out of the hospital, crisis averted, so back to business as usual.
    “Go,” his mother told Alex. “Lauren and I will be fine on our own. We women know exactly how to handle babies.”
    His mother made more cooing noises, waiting until Alex left the room before saying, “He is the spitting image of his father. Too bad his father is too blind to see it.”
    “Christopher…” Lauren began.
    “Christopher isn’t his father,” Maria corrected sharply, her lips thinning. “And pride blinds Alex from seeing the obvious truth I know the truth, Lauren. Not only can I see it in little Nick here, but also as you will discover someday, a mother knows her sons. I know Christopher would never have betrayed his beloved older brother by touching you.”
    Lauren clenched her hands together and placed them in her lap. Maria had blindsided her.
    Maria shifted the baby. Nick was asleep.
    “I miss Christopher,” she told Lauren. “It’s important you realized that my darling Christopher was always very timious . I can see from the crease between your eyebrows that you don’t know what that particular Greek word