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She felt the tension come into his body. ‘My mother. She loved to dance, she used to dance with my father all the time.’
‘That’s romantic.’
He looked down at her, his expression anything but romantic. ‘It was, until he had the accident and couldn’t dance any more.’
Sasha thought of what he’d told her about getting revenge for his father’s death. She shivered slightly, thinking of how ruthless he must have been. Single-minded. But she remembered him being like that with her—until she’d agreed to go for a drink with him.
She wondered how on earth she’d caught his eye in London when they’d been surrounded by women as beautiful as the ones here tonight, in their peacock dresses and glittering jewels. Even though she was dressed like them now, she felt dowdy and colourless in comparison.
She noticed one dark brunette pass by in the arms of her partner, her voluptuous body poured into a silver sheath dress. She also noticed how she looked at Apollo, and then at Sasha, dismissing her with a flick of her hair. No competition.
The song came to an end and Sasha seized the opportunity to escape for a moment, hating this feeling of insecurity. Especially when she thought of how close she’d come last night to showing Apollo how much he affected her. When he clearly felt nothing similar. She pulled back from Apollo’s arms. ‘Excuse me, I just need to go to the bathroom.’
Apollo watched Sasha hurry from the dance floor. Her face had been the colour of milk. He couldn’t stop the spike of concern. Was she feeling ill? Was it her memory? Was she remembering more?
He cursed and made his way over to the bar. Concern for his wife was a novel and unwelcome s
entiment. Also unwelcome was the raging arousal still lingering in his blood after that dance. Holding her so close, smelling her scent. The thin fabric of her dress doing little to hide how her slender curves had felt against his body...no other woman had ever had such an effect on him.
He took women he desired to bed. He told them up front that he wasn’t looking for anything permanent. Except her. Everything about his experience with her had been so novel, and that’s why he’d let his guard down momentarily. A moment she’d exploited when she’d come to him in London a month after their night together with her shock announcement.
But all of that was in danger of being forgotten with the rush of hot desire in his blood. Clouding his judgement. Blunting his control. Changing things. He should never have agreed to let her join him tonight. They weren’t a couple.
They never would have married if it hadn’t been for—
Apollo saw Sasha return to the room. Her head was turning left and right, clearly searching for him.
She looked vulnerable. Out of place. He saw more than one man look at her twice, caught by her fresh-faced beauty. She stood out in a crowd of rich and jaded cynics. And that’s why she’d appealed to him that very first night.
But it had all been a mirage. Her memory loss might very well be real, but underneath it lay the true Sasha Miller. A liar and a mercenary bitch. It wouldn’t be long before she showed her true colours again. At that moment, as if hearing his thoughts, she saw him and their eyes locked across the room. Apollo vowed not to forget who she really was.
The journey winding back up the hills to Apollo’s villa was taken in silence. Sasha was engrossed in her own thoughts. The questions buzzing in her brain were growing increasingly loud and hard to ignore. Especially after tonight when she’d gone out in public, pretending to the world that she was this man’s wife. When reality couldn’t be further from that truth.
Apollo parked the car at the foot of the steps leading up to the front door of the villa. Sasha turned to him in the gloom of the car. ‘Why did you let me come with you tonight?’
Apollo put his hands on the wheel. ‘Primarily because I didn’t expect you to be ready on time. You never were before.’
‘So that would have been your excuse for leaving me behind.’
He looked at her and shrugged minutely, unapologetic.
Sasha shook her head. ‘What happened, Apollo? Why are we like this? You liked me in London. You pursued me...asked me for a drink. Took me for dinner.’
Took me to bed?
She couldn’t remember those details but she sensed yes, because her body was attuned to his on a level that she couldn’t deny. And would a man like Apollo have married her without sleeping with her? He didn’t strike her as the traditional type.
Was she? Had she been a virgin?
‘You really want to get into this now?’
Once again she wasn’t sure. Did she want to know everything? But she heard herself say, ‘Yes.’
‘Are you sure you’re ready?’
Sasha swallowed the rising fear. ‘I need to know. I feel like I’m the only one left out of a secret.’
‘Very well. But not here—inside.’
