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Alexio wanted to smash aside the trolley, rip off those glasses and grab her, kiss her into submission. Kiss her again. Instead he bit out, lying admirably, ‘I asked you for dinner, Sidonie, not for sex.’
She blanched and avoided his gaze again, slinging her bag across her body. It did little to douse his desire—the strap coming between her breasts made them stand out, defining their pert shape. Theos, what was wrong with him? Had he lost all reason in the past hour?
Sidonie took the trolley and said, ‘Look...thanks, okay? If I lived in London maybe I’d go out with you, but I don’t, and I have to go home.’
She was pulling away, taking the trolley with her case on it, and something like panic gripped Alexio’s chest, constricting his breathing. He thrust a hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out a card, handed it to her.
She took it reluctantly and he wanted to push it into her hand, wrap her fingers around it. ‘Those are my private numbers. If anything changes...call me.’
After a few torturous seconds she just nodded and said, ‘It was nice to meet you...’
And then she pulled the trolley round, disappeared into the departures hall and was swallowed up by a thousand faceless, nameless people.
Alexio did not like this feeling of being out of control. At all. It was something he’d fought against his whole life?
??every time his father had tried to mould him into the son and heir he’d wanted. Every time his father had suffocated him with the weight of his expectations. And most all every time he’d seen his father lose it because he couldn’t control his emotions around his cold wife.
And yet this wisp of a woman had managed to slide control out from under his feet without him even noticing.
He cursed volubly.
* * *
Twenty minutes later Sidonie was about to scream with frustration. Her body was still sensitive, tingling with an overload of sexual awareness. All she could see in her mind’s eye was Alexio Christakos’s hard-boned gorgeous face and that mouth-wateringly perfect body, but all she could hear was the airline official saying again, ‘Look, miss, I’m sorry. This is the weekend of the England versus Ireland rugby final. There is no way you are going to get a ticket to Dublin today or tomorrow. So unless you want to try swimming the Irish Sea...’
Sidonie felt the press of people behind her, all looking to get home, and felt despair. The official was already dealing with the next person and, despondent, Sidonie turned away. She went back out through the main doors, half expecting to see Alexio still standing there with an imperious look on his face, but he and his car were gone and Sidonie felt absurdly like crying.
Why had she been so hell-bent on denying herself an evening with the most charismatic man she’d ever met? The ghost of her mother whispered to her, reminding Sidonie of her strong instinct to deny anything that was just for herself. She always had to work for it.
She’d vowed long ago not to be grasping like her mother, who had been oblivious to the pain of others around her—especially that of her husband, who had devoted his life to her in spite of the fact that she’d humiliated him publicly. In spite of the fact that he’d always known that Sidonie wasn’t even his biological daughter.
And now she had a huge responsibility: Tante Josephine needed her support. She didn’t have the luxury of just thinking about herself. A small voice taunted her. But you could have had tonight. One night.
Sidonie felt a lurch as she thought of how for one second she’d almost given in to Alexio and said yes when he’d asked if she would change her mind.
The one thing that should have held her back was her aunt—but she had gone on her annual two-week holiday with a local charity group. Sidonie had encouraged her to go, knowing it would take her aunt’s mind off things while she sorted herself out in Dublin. For an exhilarating second Sidonie had remembered this and thought it might be possible...but she hadn’t seized the moment. Too afraid to throw caution to the wind and trust completely.
And it was too late now anyway. She looked down and saw her hand clenched around his card. Her belly flipped. She had an image of him on his way into London to his important meeting. He would have forgotten about her already. An aberration. She’d missed her chance. Maybe she’d even dreamt him up?
A hollow feeling made her ache inside. She turned around again and faced the door, steeling herself to go back into that throng. She would buy a seat on the next available flight and then she would find somewhere to stay—
‘Sidonie.’
Her heart slammed to a stop and the blood rushed from her head to her feet. It couldn’t be.
Sidonie forgot about the trolley and whirled around. Alexio was standing there, as gorgeous as she remembered. Not a dream. Shock mixed with relief and joy jumped in her belly.
‘What are you doing here? You were gone,’ she breathed, half afraid she was hallucinating.
Alexio’s mouth tightened as if he didn’t like admitting it. ‘I doubled back...just in case.’
Sidonie made a gesture behind her. ‘All the flights are full. A rugby match is on between England and Ireland. I can’t get home till the day after tomorrow at the earliest...’
‘So you’re stuck here at the airport? That’s unfortunate.’ His eyes were glinting with that dark humour again.
Incredible joy was bubbling up inside Sidonie. He’d come back. For her. He hadn’t forgotten about her.
She fought back the goofy grin threatening to erupt. ‘I was going to rebook my flight and then I was going to find somewhere to stay.’
