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Kissing Andreas was like taking a trip to heaven.
Given the choice, she’d happily spend the rest of her life doing nothing else.
They arrived at the hotel and joined the rest of the guests on the terrace where they were drinking champagne.
Libby immediately caught sight of Katy and Alex with their partners. Anxious to be in a group as a method of self-protection, she took Andreas by the arm and walked across to them.
Katy was looking elegant and classy in a long black dress, her blonde hair swept up on top of her head. She had more colour in her cheeks than the last time they’d met and Libby leaned forward to kiss her and then turned to Jago, Katy’s husband.
‘Congratulations,’ she whispered, as she stood on tiptoe to kiss him.
Then she shook hands with Alex’s date for the night, a cool-eyed blonde who was a clone of all the women that Alex dated.
Libby smiled politely, noted that the girl’s name was Eva and wondered whether she knew that Alex would be seeing someone else within three months. He never dated anyone for longer than that. He was more wary of commitment than she was.
She introduced Andreas and instantly he and Jago started talking about a case they’d had in A and E the previous day.
‘No talking shop,’ Katy reproved mildly. ‘This is supposed to be the one night of the year when we have an evening out without discussing medicine. Anyway, it’s time to sit down. We’re all on the same table.’
They moved into the ballroom, found their table and Libby seated herself between Alex and Andreas.
She was painfully conscious of how close he was, his lean, brown hand resting on the table only inches from hers, his muscular thigh resting alongside hers and the width of his shoulders under the jacket he wore.
Although they talked and laughed with everyone on the table, she was always aware of him next to her.
From time to time during the meal she caught him watching her and knew that he was playing a waiting game. Andreas was well aware of the effect he had on her and he was biding his time, knowing that the feelings inside her were heating to dangerous levels. It was psychological seduction, mind games designed to drive her slowly but surely to a point of desperation.
Her insides were so churned up by the way he made her feel that Libby lost her appetite. She pushed her food unenthusiastically around her plate and Alex looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
‘Following the Hollywood diet, Lib?’
She gave a wan smile. ‘I’m just not that hungry.’
‘Or, at least, not for food,’ Alex murmured softly, his eyes flickering past her to Andreas who was engaged in conversation with Katy, seated to his right. ‘I’ve never seen you like this before. It must be love.’
Love?
Libby’s eyes widened and she looked at him in horror. Of course it wasn’t love! She’d never be so foolish as to fall in love with a man like Andreas. He was every woman’s fantasy and she had no doubt that she was just a temporary interest.
‘It’s not love,’ she said in a strangled voice. ‘I’ve never been in love.’
Alex shrugged. ‘Well, something’s wrong. That’s chocolate mousse sitting in front of you and you’re not showing any interest in it.’
Libby looked at her plate and realised that she hadn’t even seen the chocolate mousse arrive. Normally she would have devoured it, but tonight she just couldn’t face food of any sort.
Not even chocolate.
‘If you’re off chocolate, it must be serious,’ Alex said dryly, glancing from her to the untouched mousse. ‘It’s either love or gastroenteritis. Trust me, I’m a doctor. I know about these things.’
Thoroughly unsettled, Libby glared at him. ‘You’re a troublemaker and can we, please, change the subject?’ Her eyes flickered past him to Eva who was talking to a colleague of Alex’s from A and E. ‘Anyway, you’re a fine one to talk. She hasn’t stopped drooling over you all night.’
‘She’ll get over it,’ Alex drawled lightly, reaching for his wine.
Libby shook her head slightly, wondering what sort of female it would take to shake her brother out of his customary cool.
‘Don’t you feel guilty about going through life breaking hearts?’ Libby muttered in an undertone. ‘It’s men like you that have made me the woman I am today.’
Alex lifted a dark eyebrow. ‘A crazy, shoe-mad chocoholic?’
