of sensation was possible…
She had gasped, cried out, eyes distended, wonder and amazement in her face, as he had brought her time after time to the point of ecstasy. It had been, he mused, a particular satisfaction of his own to afford her such an experience as she had clearly never known before.
The frown flickered in his eyes again. It was a novelty, he knew, to have a sexual partner such as she was—one he had to lead almost every step of the way. And his reward had been more than pleasure. Something had made him want to watch, intently, as her body caught fire from his ministrations, to hear her cry out, and then, as the fire ebbed from her, the flames of ecstasy extinguished, to fold her to him, to hold her, cradle her. Then, as he had reaped his own reward, his own rich satiation, something more had made him feel that it was a feeling richer than any he had felt with any other woman…
But why not? he reasoned. She was not like his usual fare, so his experience, his response, had been different. That was all. Simply—different.
He turned to glance at her again. She was leafing through a glossy magazine now—her head slightly bowed and her lovely profile exposed to him—and he let his eyes linger a moment. Yes, different indeed. And not just in looks and style.
In personality too.
She was quiet, for a start. She did not try to talk to him, to make sophisticated conversation or demands of him. She simply gave a fleeting smile, almost shy, her eyes only briefly meeting his, before drawing away as if she were not sure whether to look at him. Nor did she seem, like all the other women of his acquaintance, to relish and revel in the attentions of other men. All the women he had selected for his leisure hours had always known how prized they were, and had taken it for granted—expected it as their due—that male eyes would be drawn to them.
Carrie was not like that. She seemed rather to be embarrassed by heads turning as she walked beside him. Alexeis had been highly aware of how she had immediately drawn male attention when she came into the airport, and when they boarded the plane. But she had seemed either unconscious of the way men were looking at her or, at the other extreme, uncomfortable with it.
He had never known a woman with her calibre of looks to be so.
He had put it down to her being self-conscious about her new clothes. She had spent the day in Knightsbridge, with a personal shopper that his London PA had organised, and when she had walked into the VIP lounge he had known at once that it had been well worthwhile.
If she had looked unknowingly erotic in that black and white uniform last night, now she simply looked stunning. She was wearing a pale aqua suit, with bracelet-length jacket sleeves and a pencil skirt, and her hair was dressed in a style that was simple, but extremely effective, the front strands drawn back to the nape of her neck to give her a profile that was almost pre-Raphaelite.
He had not been able to take his eyes from her.
As he’d escorted her on to the plane he’d known, with absolute certainty, that he had definitely—quite definitely—made an excellent decision.
* * *
Two weeks in New York. Two weeks with Alexeis. Two weeks of a world, a life, Carrie had never dreamt of having. Far, far different from anything she had ever known. With every day—more with every night—her real life seemed a universe away. With every day this new life she was leading was becoming more and more real to her.
And yet still a fantasy come true.
How could it not be? How could it not be like a fantasy to be staying in a world-famous hotel by Central Park, a guest in a lavishly appointed suite, eating in one gourmet restaurant after another, dressed in clothes that she had only ever before seen in glossy magazines. Night after night to be taken to glamorous, glittering parties, sometimes in fantastic multi-storeyed apartments in uptown Manhattan, sometimes in the mansions of Long Island, drinking champagne as if it were water, wearing evening gowns so beautiful they were fit for a princess. How could it not be a fantasy come true?
And to have at the glowing, radiant heart of it Alexeis at her side.
Just thinking about him made her weak with longing for him. The hours without him seemed endless, and though she knew, of course, that he was here on business, she had to school herself to patience until she could be with him again—even if much of the time it was in public rather than in private. He socialised a great deal, but he didn’t seem to mind that she was a less than scintillating partner for him. All of the women they’d met in New York seemed to have high-powered careers, or else be engrossed in a host of other activities—running charity events, involved in the arts or media or fashion—always something glamorous, something prestigious, something that made Carrie feel dull and boring in comparison.
But she wouldn’t let it get her down. After all, she would remind herself, if Alexeis didn’t mind her being so different from the glamorously sophisticated circles he moved in, then why should she? And besides, when she was alone with Alexeis she didn’t feel dull or awkward. Even though he lived in so utterly a different world from her, came from so entirely a different background, it didn’t seem to matter. Being with him, she just felt—at ease.
She didn’t know why—didn’t question it. Only accepted it—gratefully. Just as she accepted that he had, for reasons she did not question either, swept her away into this wonderful, wonderful world with him.
Nor did she ask the question she dreaded—how long would she have with him? How long before the fantasy ended and Alexeis left her life as swiftly as he had entered it?
But she wouldn’t think about that. Hurriedly she pulled her mind away. She would make the most, the very most, of each and every wonderful day—and more, the passionate, breathtaking nights she had with him, living out this most incredible of romantic fantasies…
For as she knew this could only be a fantasy, she also knew, with a strange tremor of her heart, that there could never, ever again be a man in her life like Alexeis. It was not just the wealth and the glamour—that was only the gilding. The gold—the pure, pure gold—was Alexeis himself. He was her treasure, who made this time so precious.
And when it ended…?
No—again she pushed the thought aside. It would come, but not yet. Not yet. Not today—not tonight.
But come it did. When Alexeis’s final day in New York arrived, Carrie was still determined not to think of it. Yet it seemed that there was a hard, heavy stone inside her chest. At breakfast she was subdued, picking at her food.
‘You are not hungry?’ Alexeis eyebrows rose in surprise. Carrie always ate heartily in the morning—but then, like him, she needed to restore her energy levels after the exertions of the night.
‘No, not really,’ she answered, and set down her fork, abandoning half of the delicious Eggs Benedict that she usually polished off. But she had no appetite—only that hard, heavy stone inside her.
‘You don’t feel well?’ he asked. There was concern in his voice.
She gave a quick shake of her head. ‘It’s just because it’s the last day,’ she said.
‘So New York has enraptured you?’ he commented. ‘Even though—’ a note of mock severity came into his voice ‘—you have hardly made the most of all the shops! Well, perhaps those in Chicago will tempt you more, ne?’
‘Chicago?’ Carrie’s voice was puzzled.
