since lunchtime.’
Over mushroom risotto he told her everything that had happened. How much he loved working outside, on the land. ‘But it’s more than that, Lexi,’ he said, tearing off a huge hunk of garlic bread. ‘Wine-making is so complex—and Greek wine has the potential to really do something spectacular in the marketplace—the way Australian wine did decades ago. And Xenon is pleased with what I’ve been doing. In fact, he’s offered to give me a permanent role in the family vineyards if I want it. And I do.’
Ah yes, Xenon. The one name she hadn’t mentioned. The massive elephant in the room as far as Lexi was concerned, although Jason clearly had no such reservations. He said his brother-in-law’s name with a mixture of loyalty, affection and the faintest trace of hero worship.
‘It was very decent of him to help you,’ she ventured.
‘Yes, it was.’ Jason’s silvery-green eyes—so like her own, only without the myopic tendencies—started shining with enthusiasm. ‘Without being too melodramatic about it, I owe him my life. If he hadn’t come and found me and plucked me out of the gutter, I don’t know where I’d be today.’
There was complete silence. With a hand which wasn’t quite steady, Lexi put her fork down on her plate. ‘What are you talking about? You went to him, didn’t you? You asked him for money because you were in terrible debt.’
‘Is that what he told you?’ Jason grinned and swopped his empty plate with her still almost full one. ‘The debt bit was right—but I didn’t ask Xenon for help. I think I was past the stage of knowing I needed it, when he suddenly appeared out of nowhere and told me he was going to give me one last chance to turn my life around. But that if I blew it, there wouldn’t be another.’
He finished off Lexi’s risotto. Then started talking about integrating into Greek village life and a young woman he’d met who now made such integration seem vital, but Lexi barely took in a word he was saying.
She didn’t understand.
Xenon had come to her and made it sound as if Jason was demanding financial help—and that he would withhold that help without her co-operation. But now Jason was telling her that Xenon had been the instigator. That he had gone to her brother and offered him a solution to his problem.
Why had he done that?
There was only one reason she could think of. The same reason he’d given her for wanting to stay married to her—childless or not. Because he loved her. Because he’d never stopped loving her.
Oh, God.
She made herself coffee and poured Jason a second glass of wine. ‘Do you happen to know where Xenon is?’ she asked casually.
‘Sure. He’s in Hollywood. It’s the tenth anniversary of My Crazy Greek Father coming up and there are loads of celebrations planned.’
Lexi chewed on her thumbnail. Athens would have been simpler and London simpler still. Hollywood seemed like a scary kind of place and one she’d moved on from a long time ago. And could she really risk making a transatlantic flight on the evidence of a single fact which might no longer mean anything?
She felt the twist of pain in her heart.
Could she risk not doing it?
With Jason sleeping soundly in the spare room, she tossed and turned all night, trying to reinforce all the reasons why it was best to leave things as they were. But the morning brought with it nothing but a burning certainty that she couldn’t let matters rest.
‘How long are you staying?’ she asked Jason.
He shrugged. ‘That depends how long you’ll have me. I’m not due back in Athens for a couple of weeks.’
She tossed him a spare set of keys. ‘Stay as long as you like. I have to go away for a few days.’
She could see the look of gratitude on his face and she guessed her offer was yet another mark of his successful rehabilitation. She would never have allowed him the freedom of her house before now.
She hadn’t booked a flight in a long time—actually, when she stopped to think about it, she’d never booked a flight for herself. Her management had always done it when she was in The Lollipops and when she’d been with Xenon, his private jet had always been at her disposal.
It was a fiddly business but she sorted out her ticket and all the entry requirements she needed to get into the US, and three days later her plane passed the giant Lego-like skyscrapers of Los Angeles, before coming in to land.
The palms of her hands were clammy and her stomach was tying itself up in knots. She hadn’t told Jason she was coming here and she certainly hadn’t warned Xenon of her plans. She wanted to see the expression on his face when he saw her again. She was scared that his love for her might have died. She was scared that he might now have considered himself lucky to have escaped from the prospect of a childless marriage.
She knew he always stayed at the hotel on Wilshire Boulevard owned by his friend Zak Constantinides, but, of course, all that could have changed. These days he might have changed his allegiance to one of the newer, trendier places on Sunset Boulevard, which she’d discovered on the Internet. Nevertheless, she’d booked into Zak’s hotel, even if the room rates had made her eyes water.
She waited until she had taken her bags upstairs before she dialled Xenon’s number and her heart started pounding when he picked it up on the third ring.
‘Lex,’ he said, his voice sardonic and not particularly welcoming. ‘This is a surprise.’
‘Yes, I realise that. I want to... I wondered if we could have a talk.’
‘I got the distinct impression we’d said everything there was to say.’
There was no softening in his voice. Not a single hint that he was pleased to hear from her. She sensed that he wasn’t going to make this easy for her. She was going to have to face the fact that it might be too late. Please, God, let it not be too late. ‘Could we?’ she persisted.
‘Go ahead. Talk. I’m not stopping you.’
‘I meant face to face.’
‘You might have a little difficulty with that one. I’m in Hollywood.’
‘So am I.’
A brief silence followed.
‘What did you say?’
‘I’m in Hollywood. Actually, I’m in Zak’s hotel and I’m wondering if you are, too. Jason told me you were over here, so I made a stab at guessing where you’d be staying.’
‘Presidential suite,’ he snapped and cut the connection.
Lexi told herself she should have waited before calling him. She should at least have given herself time to wash the long flight out of her system. As it was, there was barely time to splash cold water on her face and brush her hair into some kind of order before she took the lift up to the penthouse suite.
The door was on the latch and she pushed it open.
‘Xenon?’
