the fear and uncertainty of the moment she had left his office only the day before the rush of relief was so great that it pushed aside all sense of restraint, driving her into instinctive action without a thought of the consequences. With her phone still in her hand, she bent forward, lifting her face to press a swift, light-hearted kiss on Nikos’s lean cheek.
‘Thank you!’ she said again. Then froze as reaction hit home.
It had been meant to be light-hearted. Rationally, that was what she had told herself. But what thumped straight into her heart was a response that was very far from rational.
Just the scent of his body in her nostrils, the taste of his skin on her lips, the faint rasp of stubble breaking through the olive-toned flesh, went straight to her head like the most potent alcohol. Her mind swam, her vision blurring so that every other sense came into sharper focus. She couldn’t stop herself from letting her tongue slip out to experience, very softly, the faintly salt taste of his skin, knowing in that moment such a sudden rush of memories and sensations that she felt as if the plane they were in had hit sudden violent turbulence that swung them up and down and from side to side until she was dizzy with shock and sensation.
She wanted to press herself up against the hard strength of his body, wind her arms up and around his neck, fingers tangling in the jet silk of his hair. She wanted to turn her head just an inch or more, so that it met with the warm temptation of his lips. She longed to deepen the taste of him as their mouths joined, opened…
She knew her mistake even before the thoughts had fully formed in her mind. She felt his sudden tension, the stiffening of that long body, the way his jaw tightened until his whole face was just one rigid mask of rejection, so cold and unyielding that it was almost like kissing the carved, immobile face of some marble statue. She felt as if her mouth must be bruised by slamming up against it.
‘No!’
Nikos’s response was sharp and violent. The swift jerk of his head repulsed her foolish gesture, and he wrenched himself away from her with a force that had her almost losing her balance. Instinctively, her hand went out to grasp at Nikos’s arm for support, then immediately released it again as she felt the even more powerful rejection that stiffened it against her.
‘I’m sorry!’
Somehow she managed to stay upright. But the fight for equilibrium in her mind was harder won as she struggled with the terrible sense of loss that seared through her with the force of a lightning strike. She had forgotten that Nikos had told her he was marrying someone else, that he was committed to another woman. It was no wonder he had reacted so forcefully to her impulsive response.
‘That wasn’t any sort of come-on—truly it wasn’t. It was only a thank-you!’
Could the look he turned on her be any colder, any more distant? Was it possible that she could endure the icy contempt that seemed to strike with the force of an arctic blast and not shrivel under the force of it, crumpling where she sat?
‘It won’t happen again.’
‘You’re damned right it won’t happen again.’ Nikos turned on her in dark fury. ‘If you thought that you could win me round to giving you whatever you want by seducing me then you couldn’t be more wrong. I may have been caught that way before, but never again.’
‘You were caught?’ Sadie scorned. ‘In my opinion it was exactly the opposite way round! I was the one caught in your trap. The one you hunted down. You could never have been caught because I’m not sure you ever intended to marry me. You simply wanted to use me in your damned family feud with my father.’
‘Oh, I would have married you, all right,’ Nikos tossed back, the words hitting her like a slap in the face. ‘By then I was so completely obsessed with you that I would have done anything—however stupid—to have you in my bed. One night with you was not enough. Could never be enough. I would have put my head right back in the noose if only to have another one.’
What else had she expected? Sadie asked herself, struggling with the bitter pain that had put a taste like acid in her mouth. Had she really believed that Nikos would deny the accusation she had thrown at him? That he would claim—pretend—he had actually felt something for her? That he would even declare that he had loved her?
She’d known the real truth all along. Ever since her father had enlightened her. And yet it still hurt so terribly, ripping great raw and bleeding holes in her heart.
‘But not now,’ she managed.
‘Not now,’ Nikos confirmed darkly.
‘Of course you have a new fiancée now. A new lo…’
But her voice failed her then. There was no way she could form the word love. It didn’t belong on her tongue and it seemed to have formed a cruel knot in her throat, so that she could barely manage to breathe.
‘I will do my very best to create a wonderful wedding for you both.’
It was the only way she could thank him for the reprieve he had offered her and her family. The chance to try and make sure that her mother survived the upheavals in their life and maybe found a future to look forward to. The thought of her mother twisted on nerves deep inside her. She had made the best provision she could for Sarah, and that text at least made it seem that she was coping for now. But Sadie had never been away from home for more than a day since the truth about George had burst on the family. She could only pray that her mother would cope.
‘When will I meet your fiancée?’
Or even get to know her name? It was the first time she’d ever taken on a commission with so little information and no chance to meet the bride-to-be. She had never encountered a set-up like this.
‘You’ll have all the information you need when the time is right.’
At that moment a bell sounded and a light came on over the seats, an indication that they should fasten their seatbelts. Immediately Nikos held out his hand, palm upwards.
‘Phone…’ he snapped, with an impatient beckoning gesture of the hand that was between them.
Her mind still half on her mother and George, Sadie blindly followed the command that was in his rough, irritated voice. She had dropped her mobile phone into his upturned palm before it occurred to her to question what he wanted with it.
‘Hey—hang on…!’
But she had spoken too late. Even as she opened her mouth Nikos’s long fingers had snapped shut over her phone, and without another word he dropped it swiftly into the pocket of his jacket, out of sight and out of reach.
‘You can’t do that!’ she protested. ‘That’s my property!’
The look he turned on her said that he could do whatever he wanted and she couldn’t stop him.
‘I prefer to have your communication with the outside world under my control.’
‘But how can I keep in touch with my mother—with home?’
A touch of panic made her voice raw. How would her mother cope if she wasn’t at the end of a line to offer help if she was needed? The rough and ready support system she had been able to set in place might be enough, but only if Sarah could contact her daughter at any moment she felt she
