Only at the very end of the meeting did Pedro say, ‘Before we leave, can I remind everyone that menus for next Wednesday need to be handed in by Friday?’
As a thank-you for all the museum staff’s hard work in organising the exhibition, Helios had arranged a night out for everyone before the summer rush hit, all expenses paid. It was a typically generous gesture from him, and a social event Amy had been very much looking forward to. Now, though, the thought of a night out with Helios in attendance made her stomach twist.
There was a palpable air of relief when the meeting finished. Today there was none of the usual lingering. Everyone scrambled to their feet and rushed for the door.
‘Amy, a word please.’ Helios’s rich voice rose over the clatter of hurrying feet.
She paused, inches from the door, inches from escape. Arranging her face into a neutral expression, she turned around.
‘Shut the door behind you.’
She did as she was told, her heart sinking to her feet, then sat back in her original place opposite him but also the greatest distance possible away.
It wasn’t far enough.
The man oozed testosterone.
He also oozed menace.
Her heart kicked against her ribs. She clamped her lips together and folded her arms across her chest.
Yet she couldn’t stop her eyes moving to his, couldn’t stop herself gazing at him.
His silver chain glinted against the base of his throat. That chain had often brushed against her lips when he’d made love to her.
And as she stared at him, wondering when he was going to speak, his eyes studied her with the same intensity, making her mouth run dry and her hammering pulse race into a gallop.
His fingers drummed on the table. ‘Did you have a nice time at Greta’s?’
‘Yes, thank you,’ she replied stiffly, before she realised what he’d said. ‘How did you know I was there?’
‘Through the GPS on your phone.’
‘What? You’ve been spying on me?’
‘You are the lover of the heir to the throne of Agon. Our relationship is an open secret. I do not endanger what is mine.’
‘I’m not yours. Not any more,’ she spat at him, running from fear to fury in seconds. ‘Whatever tracking device you’ve put in my phone, you can take it out. Now.’
She yanked her bag onto the table, pulled out her phone and threw it at him.
His hand opened to catch it like a Venus flytrap catching its prey. He laughed. But unlike on Saturday, when he’d thought he’d been indulging her, the sound contained no humour.
He slid the phone back to her. ‘There’s no tracking device in it. It’s all done through your number.’
‘Well, you can damn well untrack it. Take it off your system, or whatever it’s on.’
He studied her contemplatively. His stillness unnerved her. Helios was never still. He had enough energy to power the whole palace.
‘Why did you leave?’
‘To get away from you.’
‘You didn’t think I would be worried?’
‘I thought you’d be too busy cherry-picking your bride to notice I’d gone.’
Finally a smile played on his lips. ‘Ah, so you were punishing me.’
‘No, I was not,’ she refuted hotly. ‘I was giving myself space away from you because I knew you’d still expect to sleep with me after an evening of wooing prospective brides.’
‘And you didn’t think you’d be able to resist me?’
Her cheeks coloured and Helios felt a flare of satisfaction that his thoughts had been correct.
His beautiful, passionate lover had been jealous.
Slender, feminine to her core, with a tumbling mane of thick dark blonde hair, Amy was possibly the most beautiful woman he’d ever met. A sculptor wouldn’t hesitate to cast her as Aphrodite. She made his blood thicken just to look at her, even dressed as she was now in an A-line navy skirt and a pretty yet demure lilac top.
But today there was something unkempt about her appearance that wasn’t usually there: dark hollows beneath her taupe eyes, her rosebud lips dry, her usual glowing complexion paler than was normal.
And he was the cause of it. The thought sent a thrill through him. Whatever punishment she had hoped to inflict on him by disappearing for a few days, it had backfired on her.
He would never let her know of the overwhelming fury that had rent him when he’d seen the box she’d left by his door.
Which reminded him...
He slid the thick padded envelope he’d placed on the table towards her. Smashing the box when his anger had got the better of him had caused the perfume bottles to spill and ruin the books, but the jewellery had been left undamaged.
Her eyes narrowed with caution, she extended an elegant hand to it and opened it gingerly. Her mouth tightened when she saw what was inside.