Aiesha wondered if he knew how close he would be to losing it all if she stayed in his life. No one wanted bad blood. Not in their family. Not in their social circle. Not in their business dealings. What would happen to his squillion-dollar deal if her father or stepfather gave a tell-all interview to the press? She was surprised one or both hadn’t already done so. There was money in it. Big money. The shame would be back in James’s life. Shame she had brought in like dirty baggage. She couldn’t escape her past. It would always be there like a horrible spectre just waiting for the worst possible moment to appear. ‘I’m going to the powder room,’ she said. ‘I’ll meet you back in the ballroom. We can talk about this later.’
His eyes took on a cynical hardness. ‘You think I’m that stupid? You’re going to run away as soon as I turn my back. That’s what cowards do, Aiesha. I thought you were stronger than that. Tougher. Seems I was wrong.’
She stood straight and tall and determined before him. ‘I’m not a coward.’ I’m doing this for you. Can’t you see that? ‘Don’t you dare call me a coward.’
‘Go on, then,’ he said through tightened lips. ‘Go. Run away from what frightens you. See how far you get before you realise you’ve run away from everything that matters to you.’
‘You don’t matter to me, James,’ she said with feigned cold, hard indifference. ‘Your money matters to me. It’s all I ever wanted from you or any man.’ She put on her bad-girl smirk. ‘Maybe I could look up your father. At least I’m legal now. Do you have his number?’
His jaw worked for a moment, his eyes turning blue-black with disgust. ‘Find it yourself.’ And, with that, he turned on his heel and left.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Two weeks later...
JAMES LOOKED AT his phone for the fiftieth time. No missed calls. No text messages. He knew he was being stubborn in refusing to reach out to Aiesha. But he wanted her to stop the game playing. He should never have fallen for that crack about his father. Of course she wouldn’t contact his father—he was too busy sunning himself on the beach at an exclusive resort in Barbados with not one, but two girls half his age.
James pushed a hand through his hair. Even his mother was having a better love life than him. She was holidaying with Richard in outback Australia, camping under the stars while he was sitting here brooding over the one that got away.
The press had done their thing over his broken engagement with Aiesha. The speculation had been excruciating but he had done his best to ignore it. He had more important things to worry about. He wanted Aiesha to come to him. To reach out to him. He had offered her his heart and she had tossed it aside like a toy she had finished playing with.
Had he got it wrong about her? Had she been playing him for a fool the whole time? He thought of the way they had made love. Surely he hadn’t imagined that once-in-a-lifetime intimacy. What about the way she had told him of her worst nightmares and fears? She had opened herself to him in a way she had never done to anyone else. He was sure of it. He knew her. He loved her.
He pushed back from his desk with a muttered curse. How long was this going to take? He was a patient man but this was getting way past ridiculous. He missed her. He ached to be with her, especially now as her career was about to take off. He’d read about her recording contract in the press. She had her first concert tonight in Berlin as a supporting act for a big-name band who was on a comeback tour. It was massive exposure for her. According to what he’d gathered from the press, if tonight was a success she would be joining the band on the rest of their world tour.
His phone flashed on the desk with an incoming message. He snatched it up but when he looked at the screen it wasn’t a text, but a news feed coming through on social media. His gut clenched when he read through the article that had been tweeted. Aiesha’s stepfather had given a warts-and-all interview to the press. It was nothing but a pack of lies. It disgusted him to read such trash about someone he loved so much. And of course the journalist had taken it one step further by including photos of his father and Aiesha’s role in his parents’ divorce. There was even a photo of her biological father outside the court where he had been sentenced to prison. The shame of it might derail her on her big night. Who would be there to protect her from the fallout? Who would be there to comfort her? To stop her having a meltdown in case it all got too much?
He clicked on his computer screen to bring up a flight booking.