Page 29 of 2 Books in One Bundle

‘It would be the ideal opportunity. Would you mind?’

‘I don’t know,’ she confessed with a faint frown. ‘What if they hate me? What if they think I’m a gold-digger who’s deliberately trapped you or something?’

‘They won’t,’ he said, glancing across at her, clearly bemused. ‘Why would they?’

‘I don’t know that either. I’ve never done anything like this before.’ She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, but it didn’t do much to ease her jitters. ‘I can’t believe I thought it was a good idea.’

‘You’ve never done this before?’ he asked, one dark eyebrow arched in surprise.

‘I’m not very good at relationships. I’ve only had three and none of them reached the meet-the-family stage. Not that that’s what this is exactly, I know.’

‘What about the fairy tale?’

‘It’s remained elusive.’

‘Why?’

‘I’ve been told I have a tendency to cling,’ she said with a wince. ‘It’s a fair assessment. I so badly want to be part of something bigger than just me, it sometimes skews my judgement.’

‘That’s understandable.’

Now the surprise was all hers. ‘Is it?’

‘Given your upbringing, I would say so.’

‘That’s quite some insight.’

‘It’s logic, nothing more.’

She supposed it was. It didn’t require a degree in psychology to look at the past to see how it influenced the present. She’d spent so many hours doing precisely that she was practically an expert.

‘Would it be logical to assume this is a first for you, too?’ she said.

‘Why would you assume that?’

‘Because presumably the women you sleep with—just the once, naturally—would get even more of the wrong idea if they were introduced to your family.’

‘Nowthat’sinsight,’ he said, neither confirming nor denying her point, which she would have found interesting had she not been reminding herself thatshewouldn’t be making that mistake, of course.

There was nothing to read into this evening, so she wouldnotbe thinking about how if she did marry him she’d be instantly part of the something bigger she’d always longed for. The in-laws. The nieces and nephews. The birthdays, the Christmases, the belonging.

She was only here because she was carrying his child. None of it was real and there was no point in wishing it was. Which she didn’t. Because that would be a one-way ride to despair, as she’d reminded herself this morning while she’d lain beside him, staring up at the ceiling in the half-light, wondering where they went from there.

Did they view last night as a one-off and hope it had done the trick? she’d asked herself, the questions tumbling around in her head like clothes in the wash. Or did they carry on indulging the off-the-charts chemistry and cross their fingers that it wouldn’t cause problems down the line? Neither course of action had seemed like a solid one but with desire stirring and thoughts of waking him upextremelynicely to be checked, option two had felt infinitely preferable.

As long as she heeded her own advice and kept in mind that what existed between them was purely physical, she’d assured herself, her heart would be safe. That he hadn’t slept with anyone else since her was irrelevant and didn’t require analysis, even if it had come as a surprise. Chemistry was simply one set of pheromones responding to another. She wouldn’t fall in love with him because fundamentally they wanted different things, so he was not and never would be the man of her dreams, and she wouldn’t be marrying him anyway.

‘This way,’ he said when they reached the landing. ‘Showtime.’

Zander planted a hand on her back to propel her in the direction of a purple panelled door. Banking the nerves and resisting the urge to cling to him for support, Mia braced herself for a situation that was filled with the unknown and went on in.

Great swathes of raspberry-coloured velvet hung at the multi-paned sash windows. The walls were lined with striped silk of a similar but paler hue and the woodwork was painted a fresh light green. The comfortable furnishings and abstract art were a clever combination of modern and traditional. With elaborate cornicing, gilt moulding and tassels dangling from the spectacular chandelier, sumptuous the room was, minimalist it was not.

But, beyond that, she barely noticed the décor. The warm pressure of his hand on her back vanished. All she saw was a bunch of impossibly beautiful, achingly sophisticated people, chattering animatedly in both Greek and English, clearly at ease and enjoying themselves, and all she felt now was a wave of longing so strong it nearly took out her knees.

‘Zan!’ said a stunning brunette, catching sight of them and heading over, her smile so bright it was blinding. ‘What are you doing here? We didn’t think you were coming.’

She reached up and planted a kiss on Zander’s cheek, and while he returned it Mia grappled for control because she had to remember that this family was not and never would be hers.

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