One Night to Risk It All(17)

“That, I could manage.” He pushed a button on his arm rest and gave the order.

She leaned back and crossed her arms. “Where are we going, anyway?”

“Back to my house. Away from the media firestorm that will no doubt ensue when they realize the bride has failed to show up for the wedding of the century. You’ll have to face the fallout eventually, but why not put it off for a while?”

It really did sound good. To avoid reality for just a bit.

“You can text your sister now.”

Oh, yes, that was a bit of reality she really couldn’t avoid. Otherwise her family would be sending the police after them. For a couple of seconds she entertained the idea of letting them arrest Alex for kidnapping. But that was a news story she didn’t really want her child going back and reading, so she decided against it.

Rachel pulled out her phone, her fingers hovering above the letters on the screen. What did you say when you did something like this?

“Why aren’t you texting Ajax, by the way?”

“Because I’d rather roll around in honey and get thrown into a badger den.”

Short and sweet, Rach. Don’t tell all yet. She looked across at Alex, who was now sprawled in the armchair like a lazy big cat. Twitching his tail, waiting for his prey to make a false move.

Yes, the less she said about the situation, the better. She knew next to nothing about it except that she couldn’t marry Ajax. And that she had to figure out what she was going to do about Alex.





I’m not coming. I need to be with Alex. I’m sorry. Please tell Jax that I’m sorry.





She took a deep breath, then hit Send on the exhale.

“Done. I told them.”

“What exactly?”

“That I’m not coming. Nothing more. Well, I mentioned you. Your first name.”

“We’ll see how long it takes Ajax to send a hit man.”

“Actually,” she said, as the plane engine started and they began to taxi around the runway, “I’m curious.”

“About?”

“Why didn’t you stop the wedding? Why didn’t you call Ajax and gloat? Why weren’t you hanging your sheet stained with my virgin’s blood out your window like some kind of marauding knight or whatever?”

He cleared his throat. “You kicked me out—I didn’t have time to take the sheet.”

“And that foiled your evil plan?” He said nothing in response. “I’m serious,” she said.

“Did it occur to you that maybe things changed because you were the one who found me?” he asked.

The stewardess came in with a tray of drinks. What looked like a scotch for Alex, the jerk, and an orange juice for her. She thanked the woman and wrapped her fingers around the glass, letting the coldness seep into her skin.

“I... No,” she said. “I hadn’t really thought of it. But...it is true. I am the one who found you.”

“Strange, don’t you think?”

“Maybe.” More than strange. But there was no denying it. There was no way to accuse him of putting himself in her path, either. She’d seen him first. She’d approached him. And unless his ego was even bigger than she imagined, he’d had no way of knowing she would have to go and talk to him when she saw him. That she would be hit with a bolt of attraction so intense it left her stunned and utterly senseless.

“I was there for you,” he said slowly, swirling the contents of his glass before taking a sip. “I won’t lie about that. I was there to find you and seduce you. But I had a plan, you see. You had a fundraiser later in the week.”


“I ended up not going.” She looked down into her juice.

“I know,” he said.

“How?”

“Because I went.”

“Oh.” She cleared her throat. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” he bit out. “But I was going to meet you there, at that fundraiser. And seduce you with my wealth and fortune. Seduce you away from my rival, slowly. Publicly. I was going to bring you over to my side of things and make him watch powerlessly as I did so.”

“And then what was supposed to happen to me?”

He shrugged. “That was of no concern to me. But instead, you found me on a dock after I’d just come in to Corfu. What are the odds of that?”

“Heck if I know,” she said.

“I wouldn’t know, either.”

“So what... So that’s why you didn’t tell Ajax? That’s why you didn’t call weeks ago and have the wedding called off?”

“I was as seduced as you were,” he said. “Though I hate to admit it. If I’d had any respect for my own plan I would have followed it. Instead...”

“Instead we met and spent the day together and then we...”

“Spent the night together.”

“And then it all went to hell,” she said.

“When I came to your house today... What I came for... It had nothing to do with revenge. I was there for you.”

Their eyes locked, electricity crackling between them, her heart pounding so hard she thought she might pass out.

Her phone buzzed and she looked down. She had a message from Leah.