It all made sense. No wonder Leo Zamos was the success he was. Being ruthless in business, ruthless in the bedroom, taking what you wanted when you wanted—a heart would surely get in your way if you had one.
And while Eve simmered, Sam, on the other hand, was having the time of his tiny life, relishing the adventure and the attention, his dark eyes filled with glee as he pumped his arms up and down and made a sound like a war cry.
‘I think someone approves,’ Leo said from the seat alongside when the attendants had gone to fetch pre-flight drinks.
‘His name is Sam,’ she hissed, her resentment bubbling over at how she’d been trapped into this weekend away, a weekend of continued pretence with people who didn’t deserve to be lied to. The only bright spots she could see were that the Culshaws and the Alvarezes were travelling together on the Culshaws’ jet, and that they would all have private quarters, which meant she didn’t have to pretend being madly in love with Leo twenty-four seven. She couldn’t have stood the strain of it all if she had. As it was, she didn’t know now how she was going to keep up the charade.
The attendant brought their drinks, advised there were two minutes until departure and discreetly disappeared.
What a mess. Eve poured a box of juice into a two-handled cup and passed it to a waiting Sam, along with a picture book to occupy him for a few minutes. How was she expected to act like Leo’s loving fiancée now? It had been so much easier last night when there had been so much sexual tension and simmering heat sparking between them. Now the tension and the heat had more to do with anger.
All to do with anger, she corrected herself with a sigh. She was over him, even if he did have a velvet voice and the body of a god.
Across the aisle, the subject of her dark thoughts raised his drink. ‘You sound like you have a problem.’
‘Funny you should mention that.’
‘You could have said no.’
‘I did say no, remember? And then you turned around and said yes, of course we would come!’
He shrugged, as if it didn’t matter, and if they’d been on any normal kind of plane, Eve could have given in to the desire to smack him. ‘What can I say? Maureen likes you. It means the world to her that you can go.’
‘You don’t care about Maureen,’ she said, keeping her voice low so she didn’t alarm Sam. ‘You don’t care about anyone. All you care about is yourself and what you want, and you’ll do anything to keep this deal from going off the rails, even if it means lying to people.’
‘You don’t know anything.’
‘I know you made the right decision to never get married. Because I understand you now, and I understand what makes you tick, and you might have a fortune and a private jet and do okay in the sack with women, but you have a stone where your heart should be.’
His dark eyes glinted coldly, his jaw could have been chiseled from the same hard stone from which his heart was carved. ‘Thank you for that observation. Perhaps I might make my own? You seem very tense, Evelyn. I think you might benefit from a couple of days relaxing on a tropical island.’
Bastard! Eve turned away, checking on Sam as the cabin attendant collected their glasses and checked all was ready for take-off.
The jet engines wound up as the plane taxied to the runway and Sam looked up in wonder at her, excited but looking for reassurance at the new sounds and sensations. She stroked his head. ‘We’re going on a plane, Sam. We’re going on a holiday.’
And Sam squealed with delight and the plane raced down the runway and lifted off. Good on you, Sam, Eve thought, finding the book she’d hoped to read a few pages of as the plane speared into the sky, at least one of us might as well enjoy the weekend.
She must have dozed off. Bleary eyed, she found her book neatly placed by her side, while beside her Sam was grizzling softly but insistently, unable to settle.
‘What’s wrong?’ Leo asked, putting aside the laptop he was working on as she unbuckled Sam from his seat and brought him against her chest.
‘It’s his nap time. He might settle better on my lap.’ She searched for the chair’s controls, although it was hard to manoevre with Sam’s weight on her chest. ‘Does this seat recline?’
‘I’ve got a better idea. There’s still a couple of hours’ flight time to go. You might both be more comfortable in the bedroom. Let me show you the way.’
And the idea of a real bed in which to cuddle up and snooze with Sam sounded so wonderful right now, she didn’t hesitate.
Maybe if she hadn’t been so bone-weary. Maybe in an ordinary airline seat, by holding onto the back of the seat in front of her to pull herself up, she could have managed it. Then again, she realised, maybe if she’d thought to undo her seat belt she could have done it. Damn.
‘What is it?’ he said, when she didn’t follow him.
‘Can you take Sam for a moment? My seat belt’s still done up.’
Leo turned into a statue right before her eyes, rigid and unblinking as he stared down at her restless child. And if she wasn’t mistaken, that look she saw in his eyes was fear.
‘Take him?’
‘Yes,’ she said, her hands under his arms, ready to hand him over. ‘Just for a second. I just need to undo my seat belt.’
‘I…’
‘I’ll give you a hand,’ said one of the cabin attendants, slipping past the stunned Leo. ‘I’ve been secretly hoping for a cuddle of this gorgeous boy.’
She took Sam from her and swung him around, jogging him on her hip so that he stopped grizzling, instead blinking up at her with his big dark eyes, plump lips parted. ‘You are gorgeous, aren’t you? You’re going to be a real heartbreaker, I can tell.’ And then to Eve, ‘How about I carry him for you? I’m probably more used to the motion of the plane.’ Eve smiled her thanks, retrieving Sam’s bear from the seat as Leo remembered how to move and led the way.
‘There you go,’ the attendant said a few moments later, as she peeled back the covers and laid the drowsy child down. ‘Press this button,’ she said, pointing to a console on the side table, ‘if there’s anything else I can help you with.’ And with a brisk smile to them both and one last lingering look at Sam, she was gone.
‘Thank you for thinking of this,’ Evelyn said, sitting down alongside her son and tucking his bear under his arm. And then, because she felt bad about the things she’d said to him earlier and without taking her eyes from Sam, she said, ‘I’m sorry for what I said earlier. I had no right.’
‘Forget it,’ he said, his velvet voice thick with gravel. ‘For the record, you were probably right. Now, there’s an en suite through that door,’ he continued, and she looked over her shoulder, surprised to see a door set so cleverly into the panelling that she’d missed it as she’d looked around.
‘Oh, I thought that was the bathroom we passed on the way. Next to the galley.’
‘That serves the other suite.’
‘Wow,’ Eve said, taking it all in—the wide bed, the dark polished timber panelling and gilt-edged mirror and adding it to what she’d already seen, the dining table and spacious lounge. ‘Incredible. A person could just about live in one of these things, couldn’t they?’
‘I do.’
Her head swung back. ‘When you’re travelling, you mean?’
‘You know my diary, Evelyn. I’m always travelling. I live either in the plane or in some hotel somewhere.’