Yes, but only one member of her family...not all of them...

My chest twinged with another sting of guilt. I’d learned from my grandfather’s mistakes, applied his good mentoring to my life and avoided the bad. Shouldn’t the same apply to Calypso? Especially when she’d been caught in the same web of greed as I had?

The urge to hash this out with her grew stronger. And yet the fear of repeating the mistakes of last year, driving her away, stopped me.

It didn’t help that over the last day or so she’d seemed under the weather, thereby curtailing any serious conversation I’d felt inclined to have or my reaching for that final resort of last resorts—tugging her into my arms in the dark of night and letting the mindless bliss of having her melt every fractious thought away.

Harmony and unstinting passion—it was a combination I would never have associated with her a few weeks ago, but I now craved to have it back.

My gaze fell on her as I entered the living area of the plane. She was chatting to one of the attendants, her alluring smile sparking heat in my bloodstream as she nodded to whatever was being said.

Unable to help myself, I let my gaze trail over her. The cream form-fitting jumpsuit caressed her luscious body from shoulder to ankle, its emphasis of her supple behind and lush breasts drying my mouth and reminding me that it had been three long days since I’d had the pleasure of her body.

The attendant departed, and as Calypso turned to sit I noticed the top buttons securing the front were left undone to reveal her impressive cleavage. My groin stirred harder and it was all I could do not to give a bad-tempered, frustrated groan.

I approached, dropping into the seat opposite her. She held Andreos like a buffer, her gaze stubbornly avoiding mine even though she was aware of my presence.

‘The silent treatment isn’t going to work where we’re headed. You do know that, don’t you?’

The blue eyes that finally deigned to meet mine were shadowed, her face still showing a hint of the paleness that raised an entirely new set of ruffled emotions inside me.

‘Don’t worry, Axios. I’ll put on the appropriate performance when needed.’

Even her voice had lost a trace of that passionate lustre that fired up my blood.

‘Are you all right?’ The words were pulled from a deep, needy part of me.

Her eyes widened, then she nodded abruptly and her gaze dropped to Andreos. ‘I’m fine. Just a slight...stomach ache.’

The unsettling sensation deepened, the niggling feeling that I was missing something escalating. ‘Did you take anything for it? I’ll get the attendant to bring you—’

She shook her head hastily when I reached for the intercom button, but I didn’t miss the shadow that crossed her face, the knuckles that whitened in her lap.

‘It’s... I’m fine, Ax. I think I’ll go and lie down with Andreos for a while after we take off.’