“You know what might happen if our enemies find out that you are close to someone?” Alexis said.

She was sure the end of that sentence was, like Anna, like Rose. Byron finished her blood, savouring every drop. “We haven’t heard of any moves by the Dreds in over a hundred years. I think now is the time to take a chance and see where this leads. I know this may end in pain for me, but I can’t turn my back on Amelia. She deserves more than sporadic dinner dates and snatched time together while I lead another life that she knows nothing about. She deserves a normal relationship, something that is very hard for me. Amelia is worth the effort and the risk.”

* * *

Amelia’s outburst of anger was now down to a simmer. She riffled through her flight bag, trying to find her small make-up kit.

As she looked around the lavish bedroom, she almost forgot she was on a plane. How could she, Amelia Honey from a little village in the south of England, fit in with an aristocratic, multibillionaire banking family? Everyone who was connected to Byron, even the plane staff, looked like they belonged in a Hollywood movie. She thought of the gorgeous air stewardess who had brought them drinks, with her perfect model’s body and her perfect blond hair, and then looked over to the free-standing mirror in the corner of the room and saw an ordinary brunette with puffy eyes, and wondered what Byron could possibly see in her.

There was a knock at the door and someone walked in. She knew it was Byron without even turning around. When Byron was near she could feel her energy in the air and smell her cologne. It drew Amelia to want to kiss her.

“Amelia? May I speak with you?”

“You can do what you want—you do anyway,” Amelia said with an edge to her voice.

She heard Byron sigh and felt two hands rest on her upper arms. “Please, look at me?”

Amelia’s anger was already starting to waver at the sound of Byron’s voice. That deep, low burr made her melt inside.

Amelia turned around, and Byron’s hands slid to her waist. “Amelia, I’m used to thinking like a CEO. I don’t rule by committee. I thought you would be pleased, that the idea of a longer holiday would be a nice surprise. I wanted to make up for all the times I’ve let you down, when I’ve cancelled our plans and you’ve had to stay at home on the weekend, when I should have been treating you like the princess you are.”

“Byron, I left my mum and dad’s house because they controlled everything in my life—what friends I had, what clothes I wore, what music I listened to—and I felt suffocated. I have a life when you’re not with me. I think sometimes you forget that when you’re jetting around the globe, doing trillions of pounds’ worth of business. I have a job, I have friends, and you can’t just fly in and make decisions, and disrupt my life.”