The Price of Fame by Anne Oliver Read Free Book Online Page A

leaving no breath for small talk.
    They arrived inside the terminal. ‘Thanks for everything,’ she said, well before they reached her check-in desk. ‘Um … I meant rescuing me and all…’ She trailed off. All, indeed.
    ‘My pleasure.’ His dark eyes twinkled in the harsh down-lights.
    Mine too
. She rolled her lips together before she said too much. ‘So … I … guess it’s … goodbye, then.’
    ‘Let’s just say
au revoir
, babe.’
    He bent to brush a chaste kiss across her lips. There was something about his expression when he straightened thatsent a little shiver down her spine, but then before she could look into his dark velvet eyes one more time he turned and walked away, disappearing into the crowd.
    Biting down on her lower lip, she fought an urgent impulse to call him back. Memories of his heat-slicked body against hers, their fevered moans and air ripe with passion swarmed through her mind. But more than that, he’d come to her assistance when she’d needed it, no questions asked. Why was she letting this man walk out of her life with almost no possibility of finding him again?
    She started after him, but a couple of steps on she realised it was too late. The terminal was teeming with chaos and commotion; she’d never find him and she ran the risk of missing her flight. And even if she caught up with him, what could she say? What
was
there to say?
    They’d shared one fantastic night. But the probability of him wanting more wasn’t a probability at all or he’d have tried harder to get her contact details. If he’d wanted to, he’d have persisted, found a way—men were like that. But he’d not asked her once. Not once. Happy to walk away. She told herself she was
not
disappointed.
    Charlotte was grateful for the comfort and relative privacy of the spacious Tabua Class window seat at the front of the aircraft. She didn’t have to look at other passengers, and the seat next to her was vacant. She plugged in her music player, closed her eyes and drifted …
    Cold …
Charlotte rubbed her arms against the aircraft’s air conditioning, fighting sleep and the images that had plagued her for the past six weeks.
    Flynn in her kitchen, impossibly handsome, and telling her, ‘I’ve decided to stand as a candidate for the next state election.’
    ‘You what …? Politics?’ She struggled to process his announcement. ‘I thought you were just networking at theelectorate, volunteering your skills. That it was part of your business plan for our wine and cheese place …’
    ‘There’s not going to be a place, Charlotte.’
    A chill swept down her spine. ‘But your viticulture course …’
    ‘I switched courses last year.’
    ‘And you didn’t tell me?’
Everything was spiralling away. ‘You didn’t bother to tell
your fiancée you were considering a career in politics
?’ Who was this man she’d thought she knew? ‘What happened to sharing? How could you shut me out that way?’
    ‘I know how you feel about being in the public eye.’ He shrugged. ‘And frankly, being married to a little grey mouse isn’t going to work for a future politician.’
    And she felt herself shrivel beneath his critical scrutiny. The guy who’d seduced her at sixteen with his flashing green eyes, his smooth words and good looks stared at her now with chauvinistic intolerance.
    ‘Take a look at yourself, Charlotte.’ His gaze crawled up her body once more. ‘Take a good look at this place.’ He waved a disparaging hand around her kitchen. ‘You’re living in a damn time warp. I need a wife who’ll stand by me into the future. A woman who knows how to make a fashion statement. One with some backbone who’s not afraid to speak up in public.’
    The utter betrayal of everything she’d ever believed in about him. About
them
.
    She jolted awake as the aircraft hit turbulence. Or maybe it was her stomach still tying itself in knots over his harsh words. So she concentrated on watching the twisting