Helios Crowns His Mistress. Michelle Smart

a new dress to wear for their meal, before late-night shopping was over. She wouldn’t have time tomorrow, with Saturday being the museum’s busiest day.

      After hurriedly turning her computer off and shuffling papers so her desk looked tidy, and not as if she’d abandoned it whilst in the middle of important work, she rushed out of her office and headed downstairs to see if Pedro was still about and could lock up.

      She came to an abrupt halt.

      There, in the museum entrance, talking to Pedro, stood Helios.

      She wasn’t quick enough to escape. Both of them turned their faces to her.

      ‘Speak of the woman and she shall appear,’ said Pedro, beaming at her.

      ‘What have I done?’ she asked, squashing the butterflies in her stomach and feigning nonchalance.

      Pedro grinned. ‘Don’t look so worried. Helios and I have been discussing your future.’

      Within the confines of the museum the staff addressed Helios by his first name, at his insistence.

      ‘Oh?’ Her gaze fell on Helios. ‘I thought you were going to Monte Cleure,’ she said before she could stop herself.

      ‘My plane leaves in an hour.’

      Her chest compressed in on itself. Stupidly, she’d looked up the distance between Agon and Monte Cleure, which came in at just over one thousand two hundred miles. Just over two and a half hours’ flying time. With the time difference factored in he would be there in time to share an intimate dinner with the Princess.

      She pressed her lips together to prevent the yelp of pain that wanted to escape and forced her features into an expression of neutrality. Helios had so much power over her she couldn’t bear for him to know how deeply it ran.

      Oblivious to any subtext going on around him, Pedro said, ‘I was going to leave this until tomorrow, but seeing as you’re here there’s no time like the present—’

      ‘We were saying how impressed we are with your handling of the exhibition,’ Helios cut in smoothly. ‘You have exceeded our expectations. We would like to offer you a permanent job at the museum when your secondment finishes.’

      ‘What kind of job?’ she asked warily. A week ago this news would have filled her with joy. But everything was different now.

      ‘Corinna will be leaving us at the end of the summer. We would like you to have her job.’

      Corinna was second only to Pedro in the museum hierarchy.

      ‘There are far more qualified curators than me working here,’ she said non-committally, wishing Pegasus might fly into the palace at that very moment and whisk her away to safety.

      ‘Pedro is happy to train you in the areas where you lack experience,’ said Helios, a smile of triumph dancing in his eyes. ‘The important thing is you can do the job. Everyone here likes and respects you...curators at other museums enjoy collaborating with you. You’re an asset to the Agon Palace Museum and we would be fools to let you go.’

      If Pedro hadn’t been there she would have cursed Helios for such a blatant act of manipulation.

      ‘What do you think?’ he asked when she remained silent. His dark eyes bored into her, a knowing, almost playful look emanating from them. ‘How do you like the idea of living and working here permanently?’

      She knew exactly what he was doing and exactly what he was thinking. He knew how much she loved her job, his island and its people. Helios was working tactically. He thought that if he threw enough incentives at her she would be so overcome with gratitude she would allow him back into her bed.

      She’d entered their relationship without any illusions of permanency. It had suited her as much as it had suited him. Desire was what had glued them together, and it scared her to know that despite all the protective barriers she’d placed around herself he’d still slipped inside. Not fully, but enough for pain to lance her whenever she thought of him and the Princess together. When she thought of her own future without him in her life.

      How could she continue to be his lover feeling as she did now, even putting aside the fact of his imminent engagement?

      His engagement had hammered home as nothing else could that she was good enough to share his bed but not good enough for anything more.