When she turned back to Theo, he had a bemused look on his face. She gave a little shrug. ‘Lotte’s very excited because Madelon Mulder’s making a surprise appearance tonight.’ He seemed unmoved. Ash would have been jumping up and down, fighting his way to the front—he had a massive crush on Madelon Mulder. Maybe Theo wasn’t into serious cinema. Hal had been into action movies and wouldn’t have recognised Madelon Mulder if he’d fallen over her. Maybe Theo was the same. She smiled. ‘Do you know who that is?’
He seemed to hesitate and then he smiled, eyes twinkling. ‘Yes, I do... Madelon’s my sister.’
‘Your sister?’
Mia was staring at him with wide, incredulous eyes. She had one of those animated faces that you found yourself mimicking subconsciously. He forced himself to blink. ‘Yes.’
Her eyebrows had disappeared into her fringe and her mouth was slightly open, her lower lip full, and rosy and extremely tempting.
He leaned closer. ‘You need to breathe, Mia.’
She shook her head a little, took a long sip from her glass then looked up at him. ‘Wow! You must be so proud of her.’
He nodded. ‘I am. Very proud.’ An image drifted into his head: seven-year-old Madelon putting on her little plays, using her dolls as actors—trying to entertain the family in whichever seedy temporary accommodation their mother had managed to find. ‘She’s come a long way...’
There was a burst of camera flash at the far end of the room.
Mia tilted her head. ‘You probably want to go over, right?’
He looked into her face, lost himself in the warm glow of her eyes. Couldn’t she see that he was exactly where he wanted to be?
‘Madelon and I had dinner together earlier.’
‘Of course you did.’ She pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead, rolling her eyes. ‘I’m such an idiot!’
He laughed. ‘Not at all. To you, she’s a movie star. To me, she’s just my little sister.’ He lifted a fresh glass of champagne from a passing tray and handed it to her, taking a mineral water for himself. ‘We get together whenever we can. Sometimes we spend a few days at the beach house.’
‘On Texel!’ She smiled. ‘I remember.’
He nodded. ‘Madelon’s catching a flight after this so we said our goodbyes earlier.’ A thought suddenly struck him. ‘But do you need to go over? If you’re writing something, maybe you need...’
‘No...it’s fine.’ She smiled ruefully. ‘They didn’t set anything up because there’s no time for an interview tonight. It’s great that we’re getting pictures, though. It’ll be good publicity.’
‘For sure.’ He managed a smile, but he could feel the muscles in his neck tightening. Madelon knew that her recent success had increased her currency; it was why she’d insisted on shoehorning a photo-op into her schedule.
‘Theo! Saving Grace will get a massive boost if my picture makes the press and goes viral on social media!’
As always, her intentions were good but, although he was proud and delighted about her critical success, he worried about the exposure that came with it. It was why he’d insisted that they shouldn’t be seen together tonight. It was only a matter of time before someone put two and two together and found out that Madelon was related to the CEO of MolTec. After that, who knew what they’d find? For Bram’s sake, he had to keep the wolves at bay for as long as possible.
‘Are you okay?’ Mia was looking at him, a little frown on her face.
‘Sure. It’s been a long day, that’s all.’ He smiled. ‘I was in London this morning, meeting with Ash. Did he tell you?’
She shook her head. ‘We speak most days, but today we seem to have missed...’
Her eyes held him softly, stirring his senses around, making him feel...what? When Ash had told him that she lived in Amsterdam, he’d felt bruised. He’d decided that she hadn’t mentioned it because she wasn’t interested in seeing him again. On the plane home he’d convinced himself that it was for the best, that relationships only brought heartache anyway. Hadn’t his father had almost destroyed his mother? Hadn’t Eline almost destroyed him?
By the time the plane had landed at Schiphol, he’d sorted out his feelings, stowed them neatly away, but then she’d walked right back into his life—backwards. And now, there was something behind her gaze, something in her clear brown irises which was melting all the thin ice around his feet. He wanted to spend time with her. God help him, he wanted to know her better.
He sipped his water. ‘Do you have to stay until the end?’
She shook her head. ‘The work I do for the refuge is voluntary and, since Madelon’s photograph is worth at least a thousand words, I think I’ll get off lightly this time.’
He put his glass down. He’d know soon enough if he was wide of the mark. ‘Do you want to get out of here?’
She looked surprised. ‘Didn’t you come with someone?’ She was blushing. ‘What I mean is...are you free...to leave?’
He liked that she’d checked first. He smiled softly. ‘If I’d come with someone, I wouldn’t be asking you to leave with me.’
She blushed again, screwing up her face into an apologetic little smile. ‘Of course. I’m sorry... I didn’t mean...’
‘I’m not offended, Mia.’
She blew out a sigh and laughed. ‘Okay, then...let’s go.’
CHAPTER THREE
OUTSIDE, THE NIGHT sky glowed orange over the city rooftops. Usually he’d have noticed how may stars were being hidden by all that light, but instead he was noticing the way Mia’s dress lifted in the cool breeze as she walked. He was noticing the little bursts of her perfume escaping into the air as she turned her head. He was so busy noticing things about her that it took him a few moments to realise that she was walking towards the bicycle stands.
‘You cycled?’
She smiled. ‘I cycle everywhere in
