‘That’s Mia! Unstoppable when she gets the bit between her teeth.’ A shadow crossed Ash’s face. ‘We’re very close, you know. We’ve been through a lot...’ He seemed to drift momentarily and then his face brightened. ‘Do you have brothers and sisters?’
‘One of each.’
Ash slid his laptop into its case. ‘And what do they do?’
He hesitated. There wasn’t enough time for that conversation even if he’d felt inclined to have it. He closed his briefcase. ‘I’m sorry, Ash. I have to scoot. I’ve got a plane to catch.’ He wondered if he’d sounded a little brusque, so he added, ‘I’m having an early dinner with my sister, actually, and I can’t be late.’ He stood up, held out his hand and smiled. ‘We’ll sort out the Amsterdam meeting, okay? Get things moving.’
In the car to London’s City Airport, Theo sank back into the seat and loosened his tie, considering what Ash had just revealed. In his mind, he went over the conversation he’d had with Mia on the way to Greenwich. They’d talked about cycling... She’d told him she’d never cycle in London. She’d even remarked that London was a long way behind Amsterdam for cycle paths, but she’d framed it in a general sort of way. He’d assumed that she was familiar with Amsterdam, given that she was Dutch on her father’s side at least—they’d never got as far as talking about her mother’s family—but he’d also assumed that she was based in London, like her brother, and she’d done nothing to dissuade him of it.
Why?
Suddenly the words he’d spoken in the hotel reception area came back to him: ‘I’ll order us a car.’
He swallowed hard. Had he overstepped a line without realising it? What if she’d never intended to accompany him to the planetarium, had felt pressured to go? If that was how she’d felt, she might have been worried that, if he knew she lived in Amsterdam, he’d ask to see her again...
He groaned inwardly. It was the last thing he’d intended—to come on too strong, to come on in any way at all. It was just that she’d taken him by surprise, thrown him off-balance with her clear brown gaze and her sweet smile, and when she’d said that the observatory was six miles away there’d been something in her voice, more than just hope in her eyes... She’d trapped him in her warm light, had drawn him in with a teasing glint. That was what had made him think she wanted to go with him...
He turned to look through the window, but it was her face he saw. The way she’d laughed at his lame joke, her hand on his arm, eyes full of...what? If he’d been sending out signals, then she’d been sending out signals too. He wasn’t imagining it. In the car, he’d had the feeling that there was a whole other conversation going on between them in a parallel dimension. He hadn’t known what to make of it, or what to do about it. All he knew was that for the past three weeks he hadn’t been able to get her smile out of his head, and it was confusing, because even starting to think about someone in that way again was precisely what he’d told himself he could never do.
He sighed. Now he wouldn’t have to think about it any more. Whatever he thought or imagined he’d felt between himself and Mia, she hadn’t wanted him to know where she lived, and that could only mean she wasn’t interested in seeing him again. She’d been helping her brother. End of.
He closed his eyes. Some part of his subconscious had misread the situation. No surprise! Experience had taught him that he couldn’t trust his own judgement when it came to matters of the heart, even if Mia did seem to be the polar opposite of his ex-wife, Eline de Vries. Supermodel.
A fist closed around his heart. It always happened when he thought about Eline. When he’d met her, she’d simply been a pretty student at the same university, the girl who’d stolen his heart. He’d loved her smile, her confidence, the way she could light up a room. He’d proposed to her on her graduation day and nearly died with happiness when she’d said yes.
Six months later, they were married. His only thought had been to make her happy, to be a better man than his father had ever been. That meant never touching a drop of alcohol, never releasing the inner violence that was his legacy. It meant providing stability and financial security—all the things he’d grown up without.
After university he’d started his own software development business, working from a room in the apartment until things had grown sufficiently to require a small contingent of staff. Then he’d taken a small unit by the river and started to build the MolTec brand.
Eline had wanted to be a fashion buyer, but fresh out of university she’d joined a company which specialised in fashion events...for the experience and the contacts, she’d said. At a catwalk show an agency scout had taken her picture, told her she had a distinctive look. She’d laughed about it but within a fortnight she’d been signed to a top agency and after that everything changed.
While he was working eighteen-hour days building the business, Eline was courting the limelight. While he was helping Bram battle alcoholism, Eline was partying. Her confidence turned into haughtiness; her sweetness turned sour. She’d said Bram was weak. She’d said that he should put Bram into rehab and get on with his own life—their life. She’d said he was neglecting her, that she needed him by her side, but Bram needed him more. Helping Bram through his illness was something he’d had to do, something he’d wanted to do. He’d thought Eline would support him, but instead she’d had an affair—not a love affair, but a casual thing. She’d done
