Page 68 of Modern Romance July 2025 #4-8

CHAPTER FOUR

H AD SHE MADE the right decision?

It was a clear-cut deal and, in the end, he hadn’t forced her into anything.

He had given her an opt-out clause and, when he’d heard about her mother’s ill health, had been gracious enough to offer the money without the stipulations.

He might no longer have feelings for her outside a basic physical attraction he wanted to kill off but he hadn’t rammed her into a corner and forced her hand.

He’d never been that kind of guy. Underneath the tough exterior, she had always seen the gentleness inside him.

Life had toughened him up, and bitterness had scarred his memory of her, but he essentially remained a fair-minded man despite the ruthless streak that had propelled him to the top of the food chain.

Cassie knew that she could have taken him up on his offer to claim the money and walk away, but she’d rejected that, because seeing him had fired up her own memories of what it had felt like for her body to yearn for his. She, too, had buried those sexual feelings and presumed them to be dead.

One look at Leo’s handsome face and the past had rushed back at her, bringing everything with it, and the force of that resurrected past had made her agree to what he was offering.

She’d wanted the strings attached. The difficult bit had been telling her mother, who’d been confused and alarmed at her daughter’s sudden need to disappear for a week.

Cassie could hardly blame her. One minute she was saying that she was far too busy to have a life, that the skies were falling down around them, and the next minute she was doing a disappearing act to shores unknown for a much-deserved break.

‘Can we afford it?’ her mother had asked worriedly, and Cassie had immediately put her mind to rest on that score by telling her that things were looking up on the financial front.

It had been a good prelude to the news that would materialise within weeks that all their money problems had been solved.

Cassie had no idea what she was going to say to explain that.

A lottery win? A kind investor who wanted to buy the unprofitable dregs of the family business through the goodness of his heart?

A mysterious donor who had read about their situation and decided to hand them a wad of cash, no strings attached?

The last might be the most accurate, bar the attached strings, but there was no way she was going to breathe a word about Leo.

She knew her mother would be appalled if she suspected that her daughter was going to sleep with the guy who had broken her heart for an injection of cash.

Even if she tried to explain the situation, to reassure her mother that the decision was entirely mutual, she knew that Mary would be bitterly disappointed, and at the back of Cassie’s mind was all that stuff about trying to make sure her mother had to deal with as little stress as possible.

It didn’t bear thinking about, so she’d have to cross all the bridges regarding their sudden good fortune when the time came.

For the moment… Standing by the window of her apartment, waiting for Leo’s driver to arrive, Cassie felt yet another attack of sheer nerves.

It had been a week since she’d seen him.

‘That should be long enough for you to sort out whatever you have to sort out.’

‘It might not be,’ Cassie had immediately objected. ‘A week isn’t much time to get things in order with work…and then there’s Mum.’

‘You’ve laid down your ground rules, Cassie,’ he had told her coolly and firmly. ‘I’m giving you a week. My driver will collect you and I’ll email you everything you need to know about where we’re going.’

Cassie had conceded defeat. He’d already been exceedingly generous; she wasn’t going to start pushing her luck. She got the feeling that Leo had become a guy who didn’t have much of a soft side and she’d already used up some of it. Besides, the sooner she did this, the better.

She looked at her case on the ground next to her and hoped that the clothes she’d packed were going to do the trick.

Lots of hopes, fears and keyed up nervous tension built but, as she settled into the back seat of his chauffeur-driven car and peered around to catch a departing glimpse of the town, already turning white under light flurries of snow, the thread of excitement also wended its way through her veins.

She rested back and prepared herself for the journey that lay ahead.

Leo relaxed back and gazed at a blazing sunset. He actually hadn’t been in his villa here on Mustique for over a year. He was extremely satisfied with his choice of destination for their one-week interlude: sun, sea and sex; what could go wrong?

He glanced at his watch. All arrangements had been made for Cassie to be delivered to his villa. He would have made the trip with her, but he had already been in Europe on business and had flown straight from his apartment in Paris.

Still… Leo swirled his drink in one hand and smiled with a warm glow of anticipation…

it wasn’t as if she wouldn’t be travelling in style.

She’d fly first class to St Lucia where she would be ushered to a special lounge to wait to board the tiny eighteen-seater plane which he had commandeered for her sole use.

Life throws curveballs , he couldn’t help but think.

Back in the day, he would have been the one too strapped for cash to take a domestic flight, never mind a long-haul one, while she would have been the one waving bye-bye to Canada as she boarded a jet for somewhere exotic. Obviously, nowhere near as exotic as this, but who was going to split hairs?

It was a pleasant thought and he enjoyed it until he heard the sound of his doorbell.

Every muscle in his body tensed in heady anticipation but he didn’t rush as he sauntered away from the wraparound porch with its fine view of sky and ocean, both submerged in inky darkness, and headed towards the front door.

There was no need to rush. He had a whole week and he intended to make sure he took his own sweet time… She was going to be enjoyed in ways that would make her blush. He’d had one taste of her and it had been never forgotten. A feast now awaited.

Cassie was a bag of nerves.

She hadn’t quite known what to expect aside from the fact that she would be going somewhere hot, that the trip would be quite long and that she should bring casual clothes.

I’m not usually a fan of surprises , he had written in his email, but, since this whole situation has come as a surprise, why not go with the flow?

Cassie hadn’t argued.

He had already begun the business of sorting out all her financial woes and her relief had been so huge that she would have willingly hopped on a rocket to Mars to meet him.

Everything, from his driver collecting her to arriving here now, had been pretty amazing: first class flight to St Lucia, with such attention paid to her that she’d felt like royalty, then ushered into a lounge clearly designed for very rich people before catching a connection to one of the most exclusive islands on earth.

Then she’d been met at the airport here by a wonderful guy called Walt who had ushered her to a bright-red buggy that had reminded her of a bigger than average golf buggy.

And how glorious it was to feel the breath of warm air on her skin, to hear the sound of the ocean in the distance and the harmonious noises of insects going about their nightly business in the lush bushes and dense undergrowth that spilled all around them.

How glorious to remember what it felt like not to be plagued with worry every waking moment.

The small roads were empty, as apparently no cars were allowed on the island. Instead, transport was via buggies.

She doubted anyone would want to do much driving here.

She quickly got the feeling that people came here to escape and that meant doing nothing but soaking up the sun and sea in utter privacy.

Massive villas hid behind the coconut trees and the lush vegetation of tropical foliage.

She could almost hear the sound of expensive batteries being recharged.

She could smell the ocean in the salty air as the breeze blew her hair around her face.

All around, the silhouettes of palm trees leaned into the breeze, the fronds whispering in the night.

She’d dressed in light clothes, but even so the jeans and shirt felt hot and stuffy. It would be good finally to relax and unwind but right now, standing in front of the door and hearing the bell reverberate inside the villa, nervous tension banished all thought of relaxing or unwinding.

She heard the echo of Leo’s footsteps before the door was pulled open and then there he was, standing in front of her, and the punch to her gut made her feel as though she hadn’t just seen him a week ago.

He was barefoot and in a pair of low-slung, slim-fitting khaki shorts that were almost knee-length.

His tee-shirt was grey, loose and designer.

‘On time…come in. That’s all for now, Walt, I’ll take it from here.’

He reached down to grab her case and then stood aside so that she could precede him into the villa.

And what a villa. It was all on one level, but that one level was vast and circled by a broad veranda with white, wooden railings.

Inside, the tiles were cool, white marble and, as she followed him through, she noticed they were replaced with blond wood.

Everything was open-plan and overhead fans were scattered here and there.

There was a lot of white, so the place felt vast. She walked past a cluster of white sofas arranged around the pale, pastel shades of a silk rug and beyond that she could see enormous glass doors that had been flung open to a vista of sprawling lawn illuminated by the moon and outside lights.