Chapter Thirty two

HE HAD EVERYTHING he wanted. Everything. So why

wasn't it enough?

Massimo paced the floor of his Manhattan apartment,

where outside the glitter of skyscrapers meant you

couldn't really see the darkness of the night sky. A

bit like him. He was functioning as normal.

 Closing deals and starting new ones. Working out and going

to parties. Life had to go on in every sense. He knew

that. He'd even taken a woman to the theatre last night.

He stopped his relentless pacing and gave a ragged

sigh. She must have thought he was crazy. Successful

and beautiful, she'd made it plain she'd like nothing

more than to have him share her bed.

And just the thought had left him cold. Worse than

cold. His skin had crawled at the thought of touching

a woman. 

Any woman.

Except Toyin.

Damn her.

His pacing resumed. Why the hell couldn't he stop

thinking about her, despite his conviction that this

was the best thing for both of them? Because if he

couldn't give her what she really wanted then neither

of them would be satisfied.

An image of her face swam into his mind. Her eyes

black as a Queensland sky. Her dark hair threaded

with sapphires or tumbling free over bare shoulders.

The cool smile she'd given him as he'd left Antiochda.

He'd thought the flatness in her eyes had been for the

benefit of her watching brother, who was clearly ir.

ritated by this latest turn of events.

 But then Massimo re.

alised it was all for him. There had been no reproach

in her gaze just a quiet dignity, which had preoccu-

pied him all the way home to America and continued

to preoccupy him.

So what was he going to do about it?

His mouth tightened.

He had a problem. Wasn't it about time he started

seeking a solution?

Bright sunlight flooded into the breakfast room of

the Antiochda palace and the King sat back and

regarded his younger sister.

I wondered if you might take a run out to Assimenios Beach today,' said Drake.

Toyin pushed away her half-eaten dish of grape-

fruit segments and forced a smile to her lips. The one

which seemed to split her face in half but which she

hoped Drake found convincing, He probably did. He

wasn't exactly the kind of man who spent his life an-

alysing the facial expressions of women, especialy

not those of his sister. Why should he care if she was

happy or not?

'Any particular reason?" she questioned.

'Could be. I'm thinking of building a house there,

said Drake. 'And I'd like your input.

Mine?

Sure. Why not?"

Toyin opened her mouth to say she wasn't sure

her opinion was up to much at the moment. Then 

quickly shut it again.

 Drake was being more inclusive some-

fhing she had told him she wanted? It wasn't his fault

that she wasn't firing on all cylinders, she thought as

she went to her room and crammed on a light straw

hat over her curly hair. It wasn't anybody's fault

except for...

She stared into the mirror, aware of the new defi-

nition of her cheekbones and the shadowed hollows

of her eyes. She had to stop thinking this way. She

couldn't blame Massimo.