Chapter Forty-five

His dark eyes glittered in the flickering firelight. ‘Every other woman has been a pale shadow of you in every way.’

If her heart had been fluttering before, now it was frantically rattling against her ribs. Had she been wrong to leave him, fifteen months ago? Had she been wrong to keep Robby a secret? What if Xavier’s feelings had changed, and all this time he’d cared for her? What if—

He leaned forward as his lips curved into a smile. ‘I need you to come work for me.’

Sylvia’s heart stopped, then resumed a slow, sickly beat.

Of course. Of course that was all he would want. He’d likely forgotten their one-night affair long ago, while she would remember it forever—in her passionate dreams, in the eyes of their son. Sylvia stared up at Xavier’s dark, brutally handsome face. She saw the tension of his jawline, the taut muscles of his folded arms beneath his suit jacket.

‘You must want it badly,’ she said slowly.

He gave her a tight smile. ‘I do.’

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw he