The Billionaire’s Runaway Bride(51)

“We got it…we got permission. So long as we stick to the original dates we are on for Libya”

The woman on the other end had cheered, a muffled noise indicating that she was passing on the good news to others.

“I will organise the boat and all the equipment” Carol’s happy voice had chipped in, before it had become more playful.

“But are you sure you want to come along…….now that you are all loved up and all?” making a small purring sound as Grace had laughed back.

Returning to the villa had for the first time been like returning home. Grace smiled softly at the whimsical thought, her heart wondering if perhaps it might not be more than just a pipe dream as she had taken Alexos hand, as the two moved together into the house. Inside she had taken the opportunity to check her email as Alexos had moved their bags to the bedroom, groaning softly at seeing the long list of demands and assurances the Libyan government had insisted on for the research to take place. Sighing loudly she had ran her eyes over the list gasping as the sheet of paper had been plucked out of her fingers by a smiling Alexos.

“Now what would make my beautiful fiancée sigh like that?” he had chuckled, looking down at the sheet, his happy features melting away into disbelief as he had read the contents of the email. Looking back at her his eyes had been cold, hostile.

“What the hell is this Grace?”

She had moved forward to try and take back the sheet, Alexos moving it out of her reach as she had nervously pushed her hair behind her ear. “You knew that there was one last area that we were trying to finalise”

Nodding, his lips had been set in a thin line “I know…but I understood that the chances were that you would not be going…that you were not able to get permission”

“I just found out that they have agreed. That we can spend the two weeks as we had originally planned”#p#分页标题#e#

Alexos had turned from her, his hands on his hips as he had looked at the ground “And when were you going to tell me?”

Moving forward she had softly touched his back, feeling as he had recoiled, his body becoming rigid.

“Alexos, this is important. I only found out this morning…I was going to tell you this morning, but my mother arrived. I wanted to wait until we were alone…so that we could talk about it”

His voice had been low, controlled, “OK … so talk. Are you going?”

As she had remained silent he had turned around, his eyes dark and cold. “What if I don’t want you to go?”

Groaning softly she had looked back at him “Please don’t do this Alexos”

He made an irritated noise, moving closer to lift her chin. “I don’t want you to go Grace. I want you to stay with me”

Her eyes had been beseeching as she had whispered back “I have to…you know I do, but…”

Alexos released her and quickly stepped away, anger on his handsome face. “So that’s that is it? You did your month and now you are just going to walk away?”

Grace had moved after him “That is not fair Alexos. My work is important - you know that…I don’t have a choice, it is now or never”

“We all have choices Grace” he had cried at her “You just seem to be really bad at making yours. Your choices affect everybody, they always have”

She was so tired of being made to feel guilty about her actions in the past and balling her hands she had cried back at him. “You knew this might happen. It was your choice to build up everybody’s expectations, not mine”

Cursing loudly he had looked at the sheet once more, before fixing her with an icy glare. “This says that you need to be there in two days time”

Grace had nodded, trying desperately to talk, his hand raised to silence her, his voice clipped.

“Fine. Like you said it was my choice to keep you here”

Grace feeling as her whole insides had dropped, opening her mouth to beg him to listen to her as he had balled up the sheet of paper and thrown it to the side of the room moving away “Then go Grace, get the hell out of my life…and this time stay out of it”

Grace had frozen in shock at his words. He couldn’t mean them, not after the month they had shared, not after everything he had done for her. As the door to the villa had slammed, closely followed by the loud whirring of the helicopter blades once more taking off, she had felt the small pained moan leave her lips.

What an idiot she had been, thinking that he could ever support her work, as with a self-deprecating curl of her lips as she had sneered at her own stupidity. Why would she think that any man was different from her father, just because he didn’t want to see himself that way didn’t make it so. He had used her and continued to use her, hoping no doubt that she would want to stay with him of her own free will. Sitting heavily on the leather chair she had looked down at her entwined fingers. She had nearly fallen for it too, nearly begged him to let her stay, what an idiot she had been.