Page 42 of Billion-Dollar Baby Shock

She said, ‘What?’

He shook his head.‘Nothing.’

She didn’t have time to probe further because he wasaccosted by someone, who was followed by someone else.It gave Tara time to get her breath back and take in their impressive surroundings.She could glimpse an amphitheatre where an orchestra was set up, people milling about.It was more than impressive, the location was stunning, against a backdrop of ancient ruins and with the vast sky and sea beyond.

They were gradually encouraged into the amphitheatre and Dion had seats near the front and right of the stage.As the crowd settled, the music started and the opera singers’ voices swelled and filled the entire space.Tara was swept away.The fact that it was outside in the balmy air, with the moon rising in the sky behind the ruins…it was magical.She’d never experienced anything like it, and soaked it all up, rapt.

When it was over she looked at Dion, who was regarding her with an indecipherable expression on his face.He said, ‘You really loved that, didn’t you?’

She felt emotional.‘It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen or heard.’

There was a wry touch to Dion’s mouth.‘Now you’re making me feel jaded.’

‘Good,’ Tara responded tartly.‘If you’ve lost the ability to appreciate such beauty then I fear for your soul.’

‘My soul was lost a long time ago.’

Tara looked at him.‘No, it’s still there, it’s just buried under layers and layers of self-protection and cynicism.’

* * *

Dion might have argued with Tara but she excused herself to go to the bathroom before they left and he found himself waiting for her as the guests made their way back out of the venue.Night had fallen now and Dion had toadmit that he couldn’t really have argued with Tara because she was right.

She was also the only person he could imagine saying something so blunt to him.Self-protection and cynicism.The fact that shesawhim was both disturbing and exposing.He’d told her so much.Spilled his guts to her, practically from the moment he’d met her.

He knew he was cynical.He couldn’t remember a time when he hadn’t been cynical.As for self-protection…wasn’t that just what everyone did?Otherwise how could you function in the world?You wouldn’t last two minutes before being crushed under the pain and disappointment meted out by people.

She’d been in his life for mere days.Another reminder of what was at stake here.Falling under her spell and forgetting the devastation she could cause.

He’d looked out of his office window earlier that day and he’d seen Tara in the pool with Niko, holding him high before lowering him into the water.He’d been squealing with joy, arms flapping at the water.They’d been wearing sunhats.Niko in a sunsuit and Tara in a one-piece that might as well have been a string bikini for the effect it had had on him.

It had been a perfectly pedestrian domestic scene, a mother playing with her son, and yet it had caught at Dion in a million jagged places deep inside him.He’d felt a sense of poignant loss for something he’d never experienced.But he was also ashamed to admit that he’d felt a spurt of something that had felt suspiciously like jealousy.An emotion he’d never really encountered before.Certainly not for a woman.But he’d felt jealous of Taratoo, and her easy accord with Niko, and how she’d slotted so seamlessly into their lives.

The overwhelming sensation it had left Dion with was one of dread.He knew not to trust such a benign image.He knew the only things he could trust were himself and his son.They were a unit and they would be a unit long after Tara had decided to move on.And that was okay.He’d left her under no illusions that he expected anything else.

Her voice came into his head.‘You do expect something of me—the worst possible outcome.’

Yes, he did.Because he’d lived it.And he would do whatever it took to ensure he protected Niko from ever feeling as abandoned as he had.So this trip with Tara would mark the start of establishing some very necessary boundaries.

In your bed?asked a mocking voice.

Dion shut it out.He was in control here.Tara would stay well within the boundaries he was going to set for her.In his bed until such time as he no longer wanted her, and at a remove from the far too cosy domestic idyll they’d been enjoying since she’d appeared in his life.

* * *

Tara had never been to Paris.There had been a trip in her last year of school but she hadn’t gone because her younger sister hadn’t been well.The Eiffel Tower sparkled now under a clear starlit sky like an ornament, instantly recognisable.The streets were wide and tree-lined.Sophisticated bars with people sitting outside around tables, drinking wine and eating.

Tall, beautifully designed buildings soared high into the sky, windows lit up giving glimpses into high-ceilingedapartments, full no doubt of elegant people sitting around tables talking about all sorts of intellectual things.

Another poignant reminder of all she’d missed and another reminder of the man who was opening up her world in so many ways.

They’d taken a flight from the airport on the island and Tara had found a bag packed with an array of clothes and her personal items on board.She’d looked at Dion.‘How do youdothis?’She hadn’t even thought about the fact that they were flying to another country.Not that the staff in Paris had checked her documents.They’d been waved through to Dion’s car like VIPs.

He’d said, ‘Magic.’

Tara had snorted to hide how seductive it all was, being in Dion’s life where things materialised and getting from A to Bwaslike magic.

And now this, driving through the streets of Paris in a chauffeur-driven sleek SUV.Dion had been on his phone for most of the flight and was on his phone again, speaking in Italian.Tara couldn’t deny she was so impressed with the way he had single-handedly formed himself into this formidable titan of industry.No wonder he wanted to pass it down to someone, but she wondered if he’d even considered that perhaps he was hungering for more than that.That he’d wanted to create a family for himself.