The Bridegroom's Vow. Rebecca Winters

truth to the gossip in the tabloids.

      But Alex regarded him in a different light. To her, raven-haired Dimitrios Pandakis could well be the supreme ruler of the gods who shaped the corporate world below. One word of displeasure from his sensuous lips was like the proverbial thunderbolt hurled at those who lied or broke oaths.

      The experience nine years ago had already provided her with firsthand knowledge that he was the god of justice and mercy and a protector of the weak.

      After saving her from the unwanted attentions of his cousin, he’d shown her kindness before removing the other man from her sight. But he’d taken away a lot more than that. He’d gone off with her young girl’s heart.

      Quite simply, his intervention changed the course of her life.

      As her eyes took their fill of him, the ache to touch him intensified. More than ever she realized it would never be enough to be just his private secretary. Reason declared that the end of the fair would have to be the end of the road for her. The cessation of all fantasy.

      Exhausted from too little sleep and her emotional struggle, she put her things away and lay back, willing oblivion to come if only for a little while.

      It was a shock to finally wake up to her surroundings and discover that the interior lights had come on. Outside the plane they were cloaked in darkness.

      She checked her watch. Heavens. How could she have been asleep seven hours?

      Though alone for the moment, she was conscious of the sound of male voices coming from the cockpit area. Judging by their chuckles, someone was telling an amusing tale.

      Probably she’d snored, or her stomach had growled so loudly they’d all heard it. Either possibility was so humiliating, Alex shot out of her seat and used the time to freshen up in the bathroom.

      While she was repinning her hair to secure it better after her long sleep, she noted that the plane had started to encounter some turbulence. She didn’t pay much attention to it until the Fasten Seat Belts sign flashed overhead.

      Alex put in the last pin, then left the bathroom and hurried to her seat. As she strapped herself in, she saw Dimitrios emerge from the cockpit, his expression sober.

      “I was about to do that for—”

      But she wasn’t destined to hear him say anything else because the plane hit an air pocket, sending him flying. He crashed against the wall. By the position of his body, he’d been knocked unconscious. She saw blood.

      “Dimitrios!”

      They were dropping out of the sky as if being pulled toward a giant lodestone.

      Please, God. Don’t let anything happen to him.