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‘And I’m sorry I can’t beyou happy for a change’

‘Mrs Andreakis?’

Leah flinched as her bodyguard, Boyce, cast a big, dark shadow over her As she stood, he cast a suspicious, cold look at Charlie, who had been too physically close to his e

As soon as the door slammed on the li souilty as hell Her hairdresser was afraid of being dragged into a htest chance of that happening when Nik couldn’t give two hoots what she did But cheerful, wisecracking Charlie, who had laughed her out of enuinely scared

Everyone was afraid of Nik And yet she had never heard hie Leah had walked in mortal terror of him until it had slowly sunk in on her, with the drip effect of his icy indifference, that she barely existed as a huain the shares her father had signed over to her She had been part of a business deal, nothing more

And yet there had been ti when she could have sworn that Nik looked at her with veiled loathing, when his voice could say the lightest things and sound like a whiplash of naked threat, when his very presence in the same room had made her feel round, never draw attention to herself, avoid hi had to et the shares Yet divorce had always been within his reach It was a mystery Leah had yet to fathom out

And now Nik, who had not varied his schedule in five long, endless years, had come home unexpectedly That fact returned to haunt her, anxious though she had been to evade it Her fingers clenched white-knuckled around her bag as she cliian terraced house The unfaithful wife, she thought painfully

But she wasn’t his wife, not his real wife, she reminded herself, just as she had often done in the weeks since she had o But her father would have been outraged and bitterly disappointed

Leah had spent the first seventeen years of her life pleasing her father, Max, in every way she could She had done as he advised five years ago She had est iven nothing in return But that time was past, she reminded herself It was almost two months since her father had died, the heart condition which had endangered his health for years having finally taken its toll

‘Mr Andreakis is waiting for you in the drawing-room,’ Petros the butler informed her

Leah hovered, nervous tension biting As a rule, she didn’t see Nik until he sat down at the dinner-table The belief that soain

He was standing by the ly masculine , her knees had weakened and her voice had caught in her throat Now Leah saw hi to detach herself had been lesson one

Nik Andreakis, the legendary Greek tycoon, possessor of fabled wealth and immense power From his hand-stitched leather shoes to his fabulously tailored rey suit, he was effortlessly elegant, supreht at seventeen, her impressionable little teeny-bopper heart ready to burst with sheer excitement

And Nik was a devastatingly handsoeous by any standards Thick ebony hair, golden skin, riveting black eyes as dark as night Wherever he went he was the focus of female attention And he knew it, was ah she rarely allowed herself to recall it, Nik had focused that eley on her

So was different Tension thrummed in the air Deep-set dark eyes scanned her ‘Your lipstick’s sed’

Her fingers flew up to her esture of dismay ‘Is it?’

Winged ebony brows drew together in slight frown Nik studied her intently ‘We haven’t gotto Paris’

Frozen with astonishment, Leah echoed, ‘Paris?’

Nik had already opened the door ‘Come on,’ he said with unhidden impatience

‘You want o to Paris with you?’ Leah stressed helplessly ‘Nowlike right now?’

‘Yes’

‘But why?’

‘A little business tied up with your father’s estate’ Hooded dark eyes probed the amazement that flashed across her face

And Leah was a left to sort out concerning her father’s estate Although Nik had not even bothered to attend Max’s funeral, he had arrogantly assu his lawyers to deal with her father’s property and possessions While Leah had been grieving, too bound up in her loss to consider the practicalities of death, everything her father owned had been sold— everything!

His beautiful house, his business investments, his very furniture and personal effects had all been liquidated into cash at Nik’s instruction Leah had not been left with a single ht never have existed for nothing remained to testify to his sixty-odd years on this earth Leah had been appalled by Nik’s insensitivity but by the time she found out it had been too late for her to intervene The deed had been done As usual, Nik’s orders had been carried out with speedy efficiency by his obedient staff

A quiver of helpless antagonis you actually overlooked?’

‘No So for has finally been located’ Harsh ee tension was briefly sta features as he read her mystified expression ‘At least I think it has been For your own sake, pray that I aht,’ he completed tautly

Paling, Leah stepped back fro her every nerve-ending ‘Forabout’

‘I hope not’ He swung on his heel

Leah made for the stairs A hard hand stayed her ‘Where do you think you’re going?’

‘To get changed’ Sudden fear licked at her She stared in shock at the lean, powerful hand clamped to her slender forear, casual gesture

‘There’s no time for that The jet’s ready for take-off’

‘Will we be coht?’ Her voice rose an octave as he literally thrust her out of the house ‘I have nothing packed!’

‘You’ll e’

‘What’s going on?’ Leah demanded frantically as the limousine dreay from the kerb

Ignoring her with supreme disdain, Nik picked up the phone and proceeded to talk at length in Greek

She didn’t understand a word A fleeting recollection stirred On their wedding-day she had told hie ‘Don’t waste your time,?

?? he had derided, and that had been the very first crack that appeared in her fantasy world Before the day was at an end, the crack had widened into a yawning gulf but it had taken a lot longer for reality to banish that fantasy world she had wanted so badly

Her temples throbbed with the tension in the air But her inner turmoil did not show She sat still, apparently co on her lap In Nik’s presence she had learnt to conceal her emotions Only that did not still the stormy flood of her hidden consternation and incomprehension

‘What is this all about?’ Leah asked a second time

Silence

Doggedly she persisted ‘I understood that Dad’s estate was all settled’

‘Did you really? I wonder,’ Nik responded murderously quietly

So in his intonation disturbed her Her delicate profile turned She encountered eyes as treacherous as black ice Her sto She had a sense of i disaster so powerful that she felt briefly sick

‘If you would just explain what— ?’ she began

‘Why should I explainderision that she was silenced

‘Young as you are, you are every man’s secret fantasy’ Who would ever believe that those seductive words had been uttered by the husband who had ignored her very existence for five solid years? Yet Nik had said those words the first day they met Why had he lied? Why had he pretended? Had he wanted those shares in that shipping line that badly? He must have done It was patently obvious that she had never been Nik Andreakis’s secret fantasy Bitterness treh her Nik had used her without conscienceas had her father, who had gloried in Nik’s wealth and status

Pained by the acknowledgeed for Paul— Paul, who hadn’t even knoho she hen he’d first approached her, Paul, the very first man in her life to respond to her as an individual with feelings and needs and opinions of her own He wanted only her He wanted her for herself He wasn’t trying to use her