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‘Our lives have been very different,’ he said, choosing his words with care ‘It’s pointless co them You have lived yours and I have livedforward

‘It just was’

‘But how?’ A troubled look flitted over her face ‘Christian, we are er’

He reached for his wine and took a s ‘You, agapi lamour and money You have no comprehension what it was like for us We were so poor that for a whole year I ithout shoelaces—trivial in the scheine it for a e of clothes I was the child people like you pretended not to see’

Alessandra was like one of those mythical creatures he had watched swish past this very taverna’s front while he’d swept the floor Unobtainable Better than him Better than he could ever be no ry colour stained her cheeks, and she opened her ue with hie that had sparked in her eyes softened ‘Maybe you’re right that I can’t understand what your childhood was like But I would like to try’

He didn’t want her to understand Christian wanted her to remain untouched by the deprivation andher into a bitter wolass three-quarters full would still regard it as being a quarter empty All the riches and success in the world hadn’t been enough to earn his mother’s love

He had no memory of the happy, vibrant woman Mikolaj assured him she had once been Love that had turned sour had soured her,he’d done had been enough to turn it into a lighter shade of grey

He didn’t want that for Alessandra Never for her

Alessandra needed protection froood response fro invitations,’ he said, deliberately and overtly changing the subject

One hundred and fifty invites had been couriered across the world It seemed even heads of state could drop commitments when it suited the their ‘ind courtship,’ as the press was dubbing it, their wedding was shaping up to rival Rocco and Olivia’s as Wedding of the Century One of the British glossies had offered one nored the offer He liked that Alessandra hadn’t been tempted to accept, one of the many ways she differed from all the other women he’d been with

But wasn’t that the reason he’d been with those wo in their eyes and so knew there was absolutely no danger they could ever develop anything like a healthy—or unhealthy, depending on your point of view—attachment to him? He hadn’t needed to protect those woain before she sank back into her seat, gazing at hihtful expression

‘All but a handful have replied and all in the affir a beat, she asked, ‘What about Rocco? Has he replied?’

It had been at Christian’s insistence that her brother had been invited Left to Alessandra, he would have been ignored, so the talking for her It would break her heart to walk up the aisle of the chapel in the grounds of the hotel without her brother on her arm

‘No,’ he admitted reluctantly ‘He hasn’t replied yet’ And neither had Rocco responded to the dozen e hile one of thees and calls from Stefan and Zayed too

The Columbia Four had been broken, just as he’d known they would be