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But Aristandros wasn’t listening He was frowning darkly ‘So that’s why you walked out on me in Paris…’

Ella tossed her head, her pale hair fanning back across a flushed cheekbone and brushed away by an impatient hand ‘That phone call may have made me a little touchier than I should have been’

He treated her to an austere appraisal ‘But once again it underlines how little you listen to what I tell you, khriso mou’

The inti alarer, but at a loss as to its cause, she blinked in be at’

‘That you should have told rated impatiently

‘And don’t you dare tell me that it was none of ht spoke for you! I don’t like the way you keep secrets from me It’s dishonest’

Ella sucked in a startled breath at that hard-hitting denunciation She could not credit what he was saying to her ‘You have so back ‘Maybe there’s a lot about you I don’t like: a guy who uses lawyers to blackreement to let him do whatever he likes, while I do only as he likes Is that what you call having a relationship? No wonder none of theer than five ive you my trust?’

‘Stop there before this gets blown out of all proportion,’ Aristandros advised harshly

But Ella was tre with pent-up emotion, and she could noinside than she could have contained a tornado Her blue eyes were as bright a blue as the heart of a flame ‘Do you think I could trust a man who once told me he loved me and wanted to marry me, but who dumped me less than an hour later? And why—because I couldn’t match the perfect blueprint of a wife that you had in your head? Because I had the audacity to want so iven up business and the art ofmoney to marry me?’

Aristandros had lost colour below his bronzed skin, and it lent a curious ashen quality to his usual healthy glow He stared steadily back at her, however, predictably not yielding an inch of ground ‘We’re not having this conversation,’ he told her

‘I’ a conversation Youat you!’ Ella yelled at him at full tilt, inflamed by his stony resistance to her verbal attack and his refusal to respond

‘Stah,’ Aristandros bit out icily

‘I hate you…even your grandfather thinks you’re treatinglousy manners, I listen outside doors as well!’ Ella threildly at hiiant balloon inside her to restrict her breathing ‘I’m definitely not the perfect woman you think is your due You’d better pray that I’m not fertile!’

And with that final parting shot, which was as low as she could think to sink, Ella fled out past the clutch of his staff in the hall ere trying to act like everything was nor at her She took the stairs two at a tie sob locked halfway up her throat, and raced into the master bedroom—her fourth since she had moved in with him

Ella very rarely cried A sad filreat deal toherself across the bed and sobbed her heart out She orried about her ed and violentBut, ht over the row she had just had with Aristandros It had started out a srown until it had torn apart the fragile fabric of the peace they had established, and destroyed the bonds they had soly but revealing truths, such as his fear that she ht conceive a child he didn’t want

Why was she getting upset over being at odds with him? At least she had spoken her mind on the trust issue She had trusted hiot her—dumped, heartbroken and rejected by her family Aristandros, however, had picked himself up in tiement that had only lasted five minutes with a widely reported cruise round the Mediterranean, where he had stopped off at various ports to booze and carouse non-stop with promiscuous women Ella struck the ry she wanted to scream She hated him; she truly hated him!