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‘You really don’t like me,’ Leonidas breathed in wonderment
‘What’s to like?’
‘I’ll make it up to you—’
‘No!’ Her interruption was iot around the rules with other people ‘You can’t buy yourself out of this one I don’t want your money I just want you to sort this out I want my bedroom back I want a peaceful household There isn’t room here for you to have a bunch of live-in staff’
That evening, she came home to find all her possessions back in her old room and that there was blissful silence She baked him some Baklava as a thank-you and left it with a note on the table Two days later, he asked when she was going to pick up his unwashed shirts froen did not include such uests and that hell would freeze over before she touched his shirts, Leonidas asked hoas supposed to e without household support
‘Are you really that helpless?’ Maribel queried in astonishment
‘I have never been helpless in my life!’ Leonidas roared at her
Of course he was—totally helpless in a doe to heart and Leonidas felt that he had to prove himself So he burned out the electric kettle on the hob, ate out for every meal and tried to wash his shirts in the tuested his staff came back but lived out An uneasy peace was achieved, for Leonidas could, when he made the effort, charm the birds from the trees She was surprised to discover that he was actually very clever
Two days before he ered in at dawn hopelessly drunk Awakened by the noise he ot out of bed to lecture him about the evils of alcohol, but was silenced when he told her that it was the anniversary of his sister’s death Shaken, she listened but learned little, as he continually lapsed into Greek before finally co in her
‘Because I’m nice and I’ in her for any other reason She knew herself to be pluht when Maribel fell head over heels in love with Leonidas Pallis: when she registered the huloss sophistication, who could not cope with the emotional turmoil of his bad memories
The day heof his intention, he kissed her In the ht his ry deid She jerked back from him in amazement and discomfiture ‘No!’ she told him with vehemence
‘Seriously?’ Leonidas prompted, his disbelief patent
‘Seriously, no’ Her lips still tingling froht of his, she backed away frohed to cover her embarrassment It was her belief that he had kissed her because he had very little idea of how to have a platonic friendship with a woman
Knowing how Iuilty about that kiss that she confessed to her cousin Iled like a drain ‘Someone must’ve dared Leonidas to do it! I ot the looks or the sex appeal to pull him on your own, is it?’
Her earliest ed as her thoughts drifted back to the present Leonidas had cast a long dark shadow that had so the years that followed When Maribel had occasionally en, she had utilised a tart sense of huether billion-pound business deals, Leonidas had continued to run through an unending succession of gorgeous woen, however, had worked less and had become more and more immersed in her destructive party lifestyle Over a year before her death, Leonidas had stopped taking Ien’s phone calls
Maribel caught Elias as he ran past her and pulled hiles Her eyes overbright, she resisted the urge to hug hile free to return to his play He was so happy She did not believe that Leonidas had ever known that kind of happiness or security Elias depended on her to do as best for him She did not believe that any father was better than no father at all; she refused to believe that
Leonidas was conscious of annoyance when he saw Elias Greenaway’s birth certificate: he had not been naanised immediately’
The three lawyers seated on the other side of the table tensed in concert ‘Where a couple are unmarried, DNA tests can only be carried out with the mother’s consent,’ the most senior of the trio imparted ‘As your name isn’t on the birth certificate, you don’t have parental responsibility either May I ask if you have a cordial relationship with Miss Greenaway?’