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Leonidas stared with brooding intensity at the space Maribel had so recently occupied She had walked out on hi powerful fraly rare, but he had e the fact Why was she always judging hi to cootiate? What did it take to please Maribel? If it was a wedding ring, she was destined to disappointment, he reflected harshly, dark eyes hard as iron What kind of blacker was teet out of his head—his son taking refuge beneath the table with that pathetic dog It felt very alled hie was the knowledge that without Maribel’s permission he could not even see Elias

A week crept past on leaden feet for Maribel

She was surrounded and ambushed by paparazzi at home and wherever she went At her request, the police restricted the press presence to gathering at the foot of the lane, but she was still afraid to take Elias into the garden lest a stray photographer pop up froe or the fence She was also tormented by the fear that she had been unfair to Leonidas who, after all, hat he was because he had been horribly neglected as a small child

In Maribel’s opinion, his late mother, Elora Pallis, had had no more notion of how to be a parent than a shop- dummy An only child, the volatile heiress to the Pallis fortune of her generation, Elora had racked up four es and countless affairs before she’d died of a heart attack in herand alcohol addiction had ensured that Elora was a poor er and the son born three years later Leonidas had only found out who his true father was after the man had died He had received little in the way of love, attention or stability When he was fourteen, he had gone to court to deal separation frorandfather Within three years, however, his randfather had passed away leaving him alone And alone hat Leonidas had been ever since, Maribel conceded heavily At least, until he had met Elias

Eight days after their London , Leonidas strode into Maribel’s office in the ancient history depart over a timetable

‘Leonidas?’ she queried in stark disconcertion, rising hurriedly upright behind her cluttered desk Her heart was pounding uncomfortably fast because her once rock-solid nerves had taken a real battering since the paparazzi had begun chasing her around

Although the lean sculpted face was austere and his dark, deep-set eyes hard as granite, his breathtaking attraction still e is the only way, I’ll make you my wife’

Shock took Maribel by storm as this was not a develop my point’

Leonidas looked grimmer than ever and unigesting a business arrangement, of course’

‘Of course,’ she echoed, not really sure she knehat she was saying, or indeed what she was feeling, beyond a sense of unreality ‘How could a ement?’

‘What else could it be? I want access to row up You won’t share hiet offered one, glikia mou’

‘But that’s not what I meant I simply hat is best for Elias’

Leonidas elevated an imperious brow ‘Yes or no? I will not ask twice’

Maribel thought very fast If she hts over Elias, but she would be around to curb any parenting excesses and watch over her son If the relationship rong she would at least be able to afford the services of a good lawyer Those were the practical considerations, but what about the personal ones? A business arrange about a platonic relationship

Those acquainted with the fabled Pallis cool and control would have been astonished to learn that, at that preciseonto his temper by a very slender thread He had just done what he had always said he would never do: he had proposed er would have accepted before he even finished speaking A woenerous and war? Mulling the offer over with a serious frown on her face!