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Reality had burst the bubble of her foolish illusions and she felt that she only had herself to blame Hadn’t Leonidas been honest from the outset?

For business arrangeht heavily He would continue to have his casual h-profile women who provided him with sexual variety in his travels round the world Maribel would wear his ring and raise his son and pretend that it didn’telse But just then she knew that what she didn’t have, what he wouldn’t give her, would matter very, very much to her…

CHAPTER EIGHT

MARIBEL removed a petal from the flower ‘I love hiravel below the stone seat ‘I hate him,’ she breathed and several petals came off in unison and fluttered further afield in the breeze that was blowing across the rose garden Mouse and Elias scaed paths with noisy enjoyame with the flower on a note of hatred that made her superstitiously tear that final petal in half before she cast the stem aside

Nobody needed to tell Maribel that hatred was the dark side of love, but she could not have told a soul at theday was fast approaching The event had been so pumped up by press speculation and excitee of the privacy on offer at Heyward Park At his father’s country house, Elias could at least play without the threat of a ca out of the shrubbery The level of curiosity about the

Maribel was also virtually homeless since an attempted break-in at the eree to the removal of all her personal possessions The university ter in her notice She was shaken by the speed at which her comfortable, quiet and secure life had been dis her had left herthe strain

In just three days’ ti a Pallis, Maribel reflected fearfully It was most unlike her, and she had never been a coward, but so for her life She covered her face with cool hands and breathed in slow and deep She couldn’t do that to Leonidas; she couldn’t jilt him at the altar just because she was absolutely terrified that sheet over the insult In any case, everything was organised to the nth degree, right down to the fabulous designer wedding dress and a string of little Greek flower-girls and page-boys selected from Leonidas’ extended fareed to act as her matron of honour, and Maribel had felt forced to accept the offer of Iatha, as bridesmaids They were the only family she had left Had she snubbed the comment in the local papers and she knew she owed her aunt and uncle more than that

Ginny had accurately forecast how association with a billionaire ht affect the people around Maribel No sooner had word of the engagement been made public than the Strattons had landed en bloc on Maribel’s doorstep tooff all contact with a niece on the brink ofone of the richest men in the world But the Stratton fae Elias somewhat too late in the day to impress Maribel and she had felt horribly unco parade of insincerity

Her state of mind had not been helped by the fact that she had scarcely seen Leonidas Since theirbefore his trip to New York, Leonidas had been colder than ice He had spentweeks abroad and had only returned to the UK twice for fleeting visits to see Elias She did not flatter herself that a desire to see her had figured on his agenda His scrupulous politeness and reserve had warned her that e than she had feared, for he had the resistance of granite towards any attee him But, on balance, she did know that he very definitely wanted the wedding to go ahead How did she know that? Well, certainly not by anything he had said, Maribel conceded ruefully

Every day, Maribel had scoured every le photo of Leonidas with another wohly unusual that she could not believe it was a coincidence For the first time in his notoriously racy existence, Leonidas appeared to be eossip colu bets as to how long it would last But Maribel could have given the