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Some of the comments, however, cut even deeper and hurt e of the fact that Leonidas was grieving the night after the funeral? They had both been grieving Even so, that suggestion hit a very sensitive spot She was still afraid that the only reason Leonidas had gone to bed with her in the first place was that she had reuessed how Maribel felt about Leonidas and told him? Made Maribel the butt of a joke? Her cousin, she recalled painfully, had had a rather cruel sense of humour that many people had enjoyed And none more so, in those far-off student days, than Leonidas She was cringing at the idea that he ht always have known Eavesdroppers never heard good of themselves She wondered as responsible for that irrelevant old chestnut She felt absolutely gutted

The instant Maribel returned to Leonidas’ side, he noticed that solow had dimmed; her sparkle had dulled When the meal was served, her healthy appetite had vanished and she picked at her food and evaded his gaze His tension increased He knew it had been a big ht So party and she was upset He was convinced, however, that she was too wellon how best to handle the fallout the appeal of the Italian honeyan to steadily recede His Tuscan palazzo was exquisite, but there would be airports within reasonable reach as well as toith easy transport links Although he always travelled with his own staff, it would be hard to keep the lid on any majorin understanding and forgiveness, she would find it all too easy to walk out on him in Italy

Having reached the conclusion that he ret a Tuscan honeyht back home to the island of Zelos, where he had been born Surrounded by sea and an ar anywhere in a hurry, or without his consent He would have all the ti any hasty or unwise decisions Inclining his arrogant dark head to signal Vasos over to hie of heart

Only when he had done that did he consider the reality that he was ht frisson of unease assailed Leonidas at that acknowledgement When he studied Maribel’s pale delicate profile, his core of inner steel held hiiven her the freedonancy alone and unprotected! A pregnancy with his child, which he should have shared in right from the start, Leonidas reasoned fiercely When shethat he should feel the need to take control In any case even Stone Age Man had known it was his duty to protect the family unit

Tilda insisted on accoed ‘I owe you an apology forLeonidas,’ the beautiful blondeturquoise eyes ‘Just like the rest of us, he has ed since he was at uni’

Maribel cast off her private worries to summon up a warht on that realisation?’

‘Apart fro to me today? When I see Leonidas with you and Elias, he is a very different guy from the one I remember,’ the princess confessed ‘And while I was astonished when I learned that you and he were a couple, my husband wasn’t He said that you were the only woent conversation’

Maribel nodded, but felt just then that intelligent conversation wasn’t a lot to offer to one of the world’s most notorious womanisers

‘Is there soently ‘Is it all that stag cruise nonsense?’

Maribel veiled her startled eyes before she could betray her ignorance on that subject She concentrated on donning a turquoise and pink dress that was both elegant and comfortable to travel in ‘Er…no’

‘I knew you would be too sensible to let anything of that nature bother you After all, men will be ets,’ Tilda reio and Leonidas, if he hadn’t had to take ’

Stag-cruise nonsense? Don’t go there, Maribel told herself staunchly None of her business, was it? So soon after that unfortunateover Josette Dawnay, Maribel was in no hurry to suspect the worst In any case, she was still tooherself with the suspicion that Leonidas ht always have known that she loved him She really couldn’t bear that idea, she really could not live with that possibility, she acknowledged tautly Without her pride she felt she would have nothing