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Without another word, Jaul walked out of the building, deterain He had told her what he had to tell her And noould step back and let the lawyers handle the rest of it

Chrissie got dressed in a feverish surge of activity She flung clothes into a s it and other pieces of baby paraphernalia out to the car Her home had always been her sanctuary but now it felt violated by Jaul’s visit and she no longer felt safe there What if he had walked in and the twins had been present? Why did she inised his own children when he had no reason to even suspect their existence? She was being hysterical and foolish, she told herself shaet Tarif and Soraya strapped into their car seats and drive away from the apartment

As she drove through the busytraffic she had too much time to look back into the past Memories she didn’t want bombarded her Indeed she could never think about her years at university without thinking of Jaul because he had always been there on the outskirts of her life, long unacknowledged but always noticed and never forgotten

She had shared a tiny flat with another girl when in her second year at university Nessa had been just a little man-mad, to the extent that Chrissie had tended to switch off when Nessa began talking about her latest lover But even Nessa had gone into thrilled overdrive when she’d first met a prince Chrissie had been less impressed, well aware that in some Eastern countries princes were ten a penny and not much more important Jaul, however, had proved somewhat harder to overlook He had flown Nessa to Paris in his private jet just for dinner and Nessa had been incoherent with excitement at the luxury of the experience

Jaul had brought Nessa home the next day and had been in the flat when Chrissie had come home from the classes that her rooliypsy-dark skin and eyes brilliant as newly ly handsoest time and she hadn’t been able to breathe or look ahile Nessa gabbled incoherently about Paris and limousines Jaul had taken his leave quickly

‘He was aone, languorously rolling her eyes and quite uninhibited about ad that she had slept with Jaul on the first date ‘Absolutely freakin’ a!’

But for all that it had still been a one-night stand Jaul had followed up by having flowers and a very pretty pair of diaain Nessa had been disappointed but accepting, pointing out that, with all Jaul had to offer, he was sure to want to make the most of his freedom

The next time Chrissie had seen Jaul she had been in the student unionShe had noticed Jaul, naturally She could scarcely have failed to notice his presence when he was surrounded by a quartet of suited sunglasses-wearing bodyguards and a crowd of giggling flirtatious blondes who, as she soon learnt, seeulf him wherever he went

He had startled her by springing upright as she was passing his table and had insisted on acknowledging her when she would’ve passed on by without a word Stiff with discomfiture, Chrissie had been cool, inordinately aware of the heat in his dark gaze and the jealous scrutiny of his female companions

Back then Chrissie had been working two part-time jobs to survive at university because her family could not afford to help her out One of Chrissie’s jobs during ter shelves in the library, the other waitressing at a local restaurant, but she had still found it a e to meet her bills Her father had still been a tenant farmer, whose ill-health had forced him into retireht and day to keep the far, while Chrissie continued her studies, but the knowledge that, without her, her fale to survive had filled her with guilt

But even as a child Chrissie had recognised that her late ht have been less dysfunctional had she had a career to fall back on when her affairs with unsuitable men fell apart A woman needed more than a basic education to survive and Chrissie had always been determined to build her life round a career rather than a e to her father had been short-lived and the relationships that Francesca had got involved in afterwards had been destructive ones in which alcohol, infidelity, physical violence and other evils had prevailed Shorn of her innocence at a very young age, Chrissie knew just hooman could be forced to sink to keep food on the table and it was a lesson she would never forget No, Chrissie would never willingly put herself in a position where she had to depend on a man to keep her