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‘But surely by that stage you must’ve had access to a phone and to visitors and you could have contacted ly

Jaul’s broad shoulders went rigid, his jawline squaring at an aggressive slant ‘I was in a wheelchairould I have said to you? I will be frank—I did not want to approach you as a disabled man You had accepted a five-million-pound settlement from my father and I assumed that money was all you had ever really wanted from me’

Chrissie was outraged that Jaul had believed that she had taken his father’s money and run Without a doubt he had found that easier than confronting her with his disability and the risk that he inal action man and macho to the core, was very physical in his tastes Deprived of his freedom of movement, forced to accept such bodily weakness and restriction, how must he have felt? But Chrissie suppressed that ht and tried to concentrate purely on facts Jaul, she realised with a sinking heart, had put his wretched pride first when he’d chosen not to approach her in a wheelchair and that truth hurt herelse

‘But I didn’t actually accept the money,’ she whispered almost absently, so deep was her sense of rejection that he had found it impossible to reach out to her even when he was injured

‘You did’

‘No, I didn’t Your father left a bank draft for a ludicrous five million pounds on the table but I never cashed it’

‘But you said you had plenty of ain and naturally I assumed—’

‘Only I wasn’t referring to your father’s bank draft,’ Chrissie cut in ruefully ‘Cesare bought the Greek island which my sister and I had inherited froenerous I bought my apartment with some of it and put the rest into trust until my twenty-fifth birthday next year That’s what Iplenty of money I didn’t touch a penny of your father’s cash I left that bank draft lying on the table’

Jaul was transfixed by that claiether in a frown Five million pounds had impressed even hi woround People lied, cheated and killed for far less iven That was the main reason why he had never questioned his father’s story but noas determined to check out her story for himself Could it be true that she had not claimed that money?

‘When did my father’s visit take place?’ Jaul asked abruptly

‘About two e when I lish but he didn’t use any withinhe said’

‘He had souards?’ Jaul shot the question at her in frowning surprise ‘Describe him’

‘Soatee beard and spectacles’

Jaul fell very still as soon as he realised that there was a living witness to his father’swith his wife ‘My father’s adviser, Yusuf,’ he identified without hesitation, reflecting that Yusuf would be receiving a visit froations demanded and deserved closer scrutiny If she hadn’t taken the money, what had happened to it and why hadn’t he been told? Keeping him unaware of the fact that his wife hadn’t used the bank draft had ensured that he would ht that Jaul wanted to have but he knew that his father must’ve been informed that that bank draft had not been cashed

Slowly, Chrissie settled down onto the sofa again, letting the fierce tension leach out of her spine Her brain felt dazed as though she had gone ten punishing rounds with a boxer Shock at what she had learned froh her in waves Her bitterness and antagonism had been wrenched from her while she’d listened to the true story of what had separated them two years earlier Jaul had not ditched her Jaul had not voluntarily or cruelly chosen to desert her In fact he had planned to return to her and, had fate not intervened with that accident and the lies his father had told to both of them, Jaul would almost certainly have returned to her