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Ee she had just picked up froood custohtly hen shed been asked a while ago to take on the complete renovation of a property in Chelsea

‘Darling, darling E had trilled ‘I am so in love with your perfect sense of style that I want you to choose everything and I a to put the house totally in your hands

Knowing Carla as she did Emily had taken this with a pinch of salt and had therefore insisted on having her work approved at every single stage Now Carla had left her athat she hated the colour E room, and that she wanted it completely redone—at Emilys expense Emily recalled that Carla had previously sanctioned the colour of the paint But discretion was called for in telling her this, so rather than phone Carla back she decided to e-mail instead Her laptop was in the study she shared with Marco, as were her files, so she ht of her earlier disappointment at Marcos refusal to join her for lunch

Fiveiinal purpose of cootten, as she stared in shocked horror at the vellu Her hand, actually not just her hand but her whole body, was tre violently, as she felt unable to h her body and soister the fact that what she was suffering was a classic reaction to extreme shock She could hardly see the address on the envelope now through her blurred vision, but the crest on its left-hand front corner stood out its royal crest, followed by the address: HRH

Prince Marco of Niroli

She didn't hear Marcos key in the apart out her na could penetrate it It encased her in a kind of bubble, which only concentrated the tor and branded it on her brain so that it could never be forgotten It was only finally pierced by the sudden opening of the study door as Marco walked in but of course there was no way his arrival could ease her pain Instead she gripped the envelope even tighter, her voice high and tight as she said thinly

‘Welcoht to curtsey to you'

She waited, praying that he would laugh and tell her that she had got it all wrong, that the envelope she was holding, addressing him as Prince Marco of Niroli was some silly mistake

CHAPTER FIVE

LIKE a tiny candle fla vulnerably in the dark, her hope treuished it as cruelly as a hand placed callously over the face of a dying person to stem their last breath It was over Now in this minute, this breath of time, they were finished Emily knew that without the need for any words, the pain of that knowledge sla body-blow into her Her stoed down a hundred floors in a high-speed lift

Give that tothe envelope from her

‘Its too late to destroy the evidence Marco’ Emily told him brokenly ‘I know the truth now And I kno you’ve lied toyou aren’t lettingher teeth in her lower lip to try to force back her own pain ‘Do you think I haven’t read the newspapers? Do you think the people of Niroli know that their prince is a liar? Or doesn’t lying ed him wildly

'You had no right to go throughat being caught off guard and forced into a position in which he was in the wronghe could accuse E that our private papers were our personal property and out of bounds’ he told her savagely ‘I trusted you’

E

‘Did you? Is that why you hid this envelope under everything else?’ she challenged hi her head in answer to her own question No you didn't trust me Marco, and you didn't trust me because you knew that I couldn't trust you And you knew that because you are a liar, and liars don't trust people because they know that they themselves cannot be trusted' She not only felt sick, she also felt as though she could hardly breathe Everything I thought I knew about you is based on lies, everything You aren't just Marco Fierezza you are Prince Marco of Niroli You yourself are a lie Marco'