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Splaying his hand greedily over the curve of one htness, he found hi whether there would be time to…to…

And then one of the phones on the desk began to ring and silently he cursed her for inflicting desire on hi This was madness! For a …

‘You see?’ he demanded heatedly ‘Now you have driven !’

‘And that rong?’

‘Of course it rong!’ He looked down into her darkened eyes and saw the way her lips now quivered with uncertainty For a ht outline over their tre surface ‘You must learn that duty always comes before desire and we can’t do this, mia bella Not now—and certainly not here’

His soft censure sliced through her like a knife and Cathy’s hand reached out to a nearby chair to steady herself on its gilded support Had sheto seduce him away from his frantic workload? ‘I’m sorry’

He shook his head iotten—but if you e, then there won’t be any need to apologise There are certain protocols to be observed and one of theether before the wedding We certainly can’ta national scandal and that is so I am not prepared to do in the current circu takes place the day after toer to wait Do you think you can hold out until then?’

Cathy felt the sting of colour to her cheeks ‘There’s no need to make me sound like some kind of…of…sex maniac’

Softly, he laughed ‘Oh, I’erness is one of the very things which ’ His eyes glittered as they raked over her flushed face ‘And think about how good it’s going to feel, mmm?’ He went back behind the sanctuary of his desk and picked up the golden fountain pen before flicking her another quick glance ‘Oh, and in the future, you are to be known as Catherine—is that understood?’

He had waited until she was soft, vulnerable—and then he had driven his point hos Cathy bit her lip But what could she do, other than agree?

Because by then a whole train of events had been set in motion and she knew that it was too late to stop them, even if she wanted to And when it boiled down to it—did she really want to escape from all this, and, more importantly, from Xaviero himself? To do what? Go back to London and her job in the bookshop? Deep down she knew that there was no contest—even if instinct told her that she was laying herself open to possible heartache

And so it was that Catherine Helen Burton married the Prince Xaviero Vincente Caius di Cesere in the exquisite chapel within the palace compound and became his Princess The only people present were the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister of Justice and their partners as well as Flavia and her husband, Marco—the Prince’s aide

Naturally, there was no one from Cathy’s side and it seemed that this was another point in her favour—that she arrived unencue Thus there was no chance of potential embarrassment from loud-mouthed relatives—because she didn’t have any No kiss-and-tell stories or eed up froh a brief statement was to be issued to the world’s media afterwards

Cathy wore a pearl-coloured dress of silk chiffon, orna the service, which added a touch of forth andwhich seemed more appropriate for the occasion But in this, as in so much else, she was overruled As Flavia crisply informed her—princesses didn’t wear day-dresses when they irls would drool over when the photos appeared in the island’s newspaper the following day

So Cathy tried to appreciate the thousands of tiny seed pearls which had been sewn into the bodice and filleae that the pearls and dialittered in the tiara which adorned her carefully coiffured hair were real jewels How nificent? Yet their cold brilliance was slightly intiht as heavy as the burden of expectation which she knew hovered over her