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He frowned ‘And how precisely would that happen, Cathy?’ he questioned drily ‘Would soically step in to fill my shoes while I’m away? I am a busy man’

With fingers which were trying not to tremble, she turned back to the mirror and pretended to fuss with her hair She kneas busy—that his diary was jaents were allowed a holiday sometimes?

‘Of course you’re busy’ She sed ‘You’re always busy I’m sorry It was a stupid assumption for me to make’

Soned tone of her voice stayed hi to her bare shoulders and beginning to e theoing to be any holidays, bella—at least, not for a while’

‘Oh, well,’ she said brightly ‘I guess it’ll be all the better when it happens’

Frowning, he felt the tight tension in her shoulders as he atte of his dilemma—he who had never had to offer anyone an explanation in his life ‘Taking over a ht in to head up a powerful organisation—except ate, because the buck stops with me And yet because, ultimately, mine is only a substitute authority, I overn in the country’s best interests Porca ht, mia bella’ Gold seared into aqualass ‘Perhaps I should take you to bed and help you relax in a hich would please us both,’ he said softly

For a moment, she allowed herself to dream ‘Wouldn’t that be lovely?’ she whispered

His hand slipped beneath her gown to tease a nipple between thu his lips as he felt its immediate response ‘Mmm It would be perfetto’

She felt like a child who had been offered an ice cream, only to discover that the store had just closed ‘But…but there isn’t ti away fro to have dinner with us’

Reality intruded like a cold shoashing away the soft heat which always suffused his skin when she was near What a distraction she ith her pale hair and her tre up at hi harsh and raw in Greek—in a tone she had never heard hiaze as she put her hairbrush doith a hand which wasn’t quite steady

‘Why don’t you say it in English so at least I can understand?’

His mouth hardened ‘You don’t want to hear it’

‘Oh, I think I do Aren’t wives supposed to knohat’s troubling their husbands, even if they’re Prince Regents?’ she questioned, her heart suddenly beginning to thurow cla you, isn’t it, Xaviero?’

There was a split second of a pause Because didn’t articulating so ht he just h ‘I just said how much I hate this life’

Quietly spoken, his words ripped through her:…how much I hate this life Powerful words which laid bare a dissatisfaction she had suspected from the moment she’d arrived on the island Was she implicated in that unhappiness? she wondered painfully Yet how could she not be—for wasn’t she part of the whole package?

‘Anything specific?’ she questioned, in a light tone The kind of tone she’d once used to ask people if they’d like an extra blanket or not

‘Oh, I don’t know—everything’ The words left his ery, a torrent he’d been trying to deny for too long—even to himself ‘I hate it all The demands The lack of freedo froenda’

‘But surely that was always the case? You’ve been royal all your life, Xaviero’

‘Only when I had to be’ He lifted his hand up to rake it back through the ebony hair, the light glinting off the pale gold of his crested cufflink ‘Why do you think I went to live in New York, where I was able to live a reasonably anonymous life? Because I didn’t want to stand out It’s why I picked the isolation of the countryside, when I decided to settle in England’