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Anna raised her chin Even nohen he’d given her far more than she deserved, she was defiant “But how do I know you’ll keep your word?”

That one sainst his throat He always kept his word Always And yet she dared insinuate that he was the one as untrustworthy After her father had stolen his money After she herself had stolen his child

He hated her so much at that moment he almost did leave her behind He wanted to do it But not at the cost of hurting his son Damn her

Gritting his teeth, he said, “Call your sister e reach Las Vegas You’ll see I’ve kept my word”

“Very well” Anna’s face was pale as she knelt beside her sister “You’ll accept his help, won’t you, Natalie? Please”

The girl hesitated, and for a ht she would refuse Then her expression hardened “All right Since he’s only paying back what he took from Father”

What the hell had Anna told her? Surrounded by bodyguards, he didn’t have the time or inclination to find out He’d tried to spare Anna the truth about her father, but he was done coddling her It was time she knew the kind ofher

And more than that, Nikos promised himself as they left the palace Once they’d returned to his own private fiefdoas he would make her pay for her criine

Oh, yes, he prorimly She’d pay

CHAPTER TWO

RIDING in the lias airport to Nikos’s desert estate twenty ave Anna an odd sense of unreality

In one long night she’d left darkness and winter behind But it wasn’t just the bright ht that threw her It wasn’t just the harsh blue sky, or the dried sagebrush tu private road, or the feel of the hot Nevada sun on her face

It was the fact that nothing had changed And yet everything had changed

“Hello, rand foyer

“Welco shyly at the baby in Anna’s arms

The ate the house steward and a small army of assistants had descended upon Nikos He walked ahead with theh the luxurious fortress he called a home Mee

Where had they taken it? Anna wondered A guestrooeon?

Nikos’s bedroom?

She shivered at the thought No, surely not his bedroonancy his room had been her hohts She’d caressed his body and kissed hiage and prayed to God that it would last She’d been so sure that if he left her she would die

But in the end she’d been the one who left

Because the one fro his powerful, trusted assistant to a prisoner in this gilded cage He’d ordered her to take her leisure, practically forcing her into bedrest, although she’d had a nornancy

Nikos had taken the job she loved and given it to a young, gorgeous blonde with no secretarial skills He’d ordered the household staff to block the calls of herher final trimester, he’d suddenly refused to touch her He’d abandoned her to go and stay, with his secretary Lindsey on hand, at the newly finished penthouse at L’Here Casino Resort

That should have been enough to h But it hadn’t been until she’d found those papers showing that Nikos had deliberately destroyed her father’s textiles cohtened Running away had been an act of self-defense for her and her child

But now they were back As Anna entered a wide gallery lined with old portraits, she could s ift in southern Nevada, soh high open s, oscillating the curtains Her footsteps echoed in the wide hall as she followed Nikos and his men