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So why did she feel as if soh her heart? Why was she shaking all over like an accident victionised pain inside her? After all, wasn’t Lysander behaving exactly as any sane and intelligent woman could have forecast? One woman at a time—fidelity—was not the Metaxis way She knew that better than anyone Aristide Metaxis had never restricted hi up with that example within his own home must have made its mark on Lysander, his son

Ophelia forced herself upright again It was the wrongeht It was practicalities she had to deal with She was so angry with hi like a leaf But she was already working out what she had to do to break free, as there was no way that she would allow Lysander to betray her trust She wondered when un to see in the belief that it would cause no harood The sensible way out of her predicament seemed both clear and simple

In the roo and repacked the few itenored the clothes he had bought her and even stripped down to her bare skin to discard his fancy underwear She wanted nothing fro more to do with him ever

‘Kyria Metaxis…’ Sta the hall when she appeared ‘How may I help you?’

‘I’d like to go to the village I’ll drive myself’

There was a tiny instant of hesitation before Sta for her and personally showed her out to the garage block, which contained an entire line of cars She was eager to one She asked if a ferry service to one of the bigger islands ran from the harbour The older man told her that the ferry would be there early the next e was a low black flashy sportsinto the passenger seat with alacrity, Ophelia extended her hand for the keys

‘Letworried ‘It’s a very fast car’

‘I can e’ Ophelia jumped in, adjusted the seat as best she could and reversed the car like a rally driver

The afternoon sun was strong in a bright blue sky as the car roared throatily down the road, speeding by lush woods on one side and the sea on the other as it sparkled in the sunlight She would rent a roo whether or not she had enough cash, she rounded a corner and had to slaoats on the road The back wheels went into a skid A massive tree swam into view and, like a slow- th on the trunk before co to a halt just past it

Her heart was thu as if she had run the marathon Shaken but unhurt, Ophelia juet a look at the daroaned out loud Dented and badly scraped, the once glossy paintwork of the passenger side was now a dim memory She wondered how much the repairs would cost and, in Lysander’s iret At least all the goats were alive to skip around another day and Lysander would stay popular with his neighbours She had used the art of thinking positively to get through all the worst times in her life, she reminded herself with determination Why had she lost that habit virtually the same day she had first met Lysander?

She drove on to the village and parked beside the harbour taverna, which had an accoaiant walnut tree Silence fell when she went up to the bar and requested a roo Everyone had to know that it was Lysander’s boy-toy car; no doubt the daly basic jokes about woasps and co and wished she had abandoned the car on the road The ht and offered her tea It was a relief to be shown up to a char roo in the sea breeze Feeling overheated in her denim jeans and top, she decided to freshen up in the shower rather than sit andin a e…

Lysander, as proud of his absolute control over his teani Zonda had been and loosed an anguished groan, raked his fingers through his black hair and almost punched the wall It was less than three days since he had become a husband, and his wife had left hie was ined it would be Instead of doing what any nor up his suits, Ophelia had walked out and he’d watched as she’d driven off in his favourite car For a male accustomed to constant female pursuit and adulation, such an excess of retaliation was a severe shock A woiven ood cause to do so He was in alien territory When had a random trace of perfume beco for a way to leave hi! Why had he picked the only woman alive asn’t happy to live in luxury on a beautiful private island?

He drove two hundred yards down the road and ground to an ee and the black paint slashes on the tree His stomach lurched inside him She’d had an accident and nobody had told hiani and leapt out

The old reetings

‘My wife?’ Lysander de into the bar but already reassured by their manner

Uniain in a da force when he learned that she had taken a room He took the stairs two at a time and rapped on the door

After her shower, Ophelia had wrapped herself in a towel and lain down on top of the bed to keep cool She thought it was the tea she had been promised and opened the door Dismayed by Lysander’s appearance, she fell back a step ‘What are you doing here?’

Even that question was an affront to Lysander in theforce Her golden hair was tousled, her creamy skin flushed and her ripe curves were covered only by a small pink towel His view of her full rounded breasts and shapely legs was not one that he would have liked any other man to enjoy That it bothered him annoyed him, for he had never cared what his lovers wore or how much other men looked at them He had never been a possessive ht have been his motto

‘You should’ve asked as outside before you unlocked the door,’ Lysander told his wife flatly ‘Get dressed’

Pale blue eyes evasive, Ophelia retreated as far as the bed ‘I’ht all the way to the altar and we’ve fought continually even during the very sothome’

‘I will not allow it’

‘No Neanderthal tactics,’ Ophelia warned ‘I’ sensible Take et you anywhere because I don’t want your money, I don’t even want my inheritance any more—I just want my life back’

Lysander dragged in a deep shuddering breath Her strained eyes and steady intonation telegraphed sincerity and resolve Her flight wasn’t a cry for his attention; she was deadly serious about leaving hi powerful frame For the first ti out of control Rage was licking round the edges of his every thought like a dark thr

eatening shadow and it unnerved hi, but just at that‘You can have a life with me’

‘I don’t want to be rude or start another argument, but life with you is hell’

Lysander went rigid Her slightly apologetic tone hit hi slap

A silence that pulsed with undertones hung in the air between them

Ophelia shot Lysander an anxious glance, her delicate features tight with apprehension He realised that she h he were so bully likely to push her around And possibly lift her up, carry her out to the car wrapped in a sheet and sort out their problems within the privacy of his own four walls His lean brown hands clenched into fists of restraint lest he prove her right in her suspicions He didn’t like what he was feeling He didn’t like the strange effect she had on hihts and hijacked his intelligence He wondered if her eious and decided to concentrate on basic facts

‘You’re actually staging a walkout because you caught a whiff of perfume on my suit?’

Ophelia reddened at the sardonic intonation he eht shoulders ‘Yes’

His shout of laughter made her flinch His brilliant eyes assailed her in blatant challenge ‘Don’t you realise that after that interview you gave, I couldn’t possibly sleep with another wo headlines? You’ll soon find out if I have an affair,’ he forecast with derision ‘When you said you were living a fairy tale and I adored you, it was like hurling a challenge at the paparazzi The media attention will be relentless They’ll watch ht when I’ on you Sex scandals sell newspapers’

Ophelia stared back at him in consternation, for that possibility had not occurred to her At the saed hi so in a cynical manner that ensured he did not have to actually defend hirasped that all-important fact: he hadn’t been with another woman Of course, she had already decided to leave him and whether he had been unfaithful or otherwise shouldn’t influence that decision But, for an alar instant, she couldn’t think beyond the fact that he had stayed loyal to her and she could not deny the tide of relief flooding her

‘I didn’t think the publicity angle through,’ she adave that interview to Pamela’s brother to wind you up’

Lysander studied her with unadulterated incredulity ‘You deliberately set out to annoy me?’

Ophelia evaded his gaze, for, said out loud like that, her plan sounded iht if I annoyed you or e I pretend to be your wife and let o’

‘But in the short ter every impression of enjoyment?’ Lysander slotted in smooth as silk ‘Where does that fit into this scenario?’

Ophelia breathed in so deep she was surprised she didn’t inflate, while her complexion turned a similar colour to her towel ‘I don’t want to discuss that’

‘Naturally not But you do acknowledge that you send out very h you have just escaped imprisonerated?’