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‘It doesn’t infringe The Metraxis estate is very secure but owning an island with an indigenous population comes with responsibility The people have to have a future they can count on for their children or the younger generation will leave My father didn’t really grasp that reality’
Pixie stepped into the motor launch twentyshirt worn over a ca onto as the launch sped across the glea clear turquoise water into the harbour She tensed when she saw just how reet theuise as Apollo’s wife she probably seemed a much more important person to the locals than she actually was
‘Don’t answer any questions whatsoever Ignore the ca her into his arms to carry her off the launch before she could make for the steps under her own steam
Flushed and uneasy, Pixie regained her feet and Apollo’s bodyguards swung into action to keep the photographers at a careful distance With the indolent cool of ahis privacy, Apollo dropped an arm round her shoulders and walked her off the s in his own language with several people but he did not once pause in his deterress towards the four-wheel drive parked in readiness beyond the crush
Pixie, however, had never been so uneasily conscious of being the centre of attention and she was hopelessly intimidated by the shouted questions and coes She felt the wall of stares being directed at her and her tuave a sick lurch She suspected that she had to be a pretty disappointing spectacle for people who had probably expected Apollo to marry an heiress or a model and, at the very least, so none of those gifts, she felt horribly exposed and all the nant or otherwise
Only when they were inside the car did she breathe again
‘See…that wasn’t so bad,’ Apollo pointed out with a shrug that perfectly illustrated his indifference to that amount of concentrated interest and speculation
‘I’ll take your word for it… I found it tough,’ Pixie responded honestly ‘I’ I am a totally phony wife doesn’t add to my confidence’
‘When will you listen to al wife!’
Pixie breathed in slow and deep to cal nerves and turned her head to look out of the car s Apollo had taught her that a legal wife still wasn’t a real wife
‘And you will never leave our estate without bodyguards…is that understood? Not even for a walk down into the village,’ Apollo specified
‘Is that level of security really necessary?’ ‘Our’ estate, he had said, she noted in surprise, and then wrote it off as either a slip of the tongue or a coned to ements
‘There’s always a risk of paparazzi in the village or even a tourist photographing you to make a profit My security teaets to bother you’
The car was travelling up a steep incline and electric gates whirred back while Pixie gazed at the big white rae but it wasn’t anywhere near as iant palazzo in Tuscany and she was relieved As she stepped out, one of the bodyguards lifted Hector’s carrier from the four-wheel drive and set it down to release hiambolled round Pixie’s ankles, relieved to have escaped his brief imprisonment
They walked into a granddown on either side of the hall and a very opulent chandelier A housekeeper, dressed in black with a white apron, greeted theth in Greek while Pixie succumbed to curiosity and crossed the hall to peep into rooms She had never seen so s Indeed the interior had the appearance of a house that served as a show home
Apollo frowned as he examined her expressive face ‘You don’t like it? Then you can change it I had it all stripped, painted and refurnished while my father was ill Every one of his wives had different decorating ideas and favourite roo colours and styles When he ell enough to come down for dinner I realised that the décor awakened unfortunate memories so I wiped the slate clean for his benefit’
‘Well, all that white and beige is certainly clean,’ Pixie assured hi father’s behalf
‘I’ll show you round,’ he proffered, walking her from room to roo colourless rooraphs, no ornaments, only an occasional vase of beautiful flowers
‘I thought the house would be er,’ she confided as he walked her upstairs ‘Holly said you had a lot of relatives’