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‘Luc, what does that matter?’ Belle protested ‘And besides, that’s only teet your fellowship…

‘Oh, Luc, I love you so very much, and I love the headboard as well,’ Belle told him tenderly—and she meant it

Luc’s gift to her, his bed, was installed in their bedroouest bedrooms They made up their quarrel, and the ones that followed it, but with each one the fabric of their rew a little thinner, until eventually the day came when neither of theer

The crux came one weekend, when Belle arrived home early from an overseas conference to find that Luc, who had attended a dinner party in Caht before, had stayed over in Harriet Parish’s rooms

Luc protested in vain that it was all completely innocent, that he had si, that he loved her and that Harriet was simply a fellow student…a friend…

In the row that followed they said so s to one another that Belle knew there was no going back Not this time…

‘You’re so damn materialistic, you wouldn’t know real value if it hit you on the head,’ Luc accused her at one point during their argument ‘Money, money—that’s all that matters to you’

‘Perhaps it would matter more to you if you were the one who earned it,’ Belle retaliated ‘It’s all very well for you, sitting up there above the rest of us in your ivory tower, Luc, but you sees there would be no ivory tower for you to live in…’

And so it went on, the pair of thee, rending it, ripping it, destroying it, in a frenzy of bitterness and petty resentments

Belle moved out of the house that weekend and she never moved back

Six weeks later she filed for divorce, refusing to even discuss with Luc any possibility of the she took from their marital hoht, that she had left behind, and for all she kneas still there in the house with Luc, who had bought out her share of their marital home

No, the headboard, the one that still graced the head of the bed in her small London home, was the one that Luc had made for her Not that she had intended that to happen The men she had sent to collect the other headboard and bed from the spare room had made a mistake, and somehow or other she had never bothered to correct it

CHAPTER TWO

‘I MUST admit that Mum was stunned when you said that Luc had come round to deliver the invitation to you hi now ‘I h about the mistake What on earth did he say? You must have been so surprised to open the door to see him there…’

‘Mmm…’

‘Luc, I was just saying to Belle that she must have been really surprised to open her front door and find you there,’ Joy repeated breezily as her new husband’s cousin suddenly materialised at Belle’s side, apparently oblivious to the interest the fact that the two of thest their felloedding guests

Luc’s dark river-green eyes e

‘What on earth did you say to her? I mean, you hadn’t spoken to one another for years…’

‘Joy…’ Andy cautioned his new bride, explaining to Belle and Luc, ‘I think it ne on top of an empty stomach She told lasses whilst she was getting ready this …’

‘No, four…’ Joy corrected hiled

‘Darling, the photographer wants you,’ her ing them to follow her

‘Oh, noas her mother led her away

‘Saved by the flashbulb,’ Luc coone