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'In?' she repeated uncertainly

'Your career,' he clarified with impatience 'The career that you chose in place of me'

'Oh' Studying her tightly linked hands, she paled and decided to lie 'The retail trade' It wasn't entirely a lie, she reasoned Until she had obtained so classes, she had been ee department store

'You surprise me It was not the field I believed you would choose I assuh-profile'

She shrugged, evading his sardonic scrutiny No, she couldn't tell hiuess? she reasoned frantically Had she completed her course in accountancy, this would only have been her first year in paid es of success Why should she tell hiht to say that she was on the wrong course? Right to suspect that at heart she had neither the interest in the subject nor the natural affinity with figures to shine in that field?

She had gone against everybody's advice when she'd chosen accountancy But she had been detero into business and childishly, hopelessly set on proving to her father that she could succeed in a discipline dominated by the male sex Stubborn as she was, she had had to fail before she could face the truth, although she still believed that if it hadn't been for Vito deserting her the month before her exanancy, she would at least have passed those exams

She loved working with young children That was a natural inclination which she had rigorously suppressed throughout her teens, dee such employment as one more little womanly pursuit which she was too clever to fall into Now the world had turned full circle for her She was studying part-tiree with the hope that eventually she would be able to train as a teacher And all that, she realised abruptly, was about to end The life which she had painstakingly put together again for herself would be destroyed a second tireater reason than a barbarously e

'Are there likely to be any contractual proble your release from employment?'

'None' She was briefly a out all the plugs to retain one humble employee 'But I still don't see why you should want to marry me'

'I have a strong motivation which I haven't shared with you yet,' Vito conceded, shooting her a veiled glance 'I believe you may be relieved when you hear it'

Curiosity flickered 'Tell me now'

'I prefer the greater privacy of the apartment'

The apartment was mercifully not the one which they had once shared It was sned only for occasional occupation, but a trio of Toulouse Lautrec pencil drawings still hung in the elegant dining-room for equally occasional appreciation Ashley was quite certain they were originals A Cavalieri with a world-renowned private art collection would not be satisfied with anything less At a rough estis had to be worth well over a million pounds

The fish-out-of-water sensation she had often experienced in Vito's radius four years previously returned to haunt her This was not her world The daughter of ain such a rarified ht otherwise she

had once received firm confirmation of her unsuitability from another Cavalieri Not Vito… hispractice she suppressed thatmemory Somewhere she still had the cheque Elena di Cavalieri had left behind

A h Ashley had scarcely eaten froe to push the food round her plate and sip at the wine Vito, on the other hand, worked ell-bred restraint and no lack of appetite through each light course, unperturbed by her stony response to his conversational sallies

Coffee was served in the spacious lounge Ashley flung herself down on a feather-stuffed sofa 'Well, let's hear it, then,' she invited, tilting her chin in an upward thrust, 'this strong reater privacy'

'Naturally I' a lifetime commitment,' Vito asserted from his stance by the fireplace 'But it has occurred to me that you could well be worth every pound your brother has cost me and more'

'How?' she de herat and she hated the sensation of being in the dark It seeht Clearly Vito did have a eous demand that they unite in holy wedlock -unholy wedlock, she adjusted inwardly, reflecting on the sheer frequency and violence hich they had fought in the past

Vito continued to study her with curiously intent golden eyes 'There is only one thing in life I really hich fate has so far denied me'

'The British Croels?' Ashley gibed 'I can't think of much else that you couldn't contrive to buy' 'I want a child,' Vito imparted, as if she hadn't made that facetious remark