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A cruising forefinger drifted confidently down over one damp cheek She didn't move She was comfortable, comforted, and as he deftly eased her on to the sofa at the foot of the bed she burrowed unconsciously closer Physically and mentally drained by coruity of her behaviour

'I should apologise' Vito hesitated 'So in me that I don't like very much' 'That makes two of us You must see how utterly hopeless it is to expect me to-'

Long fingers tipped up her face A faintly chilling sht ht et hurt'

'Do you always kick people when they're down?' 'You're not down' He stood up 'You're just recharging your batteries I suggest you move into this apartment while I'm away'

'Away?'

'I' for Geneva in a couple of hours I'll be back next week Maybe I'll take you to the opera You like the opera,' he re a sulky child with a consolation prize

She gritted her teeth 'Tim?' 'I will contact the police'

'They htn't listen'

'The entire episode took place on private property Whether I choose to prosecute or not is ance

A shuddering spash her He had done this to her, she realised fearfully, encouraged her to dash herself to pieces against that absolute obduracy that was his greatest strength Four years ago, he had ripped her to shreds by the siiant black chasm had opened below her feet and she had drowned But while she had drowned in the eony of loss, Vito had been getting ether the kind of brilliant deals which had made his name in the circles of international finance, his eventual reward that of becoest ever president of the Cavalieri Mercantile Bank There was a lesson to be learned in that comparison and it terrified her

Maybe she was paranoid, ination, but she had the horrible suspicion that each and every one of her experiences today had been exactly choreographed with the precise intention of reducing her to her current level of emotional devastation

'I'll make you a lousy wife, Vito,' she whispered '''Rien ne chatouille qui ne peinée"'

Her French wasn't up to the translation 'Montaigne,' Vito supplied '''Nothing gives pleasure but that which gives pain"'

'I'm not a masochist,' she said dully

'Think of it as a business arrangee of mutual benefit If you endeavour not to be a lousy wife, I will endeavour not to be a lousy husband What happens between us after the wedding will therefore be your responsibility'

'Oh, neat cop-out, Vito!' Ashley flung hi a button on the cordless phone, ordering the car to be brought round, impervious, it seemed, to her attitude

'To all intents and purposes it will be a nore'

'If we lived in a lunatic asyluenuinely a out at her for the first ti to his, zapped by that al for your batteries to pick up again Oh, yes, before you go,' he drawled 'OneGround rules'