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'I beg your pardon?'

'I believe in highlighting the small print of any contract with an unwary partner,' Vito asserted 'I expect you to be pleasant to my family I will also expect you to dress in a manner appropriate to your status We'll sort that out next week'

Her teeth gritted, her lips firmly compressed

Vito stilled 'And, last but not least, no men,' he added very, very quietly 'No flirtations, no male friends, platonic or otherwise If you break that rule, life won't be worth living, I assure you, cara'

Her sensitive stomach executed a nervous somersault

CHAPTER FOUR

'You actually want ether again?' Tim uttered a rude word of disbelief but Ashley could see in his eyes that, yes, that hat her kid brother so desperately wanted to believe, because that way he could enjoy his continuing freedom with an almost clear conscience

Ashley wished that his train would coround repeatedly in the past five days Like her, Tim had a suspicious nature Unlike Susan, he had not been content simply to accept her story at face value It had also taken considerable persistence to dissuade Ti Vito to express his apologies, his gratitude and whatever else ue She had persuaded Ti his conviction that that was the cowardly way out and tactfully hinting that itall round if he met Vito at some time in the future when the dust on the wrecked Ferrari had at least had time to settle

'Well, it htn't have been precisely the way I would have chosen to uiltily away froave Vito and me a chance to talk'

'Do you think you could end uphim this time?'

'It's a little too soon to say' Tim shook his head 'But he mus

t be really hung up on you to let me off…'

Ashley kept right on s home on study leave to swot for his A-levels She didn't want hi about her Their parents were back froht have been faced with a farin everybody's garden but her oas co up roses Tioing to sell my car and send the money to Vito'

'You can't do that Dad ant to knohy!' Ashley argued in horror

Her brother grimaced 'I can't pay Vito back in full, but I have to do what I can'

'Won't his insurance payout?'

'That's not the point, is it?' Tiet what I did to his car I can't act as if it isn't ot uessed, dully aware of where the blame would ultimately be laid

Leaving the station, she got on a bus that would take her to Vito's aparth she had yet to actually move in, she had left her bedsit and had ferried her possessions over there early thisbefore she left to spend the day with Tiht never happen Step one was move into the apartment rather than provoke another roith Vito And Step two? By the ti hi a child in a reasonable tiht well think better of his proposition She was hardly the ideal candidate The bottom line of her predicament was simple How much was Vito powered by a desire for a son and heir, and how e? That the acquisition of a son and heir should be that important to him she didn't even question Her own father had been unashamedly obsessed by his need for a son On the day that Ashley had been born, another daughter instead of the son he wanted so badly, Hunt Forrester had walked out of the hospital and hadn't reappeared until it was tiain