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The curtains fell on the past, plunging her back to the present She reflected sadly that that here her proud pretence had begun The very first day She had refused to let Vito see her confusion and vulnerability All she had wanted to do was escape She had been furious with herself, furious with him but she had also known that what had happened to the incredibly powerful and special that she just couldn't bear to walk away fro she had honestly never dreamt she could feel with any s had frightened the hell out of her

'Are you ready?'

She stood up slowly; desperate uncertainty and self-consciousness etched into her every eous in a dinner jacket, Vito audibly caught his breath 'You look like a pre Raphaelite painting'

'And I feel like a bimbo'

His sensual mouth twisted wryly 'I wouldn't worry

The minute you open your mouth, any resemblance vanishes'

In the car, she said, 'Your faht I was just so with!'

His gaze whipped over sharply 'Exactly how do you know that they ht think of you like that?'

In the heat of the moment she had been incautious but she was not prepared to tell hi Not that Elena di Cavalieri had been rude or crude Vito's mother had been far too much of a lady to behave like that No, what had hurt the ht to persuade Ashley that she would ruin Vito's life if she ing It ht al

'Ashley, I asked you a question'

'I guessed how your family would think about me' His dark eyes were nailed to her shuttered face 'And did that influence your response to e?'

Proposal? She held on to a howl of conte eupheot? Vito had not got down on bended knee or anything like that She didn't quite recall how he had opened the subject, but she did recall being blistered with the re his bed for five months and that she was damned lucky he didn't value her quite as cheaply as she valued herself Herto share his bed were two a penny What he wanted was a wife and future mother of his children

'Ashley,' he prompted tautly 'It didn't influence rimly aware that that was not quite the whole truth Two days after finding out about the baby, she had phoned Vito in Italy Giulia had taken the call and she had told Ashley with audible eement party and did she still want to speak to hi, so shocked and incredulous that she hadn't been able to think of a single face-saving thing to say It was absolutely iht have happened between them had Vito not turned with such indecent haste to another woman

'But this time you will marry olden skin His eyes splintered into hers in raw challenge 'And very possibly you won't be so se comes to an end'

'I'ued with real vehemence

Vito slung her a si to chip you out of that aggressive little shell you live in, piece by piece I' to strip off every layer you hide behind until there's nowhere left to run!'

'If you do that I'll hate you even more than I do now!' Dry-mouthed, Ashley stared back at hi aot to lose?' he gritted

They dined at Nico at Ninety on Park Lane A powerful ripple of interest, both discreet and otherwise, acco her head into her e that made her feel even more hatefully self-conscious She ordered her own meal Vito didn't bat an eyelash The veal braised in Madeira an to hten As she rested back in her chair to sip at her wine, she thrust the heavy fall of her hair irritably back behind one sth of her neck

'Some day I shall have it all cut off,' she said, absently expecting hi that her hair was her one claireeted her and she tilted her head back to look at hi fixedly at her, and what she saw in his hard features shocked her rigid Eyes as cold and treacherous as black ice were nailed to her Perspiration broke out on her brow 'What's wrong?' she de at me like that?'

Vito tossed his napkin down beside the plate he had thrust away, his meal apparently abandoned 'I believe it's tinore earlier,' he breathed very, very quietly 'Where were you today?'

She frowned in bewildero home and swot for his exams'

The flash of pure naked rage that illu brilliance made her flinch For a split-second she honestly believed that if a table hadn't separated the on the arm of his chair round her throat instead Her throat, yes, for, strange as it er than a second at a tiaze continually dropped below the level of her chin He drew in a deep, shuddering breath Even the naturally olive tone of his complexion couldn't hide the fact that he was literally white with the kind of rage that visibly threatened even his inti,' he , when I found your cases in the apartment, I telephoned your sister to see if you ith her She told ht the train home a few hours earlier'

Ashley instantly understood that Tim had told a white lie to her sister sooner than risk offending Susan with the news that he intended to spend his last day with Ashley, rather than her 'He only pretended to be catching an early train We spent the day together and-'

Vito elevated an ebony brow 'Then no doubt he gave you that bite on your neck,' he incised in a bitterly derisive undertone

'Bite?' she repeated, her hand flying up to her throat instinctively to feel the sht ear Was there a bruise there? Di unwarily across an opened suitcase to pull soht her a painful blohich she had ot on with her packing

'You little slut…' Vito slashed back at her in a murderous undertone that chilled her blood in her veins and sent her heartbeat thudding in a race to the foot of her constricting throat 'You filthy little slut You spent the day being bedded by your lover'

'Th-that's a lie,' Ashley stammered, so shattered by his unjust and ridiculous accusation that she could think of nothingspaces of a public place

'And if I hadn't seen the evidence, I'd never have known,' Vito growled, lashing himself into a furyconstraints of their situation He signalled for the bill Dousing the waiter's anxiety that there had been soain, to her disbelief 'We'll finish our wine,' he said between gritted even white teeth

'Vito, please…let's get out of here,' she whispered Lounging back into his chair, he eh that bounced off her raw nerve-endings like a brick shattering glass He threw back his darkly handso hers in unconcerned challenge 'No,' he said very softly 'You're going to listen, and here you are at least

safe Outside, the way I feel right now, you'd be in considerable danger I'm not sure I could keep my hands off you, because I really don't see why I should-'

'Vito-' she pleaded, sitting still as a graven i nameless terror of she knew not what It was the way he was looking at her She had seen Vito angry countless tih he could wipe her off the face of the earth without a ret

'You see, I've been far too soft with you I alas This evening you accusedto create my fantasy worihed like a hyena Whatever you are to me, you are not and never could be my fantasy That would require a miracle I didn't intend to broach this subject now, but since you have chosen to remind me in the crudest possible way of what you are, I really can't let this o past-'

'I don't knohat you're talking about,' she htly