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'I won't have her upset,' Vito said softly

Ashley sed hard and sown She was unable to avoid the flashing brilliance of the diaer Vito had passed it across the table over dinner last night No frills there, she conceded, and dimly wondered what had happened to the roularly presented her with flowers and little gifts with all the charh she had struggled to appreciate the sentis She had hated the flowers When her father had been particularly nasty to herflowers hoo into ecstasies, as if some extraordinary effort had been involved in their purchase For the very first time it occurred to her that her whole relationship with Vito four years ago had been do up like her mother A tiny frown pleated her fine brows She had never seen that before and yet it was so obvious Her unhappy childhood had soared like a huge wall between them

'It's not too late to invite your fa' Ashley shuddered 'No, thanks' 'Surely your sister-?'

'We're not close'

'Have you ever let anyone close?' Vito asked with dark emphasis

He had come closer than anyone, but he hadn't been satisfied hat she was prepared to give It was all or nothing with Vito If you didn't surrender everything, he thought he was being short-changed Once a banker, always a banker He had wanted all the accounts out on the table, all balanced and shipshape He had not listened to the truths he desired to hear He had simply demanded that she nored her needs The idea of her wanting any form of independence had been an insult to his masculinity She had been a free spirit for the first tie her And even if she had felt differently, she had been far too young for e and children and all the many responsibilities that both would have de her paradise on a plate At least this time he knew the score, she reflected tautly

The past week had been a period of agonising tension Vito had taken her out three tihtclub where he didn't even ask her to dance He had withdrawn behind a cold front as ht he had dropped her back to the apartment and left her there in solitary confineer on her, and she couldn't decide whether that was supposed to be her punishment or his own Was it any comfort to know that he had clearly found that episode of abandoned sex as devastating as she had? Did what she ht

Every light in the huge house see brilliance This would be her ho, she told herself She gave their ly infertile, by virtue of the contraception she was secretly taking, Vito would have no reason to continue the farce And by then surely, he would have had an overdose of revenge?

A tiny figure clad in so floaty and silvery swaripped in an evident rush of war affection 'I can't tell you howto lish had been honed to perfection by years at an English boarding-school Linking a deft arlanced back at Vito He siven her in the last fortnight, and her netism of that smile until she reminded herself that it was for his mother, as clearly far too clever to show her real feelings in a no-win situation

'I think we need to talk' Elena pressed open a door aled her in Freed, Ashley hovered in as a most handsolass of chane from a silver tray The ae desperate in Elena's very bright smile 'Won't you sit down?'

Ashley sank down stiff-backed on an ar ariness 'We're getting married the day after tomorrow' The announcement, ludicrously unnecessary in the circuue She reddened fiercely, abstractedly aware that she had sounded like a woht off all threats to the contrary

'And nothing could make me happier,' Elena assured her levelly

Ashley stared at her in bewilderment

Elena sighed 'I do mean that sincerely I'm so desperately sorry that I interfered in as none of e reasons and if I hadn't been so stubborn I would have told him what I had done the minute he came back from London He was so shattered when you turned him down I'd never seen hiet over it'

'He did, but you don't need to feel responsible I…I had other reasons for nothim,' Ashley responded uncertainly

'Why haven't you told him about my visit?'

'There was no reason to tell hi to show that she could be equally generous

'I really do want you to be happy with my son I just wish that I could turn the clock back for both of you' Elena looked a little tearful 'And some day I hope we can become friends' Her sincerity was unquestionable Elena clearly believed that she was the woman Vito loved Ashley had been softened by her honesty and her careful avoidance of any mention of Carina but she was in no position to respond in kind Hoould Elena feel when this e also ca Vito'sthat her past interference had had any bearing on that development

Vito was standing across the hall in a clump of other men As she approached, he ireater relaxation, heto worry about My entle woman'

Men were so stupid soht irritably Elena was an unashamedly emotional woile than appearances est Momentarily she surprised herself with the awareness that she would rather have welco enough to scratch the surface even as a daughter-in-law