page16 (2/2)

Sing hard on her nausea, she stared back at hi too s much in recent days probably hadn't helped

'I'll call a doctor' Vito straightened with decision With a look of s absolutely trapped, Ashley snapped, 'I don't need a doctor! I just don't want anything to do with you!'

He absorbed the colour flooding back into her face 'Dinner in half an hour, then,' he drawled succinctly 'I' up,' she muttered, and rubbed her hot brow 'I'm so warm'

'You can hardly expect to be anything else with the s closed, the curtains drawn and the air-conditioning switched off' Vito responded flatly and strode into the bathroom

She heard the gush of running water 'I didn't know there was air-conditioning'

From the doorway, he tossed her a blessedly cool cloth and she wiped her face with it blissfully Sliding upright, she s she had had the sense to undress before she lay down Vito was surprisingly silent

'I'll be down soon' She sighed 'How long have you been on these?'

Glancing at him, she froze In one brown hand, Vito displayed three little boxes Her supply of the Pill Ashley was so shattered by the sight that her antly open She couldn't believe he had theht at the very foot of her suitcase inside her toilet bag 'Where did you get them from?' she demanded shrilly

'One of the maids must have unpacked for you while you slept,' Vito breathed 'They were sitting beside the sink'

'I don't kno they got there,' she said stupidly 'Perhaps you would likeinto her clenched pal steadily on brick, and Vito wielded that horrible silence with merciless efficiency

'We have an agreement' Vito slid the boxes into the pocket of his jacket 'And you are a cheat'

'B-because what you're de is…is-'

'What you agreed to,' Vito incised unyieldingly 'And I don't intend to be defrauded by technology' Agreey of the business world and the law courts Didn't he realise that she was a living, breathing hu ruled by emotion? Or didn't that matter? For him, emotion clearly didn't enter the equation The week before last in London when he had made love to her… that, at least, had been full of ee, at least he had been feeling so But now they were down to the bare bones of the cruellest contract and Vito had just shut down her one escape hatch

'It will only be for a year' The assurance was delivered harshly as though the sight of her emotional disturbance was unwelcoo'

A year She squashed back an hysterical laugh of disbelief A year You couldn't even say he was prepared to waste that much time on her A year She wondered wildly if he would ask for his money back at the end of the trial period She refused to think about ould happen if he was successful

She calittered under the lights While she was dressing, she had vaguely wondered where all the noise was co rise and fall of ht on the veranda but not in splendid isolation, she realised, dazedly taking in the flae circular arena in front of the house Like a stage, the rear was screened by a laced fence of palm leaves

As Vito pushed in her chair, he murmured, 'This is a coed the entertaine'

They were about to enjoy a performance of the Kolam Natima, a folk drama worthy of the theatre, he explained A narratorhis entrance One by one the dancers appeared in glorious costuods, des in a celebration of Sinhalese folklore Ashley was entranced and, although Vito translated, he occasionally fell silent for some reason

When Priya approached with two tiny glasses of a liqueur e, Ashley asked, 'But what is Kolam all about? I'm confused'

Priya gave her a wide s the twoand that is the Queen She desires to have a baby, no?' Giggling, she stepped back into the shadows

Stupid, how stupid she was! Reddening to the roots of her hair, she belatedly read the significance of the dancers' erotically symbolic movements A very traditional drama for a newly married couple, she conceded She refused to look at Vito A brown forefinger skimmed her clenched hand where it rested on the table 'This wasn't my idea,' he reminded her In rejection she snaked her hand back out of reach, k

eeping her attention glued to the dancers below although in truth she could no longer see them

'You're ht every step of the way' 'What did you expect?' she ument'

When the performance was over, Ashley smiled until her jaw ached Vito requested coffee in the drawing roo a little so ie impatience as soon as they were alone

'Yes' She bent her head Give a little, end up giving the lot Vito would accept nothing less than complete surrender to his will It would be a battle to the death She saw no other course She was fighting for her own emotional survival

'Dio! Madre di Dio!' The sudden eruption of anger took her by complete surprise, so calm and so cool had he been over the past days 'What do you want from me? The past is past,' he stressed fiercely

'You'recontrol with a speed that shook her 'I can't get away from you!'

'I have tried so hard to be reasonable,' Vito raked back at her 'You didn't even sh, seething at hi bride, you certainly don't need ot them all over the place in all your houses Carina… everywhere I look! Surprise, surprise, there's another one on that table!'

Taken aback, Vito followed her accusing finger to the source He flashed her a glittering appraisal 'I'll have the be more appropriate?'

'Meaning?' she launched back at hih the idea was a positive revelation to him

Halted on the treritted her teeth 'Insulted by your insensitivity,' she contradicted 'But then, with your track record, that's nothing new to me!'

Sla out of the room, she raced up to her bedroom and locked herself in the bathroom As she peeled off her clothes and stepped under thefloater froreatest enemy was nearly always herself She lost control, she opened her mouth too wide and that was usually that