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'Do you really think that this is what I want?'

His only ansas her defensively turned back 'If you hadn't fainted, Ia new tack 'He wouldn't be much of a loss'

'I was about to enter the roo I waited until I heard it all,' he delivered 'And if I don't sound quite myself, it could be because I've had a number of severe shocks this afternoon '

She worried at her lower lip with her teeth Exactly how ain Vito was standing by the , tall, dark and very still He was e with tension

'It would appear that Pietro lied to s with your brother-' 'My delinquent, violent brother?'

Vito flinched, and, annoyingly, the sight gave her no satisfaction Instead she found herself wanting to offer comfort Vito was one of those people who very rarely found the sense of fair play, he now found himself in a most invidious position Ti his head Tim had been most brutally provoked – Ashley was sure of that after what she herself had undergone at Pietro's hands And Ti the money she had supposedly taken Tim had known it for a lie But did Vito?

'I ed my nephew My only excuse is that I have had very little contact with Pietro in recent years and until I actually heard hi to you I would have continued to defend hih bloodlessly compressed lips 'Since his father died, we have all spoilt hied him, self-evidently ruined his character'

'Oh, stop blaroaned 'He's a conceited, nasty, vicious little creep Any fa specimen'

'I very ret that both you and your brother should have had to suffer at his hands-'

'I've suffered more at yours'

As quickly as she said it, she regretted it She didn't know hireat strain His stance, his clenched features and pallor told her that But he was also still very much in control There was iron in Vito's soul A lesser ht have buckled beneath the revelations he had had to endure But not Vito He was ashaht However, he was not about to set her free in restitution Not now that she was pregnant, she acknowledged painfully

'Is it true that ave you money?'

The iron control was under threat now She sat up, aze and she knew that he veryrubbish 'She came to see me the day before you asked me to marry you-'

His even white teeth gritted in a flash against his dark skin 'And she offered you et out of my life?'

Ashley bent her head 'No, she wasn't as crude as that She put the cheque on the table as she left I expect she thought you were keeping me and she didn't want me to-' She winced as he said a very rude word in Italian 'That's all there really is to it'

'If you don't tell et it out of her,' he spelt out icily, but his tone belied the ser of humiliation in his hard stare 'I want to know exactly as said'

Ashley didn't have the energy for a struggle with the sheer overwhel force of Vito's will 'What do you think?' she muttered dully 'That I wouldn't be able to fit, that I wouldn't be able to cope, that I'd eht religion, the right anything In short, I would ruin your life'

His back was turned to her, the defensive bunching of his h his well-cut jacket Without warning, he struck the ith a coiled fist, ely sardonic 'I didn't need you to ruinthat for myself'

'She did it with the best of intentions She didn't know me She must have been worried about your father-'

'I'll never forgive her,' Vito swore violently 'I was no helpless teenager in need of her protection!'

'A son is always a son no e he is' 'You defend her?' He surveyed her with complete incredulity 'Why?'

Ashley sighed 'I think she saved us fro a bad mistake'