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More memory pushed into her head How she’d sobbed all over hi her father’s house the next dayhow co he’d been How kind and syain, as he explained to her just why he’d brought her to Athens, how shocked he’d been to find her living the way she’d had to in London

‘How could I leave you there like that?’ he’d said

She felt her throat tighten

I thought hi—but he isn’t! He isn’t at all

There was a warmth in him she had never suspected Just as she had never expected that kiss last evening

Meain in her head, tantalising and beguiling

But had it ?

It was just a kiss in public He probably kisses every woman he dines with Especially a woman he wants to persuade to marry him

And there it was—centre-stage in her head—the one thing she had to think about Marrying Alexandros Lakaris for six months to their mutual financial benefit

Ehts, churned inside her Could she really do it? Do what Xandros was urging her to do?

She lay there, staring up at the ceiling, thinking through the implications For six months she would be Alexandros Lakaris’s wife—dressed up to the nines, enjoying the kind of luxury she had never drea here in Greece, exploring the heritage she had never known

Suddenly there was a bleakness in her eyes She would not have a chance to get to know that heritage if she went back to her poverty-stricken life in London How long would it take her to earn enough ot a half-decent job once she had some qualifications?

Her expression shadowed This tih her father that she would experience her Greek heritage Now it h Xandros

And would that be unwelcome?

The ansas there as soon as she asked the question Of course not! How could it be?