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As Aristides Fournatos’s niece she had been of interest to her uncle’s circle of friends and acquaintances, accepted by thelishness, because of Aristides But as the wife of Theo Theakis she’d become an object not of interest, but of almost virulent curiosity

Especially froleeful words of her uncle that every woeration—women to whom her husband was an object of their sexual interest

There were so many of the she had first been introduced to him at her uncle’s dinner party, women who had quite obviously either had an affair with him or wanted one Or wanted another one Athens, it seemed, ith wonetically attractive, and who all shared so in common—envy of her, or resentment, or both Vicky had soon realised that she had cohest order—she had walked off with the prize matrimonial catch in Greek society

Without deserving it

Cri even worse

Without appreciating it…

Her gaze hardened

Vicky knew, as the jet made its descent, that she had spectacularly failed to appreciate the enviable good fortune of having Theo Theakis for a husband The needling and barbed coh of that Co her on her great good fortune in capturing such a prize, as well as more malicious observations fro insincerity, expressed the hope that Theo Theakis would e to be as interested in her as a bride as he evidently was in her uncle’s company Her studiedly blank reaction in the face of all this antagonisot worse,her dread those social occasions when she’d had to be on shoith Theo, until finally, to her relief, she had been castigated as a cold-blooded Englishwoman, dull and passionless, and dismissed from their further attention

But it hadn’t just been the scores of woarded hermistake

Her eyes darkened balefully and her hands clamped in her lap involuntarily

She knew to the exactof her sto a reed to marry Theo

Talk about being lulled into a false sense of security…

She had always, right fro else, the ter her mother and stepfather It had appalled her when she’d realised that Aristides had been planning to invite theently cite her parents’ inability to take leave in theso She had also lied to hie Of course she had not! If her hter wasaso, she would have been on the first flight to Athens to stop her!

Telling Jem had been imperative, of course—if for no other reason than he’d wanted to knohen she was going to take over at Freshstart again It had been incredibly aard telling hih she had assured hie in nao ahead with it Even the knowledge that as soon as it was decent she would end the e and return to the UK with a handsome donation to her father’s charity had notto run Freshstart in her absence, even though she’d promised him she would only be, after all, at the end of a phone if he needed her But it had been yet another coot sucked into the whole business ofTheo Theakis, for however short a duration, the more reluctant she’d become—and the more inextricable her commitment had become, as well

Only the visible relief in her uncle’s eyes had kept her going That, and one other thing Sincethe fateful decision she had spentwhich he had treated her with an ih the ordeal not just of the brief betrothal period but the wedding, as well Despite the wedding being nothing eance A lavish civil ceremony—to her uncle’s disappointment—had been fo