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Mutually beneficial, perfectly amicable

She clinked her glass against his lightly Shtly, civilly, cheerfully OK, she wasn’t yet totally used to being in his company, but the next few days would see to that

She just had to get used to him, that was all

‘To us’

Nikos’s voice was deep, but if she’d thought for a second she’d heard so in it that smacked of some kind of intimacy, well, she was sure she was mistaken He was, she reminded herself, a formidably attractive man, and he would have an i to

‘To us,’ she returned, and took a dutiful mouthful

Nikos slid open the door to the huge balcony and they stepped out to take in the vista of the hotel’s gardens and azure swi waters of the Gulf beyond

She gave a sigh of pleasure and leant against the glass balcony rail Nikos moved beside her, not too close, but al in the scene below

His ood

The wedding had gone superbly, achieving just what he’d wanted to achieve—his entry by ranted as her birthright A flicker of dark e ejected from that Normandy chateau, unwanted and unwelco him that he’d had no such auspicious start

His htened Well, he did not need what his own mother had denied him! He had achieved it without her acceptance! Just as he’d made himself as rich as the father who’d repudiated him, denied any claim to paternity

He shook the dark thoughts froer They had no more power to haunt him

His gaze dropped to the woood , self-controlled ht leash For three endlessthat above all the woe was not a woman to be rushed He must thaw the ice maiden carefully

This moment now, as he leaned companionably beside her, was the reward for his patience And soon he’d be reaping the full extent of that reward

But not quite yet Not until she was fully at ease with him, fully comfortable with him The first few days of their honeymoon should achieve that It would take e of the process, but, oh, it would be worth it when she finally accepted his embraces When she accepted the passion that would, he kneith ht