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Annersley was currently engaged in re Marisa that Nik had refused to allow Betsy to work during theirthat Nik was a dinosaur and a bully of noso in the politest of ter out that Betsy lacked the education required to gain anything other than the most menial of jobs and that a man of Nik’s social status could hardly be expected to tolerate a wife taking an unskilled, humble position

So suddenly snapped Nik’s hold on his volatile teround his hands down on the edge of the conference table and sprang upright with an abruptness that startled everybody present Lean, strong face hawklike, he growled, ‘Diavelosenough! This ends here Marisa, you are well aware that Betsy single-handedly runs her own business at Lavender Hall—’

‘Well, yes, but—’

‘We are finished here for now,’ he ground out with harsh finality ‘I will discuss this no further—’

‘But nothing’s been agreed,’ Annersley complained

Betsy stole a grudging glance at Nik, scarcely able to credit that he had brought the hu session to so swift a halt Surely he could not have done that for her benefit? She refused to believe that; he had to have soraded after having her dyslexia thrown in her face, not to mention the reminder that she had never completed her education to an acceptable level It infuriated her that she could blame Nik for that last reality, for Nik had co classes to study for her A levels that she had eventually given the their e, but when he was at home he had made it very, very clear to her that he always expected her to be there And she had finally given way to his selfish protests, naively believing that he was adratified that the male who did not tell her he loved her could not bear to find heror unavailable

‘There will be another lance in Betsy’s direction

Betsy got off the train and walked to her car

She was angry with herself, as angry as she was ashamed that she had reacted to Nik on so basic a level, responding to his lethal sexual attraction like a silly young girl without self-knowledge or defences She wanted to feel nothing, absolutely nothing around Nik After all, nothing hat he deserved Cristo’s wife, Belle, had told Betsy that she should be dating again and that she would not get past her experience with Nik until she did Unfortunately the last thing Betsy needed after the heart-rending grief of her e breakdoas another h ht her that

Her troubled thoughts were already whisking her back in ti as a waitress at a little bistro across the road from his office

She had enjoyed her job ‘If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well,’ her late grandmother had told her when she was a child, and the truth of that homely maxim had never let Betsy down She refused to let the fact that a job was humble or low paid colour her attitude, but she had always known that had her grandmother survived she would have been very disappointed by Betsy’s lack of educational achieveht her that with extra ti she could overcome her dyslexia and that it was not an excuse for low expectations in life That awareness in mind, she had chosen her job to fit the fact that she was studying several nights a week at evening class to get her A levels Oh, she’d had big plans back then for afuture

In those days it had never occurred to her that a man could come between her and her wits She enty-one and boys had co her heart or te her body When she had first seen Nik, he had been sitting at one of her tables in the spring sunshine: a stunningly beautiful reen eyes fra her with instant tingling awareness as he ordered coffee She hadn’t noticed that Cristo ith hiistered the presence of plain-suited uards As always Nik had coe Her heart had beat so fast it had felt as if it were in her throat and she had feared its crazy acceleration would choke her

When he had ordered a second coffee, she had left a complimentary biscuit on the table but he had handed it back to her ‘I don’t touch sugarever,’ he had told her softly, his foreign accent purring along the syllables with disturbing sexiness

‘Wish I could say the sa the biscuit in her pocket for later She had always been hungry, freebeen part of her e you the biscuit with your coffee It’s ement policy’