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Then Holly’s gaze fell on the lacy white snowflakes With a joyous laugh, she dropped his hand, looking u

p onder at the gray lowering sky

Without her warain felt the winter chill beneath his tuxedo jacket The world beca hi her Then he lifted his face to the sky, wondering if this would be the last time he’d feel snowflakes on his skin

If only he could have at least left a child behind He suddenly wanted that so badly it hurt If only he could have left some memory of his existence on earth

But the women he kneere as ambitious and heartless as he was He couldn’t leave an innocent child in their care Children needed so to put their needs above her own He kneoman like that None at all

Then he heard a laugh of pure delight, and Stavros looked down at Holly Marlowe’s beautiful, shining, tenderhearted eyes

“Can you believe it?” Stretching her ar like a child, she whirled in a circle, holding out her tongue to taste the snowflakes She looked like an angel Her eyes danced as she cried, “It’s snowing at ! On Christmas Eve!”

And all of the busy avenue, the tourists, the horse-drawn carriages, the taxis blaring Christround Stavros saw only her

CHAPTER TWO

THE GRAND TWO-STORY hotel ballroom was a winter wonderland, filled hite-and-silver Christ round tables had centerpieces of red roses, deep scarlet against the white It was even more beautiful than Holly had dreamed A lump rose in her throat as she slowly looked around her

She’d io, as a lonely nineteen-year-old, cutting out photographs froht while her little sister slept in the dark aparte or partying in clubs

Holly didn’t regret her choice to give up her college scholarship and come home After their parents had died in the car accident on their anniversary, she’d known she couldn’t leave Nicole to foster care But sometimes, she’d felt so trapped, chained by the responsibilities of love She’d felt so lonely, without a partner, and with a teenaged sister who’d often shouted at Holly in her own grief and frustrated rage

So to comfort herself, Holly had created the dream book It had kept her coo, and Holly had started working for Oliver

In her roined she’d be the bride in the white princess dress, dancing with an adoring groom Now, as she watched Nicole and Oliver dance their first dance as husband and wife, surrounded by all their adoring friends, she told herself she’d never been so happy

“They really do make a perfect couple” Stavros’s low, husky voice spoke beside her Somehow, his tone made the words less than complimentary