‘I hadn’t thought of that,’ Katie admitted with wide-eyed dismay.
‘Seems to me you haven’t thought much at all.’
‘If you’re going to try and stop me…’
‘If I thought I had any chance of succeeding I would,’ the legal brain admitted with engaging candour. ‘For your mother’s sake I want to make sure you think this thing through properly—if such a thing is possible?’
‘She was very fond of you too.’
Poor Harvey; there had only ever been one man for her mother and she had given up everything to be with him. Katie had wondered whether she’d ever find a love like that—one that didn’t think of consequences, one that lasted for ever. She wasn’t actually sure she wanted to. The idea of falling victim to such a blind, relentless passion was actually rather scary.
‘You do appreciate that it’s very unlikely that the sort of man who would marry you for a one-off payment would be satisfied with that?’
‘How do you mean?’
‘I mean there’s a strong possibility that a man like that would have questionable scruples. He’d be back for more,’ Harvey explained bluntly. ‘And then there’s the question of making yourself vulnerable to blackmail.’
‘But there won’t be any money, I’m giving the rest away.’ Katie couldn’t help but think that dealing with hardened criminals had made Harvey a little overly suspicious.
‘That’s another thing—is it really wise to give up your entire inheritance too?’
‘Non-negotiable,’ Kate interrupted abruptly.
‘In that case—’ the lawyer sighed ‘—how do you feel about raising the amount you’d pay the groom?’
‘By how much?’
Harvey told her and she gasped. ‘You’ve got to be kidding…?’
‘It might seem a lot, well, actually it is a lot,’ he conceded. ‘But in the long run I really think this is your safest bet. As it happens I know of a person who needs an injection of cash and for reasons I can’t go into he prefers not to approach the usual sources…’
‘Five hundred thousand pounds is quite a big injection,’ she began doubtfully.
‘True, but the capital left over would still be more than enough to provide a very generous income for the Grahams, and there would be no question of this man ever demanding anything else of you or troubling you in any way. I’d personally guarantee that.’
‘Why does this man need so much money?’ she asked bluntly.
‘I’m really not at liberty to discuss that, the choice is yours. All I can say is that I will personally guarantee this person’s integrity.’
Even if this man was shady, what were her alternatives? She could advertise in a personal column but, Harvey was right, what sort of weirdos would respond to an ad for a husband?
‘All right, then.’
‘Excellent. All I have to do now is persuade N…him…’
‘Persuade him…?’
‘Don’t worry, dear, I’m sure he’ll come around,’ Harvey soothed.
He had come around and up until now Katie had had no reason to regret her decision.
‘So this man you married, he could be anywhere, doing anything…he might even be dead. Oh, that would be convenient.’
Her friend’s joking words jolted Katie back to the present. ‘Sadie!’
Sadie grinned sheepishly. ‘Well, it would. I’m just being practical.’
‘I want to divorce the man, not put out a contract on him!’
Sadie normally respected the younger girl’s reserve but at that moment her curiosity got the better of her. ‘So all you know about this man is his name?’
Katie had never elaborated beyond saying that marriage had been the only way she’d been able to inherit the money from her Greek grandfather’s estate. Which begged the question why was Katie flat broke these days?
Katie nodded. ‘Nikos Lakis.’ She found herself strangely reluctant to say the name.
‘Is he Greek?’
‘I assumed so.’
‘Nikos Lakis…mmm. Did he look as sexy as he sounds?’ Sadie giggled huskily. ‘Or was he short, fat and balding?’
‘I can’t remember,’ Kate replied shortly. She wasn’t quite sure why she lied. Many of her memories of that day were hazy, but not the face of the man she had stood beside and exchanged solemn vows with.
She didn’t know what she’d been expecting but it hadn’t been Nikos Lakis.
Harvey, watching her face anxiously as the tall Greek had arrived, must have seen the spasm of shock that had passed over her features.
‘I suppose there is a little resemblance to your brother,’ he murmured, intuitively sensing the source of her distress. ‘I should have said…’
Katie shook her head. ‘He’s not really like him.’
She wasn’t just saying this to make Harvey feel better. Peter’s face had been extremely attractive, but stood next to this man he would have been invisible. Her twin hadn’t possessed the sheer physical presence that this stranger had in abundance.
As the stranger she was about to marry inclined his dark head in acknowledgement of Harvey and turned his attention briefly to her, Katie saw there was none of Peter’s petulance in this austerely beautiful face, nor any of the warmth. In fact, she saw as he came closer that he wasn’t anything like her twin at all.
This man was ice.
Seven years later she was helpless to control the little shudder that slipped down her spine or the nervous flutter in her tummy as she visualised those silver-shot midnight-dark eyes fringed by decadently dark lashes set in an otherwise starkly uncompromising bronzed face.
Even if he hadn’t been an attention-grabbing six feet five of solid bone and muscle and moved with the natural grace of a top-class athlete, who could forget those eyes…? She hadn’t. They’d even featured in some disturbingly erotic dreams that had disrupted her sleep over the years.
‘He’s alive.’
Sadie raised her eyebrows at her friend’s emphatic tone.
‘Actually I’ve never seen anybody quite so alive.’ His vitality had been like an electric current. His brief touch had made her skin tingle and she’d been relieved he hadn’t prolonged the contact more than absolutely necessary.
‘I thought you couldn’t remember what he looked like.’ Sadie watched the distant, almost dreamy expression cross the younger woman’s face.
‘I can’t, it was just an impression,’ Katie replied a little quickly, too stubborn to admit even to herself the impact her bought bridegroom had made on her.
‘Quite a coincidence you both being Greek.’
Katie’s soft lips firmed and her eyes filled with scorn. ‘I’m half Greek.’
It was a half that showed in the contours of her oval face with its proud, high forehead, straight classical nose, delicately sculpted lips and long, swan-like neck. It was also a half she was always ready to deny. The half that had heartlessly cast off the daughter who had offended their precious