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 family honour.
Not even after her husband had died and she’d been left to bring up two young children on the small salary she’d earned working part-time as a legal secretary had Katie’s mother tried to contact her family who had rejected her on her wedding day.
Katie and her twin had been brought up with very little knowledge of their mother’s culture, which suited Katie fine. She had no time for people who could punish a woman for falling in love outside her class and culture. No, as far as she was concerned she was all British.
CHAPTER TWO
KEPT late by an unexpected emergency at work, Katie rang Tom to arrange to go directly to the hotel where they were having dinner. She dashed home, fed the cat, a particularly evil-tempered ginger tom called Alexander, and got changed in record time. As she emerged from the taxi nothing about her demeanour hinted at the breathless haste with which she’d got ready.
High heels crunching on the gravel, Katie hurried across the forecourt unable to dismiss the nagging feeling she had forgotten something. Walking into the brightly lit foyer, she smoothed down her freshly washed hair, which she hadn’t had the time to blow-dry properly; it fell river-straight almost to her waist, gleaming like the finest spun silk under the bright lights, which picked out the rich chestnut highlights in the deep glossy brown strands.
Tom was waiting. His face lit up as she appeared and his obvious pleasure made Katie glad she had decided to wear the dress Sadie had given her with a plea for her to make use of it.
Tom kissed her hard on the mouth, which was surprising; he was normally quite undemonstrative in public. ‘You look beautiful!’ he said huskily as they drew apart.
‘You sound surprised…’ Her teasing hid a secret worry. Was it entirely normal to be thinking about whether you’d remembered to unlock the cat flap while you were being passionately kissed by the man you were going to marry? ‘It must be the dress.’ Though he never openly criticised the way she dressed, Katie knew he would have liked her to dress up more.
‘I didn’t even notice the dress,’ Tom replied huskily.
‘Well, there’s not a lot to notice, is there?’ she responded, glancing uncertainly down at the midnight-blue slip dress that clung to the soft curves of her body a little too lovingly for her comfort. ‘You don’t think it’s a bit…obvious?’
The appeal made Tom throw back his head and laugh. ‘You couldn’t look anything but cool and classy if you tried, and I’m the luckiest man in the world.’
He might not think so soon.
Katie took a deep breath. There was never going to be a good time to tell him this, so now, she reasoned, was as good a time as any other.
‘Tom, there’s something I need to tell you,’ she told him urgently.
A flicker of impatience crossed her fiancé’s boyishly handsome features. ‘We’ll talk about it later, sweetheart,’ he said, grabbing her hand. ‘We’re late as it is, and Nikos isn’t used to people keeping him waiting.’
The name was so unexpected it hit her like a blow, snatching the air from her lungs and the thoughts from her head. There was a loud whooshing noise in her ears and it took several heart-thudding seconds before the room stopped spinning.
‘Nikos…?’ she faltered. ‘That’s a pretty unusual name.’
‘Not in Greece.’
No way could fate be that cruel. ‘He’s Greek…?’ she asked with extreme casualness.
Tom nodded. ‘That’s right. We were
