shadow and adding a rose-pink gloss to her lips.
The finished effect was startling, and Kitty couldn’t quite believe the woman in the mirror was
her. Because of one night, and a few moments of uncharacteristic madness, her life had changed
for ever. Her hand moved instinctively to her stomach, and she took a deep breath. She was
marrying Nikos for the same reason that he was marrying her—for the sake of the child they had
created—and there was no point in feeling emotional or fooled by the romance of the occasion.
‘You’re not supposed to look practical ,’ Liss argued, casting her eyes heavenwards. ‘This is your wedding day, you’re about to marry one of the sexiest men on the planet, and he sent you these… Gaea,’ she called to the maid, ‘bring in the flowers Mr Angelaki sent.’
The maid hurried out to the corridor and reappeared carrying an exquisite bouquet of pink and
white rosebuds mixed with delicate fronds of gypsophila, which she handed to Kitty.
‘I know you keep telling me this is a marriage of convenience, but there’s obviously something
between you and Nikos,’ Liss said archly. ‘I saw the glances he kept giving you at dinner last
night—as if he couldn’t wait to take you to bed.’ Her eyes gleamed with amusement when Kitty
blushed scarlet. ‘And he phoned me from New York a few days ago to ask my advice on your
favourite flowers.’
‘Did he?’ Kitty strove to sound casual and told herself not to read too much into Liss’s words,
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but her heart gave a little lurch when she buried her face in the blooms and inhaled their delicate
perfume. No man had ever sent her flowers before, and the fact that Nikos had gone to some
effort to ensure she had a bridal bouquet filled her with hope that this marriage was not as
doomed to failure as she’d convinced herself. The roses were a talisman of hope, and tears
glistened in her eyes when she stared at her reflection again and saw that Liss wasn’t lying, and
that by some miracle she really did look beautiful.
‘Thank you for helping me with my dress,’ she murmured. ‘You know I’m hopeless with
clothes, but thanks to your advice, and the designer’s skill, my wedding dress is everything I
could have hoped for.’
‘No problem.’ Liss shrugged her shoulders and gave a cursory glance in the mirror at her pale
pink silk bridesmaid dress. ‘I can’t wait for everyone’s reaction when they see you,’ she said
with a wide smile, ‘especially Nikos’s.’
Her smile faded when she glimpsed Kitty’s over-bright eyes. ‘I hope it works out for you,’ Liss
said softly. ‘I know the baby was unplanned, and you’ve been pushed into getting married. I
detect that Nikos is just as high-handed and determined to have his own way as Sebastian, and
between the two of them, and the queen’s stipulation that duty comes before everything, I bet
you didn’t stand a chance of refusing. But you must know that Seb and Mama and the rest of the
family have your best interests at heart, and I’m sure that marrying Nikos is the right thing for
you to do.’
‘I hope so,’ Kitty replied, unable to disguise the tremor in her voice. In the three weeks since
their engagement had been announced to the media Nikos had only visited the palace twice
before he had flown to America, and on both occasions they had spent no time alone. He had
been polite and charming, and had completely won over Queen Tia, but to Kitty he had seemed
remote and unapproachable and she hadn’t known how to talk to him. Even when he had phoned
from the States, their conversations had been limited to how she was feeling in the first stages of
her pregnancy, and whether she was eating enough.
She had been able to reassure him on that point, Kitty thought gloomily. Apart from a couple of
mornings when she’d felt nauseous, she was fit and healthy and had an appetite like a horse. Her
mother said she was obviously one of those women who looked pregnant from early on, and that
she was blooming, but she wasn’t sure what Nikos’s reaction would be to her body that was
already filling out with his child.
More to the point, was he even going to see her body? she wondered. The wild passion they had
shared in the cave seemed like a distant dream, and if it weren’t for the fact that she was carrying his child she could almost believe she had imagined the pleasure of his mouth on hers and the
touch of his hands on her breasts.
Would Nikos expect her to share his bed tonight—their wedding night? Kitty stared at her