other women Nikos had brought here and whether they had paused to admire the view before
they had joined him on that huge bed.
She stared at him, her heart hammering in her chest as she wondered if he was anticipating
taking her to bed right now.
‘The maid unpacked the trunks sent over from the palace and put your belongings in your
dressing room. Come, I’ll show you.’ Nikos walked over to a door at the far end of the master
bedroom, and Kitty hurried after him, grateful for the reprieve. The dressing room was spacious,
fitted with oak wardrobes, a matching dressing table, and a large sofa, while another door led to
the en suite bathroom. Slowly some of her panic receded when she realised that she would have a
measure of privacy.
Nikos had opened the wardrobes and was studying their meagre contents with a frown. ‘This
can’t be all your clothes. Why didn’t you send everything over from Aristo?’
‘That is everything,’ Kitty said tightly. ‘I’ve never taken much interest in fashion.’
‘Well, I suggest you start.’ He flicked impatiently through the hangers. ‘I appreciate that you are
still in mourning for your father, but your entire wardrobe seems to consist of black outfits.’
‘They’re not mourning clothes. I wear black because it makes me look slimmer.’ Kitty could
feel the stain of hot colour flood her cheeks at his scathing expression.
‘Black doesn’t suit you,’ he stated bluntly, ‘and I can see we need to go shopping. I do a lot of
socialising, and my diary is already filling up with invitations from people who are all eager to
meet my princess bride.’
Kitty’s heart sank at his words, and she couldn’t help thinking that the ‘people’ Nikos had
mentioned were likely to be disappointed when they met her and discovered that she was not the
glamorous, sophisticated royal they expected.
Nikos strolled over to her, and the butterflies in her stomach leapt into life once more when he
took her hand in his and led her firmly through the connecting door, into the master bedroom. ‘I
approve of the outfit you are wearing now,’ he murmured, his voice so deep and sensuous that
Kitty could not prevent the tremor that ran through her, and she caught her breath when he slid
his hand over her shoulder and down the front of her jacket.
‘Liss chose it for me,’ she mumbled.
He laughed softly, ‘In that case it’s a pity your sister did not choose all your clothes.’
At his words Kitty felt a familiar stab of jealousy. Liss was beautiful and glamorous, and she
had exquisite taste in clothes. If she had been at the royal ball six weeks ago, Nikos would almost
certainly have noticed her, and he would never have walked down to the beach and made love to
a waitress called Rina.
All her old insecurities came flooding back. She hadn’t needed Vasilis to tell her that she wasn’t
Nikos’s type. She was only too aware that she did not have a model’s figure like Liss, or
Shannon Marsh, and she could not bear the idea of him comparing her plump curves with his
American mistress’s gorgeous, toned body.
Nikos had discarded his jacket, and her mouth went dry when he began to casually unbutton his
shirt.
‘I want to sleep alone tonight,’ she told him baldly, her heart jerking painfully beneath her ribs.
‘It’s been a long day and I’m exhausted.’ She felt as though she had been on an emotional roller
coaster and now her limbs were trembling with reaction.
Nikos had stilled at her startling announcement, and now his brows rose quizzically. ‘In that
case why didn’t you sleep on the journey here? Your rather childish pretence to be asleep didn’t
fool me for a second,’ he added.
The note of impatience in his voice triggered Kitty’s temper. It was all right for him. He had got
his own way on everything. Her life had been turned upside down, but their marriage was barely going to have any impact on him at all.
‘You’re right; I did pretend to be asleep—so that I wouldn’t have to talk to you,’ she said
wildly. ‘And the very idea of going to bed with you makes me feel ill.’
Nikos’s jaw tightened as he sought to control his anger. He had no patience for feminine wiles—
or tantrums. ‘That’s not the impression you gave me when I kissed you in the church,’ he said
silkily. ‘What has caused your sudden change of heart, I wonder?’
Kitty blushed as she remembered how she had responded to him. She had been blissfully
unaware then that he had spent the days before their wedding with his American mistress. Nikos