LITMIR.BIZ

      TORONTO • NEW YORK • LONDON

       AMSTERDAM • PARIS • SYDNEY • HAMBURG STOCKHOLM • ATHENS • TOKYO • MILAN • MADRID PRAGUE • WARSAW • BUDAPEST • AUCKLAND

      CONTENTS

      PROLOGUE

      CHAPTER ONE

      CHAPTER TWO

      CHAPTER THREE

      CHAPTER FOUR

      CHAPTER FIVE

      CHAPTER SIX

      CHAPTER SEVEN

      CHAPTER EIGHT

      CHAPTER NINE

      CHAPTER TEN

      PROLOGUE

      SOFIE ANTONETTI stirred with a sigh of utter contentment and no inkling that this was the day on which her life would begin to change for ever. A moment later a familiar aroma assailed her nostrils and she sniffed it in. ‘Coffee!’ she exclaimed with a sultry smile and, opening her eyes, looked up into the fascinating blue ones of her husband.

      ‘I knew there was a good reason why I married you. You make wonderful coffee,’ she teased him, and Lucas grinned back down at her.

      ‘Only coffee?’ he queried, a wicked gleam appearing in those azure orbs.

      Sighing with catlike satisfaction, Sofie ran her hands over his bare chest, delighting in the sensation. Making love with him was the most exciting experience of her life. ‘OK, you make love well too,’ she added with a coquettish grin, then held him off as he leant towards her. ‘But it’s coffee I want right now!’

      Laughing, Lucas moved back, allowing her to sit up and modestly draw the sheet up to cover her nakedness. ‘I know what’s under there,’ he pointed out as he handed over the mug.

      Her eyes flirted with him over the rim as she took a cautious sip. ‘I know you do, but unwrapping the present is half the fun.’

      ‘True,’ he agreed, standing up, revealing that he wore only a towel draped low around his hips. He retrieved a large box from the dressing table and his own mug of coffee.

      ‘What’s that?’ Sofie asked curiously, wondering if it was a late present. They had spent a happy few days opening a mound of presents after they had returned from their month-long honeymoon in the Seychelles, but some were still arriving.

      Putting his mug down, Lucas made himself comfortable on the bed. ‘The wedding photos Jack made up for us,’ he informed her, and immediately Sofie set her mug aside and took the box from him. They had received their official photos long ago, but her colleague Jack, a photographer like Sofie, had made up his own album for them. He had declared it to be more quirky than traditional.

      ‘Let me. I’ve been dying to see them!’ she exclaimed as she tore at the wrapping paper, tossing it aside to lift the lid off the box. Peeling back tissue paper, she revealed a white leather-bound album.

      Her photographer’s eye told her Jack had done a fantastic job, but then she forgot all about composition and started to relive the day as each page was turned. It had been perfect, with blue skies and sunshine. Everyone had been happy, but none happier than herself and Lucas. Like all the men, he had been in full morning dress and just looking at him now turned her heart over.

      They hadn’t known each other very long—just a matter of a few short months—but they had known from the first that they were meant to be together. They had met whilst both were holidaying in Bali; however, there had only been time for a brief romance before she had to go home. What she hadn’t known then was that Lucas was determined to see her again and had secretly arranged for her to take the official photos of the new London headquarters of the Antonetti Corporation. Lucas’s father owned the company and Lucas was the managing director.

      Not that she had been aware of that when she had gone there that first day. She had been so shocked to see him when she’d walked into the room that she had tripped on the corner of the carpet in his office and would have fallen to the floor had he not quickly gathered her into his arms. She had fallen in love at the same time. So deeply in love, she had known there was no cure. Especially when he’d swung her up into his arms with a grin that faded rapidly when he’d looked down at her.

      ‘I didn’t intend to say this now, but I can’t wait any longer. I love you,’ he had declared in a voice made thick by emotion.

      ‘I love you too,’ she had whispered back to him, so happy her heart had wings.

      Then he had kissed her and, for Sofie, nothing had ever seemed so right. It wasn’t a passionate kiss as kisses went, but it had rocked the world so that nothing could ever be the same again. Nor, she’d decided, when she had come back down to earth, would she ever want it to be. It had been an indescribable feeling, and she had felt it every time she looked at him from that moment on.

      A whirlwind romance had led to a huge wedding—way beyond anything she had dreamed of—but they had wanted everyone to be there to share their happiness. Champagne had flowed, hundreds of photos had been taken and they had danced long into the night. The next day they had flown off to the Seychelles for four perfect weeks, before returning to the real world just a few weeks ago.

      The photographs brought it all back, like the one of her dancing with her father. She remembered him telling her how beautiful she was, and it brought tears to her eyes now, as it had then. It had been the most wonderful of days.

      ‘Ouch, there’s my aunt with that awful hat!’ Lucas declared with a wince and Sofie glanced over at the huge group picture he was looking at. It had been taken in the church grounds, which had, thankfully, been extensive. ‘I don’t remember inviting all these people, but we must have. Who’s this? He isn’t on my side, so he must be one of yours,’ he asked her a moment later, and Sofie frowned.

      ‘Where?’ She tried to see who he meant in a sea of faces.

      ‘Just there,’ he said, pointing to the figure of a man standing at the end of one of the back rows.

      Sofie looked where he was pointing and, the instant she did

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