LITMIR.BIZ

      “You spend the night in my arms then walk out as cool as you please to a date with your ex? Oops, I forgot, you’re still married to the man. Perhaps you never meant to leave him? I can assure you that from where I was standing the two of you looked awfully cozy.”

      “What on earth are you talking about?”

      “I happened to walk into the Palace Hotel at lunchtime today. Unless I’m much mistaken, you were on a sofa by the window of the lounge smiling at someone who was kissing your hand. You didn’t seem too upset about it.”

      She drew back, shocked at just how angry he was. “Harlan came here to try and persuade me to return to Savannah—he’s worried that my absence makes him look bad. I told him that wasn’t an option right now. We had lunch and now he’s leaving again.”

      “Do I look stupid, I wonder?” Johnny asked conversationally, hands stuffed in the pockets of his corduroys.

      “No, you look jealous,” she retorted, matching his tone. “And with no reason to be.”

      “Jealous? Ha! That’s a good one. Why on earth would I be jealous? After all, we’re just having a holiday fling, aren’t we?”

      “Yes. I suppose we are,” she replied quietly, looking him straight in the eyes.

      “If that’s what you really feel, then I agree wholeheartedly,” he responded stiffly.

      Also by FIONA HOOD-STEWART

      SILENT WISHES

      THE LOST DREAMS

      THE STOLEN YEARS

      THE JOURNEY HOME

      Look for the latest novel by

      FIONA HOOD-STEWART

      SAVANNAH SECRETS

      Southern Belle

      Fiona Hood-Stewart

      To Carter Parsley,

      the other Southern Belle With love

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      Many thanks to all those who have helped me while writing this book. To Remer and Susan Lane, Howard and Mary Morrison, Remer and Christina Lane and Fran Garfunkel of Savannah, Georgia, for their generous hospitality and helpful input. To Bill Riley for the reference to the Samovar, which he told me over dinner at a castle in Switzerland, and last but not least to those whom I share my life with and who patiently bear with my writing every day: John, Sergio and Diego. As always my thanks to my editor Miranda Stecyk and the team: Dianne Moggy, Amy Moore-Benson and Donna Hayes.

      Contents

       Part I

       Chapter 1

       Chapter 2

       Chapter 3

       Chapter 4

       Part II

       Chapter 5

       Chapter 6

       Chapter 7

       Chapter 8

       Chapter 9

       Chapter 10

       Chapter 11

       Chapter 12

       Chapter 13

       Chapter 14

       Chapter 15

       Chapter 16

       Part III

       Chapter 17

       Chapter 18

       Chapter 19

       Chapter 20

       Chapter 21

       Chapter 22

       Chapter 23

       Part IV

       Chapter 24

       Chapter 25

       Chapter 26

       Chapter 27

       Chapter 28

       Chapter 29

       Chapter 30

       Chapter 31

       Chapter 32

       Chapter 33

       Epilogue