The Dimitrakos Proposition

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Authors: Lynne Graham
lush shape. ‘Is that child Ash’s?’ she asked drily.
    Tabby changed Amber, who was squirming like mad and craning her neck to look at the visitor. ‘No.’
    ‘I didn’t think so,’ Kasma said snidely. ‘Ash has never been the daddy type.’
    Exasperation kindling, Tabby straightened her shoulders and turned her head. ‘Look, I don’t know you and I’m busy here—’
    ‘You know why Ash married you, don’t you?’ the brunette continued thinly. ‘ I should have been Ash’s bride. No one understands him as well as I do. Unfortunately for all three of us, he’s too stubborn and proud to accept being forced to do what he should have done long ago.’
    ‘I don’t need to know what you’re talking about,’ Tabby told her uncomfortably. ‘It’s really none of my business.’
    ‘How can you say that when by marrying Ash you’re winning him a fortune?’ Kasma demanded resentfully, her mother’s vocal shrillness feeding into her sharp tone. ‘According to the terms of his father’s will if he stayed single until the end of the year he would lose half of his company to my family! And, of course, anyone who knows how Ash feels about his company would know that he would do virtually anything to protect it...even marry a totally unsuitable nobody from nowhere to maintain the status quo!’

CHAPTER FIVE
    K ASMA ’ S ACCUSATION RANG in Tabby’s ears like a nasty echo during the flight to Italy. After the brunette’s departure, lunch had proceeded quietly but Tabby had not had the advantage of a private moment in which to question Acheron. She had intended to raise the subject during the flight but Melinda was looking after Amber at the back of the cabin and she did not feel that she could speak freely.
    Was it possible that Acheron had had a far more self-serving motive to marry than he had admitted? Tabby deemed it perfectly possible when she compared his refusal of all responsibility for Amber only months earlier with his sudden change of heart. Why on earth hadn’t she been more suspicious of that rapid turnaround of his? He had to think she was as dumb as a rock, she thought painfully, feeling betrayed not only by his lack of honesty but also by her own gullibility. What terms had been included in his father’s will? How could he possibly lose half of a company that belonged to him? And if Kasma’s information was correct, why hadn’t Acheron simply told Tabby the truth?
    And the answer to that question could only be power , Tabby reflected with steadily mounting anger. As long as Tabby had believed that Acheron was doing her a favour for Amber’s sake she had been willing to meet his every demand because she had been grateful to him, believing that he was making a big sacrifice even if theirs was only a fake marriage. But what if it wasn’t like that at all? What if Acheron Dimitrakos had needed a conformable wife just as much as she needed the support and stability that would enable her to adopt Amber? That very much changed the picture and made them equals. But Acheron had never been prepared to treat Tabby as an equal. Acheron preferred to dictate and demand, not persuade and compromise. Well, those days were gone if Kasma had told her the truth...
    ‘You’re very quiet,’ Acheron commented in the car driving them through the Tuscan countryside. She had changed out of her wedding gown before leaving London, and he had felt weirdly disappointed when he saw her wearing the violet dress he had personally chosen for her in London instead. The fabric and long sleeves were too heavy for a warmer climate and there was a flush of pink on her face in spite of the air conditioning. The colour, however, brought out the remarkable shade of her eyes and somehow accentuated the succulent fullness of her pink mouth.
    Acheron breathed in slow and deep, dropped his gleaming gaze only for it to lodge on a slender knee and the soft pale skin beneath, which only made him wonder if her skin would feel as silky

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