Mistress Bought and Paid For by Lynne Graham

Author:Lynne Graham
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2006-11-11T16:00:00+00:00

His lean powerful face set into grim lines. He had to make amends. He had misjudged her and she had paid a high price.

A kindly older woman, who introduced herself in careful English as the housekeeper, brought Lydia a menu and talked her through it. Having made her selections, Lydia went for a soak in the sunken bath and scrubbed her tummy crimson to remove the fake tattoo. Not one of her cleverest ideas, she conceded, stifling the memory of Cristiano pressing his mouth there.

Clad in a pair of short pyjamas, she checked her phone for messages. She had been hoping to hear from her mother, for she was eager for the chance to tell Virginia that she was now safe from any threat of prosecution. She reminded herself that the older woman had been so scared that it might well be a few weeks before she had the courage to make contact with her daughter. After all, Virginia had anxiously mentioned the fact that mobile phone records could be checked.

Dinner was served at a beautifully set table in the opulent reception room that linked with hers. But she ate sitting cross-legged on the bed next door, and endeavoured to watch a gardening programme on the plasma screen she found concealed with other technology behind electronic sliding doors. Replete with food, she crawled into bed. She did not think she had ever been so exhausted. It was both emotional and physical. Yet, even though she tried to bar Cristiano from her thoughts, she fell asleep with his vibrant darkly handsome image in her mind’s eye.

She did not awaken until mid-morning, when a maid opened the curtains and brought her a cup of tea. Emerging from the bathroom enveloped in a towel, she went into the attached dressing room and was astonished to discover that virtually all the outfits she had tried on the night before now hung in colour-coordinated rows in the fitted closets. She glanced at the functional garments she had already taken out, and then slowly tidied them away again.

If Cristiano wanted her to dress in the latest and most expensive fashion, was it really worth the aggro of saying no? She snatched in a sustaining breath and compressed her soft lips. It was time to deal with life as it was, not life as she would have liked it to be. Shielding her mother and escaping a likely prison sentence came at a cost that she had agreed to pay. Nobody had twisted her arm, nobody had forced her to sign that contract, she reminded herself doggedly. She was a mistress. She was an accessory, arm-candy, a trophy to be put on display. And, whether she liked it or not, presentation was everything when only her face and her body counted in the balance.

A little while later, Cristiano phoned to ask her to join him for lunch on the terrace. As if she had a choice, she thought fiercely, her pride still stinging at the awareness of how much she was in his power.

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