Wed for His Secret Heir by Chantelle Shaw

Author:Chantelle Shaw
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-05-02T17:28:48+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

SECRETS AND LIES. They lurked in every corner of the dining room, taunting Ava while she forced herself to eat her lunch and attempted to make conversation with Giannis’s mother. It was an uphill task, for Filia was a discontented woman whose only pleasure in life, it seemed, was criticising her son.

Ava had no idea what the other woman had meant, or what Giannis was supposed to have told her. Perhaps it was something that would only be relevant if he truly intended to marry her—which, of course, he did not. She was trapped in a deception that would only end once he had secured his business deal with Stefanos Markou.

She glanced at him across the table and found he was watching her broodingly as if he was trying to fathom her out. Ava guiltily acknowledged that she had her own secrets. But why should she tell Giannis that her father was serving a prison sentence for armed robbery? In a few weeks’ time there might be a brief media frenzy when it was announced that the engagement between Greece’s golden boy and his English fiancée was over, but the paparazzi would quickly forget about her, as, no doubt, would Giannis.

She pulled her mind back to the conversation between Giannis and his mother. ‘I don’t know why you paid a fortune for a holiday to the Maldives,’ Filia said sharply. ‘You know I dislike long-haul flights.’

‘It is hardly any longer than the flight time to New York,’ Giannis pointed out mildly. ‘I bid for the trip at a charity auction because I hoped you would enjoy a spa break in an exotic location.’

His mother sniffed and turned to Ava. ‘I was surprised when Giannis told me that the two of you are engaged to be married. He has never mentioned you before.’

Ava felt heat spread over her cheeks. ‘It was a whirlwind courtship,’ she murmured.

Filia gave her a speculative look. ‘My son is a very wealthy man. Can I ask why you agreed to marry him?’

‘Mitera!’ Giannis frowned at his mother but she was unabashed.

‘It is a reasonable question to ask.’ She turned her sharp black eyes back to Ava. ‘Well?’

Ava said the only thing she could say. ‘I...love him.’ Her voice sounded strangely husky and she did not dare look across the table at Giannis. One lie always led to another lie, she thought bleakly. But she must have sounded convincing because his mother gave her a searching look and then nodded.

‘Good,’ Filia said. ‘Love and trust are vital to a successful marriage.’

Ava gave a quiet sigh of relief when Giannis came to her rescue and asked his mother about her trip to New York. Evidently it had been a disaster, for which she blamed him. The five-star hotel where he had arranged for her to stay had, according to Filia, been atrocious. ‘Rude staff, and the bed had a lumpy mattress.’

‘I am sorry you were disappointed,’ he told his mother with commendable patience. Ava glanced at

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