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CHAPTER 9
After his departure, Jacqueline stood in her trailer, reflecting in agonizing panic. Diego Francisco Martinez del Río was planning to take her beloved Azura away from her straight to Monterrey, Mexico. He was pretty determined to separate the little girl from the only person she knew and relocate her to a strange house with people speaking a different language.
And to pour salt on the fresh wound, the… Duke dared to tell her how the baby that she loved, should be brought up… Like until now, she only attended his help or his advice to raise her little niece well.
Desperately fixed to keep herself busy so that she didn’t have time to worry at that thought, Jacqueline calmed Azura down, then fed the little girl and put her to sleep in her little cradle.
&nbs
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Like Cinderella but without the fairy godmother to help, the next day, Jacqueline prepared from dawn to dusk, struggling to make herself pretty for her big date with Diego. But, early that evening, the fate stroke again. Nina, her mother, and Daniel, her boyfriend, split up after a very ugly fight caused by her mother… again. What happened was that Daniel found Nina with another man drinking and having a good time, and a huge argument took place. The fight between them went for a while. After listening wretchedly from the balcony to the fight that concluded in their separate departures, Jacqueline crept back indoors. But she already knew the date would never happen. Ten minutes later, Daniel’s teenaged son, Terry, appeared in her doorway. The boy was des
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Later that morning, Jacqueline saw the limousine pulling in front of her trailer. Diego swung out and unfolded to his full intimidating height and she had eyes only for him. Yes, he was the enemy, but he was undeniably breathtaking. Immaculate in appearance and stunningly handsome, Diego was wearing a formal charcoal-grey suit teamed with a white shirt and a blue silk tie. Dragging her beguiled attention from him, Jacqueline smoothed damp palms down over her most presentable T-shirt. She was so nervous she started talking before she even had the door properly open.“Azura is not here… A friend is looking after her for me… So, I thought we could talk on the beach… It’s a lovely day.” Lovely? Diego thought the sky was cloudy, the wind rather strong and the temperature distinc
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Diego brought out a defiant streak in Jacqueline that had remained dormant and unknown even to her until she had met him. She wondered why it was that he had only to address her in a certain tone or raise an aristocratic eyebrow to excite her even temper to screaming pitch. Provoked beyond bearing, he swept up the magazine and slung it aside.“Look at me while I’m talking to you,” he said harshly.“So, now you’re going to add bullying to all your other sins,” Jacqueline commented in a tone that bothered him even more. “Well, I can’t say I’m surprised…”“What other sins? What the hell are you talking about?” Diego raked at her incredulously.“Take my word for it and let’s not get into this right now. You won’t like it… Your Excellency,&rdq
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