Chapter Twenty-four

Andrea surveyed the huge crowded room with concealed dissatisfaction. He wondered why it was that when fate gave him what he believed he had always wanted he should find it so irritating.

Clingy women who remained welded to him like superglue in company had always exasperated him.

In the course of a month, he had learned that Elena did not cling, shadow him round the room or continually seek ways to attract his attention.

In fact, he sometimes felt like handcuffing her to his wrist or tagging her with a satellite-navigation system he could use to locate her when he wanted her back by his side.

When she got talking to his guests, she lost track of time. She was wildly popular with the garden enthusiasts and had to be regularly rescued from those who took advantage of her horticultural knowledge to request free advice and even personal visits.

‘Where is she?’ Andrea was finally forced to ask Francis.

A few minutes later, his chief of security at his heels, he strode out to the rear