Looking at her now Carrie realized Marsha was less slender than in her younger years but nevertheless was still a beautiful woman, with her long flowing black hair boimcing as she jerked her head back angrily in Carrie’s direction.‘You think you can take Alexis away from me, you smutty little Irish girl. Then think again! Alexis will always love me and I will stop at nothing to make sure he marries me. So be warned!’ Her voice was low and held a warning most women would cower from.Carrie smiled, though she was astonished that Marsha was attacking her this open way. ‘You know, I always thought Alexis was a man who made up his own mind. He won’t be manipulated by a woman; neither you, nor I. You may think you know him very well and if that’s the case, please enlighten me and tell me why I’ll be wearing his ring and not you.’Marsha snorted and moved towards Carrie. ‘He is just using you, you imbecile! The man wants nothing more than sex from you. Do yourself a favour and leave the isl

‘I had a go with the sandblaster.’ His grip tightened. ‘I was bored. B.O.R.E.D! Bored! You wouldn t let me come to you. I was going crazy, Alexis.’His grip slackened. ‘Come here and sit on the bed. We need to talk.’They sat down on the bed, facing each other. Firstly, the sandblaster is too heavy for you.’Carrie boiled inside. What did he think she was, some weak little waif? ‘Too heavy? The sandblaster is not too heavy for me.’‘Not even if you’re pregnant?’Large blue eyes shot to his. He raised his dark eyebrows. ‘I heard you this morning in thebathroom. If I’m not mistaken I think this is morning sickness?’‘Yes, well,’ she coloured. ‘So what if it is!’‘If it is?’ he said slowly, ‘I think the sandblaster is too heavy.’ Then he grinned, boyishly. ‘Just how much of the bakery have you done?’Carrie relaxed; he wasn’t going to make an issue of her not telling him about her pregnancy. ‘Not much. Just finished the downstairs room.’ She clasped her hands in her lap. ‘Look, it’s onl

‘Lost what?’‘Your control! I realized then that you might care about me. So I let you believe Peter was a man. I never actually lied to you. I just wanted you to care, not just for the body that’s carrying your child, butfor we, Carrie O’Riordan.’ She pulled herself free of his touch. ‘I just needed to know you were jealous. The mention of Peter has a way of getting a response out of you, a reaction.’'It does?’‘Oh yes, your face contorts, like this . . .’ As she copied his face for one illuminating second he nearly succumbed to laughter. As it was, he suppressed the urge, he was still angry with her. Wasn’t he? Well maybe not.‘Just like that?’‘Yes, and when you’re angry, like this . . .’ She pulled another face, this one quite frightening.He pushed an irritable hand through his hair, relaxing a little. ‘I guess I’ve been pretty tough on you. Demanding that you marry me, forcing you to have my baby all in the name of a shipping fleet.’The jet engines revved loudly, they were no

What I can’t understand is that Petros won’t even discuss this with me. He knows that I know about this farce, and he won’t even acknowledge the fact,’ commented Carrie as they took breakfast on the terrace.Carrie looked cautiously at Alexis. Over the past ten weeks they had hardly spoken of what they had secretly entered into in London. Their child had grown inside of her, their relationship a steady progressive wonder. But always she was waiting for the bubble of happiness to burst.‘Maybe he’s waiting imtil he’s had the operation. We know that he lied about that. He’s waiting for a heart transplant, not some kind of bypass. If it’s any consolation he lied to me too,’ he returned unsmilingly. He picked up the coffee pot, poured two cups then asked, ‘And what, might I ask, are you doing today?’‘Jonathan has asked me to help with the new donkey. It needs to swim in the sea to strengthen its muscles. Jonathan, Andreas and myself are going to take him out in the boat and swim him back

Now was not the right time. He needed time to really talk to her, really sit down at length and make her imderstand. Their future needed sorting out. He didn’t want to keep her within a marriage that was bound to fail. He loved her too much for that. He smiled as he opened the back door; now he knew whatlove was. He knew he’d been in love with idea of loving Carrie for years, but reality was far different from his daydreams, and in truth, he’d been scared when she’d accepted that stupid deal of Petros’s. So why had he gone along with it?Love didn’t mean getting together because of a child, it meant sharing life with someone you wanted to be with, someone who cared, someone who felt the same about the fundamental things. Tonight she’d been so near and yet so far. He’d wanted to hug her to him, but he wasn’t sure she felt the same. Could he salvage the love she had for him? He wasn’t sure, and he hated this vulnerable feeling.If she loved him would she forgive him?He heard a cough f