The Reluctant Fiancee. JACQUELINE BAIRD

officially engaged. A tiny smile pursed her lips as she twisted the magnificent diamond and sapphire ring on the third finger of her left hand. Every time she looked at it she got a lump in her throat, not just for its beauty, but for what it represented.

      Her engagement party had been perfect; she had danced the night away in the arms of the man she loved, the man she was going to marry, and she had met all of Leon’s friends and his stepmother, Tany, who seemed a very nice lady. But Tany’s daughter by her first marriage, Amy, Bea was not so sure about, and Amy’s friend from America, Selina, Bea had certainly not taken to. The woman had given her the most peculiar look, and a positively evil smile. Still, all in all it had been a great party.

      Bea sighed again, and lay back down. She only had one slight niggle—and she knew she was being stupid—but... After the guests had left, and the house guests had retired for the night, finally she and Leon had been alone. He had walked her to her bedroom door and taken her into his arms.

      Her eyes fluttered closed—just for a moment—as she relived the sensations his kiss had aroused. Her lips had quivered beneath the light touch of his mouth, then he had lazily nibbled her bottom lip, his tongue exploring when her mouth opened to him. Her hands, of their own accord, had moved up his arms to cling to his broad shoulders, glorying in the strength of his taut muscles and the power of his broad frame. He’d deepened the kiss with an ease and sensuality that had made her whole body burn with a trembling need that reached the very core of her being.

      She’d murmured his name: ‘Leon.’ At last they were engaged, and the bed was just behind the door. Her firm young body had arched into him, the power of his arousal against her pelvis making her ache with frustration.

      ‘No, Phoebe,’ he’d murmured against her lips. ‘Ten days is not too long to wait.’ He’d eased her away from him. ‘I want you to have a perfect wedding, and a perfect wedding night. You deserve it. And that means keeping my desire under control until then.’

      Sighing for the third time, Bea rolled over onto her stomach on the lounger. It had been a noble sentiment on Leon’s part, but had done nothing for the frustration burning inside her... With her head resting on her folded arms, she dozed off...

      She raised her head groggily and turned onto her back, not sure what had awakened her. The lounger, placed as it was near the house, was now in the shade. ‘Thank goodness for that,’ she muttered to herself, realising she could have been burned to a crisp. Then she heard it again. Her name being called from inside the villa.

      Good, Leon was back. He had gone into Paphos to see someone on business earlier. She was just about to stand up and make her whereabouts known when another voice floated from the open window not three yards away.

      ‘Looking for your proposed child bride, Leon, darling?’ It was Selina, the American girl, who spoke. ‘I don’t think you’ll be in such a hurry to find her after you hear what I have to say.’

      ‘Selina, there is nothing you have to say that I want to hear.’

      ‘Leon, don’t be like this. This is me, Selina, you’re talking to. Your lover for the last three years. You can’t fool me.’ A shuffling sound followed.

      Bea gasped and, raising her hand to her mouth, she bit hard on her knuckle to stifle her cry of pain.

      ‘Let go, Selina, you’re wasting your time. I told you it was over months ago. You career women are all the same. You say you are equal to a man in every way, and you willingly enter into an open relationship, quite clearly defined, mutual pleasure only. Then, as soon as you are told it is over, instead of acting like a man and walking away, you revert to sniffling feminine tricks.’

      ‘Please, Leon, you have to listen to me. I know you care for me—you can’t possibly love that schoolgirl. Even your stepmother said your engagement was more about cementing the business partnership firmly under your complete control than about any love on your part.’

      ‘My reasons are my own, Selina, and are not up for discussion. Now get out of my way and stay out of it.’

      ‘That might be hard to do. Especially in seven months’ time when our child is born.’

      ‘Impossible, and anyway I always use protection—mainly to prevent just this type of blackmail. Do yourself a favour and leave, before I have you thrown out.’

      Bea could not believe her ears. This was a Leon she had never heard before: hard and totally ruthless. But worse was to follow.

      ‘Aren’t you forgetting something, Leon? Two months ago, at the Mackenzies’ house party in Newport? You flew in, partied half the night, and woke up in the morning in my bed. Protection was not something you bothered about. I know; I was there...’

      For a long moment there was silence. Then, ‘You bitch, Selina. You did it deliberately. Didn’t you?’

      Bea didn’t hear the rest of the conversation. She had heard enough. Staggering to her feet, she silently crept around the outside of the house and entered by the kitchen. She took the servants’ stairs to her room and once inside locked the door. She collapsed on the bed, but could not cry. She was too traumatised for tears. Instead she stared blankly at the white walls, asking herself over and over again, How could I have been such a fool?

      CHAPTER THREE

      BEA had been used, exploited by the first man she had ever let near her. Before Leon she had dated a few boys of her own age, and exchanged the odd fumbled kiss, but nothing like the passionate interludes Leon had introduced her to. She should have realised a sophisticated, sexually mature man like Leon couldn’t possibly be interested in a naive young girl such as herself unless he had an ulterior motive. But she had blindly agreed with everything Leon had said. She’d even put up with him calling her Phoebe, when she much preferred Bea...

      Nausea clawed at her stomach; the sense of betrayal ate into her very being. That she could be so wrong about a man she had known almost all her life, a man she would have trusted with her life, made her burn with shame at her own gullibility.

      She thumped the bed with her clenched fists and shouted out loud, ‘Fool, fool, fool!’ Then the tears came. Bea cried until she had no tears left, and her throat was raw and dry. Finally she slowly sat up. She had no idea how long she had been in the bedroom, but it was already getting dark. Confirmation, if she needed any more, of how little Leon actually thought of her.

      On his return to the villa, his eager calling of her name had roused her from sleep. But since his conversation with Selina he certainly hadn’t bothered trying to find Bea again.

      She heaved herself off the bed and walked into the bathroom. One look in the mirror, and if she could have cried again she would have. Red-rimmed, swollen eyes stared out of a face as white as a ghost’s. She had no idea how she was going to face Leon ever again.

      Stripping off her bikini, she stepped into the shower and turned on the cold water. She stood beneath the freezing spray, praying it would numb her body and brain, but it was no good. The image of Leon and Selina together tortured her mind. Three years... They had been lovers for three years, and they were having a baby together. She heard again Leon’s furious outburst: ‘You did it deliberately.’ And that was what hurt most of all.

      Leon hadn’t tried to deny the child was his. He was simply furious at being caught by the oldest trick in the book. Bea stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around herself and walked back into the bedroom. She stopped by the dressing table, pulled the diamond ring off her finger and dropped it on the polished surface. Her engagement ring. What a joke! While she had considered herself engaged since Easter, when Leon had asked her to marry him and she had said yes, he had obviously felt no such commitment. He had continued sleeping with his long-time lover.

      It was not so surprising, really, she thought as mechanically she set about getting dressed. She had always known Leon was the Lothario type, but in her youthful naivety she had let herself believe she was the one person who could change him. A hollow laugh escaped her. She remembered last night and their impassioned kisses, and then his denial