willing to admit, a most unhappy experience. Fortunately, she was convinced that loving bricks and mortar would be much safer and more rewarding. She was well aware that Oakmere wasn’t Nik’s style. He was accustomed to luxury and very contemporary in his tastes. He had also never evinced an interest in historic buildings or in country life. But those realities didn’t bother Prudence in the slightest. After all, she reflected resolutely, the abbey would ultimately be her house, her home, as she had every intention of claiming it as part of the divorce settlement when they broke up.
Nik watched the flutter of her curling eyelashes lift on her blue eyes. That she really went for the house filled him with intense satisfaction. He had picked a winner. He watched her gently pat the balustrade on the staircase as if it were a living thing in need of affection and he almost laughed: she was the most tender-hearted, truly feminine woman he had ever known.
Her preoccupied gaze roused his curiosity. ‘What are you thinking about?’
Disconcerted pink warmed her cheeks. ‘Nothing important-’
A slow burning smile slashed his handsome mouth. ‘I bet you were thinking about us…living here,
Even though instant guilt flared through her when he made that assumption, that smile of his made a curl of heat leap and dance in the pit of her tummy. Simultaneously, the thoughts in her head burned to dust. ‘Maybe…’
The silence lay thick. She met brilliant dark golden eyes and was suddenly impossibly aware of every inch of her all too female body and of every tiny breath that she drew. She straightened her back in an effort to ease the tingling sensitivity of her breasts.
Bracing long brown fingers on the wall to one side of her head, Nik angled his proud dark head down to press a light, teasing kiss to the corner of her mouth. With a low-pitched gasp, she turned her head to blindly seek more direct contact. His breath fanning her cheek, he toyed with the soft fullness of her lower lip, rimming the upper with an erotic dart of his tongue. ‘Nik…’ She leant forward, literally begging for more, her entire being on fire for the taste of his passionate mouth on hers.
‘Mr Angelis?’ A male voice called from the direction of the great hall.
Startled back to reality, Prudence jerked back from Nik as if she had been violently slapped.
‘Relax, it’s only the agent,’ Nik breathed with a husky sound of amusement. ‘Come home with me.’
Beetroot-pink, Prudence retorted, ‘You can forget that!’ and hurried off to greet the agent.
Nik raked impatient fingers through his luxuriant black hair and expelled his breath on a hiss. He had coerced her into accepting his terms and he had expected too much too soon. But his bewilderment lingered for the Prudence he had believed he knew inside out, who was gentle, soft-hearted and serene. The woman he was currently dealing with was passionate, stubborn and angry to a degree he would not have believed.
The rich scent of the roses in her exquisite bouquet made Prudence breathe in deeply. Yet her brow had an anxious furrow and her eyes were strained.
In a couple of hours she would be walking out of Craighill Farm forever and taking up residence at Oakmere Abbey as Nik’s wife. From then on, Nik, and the marriage that he had sworn he wanted to be a real one, would be on trial. If he betrayed her trust their marriage would be over. She had to fight her own corner, stand up for what she believed in. No wilting wallflower would ever be the equal of Nik Angelis, and she could not make the mistake of getting emotionally involved with him again. An unfaithful husband, who broke her heart and humiliated her, would never make her happy, she acknowledged ruefully. For that same reason she had visited her doctor and had embarked on a course of contraceptive pills. She would not run the risk of falling pregnant in a marriage that might not last that long.
Nik had forced her into a marriage that she wanted to put behind her. Yet, in recent weeks, Nik could not have been more considerate or helpful. Although she had not seen him once in the flesh, he had phoned every day and had gone to remarkable lengths to ensure that she had practical assistance in every corner of her life. For starters, professionals had taken care of all the work of moving for her. Dottie and Sam were over the moon with the cottage they had been offered and were already installed in it. Over the past three days all the animals had been transferred and settled on the abbey estate and a full-time worker had been engaged for the sanctuary.
Nik had even sent her an outfit to wear. He knew she hated shopping and had probably assumed that she would be grateful to be relieved of the task. But Prudence was not pleased at all. Nik buying clothes for her only reminded her that he was a notorious womaniser, who knew more about female garments and sizes than she thought decent or acceptable.
That awareness in mind, Prudence pulled a face at the opulent, long halter-neck dress and bolero jacket hanging on the back of the door. It was definitely not her style. It was obvious, though, that Nik was determined to behave as though the day was a special occasion. The outfit might also be a hefty hint that some sort of surprise party was to take place. She could only cringe at the potential prospect of once again greeting Nik’s friends and relations in a dress that bore more than a passing resemblance to a wedding gown. The white silk sheath might be considerably more elegant and sophisticated than the frilly satin horror she had worn at nineteen, but it had heavy bridal overtones.
As she climbed into the limousine sent to collect her, the removal company arrived to pack up her last possessions. There was a selection of magazines in the car and she leafed through a fashion publication without much interest, until a glimpse of a familiar face made her freeze. It was Cassia Morikis, who had put her talent for acting to good use as a soap star on television before her marriage to a British rock star. His recent death and the subsequent fight over his estate by his previous wives and children had caused more than a few headlines. Prudence studied Cassia’s exquisite face and held the page up to the light to see if she could spot a single flaw. But she was disappointed: Cassia was still incredibly beautiful.
The blonde’s spite did not show on the surface, Prudence conceded ruefully. On the day that Prudence had married Nik, Cassia had upstaged her at every turn. Cassia had worn white as well and had inevitably looked much better in it. Everyone had also known that Cassia had been Nik’s girlfriend a month earlier and she had enjoyed the support of a sympathetic and attentive band of friends.
‘What a big girl you are in every department, Pudding,’ Cassia had whispered in her saccharine-sweet voice to Prudence when nobody else was listening. ‘Poor Nik won’t be able to close his eyes and pretend that it’s me in bed with him tonight!’
‘Stop it,’ Prudence had urged in a stricken undertone.
‘No, stopping is the one thing Nik and I
Reliving that poisonous memory from the past, Prudence shivered. Cassia had soon underlined her threats with a wounding demonstration of her hold on Nik. When Prudence had noticed that Nik was missing, she had not wanted to believe that she would find him with the beautiful blonde. Any faith she had had in her bridegroom had come crashing down when she saw him in Cassia’s arms. Yet Prudence was willing to concede that the explanation Nik had given her just weeks ago might well be true. Perhaps Cassia had been the schemer and the instigator; perhaps Nik had rejected the girl’s advances. Unfortunately, Prudence had not stayed around long enough to find out either way.
The limo finally drew up outside Oakmere Abbey, and Prudence stepped out onto a red carpet that ran all the way to the front door. For a split-second she felt a little dizzy and she blinked in surprise but the moment was almost immediately forgotten in her eagerness to see what had been done with the house. A week ago, Nik had thrown an army of cleaners and decorators into the abbey to make a select few rooms habitable. While he had insisted that he wanted to surprise her, she had worried that he might allow the atmosphere of the house to be spoilt with inappropriate colour schemes and furnishings.
The front door stood wide open. She wandered in slowly and immediately smiled when she saw the fire burning in the chilly great hall. A glorious flower arrangement stood on a table and a couple of comfortable antique chairs added to the welcoming ambience.
‘What do you think?’ Nik prompted.
She whirled round, her dress rustling round her legs in a white swirl of silk, and saw Nik in the shadows by the wall. Light from the leaded windows burnished his black hair and lean, dark, devastating face. Her mouth ran dry and she snatched in a jerky breath. ‘I…I-’
‘You look wonderful in that dress,’ Nik cut in, stunning dark golden eyes travelling over her as thoroughly as a
