fatoum

Stella hoped to buy the bookshop where she worked, so evenings she moonlighted as a cleaner at Harlequin  International...

 Until she overheard Dior Harlequin discussing a top-secret deal, and he insisted that Stella was an industrial spy! 

Stella was unnerved by her confrontation with Dior Harlequin However, Dior knew just how he would deal with her...

Stella found herself on her way to Dior's island, and two days and nights of perfect passion... followed by an unexpected pregnancy. 

Dior had the perfect solution -- they'd marry for the baby's sake. By now, Stella was in love with Dior, but could he learn to love his expectant bride?


Insight:

A handsome Greek tycoon finds a cleaning woman hiding in a corner of his office and is taken instantly with the beautiful lady he finds.


 But when she overhears some confidential data, a thought suddenly occurred that he could use an excuse. For the next few days to maintain her chained to his side.

"When you're my wife, I'll expect you to do exactly as you're told at all times." A stark little silence fell. Stella couldn't believe what Dio had just said. 

"Most especially when I am considering your welfare," he added gently. Stella trembled and compressed her bloodless lips. 

"You're not seriously asking me to… to marry you?" "Very seriously," Dior asserted.

 "But we hardly know each other—" 

"We know a little enough that I like you. I respect you. I desire you. What more is there?"

 "What about… love?" she prompted, striving for a detached tone. "What about our children?"

The Silver Bride

Just as she was about to step back out again she heard male footsteps coming down the corridor, and practically had a heart attack on the spot. Without even thinking about what she was doing, she shot behind the door to conceal herself, her heart pounding like a piston. 


The steps got closer and closer, and then stopped right on the other side of the open door. At that moment Stella just stopped breathing altogether. In the rushing silence, she could now hear every word of the dialogue carrying through from the office next door. 


'...so as long as I continue to appear to be interested in acquiring Davidson Components, Marco Technic will remain a sitting duck,' a dark-accented male drawl was muttering with satisfaction. 


'I'll make my move the minute the market opens on Wednesday.' Stella heard whoever else was on the other side of the door catch their breath audibly. She felt like a total idiot. 


What the heck had she been thinking of? The maintenance trolley parked outside supplied visible proof of her presence somewhere nearby. However, the man in the doorway advanced no deeper into the room. 


To her surprise and relief, she heard him start back down the corridor much more quietly than he had walked up to it. Stella slowly sucked in much-needed air. 


She was creeping out from concealment on literal tiptoe when the door of the interconnecting office suddenly shot wide to frame an intimidating male, who seemed at that moment to be as tall as a skyscraper. She froze, green eyes huge in her flushed and discomfited face. 


Eyes as black as pitch raked over her in a challenging appraisal as aggressive as a loaded gun. 'What the hell are you doing in here?' he shot at her in upset disbelief.


 'I was just leaving—' 'You were hiding behind the door listening!' he contradicted in pure outrage. 'No, I wasn't listening.'


 Stella was genuinely shocked by the level of his annoyance, and then, as she recognized him, her tension rocketed right off the scale.


 No, they hadn't met before, but there was a dirty great enormous portrait of the guy in the ground-floor foyer. That portrait was the target of much teasing and admiring female comment.


 Why? Diornysios Harlequin was drop-dead gorgeous. Diornysios Harlequin, popularly known as Dior, the ruthless, asset-stripping Greek billionaire who ran Harlequin International. 


Oh, dear heaven, she registered sickly, she'd picked the wrong set of double doors to intrude behind. Now both her job and Grace's had to be on the line! A grey-haired older man appeared from behind Dior Harlequin. 


Frowning at her in dismay, he dug out a mobile phone. 'She's not the regular cleaner, Dior. I'll get onto security straight away.' 'There's no need for that,' Stella protested through teeth that were starting to chatter. 'I'm just covering for the usual cleaner tonight...that's all. 


I didn't mean to interrupt you...I was just about to step back outside—' 'But you had no business being there in the first place,' the older man condemned. Dior Harlequin studied her broodingly, eyes so dark they glittered like reflective mirrors and unnerved her. '


Chapter 3: I was just leaving