Chapter 1


    CHAPTER ONE


    CHRISTIAN MARKOS TIPPED thest of his champagne down his throat and immediately refilled his


    ss.


    He’d known today was going to be hard, but hadn’t imagined quite how torturous it would be. Not even


    all the running around he’d done with Ro that morning, in their seemingly desperate attempt to find


    the bride, had mitigated it.


    Afterwards, he’d stood by the side of his closest friend on the happiest day of his life and all he’d been


    able to think was how deeply he’d betrayed him.


    While Ro had been exchanging his vows, Christian had been using all his willpower to stop his gaze


    flitting to Alessandra.


    He was still fighting it.


    Alessandra Mondelli: Ro’s baby sister. A pretty child who’d grown into a ravishingly beautiful


    woman. The one woman in the world who was totally off-limits.


    Or should have been.


    Attired in a long, sleeveless, silk mauve dress, with her glossy, dark-chestnut hair pulled back in a tight


    chignon, she’d arrived by boat with the radiant bride, the spring sun beaming down on her golden skin.


    In his eyes the chief bridesmaid outshone everyone, including the famous supermodel bride.


    Thest time he’d seen Alessandra she’d been wearing a short, creamce dress with ck beading


    and a pair of ck shoes so high he’d been amazed she could walk in them. But walk in them she had,


    beautifully, her delectable bottom swaying with every step. That was thest time he’d seen her


    clothed. Thest time he’d seen her properly she’d been burrowed naked under the bed covers in her


    apartment.


    The wedding party had moved from the beautiful gardens by Lake Como and into the Vi Mondelli


    ballroom. The wedding dinner was over, the evening celebration about to start. He’d made his best


    man’s speech and managed to raise someughs from the other guests, especially Stefan and Zayed,


    who’d substituted the speech he’d written with a bluer version. Instead of rxing, knowing his job was


    done, Christian was on tenterhooks waiting for the music to strike up.


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    An American A-list starlet kept making eyes at him, a stunning woman with a body to die for. Just six


    weeks ago he would have been at her side like a shot. If not her, then one of the other gorgeous


    women littering this star-studded event already beingbelled ‘wedding of the century.’ Supermodels,


    lingerie models, singers... It was like being a child in a sweetshop.


    If that were the case, then he must have diabetes, because none of the sweets looked remotely


    tempting.


    Except one. The forbidden one.


    How could he have allowed things to get so out of hand? He might flit from bed to bed but he never lost


    control of himself.


    To have lost his control with Alessandra...


    He could me it on all the champagne they’d drunk. He could me it on a lot of things, but all the


    me was on himself.


    Alessandra had been vulnerable. Try as she’d done to hide it, she’d been a mess, grieving the loss of


    her grandfather, the man who’d raised her since she’d been a baby and who’d been buried barely two


    weeks before.


    Christian had dropped in at the House of Mondelli, the world-famous fashion house, on his way back


    from Hong Kong, expecting to take Ro out for a night on the tiles, maybe spend the weekend


    together on his Italian friend’s yacht. But Ro had been in New York and he’d bumped into


    Alessandra, who’d insisted he take her out instead. Under normal circumstances he would have made


    his excuses and got back in his jet to fly on to Athens. If he hadn’t caught the desperation in her


    beautiful honey-brown eyes, he would have done just that, not found himself recalling how she’d barely


    been able to stand during the funeral service.


    When they’d set out for the evening, thest thing he’d expected was that they would end up in bed


    together.


    Women came and went in his life on a regr basis. He could only assume that it was the fact


    Alessandra was someone who was in his life, so to speak, that meant he was having a hard job


    forgetting and moving on. That and the guilt of it all. She might have been the one to instigate the kiss


    that had led to them making love, but the me for what followedy firmly on his shoulders.