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bestselling novelists. Her writing was an instant success with readers worldwide. Since her first book, Bittersweet Passion, was published in 1987, she has gone from strength to strength and now has over ninety titles, which have sold more than thirty-five million copies, to her name.
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âYOU have ruined your life just as your mother did,â Spyros Manoulis condemned.
Olympia studied her Greek grandfather with shuttered eyes the colour of sea jade. She was sick with nerves but she had come on a begging mission. If venting his spleen put the older man into a better mood and made him look more sympathetically on her motherâs plight, she could stand the heat of any attack.
Well-built and fit, for all his seventy-plus years, the white-haired older man paced the lounge of his luxurious London hotel suite, his lined features forbidding. âLook at you, still single at the age of twenty-seven! No husband, no children,â he cited grimly. âTen years ago, I opened my home to you and I attempted to do my best for youâ¦â
As he paused for a necessary breath, broad chest expanding, Olympia knew what was coming next. Beneath the mahogany hair she wore confined in a French plait, her pallor became pronounced.
âAnd how was my generosity repaid?â Spyros was working himself up into a rage at the memory. âYou brought dishonour on the family name. You disgraced me, destroyed your own reputation and offered unforgivable insult to the Cozakis familyââ
âYesâ¦â Olympia was desperate enough to own up to murder itself if it calmed her grandfather down and gave her the chance to plead her motherâs cause.
âSuch a marriage as I arranged for youâ¦and very grateful you were to have Nikos Cozakis at the time! You wept when he gave you your betrothal ring. I remember the occasion well!â
Olympia clenched her teeth together: a necessary self-restraint. Hot, cringing humiliation was eating into her self-discipline.
âThen you threw it all away in a wanton moment of madness,â Spyros Manoulis ground out with bitter anger. âShamed me, shamed yourselfââ
Olympia whispered tautly, âTen years is a long timeââ
âNot long enough to endow me with forgetfulness!â her grandfather countered harshly. âI was curious to see you again. Thatâs why I agreed to this meeting when you wrote asking for it. But let me tell you now without further waste of time that you will receive no financial assistance from me.â
Olympia reddened. âI want nothing for meâ¦but my mother, your daughterââ
Spyros interrupted her before she could mention her motherâs name. âHad my foolish daughter raised you to be a decent young woman, according to our Greek traditions, you would never have brought dishonour upon me!â
At that judgmental assurance, Olympiaâs heart sank. So her innocent parent was still to suffer for her daughterâs sins. Squaring her slim shoulders, she lifted a chin every bit as determined as his own. âPlease let me speak freelyââ
âNo, I will not hear you!â Spyros stalked over to the window. âI want you to go home and think about what you have lost for you and your mother. Had you married Nik Cozakisââ
âIâd have castrated him!â Olympiaâs control over her temper slipped as the older man made it clear that their meeting was already at an end.
Her grandfatherâs beetling brows rose almost as high as his hairline.
Olympia coloured. âIâm sorryââ
âAt least Nik would have taught you to keep a still tongue when a man is speaking to you!â
Olympia sucked in a deep, steadying breath. He was as mad as fire now. She had done nothing but add fuel to the flames. No doubt she ought to have arrived steeped in sackcloth and ashes and hung her head with anguished regret when he referred to her broken engagement.
Spyros Manoulis moved his hand in a gesture of finality. âYou could only win my forgiveness by marrying Nik.â
Fierce disappointment filled Olympia to overflowing. âWhy donât you just throw in climbing Everest too?â
âI see you get the picture,â her grandfather said drily.
But there was a little red devil buzzing about now inside Olympiaâs head. âIf I could get him to marry me, would I still come dowered with the Manoulis empire?â