"Stephanos had better," he said icily.

"Arete isn't working for us any more."

"WhatT " She's gone over to Strahan Brothers. "

"Strahans? Why? What did you do to her? Damon, if you hurt her feelings--'

Obviously all thought of Damon's honeymoon was gone.

Arete was the one who mattered now.

Damon's teeth snapped together.

"You'll have to talk to her about that. Mama." Kate felt herself being

towed towards the door.

"Come on, Kate. If we're going on honeymoon--' he came down with lead feet on the word- I've got work to do."

They were almost out of the room, when he turned back and looked at the girl

still standing behind his mother.

"Nice to see you again, Marina. What brings you here?"

"I can't believe you did that!"

Damon couldn't either, but he didn't need some elfin termagant flinging

herself around his living-room berating him for his manners.

He already knew they were appalling. He put it down to stress.

Normally he was the most tactful of men.

"You're lucky she didn't kill you," Kate raged on, casting longing glances at

anything she might throw at him. Damon was glad he didn. "t have

knickknacks. She had to settle for glowering instead.

"Should I have ignored her?" "In the circ.u.mstances, you probably should have. Good heavens, Damon, thegirl was mortified! Have far as the Hamptons, you'll be on the phone all the time. I know!

Buccaneer's Cay. "

"No, Mama." Damon said almost as fast as Sophia said, "What a good idea.

You can go down early and make sure everything is ready for Thanksgiving."

"I have things to do here. Important things.""More important than your marriage?" His mother looked at him, scandalised."d.a.m.n it ' " Don't swear, Damon. It's a perfect solution. We will all be down for the holiday. In the meantime, you will have a chance to spend time alone together. "

"We don't need time alone together!"

"What Damon means," Kate said hastily, 'is that we don't want to shut you out. We want you to share our happiness. "

Helena squeezed her hand.

"And so we will, my dear. We always go to Buccaneer's Cay in late Novemberif there isn't time to go home to Greece. Hasn't Damon told you?"Kate shook her head.Helena frowned at her son."It's a small island in the Bahamas. We have a small family compound there that Aristotle bought years ago.

My husband loved island living, said it gave him the proper focus. "

Helena smiled a nostalgic smile.

"Please, do say you'll go." She gave Kate a look of such entreaty that Kate

could think of nothing to say at all. She looked at Damon helplessly. She could see a muscle ticking in his temple, could imagine the wheels turning in his brain, looking for an escape route.

Apparently he didn't find one, for a moment later she felt him let out his breath slowly and carefully. "All right." .

Helena beamed."Don't worry, dear. Stephanos and Arete can take care of things here."Damon's expression grew even grimmer. He gave his brother-in-law a stony glare which had Stephanos taking a step backwards.

"Stephanos had better," he said icily.

"Arete isn't working for us any more."

"WhatT " She's gone over to Strahan Brothers. "

"Strahans? Why? What did you do to her? Damon, if you hurt her

feelings---' Obviously all thought of Damon's honeymoon was gone.

Arete was the one who mattered now.

Damon's teeth snapped together.

"You'll have to talk to her about that. Mama." Kate felt herself being

towed towards the door.

"Come on, Kate. If we're going on honeymoon--' he came down with lead feet on the word '--I've got work to do."

They were almost out of the room, when he turned back and looked at the girl

still standing behind his mother.

"Nice to see you again, Marina. What brings you here?"

"I can't believe you did that!"

Damon couldn't either, but he didn't need some elfin termagant flinging

herself around his living-room berating him for his manners.

He already knew they were appalling. He put it down to stress.

Normally he was the most tactful of men.

"You're lucky she didn't kill you," Kate raged on, casting longing glances at

anything she might throw at him. Damon was glad he didn't have knickknacks.

She had to settle for glowering instead.

"Should I have ignored her?" "In the circ.u.mstances, you probably should have. Good heavens, Damon, thegirl was mortified! Have you no compa.s.sion? She came all the way from Greece to marry you!"

"I'm already married."

"That doesn't signify. You should apologise! You should have been a little more sensitive to her feelings!"

"I was trying to be sensitive to yours."

Kate snorted.

"If you'd ever thought I had any feelings you wouldn't have asked me to marry

you."He grinned."You're probably right.""Stop smiling. This isn't funny. I don't know why I agreed to this!It's a disaster! And now a honeymoon, for heaven's sake! " She grabbed a pillow and flung it at him.

Damon caught the pillow. She thought it was a disaster, too? He felt

curiously nettled hearing it. "What are you complaining about? My mother'staking care of the girls.""I don't simply take care of the girls. I run the agency. Or have you forgotten?"

He had, as a matter of fact. He'd watched Kate taking care of Sophia's girls

and had thought what a good mother she'd make. He hadn't been thinking about her as a career woman.

"What do you expect me to do about it?"

"You could have said no."

"You heard her. Honeymoons are sacrosanct. If we declined, she'd know themarriage wasn't real.""We have the certificate.""But we could still get an annulment. We haven't consummated it," he reminded her. His gaze shifted to the bedroom door.