'Very wise,' Theo responded with a sardonic tilt of one dark brow. But he was furiously angry that she had dared to assault his character in front of Greek society's élite. She knew exactly what she was doing even though most of what she was saying was fiction.

How she had found out about the necklace he did not know; she had certainly never discovered any receipt. But one glance at her face as she'd looked at Christine, her cool blue gaze lingering on the necklace, it was blatantly obvi­ous that she knew. Willow was a strong, proud woman, and she had struck back at him in her own unique way, he had to give her that. But right now he felt more like throttling her, and his main priority was to get her out of here.

The chauffeur manipulated the limousine through the Athens traffic, and Willow sat in the back seat determinedly looking out of the window in stony silence. Theo had not said a word since they had left the reception together. But she could feel the tension, the simmering anger, pulsing in the air between them, and she knew the only thing pre­venting him from reacting was the presence of the driver.

The car eventually slowed and the driver activated the security gates. Within minutes they reached the entrance to the villa, and the car stopped.

Theo leapt out before the driver could even move and was already opening the door beside Willow. 'Out,' he said and grabbed her arm, and told the driver to leave.

He urged her up the steps to the massive front doors of the villa, and quickly opened them, bundling her inside, and only then did he set her free.

Theo turned as Willow was walking away from him and he opened his mouth to yell at her, but then stopped. By a supreme effort of will he managed to control his temper. She had tried to make a fool of him in front of their friends and no one got away with that. But as his gaze slid over her proud dark head he saw the tension in the slender shoul­ders. He realised with a sickening jolt in his chest that what he had done to her was as bad, if not worse. He had used her love for her child to force her into marriage, and, in his conceit, had presumed that as long as he showered her in presents and kept her satisfied in bed, she would be a happy and dutiful wife.

He was so used to sophisticated women in his life, and always had been. In his world when an affair started and ended a suitable pay-off was expected and usually given.

People changed partners regularly but, with cynical disre­gard of any finer feelings, continued to mix socially with no apparent hard feelings on either side. In his arrogance he had made no allowance for the fact that Willow was not one of them. The women he had known in the past would not have cared if they had met one of his exes wearing diamonds he had given them, as long as they were the one in favor at the time, and that eventually they too would get their share.

His dark brows drew together in a frown. Willow was not like that; she took more pleasure from a single rose than she did from a fortune in diamonds. And if he ever found out who had told her about Christine's necklace he would destroy them. But in the meantime, unless he was very careful, Willow would walk away from him for good and that was something he could not contemplate. She was young, beautiful and talented and earned a good living. She didn't need him half as much as he needed her and the knowledge hit him like a thunderbolt. He loved her. . .

Willow made her away across the massive reception hall heading for the stairs. She had nothing to say to Theo. She entered the master suite, and, grabbing her nightgown off the bed, she just as quickly exited. She made her way to the guest room as far away as possible from the room she had shared with Theo. There were plenty to choose from, she thought bitterly. The house was like a mausoleum, and tonight had certainly seen the death of all her hopes.

She pushed open a door into an elegant blue and white bedroom and noted the queen-sized bed. It was more than big enough for her, and she crossed into the stark white ensuite bathroom. She quickly shrugged off her dress and briefs and slipped the nightgown over her head. Then she swiftly removed her make-up, unpinned her hair and shook it free.

It crossed her mind why Theo had not followed her, and then she berated herself for being so weak. Why should he? He knew she had found him out. He no longer had to pre­tend he cared. . .

She walked back into the bedroom and froze. Theo was standing in the middle of the room wearing only a black silk robe, tall and infinitely formidable, his chiselled fea­tures set in a hard, impenetrable mask.

Theo's control had been stretched to the limit after he had walked into their bedroom, determined to be reason­able, and found her gone. He had told himself to calm down, stripped and quickly showered. Willow wasn't going anywhere tonight—the house was locked up as tight as a drum. He would find her and explain that Christine meant nothing to him, less than nothing, and make her understand. But looking at her cool, pale face and her luscious body covered in a swirl of violet silk that floated to her feet, her blue eyes openly defying him, he wanted to shake her until her teeth rattled.

'What do you think you are doing, Willow?' he de­manded in a dangerously quiet voice. 'You are my wife, and you sleep in my bed.'

'Not any more,' Willow said bluntly. 'The marriage is over.' Her mind was made up. She should never have mar­ried the heartless swine in the first place. Millions of chil­dren lived with divorced parents, and, while she would never have wished it on her son, she was not the type to be a martyr.

Theo's expression changed to one of sardonic cynicism. 'I think not, but obviously we need to talk. That overactive imagination of yours appears to have developed some very strange ideas.'

'There was nothing strange about the diamond necklace around your mistress's throat; in fact it was quite beautiful.'

She matched him for cynicism. 'And the only strange idea is yours, that you should imagine for a second that I would ever share a bed with you again.' Willow drew in a deep unsteady breath, and managed to keep her voice cool with the greatest difficulty. 'Now, please leave.'

In two lithe strides he reached her and caught her shoul­ders in a bruising grip. 'Let go of me, Theo.'

'Never,' he rasped. 'I have only one question for you, Willow. Who told you about Christine? And, so help me, I will destroy them. Can't you see that they were only try­ing to make trouble between us, you little fool?'

Calling her a fool was like waving a red rag to a bull. Willow retaliated without thought of the consequences. 'I might be a fool but it was you that made me one!' And her usual cool voice shook with rage. 'My God, you bullied me into marrying you, and then had the colossal nerve to introduce me to your mistress. Not just me, but my son, and all the while your own mother was looking on, and even she knew. Well, let me tell you something.' She poked a finger in his chest. 'You have made a fool of me for the last time, Theo. I am out of here tomorrow, and you can go to hell.'

'If I do then you are damn well coming with me.' Theo's black eyes gleamed with frustrated fury and she gave a silent cry of pain as his hands tightened on her slender shoulders.

'For God's sake, Willow, grow up and enter the real world. So what if Christine was my mistress? I'm a thirty- seven-year-old man. What the hell did you expect? You and I met again by accident—I did not have a chance to finish with Christine before we got married. What you saw at the restaurant was business in a way. I was telling her at the first opportunity I had that it was over and paying her off, and she knew it. I had

not slept with her in over two months.'

'And that makes it all right, then?' she prompted mock­ingly. 'My God, you are despicable.' Her blue eyes blazed with bitter contempt.

'Despicable maybe, but at least I had the decency to tell Christine to her face it was over. You on the other hand allowed your friend to inform your lover Dave for you,' he taunted. 'How despicable is that?'

'Dave was never my lover!' She was so outraged that he had dared to try and make this her fault that she told him much more than she had intended.

'I have never had a lover. I never had the time, I was too busy looking after my son and earning a living.' She gave a choked laugh. 'Much good it did me. You barged back into my life, stole my son, and stuck me in this—' she glanced wildly around the luxuriously appointed room '—great mausoleum of a house, that you had built for your first wife and decorated by your mistress.'

Tags: Jacqueline Baird Billionaire Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net