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hall, she breathed deeply. She desperately wanted to escape, to run away from the situation that was developing without her volition. What would he do if she disappeared? Employ detectives to find her, without doubt. Where in the world would she be safe from a man like him? There was no answer to that.
    Laura put her head round the kitchen door. She had obviously heard the slamming of the door and when she saw Charlotte she left the kitchen and came purposefully towards her. "What is all this?" she hissed impatiently. "What is that man doing here? I don't believe he knew your father."
    "Oh, he did, believe me," Charlotte assured her wearily, realizing that she could not confide even in Laura. If she had to go through with this, no one must know at what cost. She could not bear sympathy on top of everything else. Some how, she would do it, though be should not find it the easy path he imagined. And afterwards she would take him for every penny she could squeeze out of him!
    "And you're thinking of marrying him?" exclaimed Laura, in dismay.
    "Yes." Charlotte's tone was flat, but Laura didn't notice.
    "And what about me?" she demanded. " You selling this house?"
    Charlotte shook her head. "No. No. I don't know. I don't think so." She sighed. "Laura, you don't have to worry, whatever happens. I'll see you're all right. You and Jess and Billy. I - well, I just may keep this house on. I mean, you never know when a house can come in handy. You could be sort of - caretaker, if you like. I'd pay you, of course."
    Laura folded her arms and shook her head. "There's more to this than meets the eye, Charley, and you know it. I wasn't picked off the banana tree yesterday. I ain't that green!"
    Charlotte had to smile, even though she felt more like crying. "Laura, I've told you the truth. What more can I say?"
    Laura sniffed. "All right, have it your way. I just never thought there'd come a time when my little Charley told me liesl "
    "They're not lies, Laura." Charlotte spread her hands. "Honest to God, I'm not about to enter a harem or anything. He - " she gestured with her thumb, "he wants to marry me. Is that so strange? Am I so unattractive?"      
    "You're deliberately misunderstanding me, Charley. You know you're the prettiest girl I know. Too thin, of course, but that's natural, in the circumstances." Laura stared at the girl anxiously. "You going to be happy, Charley? This man got lots of money? He treat you good?"
    "I - hope so," said Charlotte, bending her head so that Laura should not see the tears in her eyes. "Now - excuse me. I must get changed."
    Charlotte was aware of Laura's reproachful eyes following her up the stairs, but there was nothing she could say to assuage her anxiety. Besides, she could not shoulder Laura's worries. She had more than enough of her own.
    The car that waited outside for Alex Faulkner was a chauffeur-driver Mercedes, the kind of car which hitherto Charlotte had only glimpsed around the town. A second man was seated beside the chauffeur, and both men got out at their approach.
    " Vittorio Santos, my chauffeur," Alex indicated offhandedly. "And his brother, Dimitrios , my - bodyguard."
    A bodyguard! As the luxurious vehicle rolled away, Char lotte stole a glance at the man seated so indolently beside her on the wide back seat which left fully two feet between them. Until then, she had not given a thought to the possibility that this man could well be a target for unscrupulous revolution aries requiring a hostage. If - when - she became his wife, would she require a bodyguard as well?
    His wife! Even those words were startling. Mrs. Faulkner! It didn't sound real. Not to her. And then other, more intimate thoughts entered her head. To be this man's wife would be to submit herself to his every demand. He would have the right to share her bed, to make love to her whenever he chose, to deny her even the smallest privacy.
    She trembled violently. The intimacies between a man and a woman were as yet