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wedding ring in his pocket, and treated you with total respect, knowing that your virginity was part of the dowry you brought him, until the ring was on your finger and the priest had pronounced you man and wife.
    For her, it was that simple, and that iron-clad, and she would be distressed beyond measure if she thought that Natasha would ever consider a breach of that strict moral code.
    And the fact that Natasha had begun to regard herself as some kind of curious anachronism would be no valid excuse.
    But was it only the tradition in which she?d been raised that had held her back since she?d left Greece to live an independent life? Or was it more that she?d never been seriously tempted to break that unwritten sexual law?
    And was she deeply tempted now?with Neil?
    I wonder, she thought unhappily. I really wonder.
    She considered Molly and Craig, who?d met at a party, fallen into bed together within twenty-four hours, become engaged a few weeks later and were waiting impatiently for Craig?s contract in Seattle to end so they could be married.
    No one or nothing could have kept them out of each other?s arms, she acknowledged, their temporary separation being marked by letters, e-mails and nightly phone calls.
    But perhaps I?m a different temperament, she thought. The slow, steady type as opposed to Molly?s headlong certainty about what she wants from life, and how to get it. Maybe that?s why we?ve been friends since school, and why we work so well together now.
    So far Neil had seemed content to play by her rules, but that was not going to last much longer. She?d reached the same stage before, with other boyfriends, who?d got fed up when she kept backing off and had walked away.
    She could read the signs. He wanted them to be like the other couples they knew. And when Molly and Craig were married, he?d expect her to live with him.
    He had no idea, of course, how totally inexperienced she was.
    And that could well be a major factor here, she realised. Perhaps she was just scared of the unknown. Simply lacked the courage to discover whether or not she?d be ?good in bed?.
    After all, wasn?t that the criteria by which everyone was judged these days?
    He can make love in four languages ?
    She sat up, gasping, as Lin?s wistful words came back into her mind. And what had prompted that, for God?s sake?
    Apart from the fact that Alex Mandrakis had engineered her brothers? downfall, of course, she reminded herself wryly, and that was why she was on this plane at this moment. So it was going to be impossible to dismiss him totally from her thinking, however hard she might try.
    His name was bound to crop up at some point, she thought, her mouth twisting. Probably more than once.
    But at least he wouldn?t be around in person to administer the death blow. Some minion would do that for him.
    As people said?this was business, not personal, which was something to be thankful for. She had no wish to set eyes on him ever again.
    And now she would just have to relegate her heart-searchings about her love life with Neil until a more appropriate moment, she told herself firmly as the seat-belt light came on for the descent into Athens.
    Because the next twenty-four hours would require a very different kind of courage from her, and nothing could be allowed to deflect her from that.
    Nothing?and no one.

     
    CHAPTER THREE
    NATASHA?S arrival in Athens occurred in the middle of a thunderstorm, but was otherwise painless. She had no baggage to reclaim, and a placard with her name on it was the first thing she saw when she emerged from Customs.
    It was carried by a heavily built man in a pale linen suit who greeted her with unsmiling politeness, took her bag, and led her to a waiting limousine complete with uniformed chauffeur.
    The air was like a hot, wet blanket smothering her and she was glad she?d decided on the cooler option of pinning her hair up into a loose knot on top of her head, rather than wearing it down.
    She found herself being ushered