After all, Sergios was not all bad. He was tough, ruthless, arrogant and selfish, but while he might have the morals of an alley cat, he had been remarkably kind to her mother.

(On having being just proposed to)’Have you been thinking of this for long?’ she managed jerkily, praying for the shock to recede so that she could behave a little more normally.’Let’s say it crept up...