CHAPTER FOUR

Changmin called in sick at the library the next day in order to sort out childcare arrangements but her efforts were not encouraging. As she didn’t have a car, she was limited to using a private centre whose fees were extortionate. She had no choice but to make the booking, hoping that her niece would cope with the change without too much fuss.

The next two days passed without any further contact from Yunho. At times Changmin wondered if she’d imagined the whole thing, so unreal it seemed, but on the third day a letter arrived, the first page of the thick document informing her that the marriage ceremony would be on July the fifteenth.

She felt her spine buckle in trepidation. It seemed there was no way out. She would have to marry Yunho in order to keep Yeonhee. She would have to continue to deceive him, even though in doing so she was going to be fuelling his hatred even more.

The thought of pretending to be her sister for months, maybe even years on end, terrified her but she couldn’t see any alternative. It was incredible to think that a few simple words stood between her and her freedom. If she told him: ‘I am not Yeonhee's mother’, the marriage would be called off.

Five words and she would be free.

Five simple words that would grant her instant freedom, but take away her niece—permanently.

As she had more or less expected, there had been no further contact from Jaejoong. Changmin had tried her mobile repeatedly, but each time the message service informed her the phone was out of service, numerous text messages she’d sent went unanswered. As her sister hadn’t given her a forwarding address it made it even more impossible for Changmin to escape the tight net that was surrounding her minute by minute.

She tossed the letter from Yunho aside to respond to Yeonhee's cries for attention, doing her best to keep her mind away from the thought of being married to a man who hated her so much.

As she came back out to the small sitting room with Yeonhee  tucked close to her, the phone rang and she reached to answer it.

‘Changmin.’ Yunho’s deep voice sounded in her ear. ‘It’s Yunho.’

‘Yunho who?’ She was back in Jaejoong's personality as if by simply hearing his smooth as melted chocolate voice an internal switch had flicked back on inside her.

She heard his indrawn breath and mentally congratulated herself for winning this small battle even though she knew he was more than likely to win the war in the end.

‘I am quite sure with the reputation you have worked on so assiduously you have doubled up on some names by now,’ he drawled insolently.

‘Wouldn’t you like to know,’ she threw back.

‘Did you get my letter?’

‘Let me see…’ She rustled the small collection of bills that had gathered on the table beside her just to irritate him. ‘Ah, yes, here it is. It’s a pre-nup, isn’t it?’

‘You surely did not think I would marry you without protecting myself?’

‘That depends on what sort of protection you’re talking about.’

‘This is a business deal, Changmin, nothing more and nothing less.’

‘Fine by me,’ she said. ‘As long as you don’t try and go back on your word. How do I know if I can trust you?’

There was a brief but tense pause.

Changmin imagined him grinding his teeth on the other end in an effort to maintain some sort of politeness and her stomach gave another funny little quiver.

‘You will get your allowance as soon as the marriage is conducted and not a second before,’ he bit out at last.

‘Don’t you trust me, Mr Jung?’ She used her sister’s tone with relish. ‘Do you think I might try and dupe you?’

‘I would very much like to see you try,’ he challenged her darkly. ‘I am sure I do not have to warn you of the consequences if there is any double-dealing on your Part.

Changmin couldn’t help an inward shiver at the irony of his coolly delivered statement. As far as double-dealing went, hadn’t she already dug her own grave?

‘By the way,’ he said, ‘since we are marrying in a matter of days it is hardly appropriate for you to continue to call me by my surname.’

‘Yunho.’ She breathed his name seductively. 

‘Do you speak French as well as Italian?’

‘Yes, along with several other languages.’

She was privately impressed but wasn’t going to acknowledge it to him.

‘What about you?’ he asked when she didn’t immediately respond.

‘Me?’ She gave a quick snort. ‘All that foreign rubbish? No way! English is the universal language, why anyone would bother chattering away in anything else is completely beyond me.’

She was more or less fluent in both his mother’s tongue and in Italian, but had decided to keep it to herself. She’d studied languages at both school and tertiary level and enjoyed a certain level of proficiency. But it suited her purpose to let him think her a complete airhead who had nothing better to do than primp and preen to fill the time.

‘I have made an appointment with my lawyer to meet us at my office for us to sign the pre-nuptial agreement. You will also need to bring along your birth certificate so I can arrange the marriage licence,’ he said. ‘Is ten a.m. tomorrow convenient?’

Changmin's heart started to pound with misgivings. Pretending to be her sister had been manageable to begin with, but now she was going to be signing binding documents in the presence of a lawyer. What if she were sent to prison for fraud? What would happen to Yeonhee then? Just as well she’d told him her real name Was Changmin, and even more fortunate she was the older twin, for only her name appeared on the document, making no mention of her twin as was the practice at the time. But what if he ever looked at Yeonhee’s birth certificate? Jaejoong's name was printed there, not hers. How would she be able to explain that?

‘Changmin?’ His deep voice interrupted her quiet panic.

‘Sorry.’ She hitched her niece a little higher on her hip. ‘Yeonhee was slipping.’

‘You are holding her?’

Just then Yeonhee gave a happy little gurgle as if she were responding to the sound of her uncle’s voice.

‘Yes,' Changmin i said, smiling down at her niece. ‘I was about to put her back down for a sleep when you called.’

‘How is she?’
' She’s fine.’

‘Does she wake much at night?’

‘Once or twice,’ she told him. ‘But she soon settles back down.’

‘Tell me something, Changmin.’ An indefinable quality entered his voice. ‘Do you enjoy being a mother?’ Changmin didn’t hesitate in responding, ‘Of course I do.’ There was a strange little silence.

She wondered if she should have been quite so honest. Perhaps Jaejoong would have answered completely differently and he was temporarily thrown by the sudden change of character.

‘You do not strike me as the maternal type.’ His tone was laced with scorn.

‘What do I strike you as, Yunho?’ she asked in her most seductive voice, determined to make amends for her previous lapse in character.

Sitting in his office, Yunho sighed, ignoring her last remark. ‘I’ll pick you up at nine-fifteen tomorrow,’ he told her.

‘Do you have a baby seat in your car?’ she asked.

Yunho frowned. He hadn’t even thought about those sorts of details.

‘I will have one fitted this afternoon.’

‘I can catch a bus,’ she offered. ‘Where is your office?’ ‘I insist on picking you up.’

‘I won’t be going with you if your car isn’t adequately fitted for carrying a child. It’s not safe.’

Yunho released his tight breath. ‘I will have the seat fitted if it is the last thing I do, all right?’

‘Good,’ she said. ‘Can I trust you on that?’

Yunho closed his eyes and counted to ten.

‘Yunho?’

His eyes sprang open at the sound of his name on her lips. She had such a breathy voice, like a feather along the sensitive skin on the back of his neck.

‘Yes…’ He cleared his throat. ‘You can trust me.’

‘I’ll see you tomorrow then,’ she said into the small silence.

‘Yes.' Yunho released his suddenly choking tie. ‘See you tomorrow.’

The doorbell rang at nine-fifteen the next morning, but Yeonhee was still crying, as she had done from the moment she’d woken at rfive a.m.

Changmin was getting desperate. She was already aching with tiredness, and the beginning of what promised to be a monumental headache was marshalling at the back of her eyes.

She gently pats back as she answered the door, her hair hanging limply around her shoulders and her eyes hollow from lack of sleep.

When she saw the tall imposing figure of Jung Yunho standing there it was all she could do to stop herself from howling in a similar vein to the small child in her arms.

‘Is she sick?’ Yunho asked, stepping inside.

Changmin brushed a long strand of hair out of her face and gave him an agonised look as the door closed behind him. ‘I don’t know. She’s been like this from the moment she woke up.’

Yunho took the baby from her, resting his open palm over the baby’s forehead to check for a temperature.

‘She is warm but not overly so.’ He lifted his eyes back to Changmin's. ‘Has she had a feed?’

Changmin shook her head. ‘She turned away from it. I’ve offered it three or four times but she keeps pushing it away.’

‘Maybe she needs to see a doctor,’ he suggested. ‘Who do you usually see?’

Changmin looked at him blankly. For the life of her she couldn’t think of who Jaejoong had taken Yeonhee to for her monthly check-ups, if indeed she had at all.

‘I…’

Yunho gave her an accusing look. ‘You have taken her to a doctor, haven’t you?’

‘Ah…’

He let out his breath on a hiss of fury. ‘This is a small child,’ he railed at her. ‘She is supposed to have regular jabs and weigh-ins to make sure she is growing to schedule.’

‘She’s perfectly healthy,’ Changmin said, wincing as Yeonhee let out another howl of misery.

Yunho raised an accusing brow as the baby continued to cry in his arms. ‘You think so?’

Changmin  bit her lip. ‘Maybe she’s teething.’

‘She is how old? Four months? Isn’t that a little early?’

‘I don’t know! I’ve never—’ She stopped herself from saying the rest. How close she had been to telling him she knew nothing about babies! What sort of mother would he think her?

Yunho had turned back to the infant, his strong capable hands along Yeonhee’s back as he held her. After a moment or two the crying subsided to a few soft hiccups and after another minute or two the tiny eyelids fluttered closed.

Changmin couldn’t help admiring his technique. God knew she’d been up for hours trying to get the baby to settle to no avail. A part of her felt resentful that he’d achieved it instead of her. Another part of her secretly admired him.

‘Go and get ready.’ Yunho spoke to her in a lowered voice so as not to disturb the child. ‘We have a few minutes up our sleeves but the traffic at this time of day is always an unknown variable.’

Changmin  made her way to her room and softly closed the door behind her. She peered into the contents of her wardrobe with dismay. Most of her clothes were either too conservative or out of date. Her work as a librarian didn’t require any degree of fashionable attire, and as she’d so often had to bail her sister out of debt she hadn’t bought anything new for herself in ages. She had jeans in abundance, mostly cast-offs from Jaejoong, and a collection of tops, also from Jaejoong, most of which showed far more than they concealed.

In the end she chose one of Jaejoong’s cast-offs. She was supposed to be her sister so she figured she might as well dress like her, even though she cringed at the thought of showing off so much of her body, especially to someone so discerning of female flesh as Jung Yunho.

Everything about him unsettled her. It wasn’t just the fact that he thought her to be her sister, although that in itself was a major stumbling block, especially to her peace of mind, but his whole manner seemed threatening in an overtly male sort of way. Although she was aware that deep down he was acting out of similar motives to her own, she couldn’t help feeling on edge around him. She knew some of it probably came from her lack of experience with men; she just didn’t know how to manage a man who was so strong, so in control and so determined.

Jung Yunho wasn’t exactly the type of man one could ignore. He was the sort of man who was used to being obeyed—insisted on it, in fact.

She sighed a little shakily as she straightened the close-fitting dress. She wished pretending to be her sister was as easy as putting on her twin’s clothes: that way she wouldn’t feel so nervous all the time in case he saw through her act. She snatched up a cashmere cardigan, slung it casually around her shoulders and made her way out to where Yunho was waiting.

He was standing with the baby in his arms, the usually hard lines of his face soft as he gazed down at her sleeping form.

Changmin drew in a painful breath at the sight before her. He clearly adored his brother’s child and would do anything to protect her, even going so far as to marry a woman he loathed.

Yunho turned to look at her and his expression instantly hardened. ‘Are you ready?’

She nodded and, scooping up Yeonhee’s changing bag, followed him out of the flat.

The trip to Yunho's office was a silent one and Changmin was immensely grateful for it. Yeonhee had finally accepted a bottle and fallen asleep not long after she’d been placed in the baby seat in the back of Yunhos showroom-perfect car. Yunho himself was concentrating on the thick morning traffic in front of him, his dark unreadable eyes looking straight ahead, his gaze never once veering her way.

Changmin inspected her chewed nails for a moment as she considered what lay ahead. What had he told the lawyer about their sudden marriage? Was she supposed to pretend things were normal between them just like any other couple, or had Yunho informed his lawyer of the particulars, Yeonhee of course being the primary one?

She curled her fingers into her palms and drew in a ragged breath.

Five words, she reminded herself. Five words and it could all end right here and now.

Sure, he’d have the power to remove Yeonhee from her custody, but maybe she’d be able to convince him to let her see her occasionally. Aunts had some sort of rights, didn’t they? Not only that, she was also Yeonhee's godmother, although she’d never really understood why Jaejoong had bothered with the formality since the last time she had been in church was probably when she had been christened herself.

She sent him a covert glance but his head was turned towards the parking turnstile beneath the office tower he’d turned into, his hand reaching out of the driver’s window to swipe his entry card.

The car surged forward as the boom rose and Changmin turned back to face the front, not sure she wanted him to see the indecision and guilt written all over her face.

Once they were parked she got out of the car and began fitting the baby carrying pouch to her chest, her fingers almost shaking as she tried to fasten the buckle.

Yunho handed Yeonhee to her, helpfully feeding the infant’s legs through the appropriate holes. Changmin felt the brush of his hand on her left and reared backwards as if he’d touched her with a heated brand.

His eyes met hers, the dark depths of his black gaze glittering with dislike.

‘I would advise against any overt displays of distaste for my touch whilst we are in the presence of my lawyer,’ he said. ‘He believes this to be a normal marriage and I would prefer him to continue to do so in spite of what we both know privately to be true.’

Changmin’s eyes flashed as she adjusted the baby-carrier straps over her shoulders. ‘It’s not exactly normal to force someone to marry you.’

He activated the central locking and alarm system on his car before responding. ‘You will be more than adequately compensated for your efforts.’

‘Isn’t the fact that I’m coming here to sign a pre-nuptial agreement going to make him suspicious?’ she asked.

‘Pre-nuptial agreements are commonplace these days. Besides, I have shareholders and investors I need to protect, not to mention my father, who started the business from scratch. I will not stand by and watch a money-hungry little take half of all we have both worked so hard for if the marriage were to end.’

Although Changmin knew everything he said was reasonable under the circumstances, she still felt hurt by his assessment of her motives. She wished he could see through her thin guise to the person she really was, not an opportunistic money-grabbing bed-hopping pleasure seeker, but a young woman who cared deeply for her tiny niece, so deeply, in fact, that she was prepared to marry a complete stranger.

She closed on her response and followed him into the lift he’d summoned. She stared fixedly at the numbers on the panel rather than look at him, but she was acutely aware of him standing beside her, his broad shoulder not quite touching hers, although she could feel the warmth of his body all the same.

The lift felt too small. Her chest felt too tight. Her legs felt like wet wool instead of toned muscle and bone. Her mind was a mess of disordered thoughts—thoughts of escape, thoughts of telling the truth, thoughts of what would happen if she went along with the lies she’d told, spending the rest of her life waiting for the axe to fall when the truth finally came out, as she knew it most certainly would.

So far she’d been lucky. He hadn’t asked for Yeonhee's birth certificate, but it wouldn’t be long before he did, particularly if he intended to formally adopt her. She knew he intended for his father to see his only grandchild, which would mean a trip to Italy. Would it even be legal for her to take Yeonhee out of the country? What if somebody asked to see the birth certificate and found out she wasn’t in fact Yeonhee's mother? What then?

Suddenly conscious of Yunho’s probing gaze, she quickly covered her inner disquiet by plastering a vacant smile on her face.

‘What are you smirking at?’ Yunho looked down at her derisively. ‘How quickly you are going to work your way through your allowance?’

‘That depends on how generous it is,’ she tossed back.

Yunho rolled his eyes and stabbed at the lift button once more as if to hurry its pace.

‘We are not married yet so I would advise against counting your pennies until they have been dispatched,’ he growled.

The lift doors sprang open and Changmin followed the rigid line of his back as he made his way to his suite of offices.

It gave her a much needed sense of power to see how much she rattled him.

As far as she knew she had never got underneath anyone’s skin before; that had always been Jaejoong’s role, and yet the thought of Jung Yunho fighting an unwilling attraction to her was both strangely tantalizing and terrifying. She’d seen the way he’d looked at her when he’d thought she wasn’t looking, his dark eyes lingering on her body as if he just couldn’t help himself. It made her skin prickle all over in awareness to even think about him seeing her in such a light, let alone ever acting on it.

Her reaction to him totally confused her. She was supposed to hate him for what he was doing but somehow it wasn’t quite working. Every time his eyes moved over her she felt as if he was transmitting heat from his body to hers. That brief accidental brush of his hand over her had felt like an electric shock, sending her pulse racing and her heart kicking in reaction.

She had to take better control, she mentally chided herself. To fall in love with Jung Yunho was asking for the sort of trouble she could well do without, considering the mess she was already in.

The reception area of Yunho's banking empire could leave no one in any doubt of the company’s considerable profits, Changmin thought a short time later. From the sweeping computer console in the reception area fitted out in shining galaxy black marble, complete with a catwalk perfect receptionist, to the plush ankle-deep carpet on the floor, and the stunning views over the city from every window, it all left one with the impression that the Jung merchant bank knew how to do business and do it extremely well.

Changmin glanced towards a painting hung over the waiting room area, her eyes widening when she realized it wasn’t a print but an actual Renoir.

‘Mr Jung,’ the receptionist purred at her boss. ‘Mr Highgate is waiting for you in the guest lounge adjoining your office.’

Changmin’s eyebrows rose. Even his lawyer thought the common waiting room beneath him, did he?

‘Follow me,’ Yunho addressed Changmin over one shoulder.

Something in her decided right there and then that she wasn’t going to be ordered around in front of his staff, and in particular in front of his gorgeous receptionist, who had done nothing but stare at her the whole time she’d been there.

‘Hello.’ Changmin held out her hand across the reception desk. ‘I’m Changmin, Yunho’s fiancée. And this is Yeonhee. She’s Yunho's niece, you know. Yoochun's child.’

The receptionist reared away from Changmin’s outstretched hand as if by touching it she might be fired on the spot.

‘I…I thought your name Was Jaejoong.’ the young woman finally managed to get out. ‘And don’t you remember?’ She eyeballed Changmin accusingly. ‘We’ve met before.’

Changmin hadn’t even considered the possibility that her sister might have called at the Jung office tower at some stage in the past.

Her colour came and went as she tried to think of an excuse for not recognising the young woman but her brain felt as if someone had pulled the plug and she was left floundering.

‘It was when Yunho was in Italy last September,’ the receptionist went on, tight with reproach. ‘Yoochun was in a meeting but you insisted on seeing him.’

Changmin was very aware of Yunho listening to every word of this exchange and had to think on her feet to find a way out of it without blowing her cover.

Mentally counting back the months she realised Jaejoong must have come to see Yoochun well into the pregnancy, possibly as a last attempt to try to force his hand. She lowered her head in a gesture of contrition, her hand idly the back of baby Yeonhee's head where she was snuggled up against her in the pouch.

'Yes…well, I wasn’t really myself back then…hormones, you know…’

The receptionist peered over the console at the sleeping baby, her stern expression instantly softening. ‘She’s very like Yoochun, isn’t she?’

Changmin nodded, deciding it was probably wiser not to respond verbally even if she could have located her voice.

‘Hold all my calls please, Katrina,’ Yunho’s deep voice commanded, interrupting the tight little exchange. ‘Come on,cara , we have some business to see to.’

Cara? Changmin disguised her frown just in time. She wasn’t sure she could handle him addressing her with Italian endearments. It made her feel as if their relationship was shifting to another level, a level she had no experience in dealing with.

She followed him down the spacious hall where even more priceless artworks were hung in stately array, each one reminding her of the amount of money Jung Yunho had at his fingertips if ever he decided to run her out of town—without Yeonhee.

‘In here.’ Yunho held the door open for her. ‘Take a seat and I will summon Robert Highgate to join us.’

Changmin took one of the plush chairs facing the huge desk and, positioning Yeonhee into a more comfortable position against her, began to look around.

It was a huge office by anyone’s standards. It was lined with bookshelves along two walls, the thick volumes rich with both a wealth of knowledge and variety of taste. Unless they were there simply for show, which somehow she seriously doubted, they indicated Yunho  was a man who read widely, for apart from the obvious financial and legal tomes she could see some recent bestsellers as well as some of the classics she’d read and loved herself.

It gave her a funny feeling to have read the same books as him. It gave her a connection with him she wasn’t all that sure she wanted to have.

The door opened behind her and she turned in her seat to see a man of about fifty-five or so enter the room carrying a document folder under one arm. Yunho was close behind with one of his impossible-to-read looks on his handsome face.

‘Cara, this is Robert Highgate. Robert, this is my fiancée, Shim Changmin.’

Changmin  began to rise but Robert hurriedly gestured for her to stay where she was on account of the baby nestled against her.

He shook her hand instead and looked down at the sleeping infant, his warm light brown eyes visibly softening.

‘What a little treasure. I have two daughters of my own. They are both my life and my daily torture.’ He grinned at her meaningfully.

Changmin gave him a tentative smile. ‘It’s not easy being a parent.’

‘No, but worth the struggle, I can assure you. My eldest is getting married in a few months; it seems only yesterday she was in ankle socks arguing with her mother over the length of her school uniform.’

Changmin gave a somewhat forced little laugh. She had very clear memories of similar scenarios between Jaejoong and their mother but none of them were particularly amusing. She saw Yunho stiffen at the sound of her chuckle, his dark eyes so piercing she had to look away in case he saw more than she wanted him to see.

‘Now,’ Robert said as he opened the folder on the desk and glanced across at Yunho. ‘I’ve drawn up the document the way you suggested but perhaps I should explain it to Changmin first?’

‘Explain away.’ Yunho's tone bordered on uninterested.

Changmin felt herself shrinking in her seat in embarrassment. She had no real understanding of legal terms and wasn’t sure if she’d be signing her life away. Surely the least Yunho could do was go through it with her as well?

‘As you wish.’ Robert opened the file and laid it in front of her. ‘Don’t be put off by all the legalese, Changmin, this is pretty straightforward. This simply states in the event of a divorce you agree to a reasonable settlement but not a division of Yunho's total assets.’

Changmin did her best to read through the wordy text but it made little if no sense to her. She kept searching the document for Yeonhee's name, hunting for some sort of clause Yunho  might have inserted to take the child away from her if the marriage was to fold, but as far as she could make out there was none.

‘This bit here states that you will receive an allowance during your marriage.’ Robert Highgate pointed to the relevant section.

Changmin stared at the figure nominated there and swallowed. ‘That seems a little…excessive.’ She looked up and caught Yunho looking at her strangely. She lowered her gaze to the documents once more, her heart pounding in her chest. She would have to be much more careful in future. Yunho wasn’t a fool. If he began to suspect he was being duped…

‘If you could just sign here.’ Robert Highgate indicated the dotted line for her. ‘And over here.’ He turned the page and she dutifully signed. ‘There, that’s all right and tight.’ He closed the document and bundled it back in its folder as he turned to Yunho, who was leaning against the filing cabinet behind his desk, his dark eyes still trained on her.

‘May I offer you both my heartiest congratulations on a happy and fulfilling marriage?’ Robert said. ‘I know these are sad times but much joy can come about in spite of it.’ He cleared his throat discreetly and added, ‘How is your father, Yunho?’

Yunho pushed himself away from the filing cabinet. ‘He’s coping…just.’

Robert Highgate tut-tutted sympathetically, ‘A terrible blow, and so soon after your mother.’

‘Yes.’

Changmin privately thought Yunho’s one word response spoke volumes. While he showed little emotion on his face, something in his voice suggested to her he was a man who felt deeply for all that. It made her see him in a new light. Not so much a hard-driven businessman who wanted to conquer the world, riding over people obstructing his way, but a man with a need to protect those he loved and felt responsible. He would make a wonderful father for Yeonhee.

The thought slipped into her mind and once in there took hold until she could think of nothing else. Visions of him with Yeonhee during her first Christmas, her first tooth, her first steps, her first day at school…her first boyfriend…

‘What do you think, Changmin?’ Yunho directed his gaze towards her.

Changmin stared at him in blank confusion. ‘Sorry?’

‘Robert suggested we draw up a separate trust file on Yeonhee. Yoochun's estate now belongs to her, but until she comes of age—’

She got to her feet in sudden agitation, holding Yeonhee close to her chest to avoid disturbing her. ‘I told you I’m not interested in Yoochun’s estate.’
Yunhosent her a quick warning glance but it was too late. Robert Highgate had seen the exchange and was at liberty to make his own conclusions.

‘I’ll have the necessary papers drawn up,’ he informed Yunho diplomatically as he reached for the door. ‘Again, I wish you both well.’

‘Thank you,’ Yunho said and, turning to Changmin with an arch of one brow, prompted, ‘Changmin?’

She gave the lawyer a wan smile. ‘Thank you, Mr Highgate, for explaining everything to me.’

‘No problem.’ Robert held out his hand and grasped hers firmly. ‘You know you’re nothing like I thought you’d be, if you don’t mind me saying.’

‘I—I’m not?’ Changmin's stomach rolled over. God, had Jaejoong met him too at some stage?

‘No,’ Robert said. ‘But then you know what those gossip columns are like; they make that stuff up to sell the next magazine.’

Changmin's heart instantly sank. She shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot as she tortured herself with images of her scantily clad sister cavorting at God knew which of Sydney’s nightclubs in order to have her photo plastered over some seedy gossip page.

She lowered her gaze to the child in her arms and affected a demure pose. ‘That’s all behind me now. I’m a changed person.’

‘I congratulate you for it,’ Robert Highgate said. ‘Bringing up a child is a very maturing experience. Do you have any family—parents and so on?’

She shook her head, carefully avoiding his eyes. ‘No, no family. My father died when I was a baby and my mother died three years ago.’

Yunho frowned as he listened to the exchange between his lawyer and his soon-to-be wife. He suddenly realised how little he knew of Changmin and her background. He knew she was known to be an unprincipled who had made it her life’s goal to hunt down a rich husband to set her up for life, but he hadn’t known she had grown up without a father and had so recently lost her mother. His own grief reminded him of how devastating losing a parent could be and something inside him shifted a little ground. Yes, she was undoubtedly an opportunist and she sure as hell had driven his brother to his untimely end…but she clearly loved Yeonhee, which still somehow surprised him.

The door closed behind the lawyer and Yeonhee began to grizzle Changmin extracted her from the baby-carrier and, reaching for the nappy bag, looked across at Yunho who was standing in a brooding silence behind his desk.

‘I think she needs her nappy changed,’ she said.

‘Would you like me to do it?’ he offered.

Changmin stared at him in silent horror for a moment. How could she let him change Yeonhee's nappy with the faint smudge of bruises still on her tiny chest?

‘No,’ she said flatly.

Something came and went in his eyes and she knew she had offended him. He wanted to be a father to Yeonhee, a real and involved father who would feed and change a baby without rearing away in distaste as some men would do. But until those bruises were gone she had no choice but to keep him well away from Yeonhee without the shield of her clothes.

‘There is a bathroom two doors down,’ he said, moving from behind the desk. ‘Do you have what you need with you?’

Changmin gave him an imperious look as she held up the well-stocked nappy bag. ‘I have done this before, you know.’

Yunho didn’t answer but he held the door open for her as she stalked past him with her head held high. He watched as she made her way down the corridor to where the bathroom was situated, Yeonhee  snuggled on one of her slim hips, the baby’s tiny hands buried in the length of her shiny blonde hair.

His own fingers itched to do the same, to see if it was really as silky as it looked, but with a silent curse he his hands deep into his trouser pockets and let the office door click shut as he went back his desk.

He ignored his chair and instead turned to look out of the window as he had done thousands of times before, but this time he saw nothing of the harbour.

All he could see was a pair of smoky grey eyes.