His comforting gaze lingered on her momentarily before he focused on the glittering water. “Emilia and I were married for about five years when I began to question it—the marriage, I mean.”

The confession came as a huge surprise. Kim could never have imagined that Antonio, the man whose love for his wife she thought unmatched, could ever have thought he’d made a mistake.

She didn’t for one second regret marrying Gabriel; she adored him and almost from the moment they met knew he was her soul mate. But she was just as certain she was never cut out to be a mother, and when Lily arrived, her worst fears were realized.

Every day of her daughter’s three-year-old life, she’d felt like a failure at it. And the worse she felt, the more she threw herself into her work, leaving her husband to care for their daughter pretty much alone while she built The Sweet Life into an international brand.

He never complained, never even seemed to notice that Kim was spending less and less time at home as the business grew. He’d been there from the start, so knew that this was her passion, and the reason she was pushing so hard to make this new venture a success.

But neither her husband nor Antonio knew that The Sweet Life had actually been built on lies.

And Kim was terrified of being uncovered as a fraud.

Chapter 6

Now

Colette Hargreaves yawned as she rolled over in bed.

The blinds were open and it was after 7:00 a.m. She turned over, her copper hair falling across her shoulders as she looked around the bedroom.

Outwardly, everything was in its place, but she sensed something was missing.

“Ed?”

Silence answered her call and Colette swung her feet from beneath the sheets and onto the lush new carpeting they’d had laid during the most recent renovation of their London town house. Her husband was fond of hardwood, whereas she preferred carpet, so they’d made a compromise. Carpet in the bedroom and hardwood everywhere else.

She pulled a robe over her silk nightgown and tied a loose knot at her waist as she slipped her feet into her slippers and headed for the door.

Their house was such a far cry from the tiny cottage she’d lived in growing up. Colette had left Brighton behind five years ago when she’d been offered a translator position at the Home Office.

A little while before that, Ed had asked her to marry him, and suddenly Colette was a Londoner with a comfortable house near Hyde Park.

Three bedrooms, living/dining area, a kitchen and outdoor terrace, and yet the house felt so empty. She walked into the living room and turned on the television before going into the kitchen to start breakfast.

She had just plated some eggs and bacon when Ed walked in, dripping with sweat, his sandy hair now dark against his forehead.