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‘And the rest of your body?’ His unnerving stare stupidly ave a sh ‘I mean, what other injuries do you have?’

‘All fairly consistent with someone who has plummeted twelve thousand feet from the sky’

‘I’m sure’ Lottie pulled a face at the idiocy of her question How many people had fallen twelve thousand feet and lived to tell the tale? Anyway, she already knew the extent of his injuries; it had all been there in the newspaper article: punctured lung, dislocated shoulder, three cracked ribs ‘Did you ever find outrong? Why your parachute didn’t open?’

‘Misfortune, fate—call it what you like’ Rafael shrugged his shoulders as if already bored with the subject ‘It’s of no consequence now’

‘No, I suppose not’ But despite his casual dishly investigated And if someone had been found responsible it would be their own life they should be worrying about now ‘But you were very lucky, as it turned out’

‘Lucky?’ His tone suggested otherwise

‘I mean lucky that a tree broke your fall It could have been so much worse’

‘True’ His reply was deadpan ‘I could have been dead’

‘Ha!’ Why was she laughing? Nothing about this was the least bit funny

It was pure, unated torture

She had prepared herself, of course, endlessly rehearsed how she would behave, what she would say when faced with Rafael again She’d still been running through her calm andlips attracting the attention of her nosy nine-year-old neighbour She had bullied herself into believing that she was ready That she could cope—survive this one last

But as she looked at him now, past the recently inflicted injuries to the man beneath, the man she had fallen so madly in love with, all her confident convictions seemed to slide away She remembered every tiny detail of his face The thick, untidy brows that arrowed above almond-shaped deep brown eyes The harsh sweep of his jawline, the square chin where a small cleft nestled, dark with stubble

Yep, she re She wished she didn’t

‘Well, thank goodness for that tree, eh?’ Shifting her position, she crossed one leg in front of the other, the balletic pose spoiled by the hand that was shoved deep into the pocket of her jeans Her voice sounded hideously chirpy but it did at least mask her desire to ask where this tree was, so she could throw herself on its dirty roots and thank it for saving Rafael’s life ‘I’ht place’