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CHAPTER ONE

‘I’M AFRAID IT’S a no froer stood abruptly, indicating the intervieas over

Karina gritted her teeth to hold back a sharp retort Miss Brown? In a tohere everyone fro ladies was on first-name terms, she had just been insulted She’d lived in Motueka for a little under a year but no one called her Miss anything She was Karina Brown End of Had been since the day she’d left Auckland in a blaze of flashingmicrophones in her face as they demanded answers to questions she’d had no intention of answering The day she’d gone back to her o and reinvent herself

‘Thank you for your tih clamped jaws

Rising fro S her shoulders back tight inside her tailored jacket—not worn since Auckland—Karina strode out of the bank er’s office with all the aplorovel for the money she desperately needed to buy the other half of the house—not yet Being told no just increased her deteroal

‘How’d that go?’ Rebecca called, only loudly enough for her to hear

Crossing to her friend, as e, stationed at the bank’s custo fail Apparently I’ money to’

Ironic, considering her background Once upon a time several hundred thousand dollars had been chickenfeed to her Nowadays she lived on the wages she earned as a nurse at the medical centre she jointly owned in the sla, put aside for rainy days, but nothing big enough to buy out Logan Pascale

‘Don’t you dare think like that,’ growled Becca

‘I showed hiested I could spread the loan out for thirty years’ She’d be sixty-four and nearly ready to retire by then, but it would be worth it

Becca leaned closer ‘It shouldn’t , but half the proble S from another country’

‘I’ve heard that enough to know it’s true’ But it didn’t explain the lea himself at her expense ‘Bet he’s looked me up online’

‘Are you sure you want aover your head? Couldn’t you ask someone in your family for the money this once?’

‘What?’ Karina shuddered Prove to her father that what he believed had been right all along? That she couldn’t make it on her own? ‘No!’ she barked, too loudly

Becca wouldn’t understand her need to stand on her oo tiny feet and do as right for a little boy who relied entirely on her for everything

‘I can’t do that,’ she reiterated, hest test she’d faced so far in her stand to be independent So suck it up and beat the odds

‘I figured that’d be your answer, but don’t let your pride get in the way of what’s right’

Jeepers, Becca, be blunt, why don’t you?

‘Anythin

g I do will be what’s right for Mickey’

Mickey The boy she loved as if he were her own As one of his two guardians, she intended doing everything within her power to make sure she kept the only home he’d known She’d promised his parents no less

‘How is that bundle of mischief? I haven’t seen him for days’

‘Mickey’s cool’

Da exactly as it was for herself She’d crafted a new life in which she was in control and happy, in a quiet, comfortable way

‘Just the usual hiccups Not enough honey on his toast and arten’

‘I bet you give hi he wants’

‘How can I refuse when he gives y and didn’t want to go to kindergarten Most unusual Said his tummy was sore’

‘Did you insist on hi?’

Karina shrugged ‘Jonty’s looking after him while I’m here’

Becca returned to the original proble out Dr Pascale now?’

‘Know a millionaire with lots of cash stashed under his bed?’ A few hundred thousand was all she needed but, hey, in for an apple, in for a sack full of dollars

‘You want a sexy hunk to go with those millions?’

‘Rich and sexy? All in one package? What’s the catch?’ Because she’d had that package and knew the pitfalls all too well

‘I don’t know any guy around here fitting the description’ Becca grinned

‘Just as well’ Karina smiled back, thankful that her friend hadn’t pointed out which of them actually knew the most millionaires

‘You still don’t want to put your toe in the dating pond?’

‘That’s the last thing I want I’e of ive that up to be told which functions to attend and who to invite to dinner?’

Becca chose not to answer that Instead she ith ‘Heard when the good doctor’s actually arriving?’ A gleam of excitement lit up her eyes

‘Not a dickey bird I don’t even know if he’s left Africa yet’ Hopefully he was still out in the wilderness, working with people who needed his ot to come up with a solution for the house’