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But in the end, she couldn’t help it Her gaze was drawn to his, theher to do nothing else She froze the second their eyes connected, the sardonic look he leveled at her as sharp as the finest hewn dia He’d made it his business to know before he’d confronted her in their bedrooht

“We’re sorry to interrupt, Dr Moreno,” Harlan said fro Mr Durand around the careed to teach ain a feeeks and I wanted to give him the lay of the land Please, carry on with your lecture It’s fascinating”

But it was too late for that All around her, students murmured excitedly Not that she blaest producers and brokers of responsibly sourced diaraduate students Still, she was the professor here This was her lecture She needed to regain control, if not for the class—which was only half-over—then because she refused to let Marc Durand have the upper hand for one second longer

He’d taken everything fro to him, only to have it all tossed back in her face She’d deserved it then, and had paid for it royally But that had been six years ago Since then, she’d moved across the country and built an entirely new life for herself She’d be damned if she let him come in here and screw that up for her, too

Refusing to let Marc see just how much his presence here messed with her mind, she continued on with her lecture Eventually the students settled down again and Marc and Harlan slipped out a lot more unobtrusively than they’d entered

If anyone asked her what she spoke about for the last twenty minutes of class, Isabella wouldn’t have been able to tell theretted bitterly but couldn’t change and the man who had altered the entire course of her life She h, because the students didn’t call her on anything Then again, they’d all been so ena on what she had to say, anyway

Finally, the interminable class drew to an end and she dis out in the classrooive the students an opportunity to ask questions or chat her up about whatever was on their minds But today she didn’t have it in her to stay there one second longer than absolutely necessary, not when her insides felt scraped raw and she was certain any wrong move would shatter the peace she had worked so hard to achieve The peace she had finally found

Scooping up her books, and the papers her students had turned in that day, Isabella made a beeline for the door She was parked around back If she could get to the side exit, she could be in her car and off campus in less than five minutes Then it would be just her and the convertible, the infinite ocean to her left as she followed the winding, waterfront freeway home

Except she never got to her car, never even made it to the side door she was so desperate to reach Instead, a strong, calloused hand grabbed her elbow as she tried to hurry down the back hallway Though she was facing the other direction, she didn’t need to see hielatin at that first touch, her heart beating wildly out of control There would be no escape then No drive by the ocean No chance to put her thoughts in order before this confrontation

Not that she was surprised From the moment she’d looked up and seen Marc in the back of her classroom, she’d known this was inevitable She’d simply hoped to put it off a little, until she could think about hi her ability to breathe Of course, she’d already had six years and hadn’t been able to change that, so another couple of days probably wouldn’t matter

Besides, if he was going to destroy everything she’d tried to build for herself with her new naht as well find out right now Worrying about it would only make her crazy

Bracing herself, she put on her best poker face before slowly, slowly, turning to face him And if her knees trembled as she did, it was nobody’s business but her own

She was somehow even more beautiful than he’d remembered And probably ht for control over his suddenly ra emotions and libido

It had been six years since he’d seen her