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If he’d thought she was happy with the status quo it wouldn’t disturb him so much but, whenever he looked in her eyes, all he saas unhappiness When she ith hi in his power to bring her spark back but she resisted at every turn There were tiazine was released with her photography in it or if they passed a billboard she’d created—her face would light up like an enchanted child’s

It pained him to see her so withdrawn It unnerved his had been with hishe did made any difference to her et to the botto her and fix it, whether she wanted to talk about it or not

She ht in his eyes for she pursed her lips together, slapped the lid of her laptop down and grabbed her handbag

‘Let’s go, then’

All was good with the obstetrician Alessandra was healthy Her blood pressure was norood Christian always left those appoints dissipated quicker than normal this time They’d visited a nuh to raise a football team, if they so wished, with roo

It only added to his intuition that so to eat,’ he said after the third viewing Maybe she was tired

She didn’t argue ‘Where do you want to go?’

He was about to suggest somewhere quiet where they could talk but had a flashback of their date and the trendy restaurant she had led them to The lively at with the alcohol, in loosening theain ‘Let’s go to Nandini’s’

He shook the agent by the hand, proet into the back of the waiting car

Instead she azed down at her feet Only small heels on the black boots she wore Alh, she wore a black-and-white drop-waisted ap between the he him to the point of distraction

If anyone looked closely or fro bu streets, past tourists and locals alike, gazing through s at the glamorous wares of the now closed shops, and into a narrow street packed with cafés and bars People sat on tables outside, s the weather

When they’d dined in Nandini’s that last ti and the place had been full of people ready to let their hair down after a hard week of work

Tonight, a Wednesday, it was er loud enough to burst your eardrums

A waiter took her jacket then showed the leather seat with obvious relief

‘Are your feet hurting?’ he asked

‘A little’ She opened the menu ‘I’ve been on them all day’

‘Then why did you want to walk?’ It made no sense to him That hy he had a driver at his disposal at all ti’ She didn’t add that she couldn’t face sitting in the back of the car with him any more

She’d felt his irritation at her attitude to the beautiful homes they’d been shown round And they were beautiful, palatial in size and structure, the kind of ho a princess would love to live in But those little girls also drea in their palatial homes with their princes, not with the hts to their child