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‘Did your father travel a lot?’

Libby tensed ‘Yes, but ere all very grateful for that Things weren’t too great when he was around’

Wanting to escape from the memories that he’d aroused, she slipped off her shoes and sprinted down to the sand, sighing with pleasure as she felt the warm softness ooze between her toes

‘You’re a child, Elizabeth,’ Andreas said with a laugh fro out across the sparkling sea to the orange sun that was starting to dip behind the mountains

‘I don’t know about that,’ she said softly, ‘but I do know that if you were brought up here then you were very lucky’

She’d heard the affection in his voice when he’d spoken of his parents and suddenly she envied him his childhood Her own had been full of rows and totally lacking in parental affection

Would she have been different if she’d had his faround?

Would she have found it easier to trust people?

‘I was lucky,’ he agreed ‘I had a secure, loving family around me when I was a child and I suppose that’s why I don’t find it hard to trust people Unlike you I know that you’ve been surrounded by faithless men all your life, but it’s time to realise that they aren’t the only sort’

Her breathing quickened

It would have been so easy to believe him So easy…

And so foolish

She gave a wry smile and kicked at the sand with her bare feet ‘So…’ she lifted her head and gave hi to show me your house?’

He lifted a hand and touched her face gently ‘You are the mistress of avoidance, do you know that?’

She gave a careless shrug ‘I don’t see the point in dwelling on the past’

‘If it’s affecting the future, there’s a point,’ he said quietly, taking her hand and pulling her back towards the villa ‘But we’ll talk about that another tiet settled in’

She followed hi with pleasure as she saw the interior It was decorated in a mixture of white and cool blues so that the overall impression was that it was just a continuation of the ocean

‘I know you’re tired so I’ll show you straight to your bedroohly, and she looked at him cautiously