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As if he sensed her tension, he stepped to the side and gripped the iron railing He breathed deeply, closed his eyes When he opened theazed over the vista before them

“Freedo is freedom” His smile ide and relaxed “Look at this place Look at where we are There’s no place in the world like this place The Cascade can be a jewel in a beautiful kingdom Wild and free on the outside And inside…a place to rest, rejuvenate, to fall in love Can’t you feel it seducing you, Mari?”

Tears pricked her eyes but she blinked thees of the blanket closely around her in a protective embrace

Freedos she had spent years searching for, and exactly how she felt about her new life in this tiny resort town

And with his good intentions, Luca Fiori was about to ruin it all

CHAPTER TWO

“I DON’T understand”

Mari stepped back fro trees and Luca’s war in love? She’d stopped believing in fairy tales a long ti this?”

Before he could answer she scuttled back inside, removed the blanket fro it around her shoulders had felt tooincreasingly clear that she and Luca were two very different people She was firrounded in reality Full stop

He followed her, watching her frolass door until she put the blanket down and then he stepped forward, giving her back the wine

“I’ on impressions, for now”

“I prefer to ith facts, and so far all I’ve heard frorandeur,” she finished, faltering a little Her heart pounded in her ears as she fought back the feeling that she was crossing an invisible line

It was beginning to feel like an argu slow breaths and picturing the stress leaving through the soles of her feet She hated conflict With a passion She’d learned to stick up for herself over the last few years but it didn’t mean it came easily to her If it weren’t for the rest of the e to her for leadership, she’d be teue

But she was the ht the battles that needed to be fought People were depending on her People who had been there for her since she’d made this her home, whether they knew it or not She steeled her spine and ain

“That’s the problem with the Cascade,” Luca explained He poured a little lass, took a sip and s’s been coance and another is ns and styles, but without unity”