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‘You are corowl of his voice served only to spike her her

‘Only when it suits you, it seems’

‘Don’t challengeWe areunder the same roof’

Like an angry lion he stood and almost snarled out his derown up to be The need to fight her corner, to stand up for herself and be heard, dohts and she lashed out verbally

‘You ht have watched your father walk away but I will not allow that to happen to my child, not when I knohat it’s like to be despised by my own father and then stepfathers’ She hadn’t meant to let the past creep out, but as he took a step toward her, towering over her, she stood steadfast, refusing to be dominated Ever Not by anyone, least of all the man she’d married

‘I’m not the only one with a past to hide, or hide behind, am I, Lisa?’

‘No, you’re not,’ she raged against hi to escape all her life She’d thoughtMax had finally meant that she could put all that behind her, that she could finally settle andshe’d been The situation she had been plunged into meant she had to face that head-on ‘But I’’

The barb, laced with recrier but sheside of town had er She didn’t need him—or any man She was more than able to look after herself and now she would do the same for her baby, just as her mother had had to do But with one difference She would not be inflicting a constant streahter She’d rather do this alone than risk that

‘You think co a brother I never knew I had, is running away? You think saying ill reether for the sake of our child—is running away?’ Heher head swi

‘It is not a physical presence that counts It’syou have already proved you are unable to do when you walked out on ouranywhere with you’

As the words flew like accusing bullets fro her body The luxury of the hotel foyer blurred and the last thing she could focus on was the Christ like a thousand stars She couldn’t hold on any longer and slipped into the bliss of soft darkness and the sanctuary it offered

‘Lisa’ She heard Max say her name and sthened her name, made it sound so exotic and sensual, but this time there was a hint of panic

In the depths of darkness, she are of her body beginning to fall but before she reached the floor Max’s ar and ainst hiht the blackness as she inhaled the scent of the man she loved The only man she would ever love A man, by his own admission, incapable of love

That last thought lingered in her ; its chill revived herfocus

‘I’htly Weariness and confusion muddled her mind

‘Is she all right?’ Anotheras Max’s, forced her to open her eyes

She looked into a handso ar in only a short tio His brother Her mind processed the information slowly but she knew that there could never be any doubt about that fact

‘This is my wife, Lisa’ She looked up at Max as his arain, but he stayed, crouched low, at her side, lines of anger on his face, and she wished he could look as concerned for her as his brother did ‘Pregnancy is not agreeing with her’

Not agreeing with her How very dared he? He was the one who found this pregnancy disagreeable

‘You should take her ho ain and she looked up at hi over them like a demon