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He kissed her softly on her neck, nuzzling at her skin, sending a fiery trail of desire throughout her She turned her face to hily it was al he still had plenty of desire raging in hi in a deep breath of air, he smiled at her in that sexy way only he could

‘You are very beautiful, Lisa’ He trailed his fingers down her naked body, over her hip and down her thigh before creating the sa the firelight cast a glow over you

‘This is all so perfect’ She closed her eyes as he kissed her softly again, but she couldn’t keep it to herself any longer, couldn’t hide her feelings behind the shield of lust for a second longer ‘I love you, Max’

Her whispered words sucked the air fro as Max stopped kissing her and looked down at her

‘No,’ he ground out as he moved away from her ‘This is not love and it never will be’

‘But I love you, Max, why can’t you let me in? Let me love you? Maybe then you can love me too’

‘Never,’ he thundered as he got up, grabbed his clothes and left the roo it into thousands of pieces

CHAPTER NINE

MAX HAD BARELY said a word to her the next , other than to insist they return to London He had work to do and plans to finalise for Angelina’s party, but she knehat she’d said Why had she spoilt what could have been a perfect few days with those three words that Max couldn’t say, much less be told?

She’d spent the day resting while Max worked, and as the afternoon had darkened into evening a light dusting of snow had fallen over London She’d stood by the expanse of floor-to-ceiling s and looked out over the city as the flakes had twisted doard in a crazy dance, feeling ever more confined, ever er, desperate to slip away for just a short ti silence that emanated from him louder than any thunderstorm

She crossed the polished wooden floor of the living space toward Max’s study The desk laht over the desk and onto Max He hadn’t noticed her and she used her brief advantage, taking in the dark hair, now reverted to its natural dark unruly curls He sighed, dropped his pen onto the papers he’d been poring over and pushed his fingers roughly through those dark curls and her own tingled as she ree

A dart of pain shot through her heart at the memory of the last time she’d looked into this rooe the divorce she’d filed for the day of their first anniversary, unknowingly carrying his child They seeain, but she loved this ether she knew she could never love anyone else But her love wasn’t enough and when she walked out of his life at the end of the year she knew that no otherup their child alone That thought saddened her, not just for their son or daughter, but because so It hurt like hell to know that she hadn’t been able to change that, to reach him

‘I’ot his attention He looked up fro herself to get closer as the need to stand behind hi eed forward

‘It’s snowing’ The sharpness of his retort only fired the anger within her, but he hadn’t taken his gaze fro into her

‘I’’ Instantly she becaht now she needed it more than ever She needed to protect her heart

Without another word she turned and left hi her coat as her defensive barrier folded around her, around her heart He ht have a penthouse apartment with views of the Thames, but she needed fresh air and freedoht settled in herhard to be soround, she burst out of the tall and coful of cold air

‘Daot time for this’ Max’s curse sounded behind her and she turned to see hi anything other than happy to be out in the cold winter evening