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After that illu little chat about the stock market, there had been no h he was pretty sure that she would rise to the challenge given half a chance No, the conversation had been light and a, and he had enjoyed himself

He had a chequered love life behind him, which was just the way he liked it But lately he had become bored with the relentlessly intellectual conversations provided by the woe dates, with each of the wo to find a suitable gap in hectic tiy brunettes

A change was as good as a rest, he had decided, and that change ca at hi infectious

She was a challenge, and Leo was in a e

Further his son, and his mother for that matter, had been a considerably less stilted business with Heather in the mix They relaxed with her in a way that they never relaxed around hiht have more than just the expected rewards

He surfaced to the tail end of so, and when he frowned she said very slowly, as if she were talking to soed, ‘There was no need for you to come over here with food You probably feel that this is a suitable thank-you gesture, but I don’t need thanking’

‘Stop being so bad te cold Cold Chinese food is never a good sight—congeals’ He gave her a crooked s a little thanks?’

It was the sht of hi, and she snapped herdeprived of breath was not a good place to be In fact, it was terminal

‘It was a good day’ He was still s in her response to hiot to her and, considering she got to hi ‘And you deserve credit for it’

‘Why are you being nice?’

‘Maybe I want to show you that I’ant monster you seem to think I am’

‘I never said you were a ht that to turn him aould be to admit that her past still had a hold over her; that Brian—three years gone—still had a hold over her and could still influence the way she related to other people, other men

‘Okay’ She stood aside,to fear but herself and her stupid overreactions Besides, he’d be gone in a few hours ‘But I really have to get back to ht’

Leo stepped inside, brushing her protestations aside, and headed for the kitchen Unerringly he knehere it would be, and felt her walking behind hi Sure there was a lot to be said for predictability, but there was a great deal more to be said for the thrill of the unknown, and her obvious reluctance to be anywhere near hi instincts

He dus on the table The as still cold froe

‘If you point to the plates…’

‘Don’t tell me that you’re Mr Domestic?’

‘You ainst the counter, arhed softly under his breath

‘I mean—’ Heather had to take a deep breath to steady her sudden giddiness ‘—I’d quicker believe that there were lots of little green people dashing about on planet Mars’

‘Okay You win’ He gave a ree with me’ He watched as she opened the bottle of wine and poured theone She earing so the telltale signs of her painting For the first tiure, and his eyes roved appreciatively over the full breasts, the flat stomach, the womanly curve of her hips She was by no ly tanned He wondered whether she had been taking advantage of the hot weather, tanning in her garden—tanning nude in her garden…?

When she swung round to give hi

‘And why is that?’ Heather asked ‘Could it be that, the more money a person has, the more temptation there is to buy the services of other people who are a lot ?’

Instead of bringing down his shutters, that little undercurrent of belligerence sent a jolt of red-hot lust running through him

‘Ah…’ He strolled towards her and took a sip of wine ‘But just think, my little economist, of how many people I keep employed…’