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‘You had a bad htly ‘And the way you deal with it is by never getting close to anyone You don’t want any woman to penetrate your fortress, so you just have affairs—nothing peret too emotionally messy’

‘Spare me the analysis’

‘Because that’s sos you’re not into, aren’t there?’ Her skin felt hot and tight She knew in so rational that there was no need for her to start having a go at hiry that she had allowed herself to get in this situation in the first place

‘I may have that lonely bed for a while, but at least I won’t be scarred for ever At least I know that there’s soht forto be a workaholic who doesn’t have time for the rest of the human race!’

‘This conversation,’ Leo drawled, stepping out of the door and reaching for his car keys in his pocket, ‘is officially closed’

Heather watched as he let himself out of the room, out of the front door, out of her orbit Success; she had said her piece He wouldn’t try anything again

She should have been sagging with relief

Instead, she felt one tear dribble down her cheek, followed by another, as she conte for her upstairs

CHAPTER FIVE

AT TEN past nine on a Wednesday evening, Leo finally allowed hih the last of his emails, and swivelled his chair round so that he could stare at the uninterrupted view of skyline from his London office

Like his apartment, his office was cool, uncluttered and furnished in the kind of uber-modern style that only real money could buy One white as do, subject incomprehensible The carpet was pale and thick, and the furniture was a light, solid wood, handmade to stand the test of time, with very clever drawers that opened and closed without the benefit of handles Leo had left it all to his design team and was still pleased with the result after five years He could have had it stripped and updated but ould have been the point? He would still have gone for so similar

A working environe in the luxury of distractions

And his private life should likewise be uncomplicated

He frowned, very round Issues had burst into his life abut uncomplicated

And this despite the fact that he hadn’t set eyes on her since their last encounter

Twice he had visited hisfor the whole weekend, which he seldom did, as time was a commodity rarely at his disposal On both occasions, Heather had been conspicuous by her absence She was clearly avoiding hi he had discovered, via Daniel and his mother separately, that she had variously been away on an art course or visiting friends up north

‘Busy lady,’ he had remarked, at which point he had been subjected to an enthusiastic account of her good work in the community by hiswith the gardens once a , apparently, whenever there was a cake to be baked

‘But no guy in her life,’ he had ly ‘All that do taken s of the various people in his h the years, he had been amused to find himself assaulted with all the tittle tattle that seee life

His , two visits to London, and had arrived with Daniel clutching a London guide with pages marked at various places they wanted to visit Gone were the expensiveon a major scale Leo had found, close and personal, queues, cafés and tourist sights he had never clapped eyes on

Now, staring out of his , he cursed hi about Heather He had left her house weeks ago and had convinced himself that he had had a lucky escape If she wanted to nurse her bitterness and bury herself in a solitary existence pretending that she was happy, then that was her affair He wasn’t in the business of trying to persuade her otherwise In fact, he wasn’t in the business of trying to persuade any woman into bed with him He never had been, and he wasn’t about to start now

It irked hi to fester away inside so of his life, causing his Even when he had been out with one of his lawyer friends, a glamorous blonde whom he had dated off and on in the past, he had still been unable to shake off the uninvited iolden hair and soft, blue eyes—adorning his bed

Never having dealt with a wo away from him, Leo could only think that his problem lay in the novelty of the situation in which he now found himself

Why else would she still be on his ed to clear out of his system?