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Right now she was as stiff as a block of wood, and wasdamned sure to look anywhere but at him

‘You’re bristling’

‘I a’

‘My mother’s stuff has been safely stored away in one of the other rooms You can rest assured that I haven’t started a bonfire with the lot If you like, I can take you for an inspection,process’

‘Ha, ha Hilarious Just out of interest, exactly how long are you planning to stay?’ Heather asked, roa all the new additions with a jaundiced eye She could feel him behind her, all alpha- to touch She folded her arms just in case they developed a mind of their own

‘As long as it takes Within reason, of course’

‘You’ve gone to all this expense for a few days?’

‘Days? That’s either aI would think along the line of weeks rather than days’

‘All right, then Weeks’

‘Time is money, and it pays for me to be able to work to a hundred-percent capacity while I’m here’

‘You’ve certainly done aith all the at at the black ash-and-chroh-tech equipment, so at odds with the faded, flowered wallpaper and the lonesome bowl of pot pourri on the bookcase which Leo had obviously missed by accident

‘It pays to have a working environing-botto a cotton dress with a pattern of very tiny flowers and a pair of sandals He wondered, idly, exactly how long it would take him to undo the innumerable little pearl buttons that hooked her in

He was vaguely aware that she was doing it again,his rebellious inary path Whereas before this had infuriated the hell out of hie to question the fact that the woman confused and confounded him like no other woman had ever done before

Having always been a great believer in the inescapable truth that ‘fate’ was the last fallback of people ere too weak to realise that they controlled events, rather than the other way around, he was quite happy to put a different spin on things now Fate had seen fit to throw thee to hunt and capture? He had tried bringing all his for to bear on the ood had it done hi of the woood

Logically, he deduced that if he could have her then he would be able to get her out of his syste himself out to that end It was all very well to rise above rejection, but he had his limits No; she would come to him She would surrender into his arms of her own volition It would be a truly sweet surrender

He surfaced to find her looking at hi that had clearly been sarcastic, judging from the curl of her pink mouth

‘Sorry Miles away What did you say?’

Prissy, Heather thought, self-righteous, zealous in all the wrong ways And now, to top it all, so boring that he had co about liking distractions in the working environment

‘I was saying that I should get the clothes that I came for and then head for the hospital’

‘Give me half an hour I’ll take you’

‘There’s no need, Leo…’

‘No need for me to visit my mother?’

‘You know that’s not what I mean! You just seem to be very busy here’

‘Why don’t you let me decide whether I can take ti boy,hand’

Heather blushed furiously at the rebuke, but he wasn’t looking at her He alking towards the door, pausing to discuss soe, then he turned to her

‘Why don’t you go and do whatever it is you came here to do and meet me back in the hall in thirty minutes?’