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Overall, not that good

She picked up her paintbrush and began the delicate work of daubing colour onto theon for the past few days, but her mind was a million miles away

She wondered how, in the space of only fifteen days, her har obsession Since when could a fling beco deal that she couldn’t actually see beyond it? Wasn’t it actually called a fling because it was so froood—a bit like the co her every waking moment in what she could only think was a very unhealthy fashion?

She gave up on the illustration and instead swivelled her chair so that she could look out at the peaceful sunlit view through the hich had been flung open to allow in the balmy breeze

With surprising astuteness, Leo had singled out the most appropriate room for her in which to paint It was in the attic, a senerously sized ceiling s, as well as the two longopen The quality of natural light was unbelievable, and Heather had been quietly chuffed at his unerring instinct in sizing up the one place which she would be able to slot into with alar ease

In actual fact, she had been quietly chuffed at a surprising nu with his choice of studio space for her, and ending with the a in the country—even though she knew that he probably had a heck of a lot of commitments in London, which he had doubtless put on hold so that he could be around for Daniel

He had becoular visitor to the hospital, where his ood recovery, and hadn’t blotted his copybook once with his son

The debatable upside of all this ti the perfect son and father was that he had been around a lot more than she had anticipated Often, they had breakfast first thing, and then he would shut himself away in his office while she retreated to her studio to paint Except that the painting was often interrupted by the soft pad of his steps on the stairs, by the feel of his body as he bent to look over her shoulder at whatever she happened to be working on, by the brush of his lips when they inevitably found the curve of her shoulder

They htened her at the same time

Under the onslaught of his continual presence, she felt herself beco deeper and deeper e as chalk was from cheese

And now there were further complications which had been thrown into the mixture, complications which she would have to

If things felt a little crazy, then she had no one to blame but herself She had allowed a situation to develop and nohat had been an exciting white-water ride had beco her down faster and faster The worst of it was the shocking realisation that she wanted to be sucked under, she wanted to give herself totally and completely to him, and she wanted to do that because she had fallen in love with him

She had blithely ignored all the warning signs which now rose up to stare her accusingly in the face She had thought nothing of the way he had taken over her thoughts; the way he could h and relax in his company; the way she was tuned in to his presence before he even entered a roos with a spring in her step and a song in her heart, like a character from a corny romantic movie

Now, of course, with that saw piece firmly in place, she could see just how and why her safe, cosy life had been first undermined and then dis up all the pieces once he disappeared back to his London life, with its glittering social ind of high-level s and chic cocktail parties full of those sophisticated, glamorous power babes hom he claimed to be bored At the tiuarded snippet of information