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She was retrospectively incredulous that she had succumbed to his phoney, soft voice and honeyed words and had actually believed that he had come to some kind of wondrous realisation She couldn’t now comprehend how she had been so stupid The man didn’t love her, never had and never would Really, how on earth could he have come to a wondrous conclusion that he had made a mistake, that he wanted her in his life? Even when he had uttered that preposterous proposal he had significantly failed to say anything about love She had let herself believe what she’d wanted to believe, and it wouldn’t be the first time she had made that particular mistake around him

‘We need to talk,’ she told hi at hi room She waited as he followed her in, but when he sat down, patting the space next to hiht her mood and frowned

‘You are upset because I should have cos that needed to be said between my brother and myself’

‘Yes I know’ Heather sed hard She was so alive to his presence that it hurt It was like being high up on anormally was impossible It was not how she wanted to feel, not now, and she had to hts as clear as possible

‘Soer than anticipated’

‘Yes I know’

‘Is that all you’re going to say? And why are you standing all the way over there by the door when there’s a ht here next to , was the unvoiced postscript to that reainst it

‘I’ve been thinking about what you said, Leo—about e—and it doesn’t make any sense’

Leo’s deep, grey eyes, which could be as cold as slate when he was angry and as dark as coal when he was aroused, swept over her cautiously

‘You see,’ Heather continued, pushing herself away fro sideways, crablike, to collapse onto the chair facing him ‘I happened to overhear a bit of what you and Alex were talking about’

‘How is that possible?’

‘I caht want some coffee The door was open and I heard…stuff’ The ‘stuff’ had become a jumble of words that had crystallised into a lethally destructive bo to explode in her head

‘Stuff that ive a jot abouton to her self-control, but only by a thread, and if he couldn’t hear the angry tremor in her voice then she certainly could ‘You didn’t ask me to marry you because you had decided that you wanted to build a future with me You asked me to marry you because Alex was in the roohts over a possession Because there’s a lot of e, isn’t there, Leo? Would you ever have told me if I hadn’t found out on my own?’

‘You should not have stood out there listening to a conversation that was private!’ Even as the words left his ly aware that there were ument than a colander Of course she would have listened, probably caught by the ency of their voices She was only human He felt out of control, and he didn’t like it, but then again when had he felt coer remember that happy state, nor did he have any inclination to return to it

‘That’s not the point The point is…’ She heard the wobble in her voice and took a deep breath ‘I was just a bit player in a revenge ga up and she sed hard

‘You’re getting hysterical’

‘I a hysterical!’