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‘And would you have fallen for that very fetching look?’ he asked softly, and Francesca hurriedly looked away

Falling? No! They had never spoken about falling anywhere, had never once mentioned the word love

‘Red hair can be a bit tricky for aaround his question ‘You ht have been bullied at school…’ A less likely scenario she would have been hard pressed to iine

‘You think so?’ Angelo shot her a devilishly a bullied?’

‘No,’ she said honestly ‘You’re too scary’

‘You find me scary?’

‘I don’t, but I can see why soht’

‘Why is that?’ He caught the tail-end of her sandwich and took a bite from it

‘Don’t tell elo When you’re doing one of these great deals of yours? When you’re out to win so in your way?’

‘I prefer to call it persuasion with intent’ He grinned at her Extraordinary to iine the freedoms she took with him She had trampled all over his boundaries from the very start and she still did it, and he didn’t care That was the extraordinary thing He had become cavalier with his cherished privacy and he didn’t mind

He thought about later, lying in bed, telling her what he had to tell her, picturing her face

‘Is that right?’ Francesca said dryly ‘And I call eating this very fattening bread and cheese flirting with a few calories When I put on vast aer do my job, I shall blame you’ She stood up and headed towards the bathroorinning as he looked at her fro every line of her body, which he refused to accept was anything but perfect

In her quiet ht of the price she had paid for her so-called perfection Ss she kneanted to hear, little ies built up of her over time that bore no resemblance to the unsavoury truth How had all those little lies become an avalanche? Francesca tried never to think about it The temporary nature of their relationship made it easy