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Francesca nodded slowly ‘I think so…’

‘I’nant, Francesca I’ my baby but I meant what I said I want to marry you, baby or not, because I…because I realise that sleeping with you wasn’t enough for ave her a crooked smile but underneath she could see that he was drained ‘Call reedy man, but I want more than just your beautiful body I want your mind, your heart, your soul, because you have ed to you three years ago when you walked out onto you now If you’ll have them I hope you do and I hope that you’llyour love Even if, right now, you ht ured out what it was about love that set it aside fro he had ever experienced in his life before Aside fro over which he exerted no control, it was also a hu on for dear life to what she would say

‘That’s a tall order, Angelo’

He paled In one short sentence, his world ca down

‘I htfully, ‘it takes a lot to win my love’

‘I’ll do anything’

‘Roestures?’ She frowned ‘You know, flowers et cetera, little love notes dotted around…’

Angelo looked at the slow s at the corners of her mouth ‘Yes, I can do flowers et cetera’

‘Candlelit dinners now and again—cooked by you, of course…’

He raised his eyebrows and looked doubtful ‘You drive a hard bargain but I’o’

‘Breakfast in bed every ?’

‘Seriously pushing your luck here’

‘Then how about sex on demand?’

‘I think I can e that’

‘I love you, Angelo’ She looked at hio and that’s why I never told you the truth about ht that you would drop er I left it, the more of a mountain it became until there was no way out but to leave, but I’ve been hurting all this ti into his ar him carry her over to the bed—but no sex, he told her, not until her doctor had given her the go-ahead

So they talked Once he started, Angelo found that the words poured out of him, words that had never crossed his lips before He could re him if he loved her, could re people clung on to because it made them feel safer, less isolated It had seemed a perfectly reasonable response to hier

Francesca, caught up in the rapture of the unbelievable, could have listened to him for ever She quizzed him over and over about whether he was certain that he could marry a woman with a colourful past and was ridiculously pleased when he told her that her past was a da than anyone else’s he could think of What she saw as a liability he viewed as an asset, and Francesca didn’t knohether to believe him or not, but what she did knoas that he would protect her froht ever dare to question his decision The rush of love that filled her made her tremble

‘Do you realise,’ Angelo said, eventually drawing her to him, ‘I’ve never had as many unofficial days off ith any woman as I’ve had with you? And yet we’ve never been on holiday together We’ll just have to put that right while there are just the two of us to consider…’

They did Three months later, for their honey had been small—just a few close friends and faed to pull that off but, as he’d wryly told her, today’s gossip beca in the blink of an eye

With her pregnancy now beginning to show, Francesca wore a range of loose clothing and one-piece swi stonancy made him proud