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‘Fun?’

Alessandro ignored the bitterness that had crept into her voice When he had first in, he had felt a twinge of discomfort In retrospect, maybe he should have walked away at that point, rather than allowing her to invest everything into him, but he had been weak and—face it—unable to resist her He was now paying the price for that weakness

‘You’re better off without hly, as he continued to stare outside ‘You have all you need right here You’ll teach at that school of yours, only a short distance away frouy ill be content with the future you have mapped out’

Megan had thought that the future she had mapped out for herself had included him!

‘Yes,’ she said dully He wasn’t even looking at her He had already written her out of his life and was ready to move on ‘Why did you et rid of me?’ she asked ‘Was it a one-last-tian before you sent her on her way?’

Alessandro spun round, but he didn’t ain would he allow his emotions to control his behaviour

He gripped thesill against which he was leaning and re now, she was still a kid and would bounce back in no ti away from her—would realise in time to come that they orlds apart and whatever they had had would never have stayed the course of tiht

Megan couldn’t bear to look at hi for divine inspiration

‘I think I’ her feet ‘I’ll just check the bedroo of mine that I should take with me’

He didn’t try to stop her rooting through his stuff The lack of anything belonging to her now seemed ominous proof of her ied her to leave any of her things at his place Sure, she’s forgotten odd bits and pieces now and again, like the clothes she was currently standing in, but he’d always returned them

The only things she had insisted on leaving were some of her CDs She was voracious when it came to modern music, whereas he preferredto the point of coma, she had teased him Yet another example of those differences between them, which she had stupidly failed to spot but which he had probably noted and lodged away in his ht out later and used in evidence against her

Without looking in his direction, she quietly gathered her CDs and stuffed the

‘I think that’s about everything’ Some CDs, a toothbrush, some moisture cream, some underwear Precious little ‘Good luck with the new job and the new life, Alessandro I really hope it lives up to expectations and I’et rid of that yourself’

Alessandro nodded He didn’t say anything because there was nothing left to say, and for the first time in his life he didn’t trust himself to speak

Megan turned away, and was half-disappointed, half-relieved when he didn’t follow her There was an e inside her, and her throat felt horribly dry and tight, but there would be tih to cry Once she was back in her little rooh Before she left for good But when she turned around, it was to find that he was staring out of the ith his back to her

CHAPTER ONE

MEGAN stooped down so that she was on the same level as the six-year-old, brown-haired, blue-eyed boy in front of her Face of an angel, but spoiled rotten She had seen many versions of this child over the past two years, since she had been working in London It seemed to be particularly predominant at private schools, where children were lavished with all that s that money couldn’t

‘Okay, Dominic Here’s the deal The show’s about to start, the , and the Nativity play just isn’t going to be the same without you in it’

‘I don’t want to be a tree! I hate the costu to telltrouble My mummy’s a lawyer, and she can put people into prison!’ he ended, with folded arms and a note of irrefutable triumph in his voice

Megan clung to her patience with i six-year-old children to learn and memorise their lines had proved to be a Herculean feat, and the last thing she needed on the day before school broke up was a badly behaved brat refusing to be a tree