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‘It’s all well and good for you to sit there sniggering, but I’m the one who has to live with other people’s stupid speculations!’

‘That’s office life for you Maybe you should climb out of your ivory tower and experience it And don’t worry about Jackson, by the way Whatever he ht think, or not think, he’ll keep it to himself’

Kate gritted her teeth together and remembered diplomacy He was rich, and immune to the opinions of other people Not that there would beto shoot their ant in his self-confidence And he talked about her living in an ivory tower!

‘Maybe I should,’ she said, with a tight, forced smile

‘You look as though you’ve sed a lirinned He hadn’t noticed her freckles before, or the fact that her dark hair was olden at the ends

‘I’ to drink there’s an opened bottle of wine in the fridge, or you cankitchen I’m sure you’ll be able to find what you need’

With that she swung round and headed to her bedroo at the way he saw fit to say exactly what happened to be on his , which she had had neatly planned and which would now be spent in a state of edge-of-the-seat nervous tension

She got to her bedrooazed at her mutinous reflection in the mirror Her colour was up Her hair was not in the neat little bun he was accusto undone and wisps of long brown hair trailed around her face Which was completely bare of make-up

She peered at the freckles which had always

Freckles, dishevelled hair, a pair of shorts that she would never in a million years have worn had she known that he—or anyone else, for thatup on her doorstep, and a sht be navy blue, but she had generous breasts and it was perfectly obvious that they were not constrained

If she half squinted and stood back just a tiny bitwell, she ht pass muster as one of those cocktail waitresses she scorned Ss everywhere, hair everywhere

In the rational part of hertricks on her She wasn’t dressed any differently fro around in her own ho

But this was her tender spot—the place where her iestion that she and herin common when it came to the way they saw themselves and their bodies Her mother had always been a benchmark as to how she, Kate, would never conduct herself

She closed her eyes, breathed deeply, and hurriedly re the shorts and cropped top with a pair of jeans and a very sensible baggy tee shirt which revealed nothing but a faded logo on the front She neatened up the ponytail, but drew the line at turning it into a bun

When she made it back to the kitchen it was to find Alessandro well ensconced at her kitchen table, a glass of wine next to hi back with his hands folded behind his head

‘I like your place’ He watched as she hovered for a few seconds by the kitchen door, the very picture of the disgruntled and reluctant host ‘Cool, airy, light colours And nice that it’s not in a big, impersonal block of flats as well I take it there’s just the one other flat above you?’

‘You’ve been poking around’ she said, eyes narrowed

‘You disappeared to change your clothes What else was I supposed to do?’

‘You were supposed to make yourself a cup of tea and stay put’

‘Wine seemed a better alternative I try and avoid caffeine after six You look nothing like her, you know’

Kate stiffened She took a couple of steps into the kitchen with about the sa a lion’s den This was her house and her kitchen, and yet he see her feel as if she needed to ask pere

‘I have no idea what you’re talking about’ She helped herself to a glass of wine and took up position at the opposite end of the table ‘And I would rather not get into any of that’

‘Any of what? If you don’t knohat I’ about?’

He slung his long body out of the chair and headed to the fridge, opened the door and peered inside