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Patience Being there

And Cristiano Maresca didn‘t qualify on any of those counts

Gathering herself, she yanked open the wardrobe door Suddenly aware that she was shaking violently, she pulled on the polo-necked juiven her for Christ up the rest of her things and shoving them back into the case from which she‘d so recently unfolded them

A knock at the door e, with infore of relief, throwing an ar to answer it

Please God, let hiht—

She had only opened the door a crack when she realised her mistake

It wasn‘t the concierge who stood there

It was Cristiano Maresca

A jolt of electricity shot through her, and acting on pure adrenaline-fuelled instinct she went to slam the door in his face But he was too quick for her Too quick and too strong Before she knew it she was stuap between the door and the wall

Wh-what are you doing here?‘

Kate‘s chest was rising and falling rapidly, her breath coasps, but he was perfectly unruffled His face was completely expressionless, his eyes dark and opaque

I want to talk to you,‘ he said softly

Kate couldn‘t stop the bitter laugh fro herReally? That wasn‘t what it looked like back there‘

Her voice was breathless and shaky Heviciously against her ribs, and beneath the ju hot

We were interrupted‘ Leaning back against the ith deceptive nonchalance, he was still looking at her steadilyI hoped you‘d wait‘

I did‘ Suddenly the narrow space by the door see round, Kate walked quickly back into the room, desperate to put some space between themLast time I waited last time—remember?‘

What?‘

So in his tone made her turn back to look at hi across the roo with an intensity that was al

Forget it,‘ she s she‘d left in thereIt doesn‘t matter‘

She threw her toothbrush into her washbag and, going out again, collided with him in the doorway

Before she could back away, he caught hold of her shoulders and looked down at her with a twisted, ironic smile that skewered her heartActually, it does‘

Noticing the washbag, he frownedWhat are you doing?‘

Packing I‘ home‘

His grip on her shoulders didn‘t loosen, but his gaze shifted froravelyI would have liked to get to know you better‘ He lifted a hand, brushing a strand of hair back from her cheek

In the soft light his face wore an abstracted expression, and was almost impossibly perfectCould I persuade you to stay?‘

Agonising desire zigzagged through her like lightning, rooting her to the spot for a second as every nerve in her body sang beneath his touch and her senses reeled at his nearness For all this time she had carried the scent of his skin in her memory, and noas in her head, and the eyes she had looked into so often in her dreaht back into hers…

But their expression was different now Gone was the eed her heart fro darker Harder Colder

No ‘

Wrenching herself away, she took a couple of steps backwards, gathering up folds of satin, twisting them in her damp fists as she walked around to the other side of the pristine hotel bedI don‘t want to be another notch on your bedpost, another anony her case, she viciously shoved the washbag into it and gave a shaky, slightly hysterical laughI suppose that if you take into account that night four years ago that would technically ht stand, but it would also make me doubly stupid to fall for the same routine tw—‘