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He watched the roses She was playing with the child, standing in the shallow end, legs apart, throwing the infant up into the air with a whooshing noise and catching hi, and so was the child—uproariously Evidently this experience was of enorlee as he went up into the air before descending yet again for a hty splash

Rafaello stepped forward and i him enter the pool area She froze, indifferent to the abrupt wail of the baby as his fun was interrupted

She was staring at him—horror-struck, so it seemed to Rafaello, and he felt an immediate burst of irritation There was no need to look at hi to the semicircle of steps that led out of the water as fast as she could, wielding the protesting baby in front of her like a shield She started to climb out hastily

‘I’ now,’ she said apologetically, and Rafaello experienced another stab of exasperation He felt like Frankenstein’s monster as well as Dracula

‘There is no need to get out,’ he inforers ‘I only require one lane Continue with the child’

But she was getting out of the pool all the same ‘No, no—we’ve finished’

Judging by the wail that the child let out at that point, he, for one, considered his swim far from finished

‘Stay in the water’

His voice came out harsher than he irl to be looking at hire

‘No, really…’ the girl aze seemed aard now instead, and she started to sidle towards the lounger her things were on, holding the protesting baby under his ars kicked out furiously His wet body started to slip through her hands, and for a ed forward just as the girl, at the saht to the ground

For the barest second his eyeshis assistance was unnecessary What he saw in their expression shocked him She looked absolutely terrified

He straightened up ‘I thought he was going to fall,’ he said

She straightened as well, keeping hold of the baby’s hand, though he was tugging as hard as he could in the direction of the water