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And Magda knehy She knew Maria thought that soe, te real

But it wasn’t She knew that Knew that deep, deep in her bones, in her heart, in her mind, in her soul As he stepped towards her, the shuttered light in the bedroo his body bronze, she knew that Rafaello was ht up in the unexpected pleasure of having turned her into, if not a swan, then at least a graceful songbird—a little street sparrow he had touched with gold and taught to fly

And she was flying now Lifting on wings of passion as he stroked her sun-warmed skin and murmured soft Italian words to her, bent to taste the sweetness of her an to soar towards the all-consu sun and burn within its fiery heart

Afterwards he held her close, his arers played idly with her hair They said nothing, but in the silence Magda found a peace she had never known before

He took her out for dinner that evening, after Benji was asleep and Maria had been entrusted with the baby da noted with a sant restaurant with a wonderful view over the valley beyond Magda sat there feeling like a princess in her blue silk goith diamonds around her neck

But it was Rafaello who own or the priceless diamonds—Rafaello The man she loved But because she knew that princesses only lived in fairytales, not real life, she knew that although she was not the ugly duckling any more, she was still Cinderella—and the hands of the clock were edging towards ht

She did not knohen it would strike Did not kno long Rafaello would continue to be intrigued by her, diverted by his own unexpecteda drab, downtrodden char into a woman worthy of his attention—worthy of his bed She kneould never be harsh to her, never discard her cruelly, but she kneith a deep, terrible certainty, that one day the phone would ring, or an e-mail would arrive, or his father would return, or he would si to do with the woet control of the company his father had threatened to sell under his nose

And when it happened she would pack her bags, and pick up Benji, and take one last, long look at the ift he had never asked for, would never even know he possessed—and go back to her real life, taking with her nothing but memories, every one of them a priceless, precious jewel to treasure all her days

‘What is it?’

His voice was low, penetrating her thoughts

SheI was pitying people back in Britain I saw an English newspaper headline that said it was the wettest June for years’