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‘Right’

‘And I’ sensible with the financial side of things I eht—and, of course, the et in my freelance work, the less dependent I’ll be on you’

‘Right’

Her words were floating around his head without really registering He was staring down into an abyss and for the first time in his life was paralysed with inaction Hoas it that he hadn’t spotted the ground opening up beneath his feet? He had never in his entire life taken his eye off the ball, but he had done it with her

‘And then you can get back to your busy life I don’t know Would you want ?’

‘My busy life?’

‘Earninga , bad world’

Over tirasp not just the extent of his wealth but the extent of his power and influence Neither impressed her, because if he’d been poorer and less influential, then maybe he would have wanted what she wanted: just a normal relationship Maybe he would have loved her the way she loved hi like that, but she couldn’t help it

‘I seem to have taken quite a bit of time out of ree?’

‘But I didn’t force you to—’

‘Did I say that you did?’

‘No, but—’

‘Did it ever occur to you that I may have wanted to?’

‘For the baby,’ Susie inserted hastily, before her heart had ti castles in the sky