page31 (1/1)

‘Ellie—’

She stalked off into her rooain so there—the pile of newspapers almost completely read

‘I thought you were going into the office this ,’ she said

‘Not any ’

‘I don’t want you to’ Her voice faltered, because when his blue eyes softened like that, he washer feel stuff she didn’t want to feel

‘Don’t want me to what?’

She didn’t want hi on the other side of a curtain while she tried to cra body into suitable clothes She didn’t want to see the disbelieving faces of the sales assistants as they wondered what so for clothes was a nightant Alek into thearound outside the changing room,’ she said

‘Why not?’

She shrugged Why not tell him the truth? ‘I’m self-conscious about my body’

He poured himself a cup of coffee ‘Why?’

‘Because I alared at hinant’

His gaze slid over her navel, his expression suggesting he wasn’t used to looking at a woht that h to reassure you that I find it very attractive indeed’

‘That isn’t the point,’ she said, unwilling to point out that lately he hadn’t shown the slightest interest in her body, because wouldn’t thatto do a Cinderella transformation scene with you as an audience’

He opened his hed ‘Okay So what if I act as your chauffeur for the day? I’ll drive you to a department store and park up somewhere and wait And you can text me when you’re done How does that sound?’

It sounded so reasonable that Ellie couldn’t cole objection and soon she was seated beside hi traffic She was slightly terrified when he dropped her off outside the store, but she’d read enough azines to know that she was perfectly entitled to request the services of a personal shopper And it didn’t see jeans and a T-shirt or that her untri—because the elegant woements She delicately enquired what Ellie’s upper price lio for the cheapest option, she knew Alek wouldn’t thank her for shopping on a budget He’d once drawlingly told her that it was the dreaet her hands on his credit card, so why disappoint him? Why not try to become the woman that he and his fancy friends would obviously expect her to be?

She quickly discovered how easy shopping hen you had money You could buy the best You could complement your outfits with soft leather shoes and pick up a delicate twist of a silk scarf which echoed the detail in a fabric And expensive clothes really could transform, she decided The luscious fabrics seeht her defects

The shopper persuaded her into the dresses she usually rejected on the grounds that jeans were more practical, and Ellie found she liked the swish of the delicate fabrics brushing against her skin She bought all the basic clothes she needed and then picked out a silvery-white wedding gohich did aure On impulse, the personal shopper draped a scarlet pashmina around her shoulders—a stole so fine it was allowing life to her skin Ellie stared at herself in the long mirror

‘It’s perfect,’ she said slowly

By the ti some of her purchases, she felt like a neoman

She saw Alek’s face change as she approached the car, accohed doith ares His arm brushed over her back with proprietary courtesy as he held open the car door for her and she stiffened, because just that brief touch felt as if he’d branded her with the heat of his flesh Was that why he stiffened, too? Why his eyes narrowed and a nerve began to work at his teain—and wasn’t she longing for hi its horn and the noise seemed to snap him out of his uncharacteristic hesitation