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She was proud of the way she was guiding her clients to coe profits, an awareness of other people’s poverty, and, increasingly now, prospective clients were approaching her because they had heard of her humanitarian beliefs and record

Three days after Luc had last rung her, he finally telephoned

‘I don’t know if you’ve received a copy of the wedding present list or not yet,’ he began, ‘but it occurred to ether we could potentially reer items from the list’

‘We could, but—’

‘Why don’t we discuss it over dinner?’ Luc interrupted her

‘I…’ Belle opened her mouth to refuse, but discovered instead that her voice seemed to have deserted her

‘I’ve got to coue the day after to I could call for you…’

‘I… Yes Very well,’ Belle agreed weakly

Luc took her to San Lorenzo which, in itself, surprised her Not so much because of its reputation as one of the best and most expensive restaurants in London—after all, as a Felloas now hardly the struggling young academic he had been when she had first h-profile society place would be to his taste What surprised her even h, was the discovery that the staff knew hih to have remembered his name

Sensing her surprise, Luc waited until the aiter had gone before explaining easily to her, ‘One ofme here for her tutorials’

‘Really?’ Belle gave hih it was the tutor who dictated where a tutorial would take place, not the student’

‘Mmm…but this student was rather special’

‘Oh’ Belle’s voice had grown even icier

‘Mid at ‘She was a second or third cousin to the owners of the restaurant, and she orking here to help finance her way through university as a mature student—’

‘She was a mature student?’ Belle interrupted him sharply

‘Well, yes…’

‘How mature?’ Belle demanded instantly

‘Oh…pretty mature… Around fifty or so…’

Immediately Belle started to relax, unaware of the look of wry co her She had always been very passionate and, whilst not possessive, certainly inclined to be very protective of their relationship He, on the other hand, as he openly had to adled his chair so that the darkly handso admiration was blocked out of her view

It was late when they finally left the restaurant, and it was Luc who commented wryly as he hailed a taxi, ‘We still haven’t decided about the wedding present’

‘No,’ Belle agreed

They had been too busy talking about the somachine or a dishwasher, the two items they had narrowed their choice down to

‘I ry so, when they had been discussing the breakdown of their e

‘Not angry, no,’ Luc had countered quickly, shaking his head and reaching across the table to take hold of her hand in both of his

‘Hurt, rejected, and even at tiry, no! It hurt me that I couldn’t afford to provide you with thethe o out and order that bed you wanted…’

‘You were a proudwas hurting you,’ Belle had groaned reain Luc had shaken his head

‘No If I was proud then it was a false pride My pride should have been in you, in what you were doing for both of us, in ere achieving by working together