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Dureement

'Manipulative, calculating,' he breathed raggedly, an edge of so remarkably si like that… '

She knehat he wanted He wanted her to shout at him and throw in a few adjectives of her own It would make him feel better But for the first ti to say Her defences were down She was in too er He would just have to live with his conscience

'I can't bear your silence,' he adlanced up and collided with lustrous dark eyes He looked shattered, as if every sentence he had spoken had taken a physical toll She had never seen him like that before; vulnerable, unsure No doubt she would never see hied them both into an unholy mess but she had every certainty that by toy and brilliant mind on how to approach with tact the problem of the custody of her unborn children Two for the price of one and he didn't even know it yet, she reflected mirthlessly

'Perhaps you would prefer to talk to calmer'

She never wanted to talk to hi the sheet she was nervously pleating There was no way she could sleep after he had gone Could he take her children away fro addict or an alcoholic She couldn't see what possible argument he could put up in a court of law… Some time around dawn, she fell into an uneasy doze

'You don't feel car-sick?' Vito shot her a concerned glance Ashley's teeth clenched That was the third time he had referred to her health Add that litany to three other stilted re from the weather to the beauty of the countryside and you had a far froue She had spent yesterday in bed She had got up for breakfast and he hadand she had suffered a sudden relapse, pleading weakness to escape When had he turned her into such a coward? They couldn't live in limbo forever Either she talked or she ran away, and if she ran away she would be running to the end of her days, despising herself for such cowardice

Just about the last thing she had expected this ement in deepest Berkshire and that he had no intention of race she had surrendered,that he could think a lunch date worthy of such attention in the present state of their e

'I want us to stay together'

The cool assertion dropped like a brick through the windscreen,her of breath

'Until the baby is born,' he added very quietly 'That is very important to me'

'Tough!' Biting her lip until the blood ca endlessly ahead and thought that he had chosen his time well There was nowhere to run Stay until the baby is born and then get lost She felt sick, horribly sick, shrinking froestion Didn't he have any sensitivity at all? To continue to live with hiet over hio back to her oorld, away fro would be hard because incredibly, even after all he had done, a sha to what little of a see remained

'The last time I wasn't there-'

'I don't need you!' she spat jerkily 'I don't need you for anything'

'I didn't say that you did' He washis words with supreme tact 'But I would like you to stay-'

'So that you can watch over me?' she cut in bitterly 'Make sure I don't sneak off for another ter-wheel clenched to shohite knuckles 'You didn't have one the first time Why should you want one now?'

Ashley was shaken He was telling her that he believed her, he believed that she had had a e your ?'

'Weeks ago, but you didn't want to talk about it,' he reminded her drily

'I didn't see why I should have to keep on defending myself'

'I really do want this baby,' he breathed alhly 'I may have failed you in the past but that does not hts this time'

'I don't want to talk about your rights,' she whispered sickly

'Why the hell have you never learned to speak e?' he suddenly raked at her furiously 'It is not easy for lish What do you think this is like forIn every direction I look, I a! If I spent the rest of e anything!'