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And I cannot let it happen I dare not!

All her life she had kept intimacy at bay, kept herself safe from what she had seen destroy her father The hurt he’d suffered that she dared not risk for herself! So now she must say what she must say Do what she must do

Nikos’s voice was cutting across her anguished thoughts

‘Diana—speak to me What is it?’

There was steel in Nikos’s voice now He wanted answers, explanations So, and he wanted to knohat it was Why it was So that he could fix it Whatever it was, he could fix it

Her breath caught—then she forced herself into words Words she had to say Had to

‘Nikos—what happened in the desertit shouldn’t have happened!’

Disbelief flashed across his face ‘How can you say that?’

His voice was hollow As if the breath had been punched from his body by a blow that had landed out of nowhere His , unable to comprehend what she had just thrown at him Itwhat she had just said?

‘And how can you not see that?’ she cried in response ‘It’s not what oure that would suit us both, provide us both with so Greyo our separate ways! You said that, Nikos—you said it yourself to me It hat you proposed!’

She took another ragged breath

‘And that’s what I agreed to All I agreed to’

He was staring at her Every line in his face frozen Disbelieving

‘Are you telling e should be celibate?’

Noas Diana looking at him as if he were insane Her eyes flared ‘Of course!’ she said ‘That’s e signed up to Right from the start’