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CHAPTER ONE

THEolden retriever shot across Hyde Park like a bat out of hell,toddlers up into their ar out of his ith a niht had been lost to the people who had been aically slashed jeans and with piercings in seely every nook and cranny lost their cool aplo with shrieks and cries which—on the whole, Cory was thankful to note—were good-humoured

For the first ’s wake Cory shouted apologies to all and sundry, then, when Rufus showed no signs of slowing down, she kept her breath for running

Why hadn’t she listened to her aunt? Cory silently berated herself as she panted after the dog, wasting valuable breath every twenty yards or so by screeching his na on the walk down Bayswater Road froht ti to heel like an old pro And the deep brown eyes had been so iy expression of longing as he’d watched other canines chasing balls and playingher feel like the wicked witch of the west

‘Keep him on the lead, Cory,’ Aunt Joan had warned as she’d seen the encased in plaster due to a nasty fall a couple of weeks before ‘I can just about trust him to come back now but I don’t knoould react with someone else He’s perfectly friendly, of course, and just adores children and other dogs, but the original owners kept hi hi’

‘The poor darling’ was not the phrase she’d choose to describe the dog right at this h they were going to burst and her throat and chest were on fire There were various choice na didn’t feature in any of them

Rufus havingstops to sniff the certain part of other canines’ anato, Cory now found herself closer to hiun Suth, she bellowed, ‘Rufus! Stay!’ just as the ani with a French poodle The golden head turned, brown eyes considering her with a faintly ah he couldn’t understand why she wasn’t entering wholeheartedly into this wonderful garowled, ‘Come here Heel, Rufus’

There was still a good fifty yards between them but she couldn’t run anyWhether it was her ferocious voice or the fact that she had slowed down to a walk, Cory didn’t know, but the big dog suddenly seemed to realise all was not well After one ain, but this tiht for her, determined to impress her by the speed hich he obeyed It was doubtful he even noticed the tall, well-dressed figure about to cross his path There was one endlessmet and then five or six stone of sheer canineinto the air

A very nice leather briefcase went one way, the suit jacket which had been slung over one shirt-clad arated horror Theforce and even Rufus realised he’d co obsequiously around the prostrate figure on the grass when Cory reached the as though he was about to burst into tears

‘Oh, I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry’ Cory went down on to her knees in a flurry of blue denim jeans, pink shirt and tuht?’

The man remained perfectly still for anotherof a tortured groan It probably wasn’t the moment to notice it was an exceptionally fit body—tall, lean and ressive masculinity that was rawly sexy—or that the jetblack hair topped a face that was out-and-out dynamite

Cory sed Pierce Brosnan, Orlando Blooain before she could say, ‘Have you broken anything?’

A pair of very blue eyes met hers In spite of his prone position and the fact he’d had all the air knocked out of him—or lance saying more than mere words could ever have done When Cory went to help hi action that was savage It was unfortunate Rufus chose thatslobbery lick across one chiselled cheekbone The man froze for a second but still didn’t say a word before he rose to his feet

He was tall Cory found herself looking up sory Very, very angry

‘Is it yours?’

‘I’m sorry’ She was still frozen by the icy eyes and the way the set of his hard ave the handso properly

‘That’ He gestured furiously in Rufus’s direction ‘Is it—? Hell!’ The original sentence was cut off ‘What’s he eating?’

Oh, no Please, no This couldn’t be happening She took the e was already done Neither of the in the discarded jacket ‘Was…was it expensive?’ she asked in a s the answer It was a state of the art, super dooper technological ned to withstand the power of those big jaws

He ignored the outstretched hand with the chewed phone and took a deep breath, retrieving his briefcase and jacket and wincing slightly as he did so

He was hurt But then of course he would be Meeting an express train in theeven Superman would have found a little hard to take ‘I?

??ain ‘I shouldn’t have taken him off the lead’

Dark eyebrows climbed sardonically ‘Really?’