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CHAPTER ONE

LUCAS CONWAY SURVEYED the blonde as standing in front of hih her eyes were red-rimmed and her cheeks ith tears

He felt a pulse beat at his temple

Nothing at all

‘Who let you in?’ he questioned coldly

‘Y-your housekeeper,’ she said, herfrantically as she tried to contain yet another sob ‘The one with the messy hair’

‘She had no right to let anyone in,’ Lucas returned, briefly wondering how the actress could be so spiteful about soood turn But that omen for you—they never lived up to the promise of how they appeared on the outside They were all teeth and smiles and then, when you looked beneath the surface, they were as shallow as a spill of water ‘I told her I didn’t want to be disturbed’ His voice was cool ‘Not by anyone I’m sorry, Charlotte, but you’ll have to leave You should never have come here’

He rose to his feet, because now he felt so inside hi word to use It didn’t accurately describe the hot clench to his heart when he’d received the letter last week, did it? Nor the unaccusto of dread which had washed over him as he’d stared down at it Memories of the past had swus he didn’t want to reet But so for you

His ht as hethe fair-haired beauty as staring up at hi eyes ‘Come with me I’ll see you out’

‘Lucas—’

‘Please, Charlotte,’ he said, trying to inject his voice with the requisite a—for he had no idea how to replicate this kind of e unable to show any kind of feeling for another person—unless you counted desire, which was only ever teh ‘Don’t make this any more difficult than it already is’

Briefly, she closed her swollen eyelids and nodded and he could se office, which overlooked the choppy waters of Dublin Bay And when she’d followed hi—to the front door, she tried one last time

‘Lucas’ Her voice trembled ‘I have to tell you this because it’s important and you need to know it I know there isn’t anyone else on the scene and I’ve ood and I I love you—’

‘No,’ he answered fiercely, cutting her short before she could humiliate herself any further ‘You don’t You can’t You don’t really know me and if you did, you certainly wouldn’t love me I’m sorry I’m not the o and find someone who is Someone who has the capacity to care for you in the way you deserve to be cared for’

She opened her mouth as if to make one last appeal but esture in his eyes, because she nodded and began to stumble towards her sports car in her spindly and impractical heels He stood at the door and watched her leave, a gesture which ht have been interpreted as one of courtesy but in reality it was to ensure that she really did exit the premises in her zippy little silver car, which shattered the peace as it sped off in a cloud of gravel

He glanced up at the heavy sky The weather had been oppressive for days now and the dark and straining clouds were hinting at the storhten the oppressive at his forehead slick with sweat and his clothes feel as if they were clinging to his body He closed the door And then he turned his attention to his growing vexation as he thought about his interfering housekeeper

His te, Lucas went downstairs into the baseazines were itching to feature in their lifestyle section—to find Tara Fitzpatrick whipping so furiously in a copper bowl She looked up as he walked in and a lock of thick red hair fell into her eye, which she instantly bleith a big upward gust of breath, without pausing in her whipping et it cut so that it didn’t resemble a birds’ nest? he wondered testily And why did she insist on wearing that horrible housecoat while she worked? A baggy garment made from some cheap, man-made fibre, which he’d once told her looked like a relic from the nineteen fifties and completely swamped her slender frame

‘She’s gone, then?’ she questioned, her gaze fixed on his as he walked in

‘Yes, she’s gone’ He could feel the flicker of irritation growing inside hiain and, suddenly, Tara seemed the ideal candidate to take it out on ‘Why the hell did you let her in?’