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Chapter One

Alex Tempest did not normally trample nuns underfoot, nor anyone else, come to that Alexander Jaance, grace and athleticism—under all normal circumstances

Skidding round corners on the ice-slick cobblestones of Ghent, however, was not norht of the late-Novehts of warood friends and rum punch

The convent as high and unyielding when he cannoned into it Alex found hi off the wall and into a nun, dressed all in black and grey, and blending perfectly with the cobbles She was certainly yielding as she gave a s, her black port away to land on the threshold of the convent’s closed gates

Alex got his feet under control ‘Ma soeur, je suis désolé Permettez-moi’ He held out his hand as she levered herself into a sitting position with one black rey with a black ribbon, had tipped forward over her nose, and she pushed it back to look up at him

‘I am not—’

‘Hurt? Excellent’ He could only make out the oval of her face in the shadow of the bonnet’s brilish?’ He extended the other hand Presulish nuns

‘Yes But—’

‘Let’s get you up off that cold ground, Sister’ Her cloak, which seeiven the weather, was black Under it there was the herey robe and the toes of sensible black boots ‘Take my hands’ Probably nuns were not supposed to touchthat sround

With what sounded like a sigh of resignation she put her hands in his and allowed hiht ‘Ow!’ She hopped on one foot, swayed dangerously and the next moment she was cradled in his arms After all, one did not allow a lady to fall, even if she was a nun ‘Oh!’

Alex braced his feet well apart on the slippery cobbles and looked down at as reat deal, ith her billowing cloak and ferocious hat brim But even if he couldn’t see any detail, there was plenty for his body to read She was young And slender And curved He dipped his head and inhaled the scent of her Plain soap, ool and war nun Pull yourself together, man Nuns are most definitely on the forbidden list Pity

‘I’ll ring the bell, shall I?’ he offered with a jerk of his head towards the rusty iron chain hanging by the door It looked like the sort of thing desperate cri by the small barred peephole set into the ht be rather less welcoh you have twisted your ankle’

Mentioning parts of the anatomy was probably another sin, but she h the body that was already stiff in his arid ‘No Absolutely not Thank—’

‘I really think I should get someone to come out’

‘—you I a me’ Crisp, polite and obviously furious with hi so, he concluded An educated, refined voiceso to voices, hearing as behind the actual words; anyone ho did , little nun?

But the polite irritation as on the surface That was fair enough He’d knocked her down; the least he could do was to take her where she wanted to go and not to where, from the way her body arched away from the door, she did not want to be ‘But you should see a doctor What if there is a bone broken?’ Alex bent, juggled his arht the handles of the porthtened up ‘Which canal, Sister?’

‘I a Sister Clare runs a small hostel for travellers down at the port here and I will spend the night with her But I am not—’

‘This way, then’ Alex began to walk downhill ‘It just so happens I can take you to a doctor on the way’

‘I do not wish to be any trouble, but—’

‘You cannot walk and all the cabs have vanished as they always do when one most needs one It is not out of my way’