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Chapter 14

Francesca screamed

The sound didn’t end up as loud as it began In the split second after she opened her nized him, and it became more of a squeak than a proper scream

“You!” she cried, and had the bizarre sensation that once again she was trapped in a novel

“Yes, it’sto ain, are you?” he added, his brows snapping together as he frowned

“What did you expecthot, and her eyes were blazing “I thought I was about to be kidnapped! Again…”

She didn’t really re—but she had heard the story many times, and perhaps on some deeper level she had retained a memory of terror…of loss Now she was all the more furious because of it

And because you spent a sleepless night, worrying about hie as life, and without a scratch

“I could kidnap you if you like,” he said, his wicked black eyes aglow “In fact that ood idea”

Daination shot off in an entirely new direction, with ies of hiether This paradise seemed to bear a rese…oh heavens, silken trousers! Francesca had co her plurapes, when she ca her, s

“Are you all right, Francesca? You seeo away for a moment there”

“Of course I’uiltily “What do you think you’re doing, bursting into my cab like this?”

Mr Thorne leaned back in the seat as if this was perfectly normal behavior “I wanted to speak to you privately”

Francesca tried to cling to her anger, but she felt it slipping away In a“If you wanted to speak to me, you should have sent a note Or you could have called on me at my uncle’s house”

“You would have torn up the note, and you would have refused to see me Or Mrs Jardine would have refused on your behalf I’ around your door”