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“So you’ll co her face, he smiled down at her Louisa’s eyelids fluttered open She blinked in apparent bewilder to take us to Buenos Aires”

She looked up at him Then she sucked in her breath

“No,” she said “Damn you! No!”

His jaw dropped as he stared at her, unable to believe her answer He couldn’t even fatho For his whole adult life, he’d been the legendary elusive playboy He’d never offered any woman as much as he’d just offered Louisa

So now to have her actually refuse him!

“Why?” he deain of the hted to see her All those surfer boys looking at her with longing, all those wealthy yacht-owners who’d eyed her with lust Rafael’s expression hardened “Is there someone else?”

He heard her intake of breath as her eyes flashed up at him

“Yes,” she said in a low voice “There is sorasp, and he had the sudden feeling of the war away forever “Goodbye,” she whispered

Turning in a whirl of vibrant color, she pushed open the door into her bakery He heard the bright tinkle of the bell, and then he was left alone on the wooden boardwalk, beneath a cloudless sky stretching to the brilliant blue sea

Chapter Seven

LOUISA’S legs wobbled with emotion as she went back into the bakery

She felt the sudden blast of war in the oven, heard the laughter of her six-year-old niece talking to her baby son in his bouncy chair She was hoain, and safe She’d kept her secret and left Rafael behind forever She’d put her child first He was the only one who mattered

So why didn’t she feel happier? Why did she feel so broken inside? She blinked her eyes fast, barely able to keep fro down at the floor

The floor needed to be ht dimly She would do that first And as her heart turned over in her chest she pushed away the et, the father of her baby She tried to focus on her business, her child, the rest of her daily schedule Anything but the man she’d just pushed away…

I can’t offer you ether, I promise I will be faithful to you