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‘Oh, well,’ said KarenVeronica’s suspicions ‘I suppose there is so you can do that they’d appreciate much more than money…’
Melanie, it transpired, had broken her right elbow in a fall on the day of her arrival in Provence, and was going to be wearing a sling for the next four to six weeks Consequently, she had rung to warn Karen that sheher holiday stay Of course Karen had agreed, but with her arrival delayed, perhaps Veronica offering her help would be a clever way to repay the Reeds for their generosity without risking offence? Melanie ht not take her up on it, after all she had her fa her edrelating to her work, it was bound to only be the occasional errand or bit of note-taking—the sort of thing that Veronica could dash off in a jiffy without even breaking a sweat!
Melanie hadn’t been the only one who had ended up being ht wryly as she looked out theat the late-co to board before the doors began to close
As for sweating—plenty of that had broken out hat Veronica had dis and tried to sleep off with regular doses of paracetaency doctor she had called in a panic when she had staggered into the apart teh the Chunnel
Fortunately the inforuaranteed a horetfully, all the syrippe’, he explained in broken English that was far better than her French, was to prescribe double-strength paracetauishing in her sickbed, alone, miserable, and heartily sorry for herself
It was no wonder she had gone crazy when she had finally recovered enough to venture out!
She turned her flushed forehead against the cool glass of the , and when she opened her eyes she saw the last of the stragglers heading towards the front carriages One of the a laptop, acco his suitcase on a trolley Probably heading for one of the other first-class carriages, she deduced with a all their own luggage
He was tall, and walked with a loose-limbed stride, which looked lazy, but which had the stout porter trotting to keep up A white panama hat with a turned-down brim covered most of his head, but it was the short black pony-tail, almost invisible as it tucked down inside the loosely flicked-up collar of his shirt, along with a certain set of his shoulders, that suddenly caught her eye and made her heart jump into her throat
No No, it couldn’t be!
There were millions of dark-haired h to be worn in a pony-tail
She leaned forward, her own pony-tail tickling her collarbone, her gaze fixed on the back of his head, but he continued to look straight ahead, giving her not even a hint of a profile
Her scrutiny shifted, drifting down over the loose, dark olive shirt hiding the waistband of his straight-legged jeans, to settle on the tight backside encased in the faded deni stride
It was absurd to think that she recognised it
She only had a brief e its familiarity before he suddenly turned and stepped up onto the train She wrenched her eyes back up to his face just in tiht
Veronica pushed back in her cushioned seat, sliding her hips forward so that her head sank below the height of the row She wasn’t hiding, just getting comfortable for the trip, she told herself