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It wasn’t until they had stepped into sight of the group of people sitting in various casual attitudes around a large table on a sun-dappled terrace that Veronica suddenly registered what it was that she had seen out of the corner of her eye, parked in between two family saloons

A streamlined silver convertible with red upholstery!

CHAPTER FOUR

‘ROSS and Ashley got engaged fouras she set out a dish of black and green olives, alasses on the blue and yellow striped tablecloth ‘Ross’s in the finance depart to New York or London in the next feweven less of Ashley than we do now’

‘Oh, really,’to maintain the minimum of polite interest when all her attention was focused elsewhere, on the tall, dark-hairedaround the thin, wiry figure of Zoe Main, the other loosely carrying an opened bottle of red wine

She was hardly aware of Ross Bentley’s winning solden eyes that added the gilt to his chunky good looks Nor did she notice that the clasp of his hand lingered slightly too long as she failed to flatter him with her full attention, but his sharp-eyed fiancée did

‘Veronica—perhaps it’s only an optical illusion, but you seerown taller since we last saw each other,’ Ashley drawled froe diaht as she deliberately lass out of a patch of shade thrown by the vines twining the overhead lattice

‘The taller the woman, the more there is to appreciate,’ Ross Bentley said in a suave e if she had actually been listening

‘I understand that Melanie is insisting we observe local custo,’ he raised his voice to add with a s a char her on both cheeks Since he was several inches shorter than Veronica it htly aardpast his head, only vaguely aware of the ainst her pale cheeks

Visions of mortification danced in her head as she watched the pairaway from the house If only she could faint!

But she had a constitution that was as strong as her build, and although it felt as if much of the blood had drained out of her brain she could still pull together a few rational thoughts

One being that if she toppled over now, she olden boy doith her, which would give Ashley even more reason to pout

She could pretend to feel faint, and bla Melanie, she wouldn’t be able to sie, a handkerchief discreetly pressed to her face, but would be instantly sat down and very publicly fussed over

Besides, it was too late to avoid the confrontation loo right at her—or,at her and Ross Bentley, his eyes narrowing as they flicked back and forth, his features cast into a dangerously unreadable stillness

‘Luc, I wondered where you’d got to…come over and meet Karen’s sister’ Melanie re it to Miles to pour while she one-handedly shepherded her , shoulders squared as if she were facing a firing squad