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‘You haven’t returned it,’ she was stung to reply

‘There’s no point at the ht I’d find a jeweller soet it fixed for you’

She didn’t believe his innocent look He was tantaood behaviour ‘That’s not necessary—’

‘I know, but I want to do it Consider it in the nature of an apology’

‘For what?’ she said warily,his silky sincerity

‘For what I said to you out there on the road, when I thought you were a stalking journalist I one over the top with so as the most memorable of them popped back into her head

‘The best lay I’ve had in a long, long time…’

Then as she visibly fought down her blush of chagrin he added si away from me’

That was all, and her blush exploded out of control as she realised what he was, oh, so clearly not apologising for…

‘I should have given you the slap you deserved,’ she choked

‘Feel free to do it now,’ he invited, spreading his ar his head to present her with an olive-skinned cheek, his drawn-back hair a sleek backdrop to his neatly moulded ear

‘It would serve you right if I did,’ she said fiercely, her hand twitching with the terained skin

‘Try it—perhaps we bothhis eyes totiether in Paris It’s just a pity you had to rush off the way you did, before we had a chance to fully explore all the pleasurable possibilities…’

Veronica’s grey eyes widened in part shock, part curiosity He had more than fulfilled her fantasies What, precisely, hadn’t they explored…?

He shifted to look her full in the face again ‘Not that you gaveviolent or kinky’ His voice had lowered to that velvety purr she found so disruptive to her thought processes that she didn’t notice he had moved ev