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‘It is if he’s trying to get into your pants as well,’ he snickered ‘Maybe he gets a kick out of doing sisters And then there’s that hot-and-heavyin London that we’re all supposed to ignore I don’t suppose he’s dished up all the dirty details to you about that…’ His sneering contempt was mixed with undercurrents of lustful envy

It took all her control toabout’

But her coolness only goaded hireater excess ‘If he’s such a hot stud you’d think that he wouldn’t have to sniff around after other ot caught, instead of standing up for himself like a real man—’

Veronica had had enough He thought he could shts with impunity, because she would be too ashaht, but that didn’t mean she had to meekly listen to his abuse

She went to duck under one of his ar , honey?’

She was debating how effective a sharp knee in the groin would be, fearing the water resistance would be too great to land a telling blohen she heard the slap of feet on the paving

She looked up to see Luc and Sophie walking around the pool towards theht blue swi his patterned shirt and sunglasses onto one of the stone benches, revealing a sweaty torso and dust streaks on his face as he took a flat, shallow dive directly over their heads, arrowing to the other side and back under the water before popping up beside them with a lazy smile

‘Hi, you two What’s going on?’

‘Nothing much,’ said Ross, who had hastily dropped both arms as soon as Luc had hit the water For all his cast-iron confidence his grin was a trifle nervous, although he must have known that he wasn’t about to be contradicted ‘Veronica and I were just talking about having a race I was offering to give her a head start’

‘That’s notVeronica a disparaging look that normally would have made her bristle However she was too relieved by his ratefully to the side of the pool as he directed his dark-eyed gaze back to Ross

‘You were a life-saving chao, weren’t you? You’re probably used to the action being fast and furious,’ he said with a rin widen, his tension easing Luc executed a watery somersault and stroked over to scoop up the ball that was sitting by the pool skier

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‘So why don’t the two of us play some one-on-one instead—no cooals in the opposition net wins,’ he said easily

‘Hey, Soph!’ He raised his voice to call to the little girl who had sat on the edge of the pool, her legs dangling in the water alongside Veronica ‘Will you get those floating baskets from the pool locker and hook thea mano-a-mano,’ he added in a tone of voice calculated to produce the exact effect that it did ‘Are you up for it, or not?’

Ross lunged through the water to snatch away the ball ‘Bring it on!’