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'Aha!' he triumphantly burst out 'You promised Cassidy what, exactly? Let me remind you, you work for us Your first loyalty is to the paper' Then he paused for thought and cunningly added, 'To your readers, I ht to know—'

'Knohat?' she crossly interrupted 'The story's cold, Leo Annette's father had a heart attack, but he's going to make it, and I did the story about Annette and her true love We can't re-hash yesterday's news'

'Give us an inside story about how Cassidy's taking it'

'I wouldn't know,' she lied, and fro

'He didn't make a pass?'

'I told you, no!' Lying to Leo wasn't really lying, because if he was told the truth he wouldn't hesitate to use it against her as well as against Cass In pure self-protection Sian lied, and inwardly had a qualm of sympathy for all the people who had lied to her in the past when she had been trying to dig out facts about them

'But he ht at his house!'

'To chaperone Annette!'

Leo ruesome face 'Oh, well, describe the house, then, describe what happened, write anything, but give me a story, damn you!'

She escaped, having promised to do a colour piece on the Cassidy house and how Annette had taken her father's heart attack Cass wasn't going to like it, but at least he wouldn't be reading columns of overheated prose about this invented relationship between theht He would have to be thankful about that

She had to put up with a lot of teasing froues, but as they all went off to do the stories Leo had sent them to cover Sian was left in peace to write her copy in the office She was rather suspicious because Leo hadn't detailed her to work on any outside stories, but for the rest of that day she was kept busy writing up agency stories Leo didn't want to put in the paper the way they had come in, usually because they were too bald and Leo wanted theled for the paper

It wasn't what Sian was accusto; it was a job for a sub-editor, in fact, but from the way Leo spoke she realised it was partly intended for a punish around the office was less obvious, but she guessed that, too

Leo wanted her under his eye He wanted to know if Cass contacted her, or she contacted Cass Over the weekend, she had vanished and left hih other papers had reported her presence at the hospital, and with Cass, so Leo had knohere she was but had been unable to get hold of her He wasn't going to let that happen again!

He was still suspicious of her; he knew she hadn't told hiuess quite accurately what that truthout fro to keep her where he could watch her Sian wasn't getting out of his sight again

Cassand he didn't show up at the newspaper, so as the day wore on Sian beca