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CHAPTER ONE

AS CHARLOTTE turned the corner and swung her ancient Volvo estate car into the square which, when not in use as aarea, she cursed under her breath

The car park was full; of course, it would have to be when she was running late like this Not that Paul wouldbehind schedule

Today had been an exceptionally busy day—one of her busiest perhaps since she had taken over the running of the estate-agency business her father had established here in this so now

Initially, when her father had first become ill, she had just stepped in on a temporary basis, but as the months had passed and it had becoh to return to work, she had unwillingly given in to the eive up her plans for living and working in London, independent of his rather do personality and the confines of a small country tohere everyone knew everyone else’s business

Her father hadn’t been an easy person to live with, and he had certainly not been easy to work for Although noe of the business, her father had de, often criticising her to the point where she had had to fight to hold on to her temper, and to remind herself that he was a very sick man, who had to be humoured and cosseted Now her father was dead, and there was really no reason why she shouldn’t sell up and leave That was the trouble with growing older, she reflected, as she searched the square for a parking place You becaes The ione; she had become too used to small-town life and the last six years had developed in her a reluctant loyalty to the business which her father had founded She liked dealing with people She enjoyed the independence of being her own boss, of being able to make her own innovations and alterations In the last few months of his life, her father had been unable to take any interest in the business whatsoever, and since his death she had experienced an odd disorientating sense of inertia, which es in her life

Let’s face it, she told herself, you’ve become a small-town person…set in your ways…used to a certain routine

She was alh to appreciate what she could and could not have from life

Ahead of her she saw brake lights illu the car park And then, as the driver started to reverse, she saw the car on the other side of the car park, patiently waiting to reverse into the soon-to-be-e out was reversing in its direction—leaving the e space unprotected If she was quick, she could drive straight into it She gnawed on her bottoht to be furious, but telling herself virtuously that on this one occasion her need was very reater

She had to see Paul to settle the last of her father’s financial affairs The rest of her as fully booked up Their hitherto very quiet part of the country was suddenly being invaded by city dwellers in search of rural escapised with enquiries fro out to the country While this was good for business, it had its negative side The toas only s up, whichpeople, first-time home buyers, and those elderly couples who had lived in tied properties throughout their working lives, were now being priced out of the property market

Charlotte was still frowning over this as she quickly nipped into the now-vacant parking space

If she was quick, she would be out of her car and on her way to Paul’s office on the other side of the square before the affronted driver could object to her stealing of his or her spot

Slightly shaot out

She earing her nor-line box-pleated skirt, a shirt, and a thick woollen jumper over the top of it In the back of the Volvo were her wellies and Barbour—essential items for life in the country, especially when her job took her to outlying properties to do valuations Spring had been slow in coo discovered that short skirts and high heels, elegant though they arb when it ca floors and walls

Had anyone asked her to describe her own looks, she would have said offhandedly that she was a little over average height, probably slightly too thin; that her face, with its high cheekbones and thick, straight eyebroas not softly fe waterfall of glossy dark hair lacked sensual allure; and that her eyes, grey rather than blue, saw things a little too clearly to appeal to the majority of the male sex