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      CONTENTS

      CHAPTER ONE

      CHAPTER TWO

      CHAPTER THREE

      CHAPTER FOUR

      CHAPTER FIVE

      CHAPTER SIX

      CHAPTER SEVEN

      CHAPTER EIGHT

      CHAPTER NINE

      CHAPTER TEN

      CHAPTER ONE

      RACHEL SHAW gritted her teeth together in silent annoyance and paced back along the corridor. It was hot today, and the silk of her white blouse and black skirt clung uncomfortably to her skin, emphasising her hourglass figure. Her long legs, encased in sheer nylon, carried her back to the other end in seconds. As she eyed the lift, and the mute testimony of its closed door, her strikingly beautiful face, with its large green eyes and generous mouth, lost its customary serenity and took on a sternness that only one man could produce. Nathan Wade. This was typical of him. Absolutely typical. The only time the damned man was punctual was for a date with some beautiful woman or other.

      Immediately she winced, knowing that was unfair. Nathan was good at his job, managing the merchant bank her great-great-grandfather had set up in the last century, and he took it extremely seriously. It was simply that when it came to answering a summons from her grandfather he could be counted upon to turn up only when he was ready and not a moment before. It was her own ridiculous jealousy talking.

      What a joke that was. She, who, after her parent’s disastrous marriage and messy divorce, had declared she would never fall in love, and had never dated any man for more than a few weeks, had fallen like a ton of bricks for a man with the same attitude, and was now green with jealousy. She hated the thought of him with those other women, but there was nothing she could do about it. Not even if she knew how. Because, for reasons she had yet to fathom, Nathan Wade had taken an instant dislike to her. Nothing in the past two years had changed that.

      She refused to allow it to worry her, even though his attitude had at first angered, then hurt her. An emotion she most certainly did not like. She had her fair share of pride, and refused to let him catch even a glimpse of her true feelings. Which was easy when they rarely came into contact with each other. By day she ran a catering business with her cousin, ranging from private parties to small functions. They were both cordon bleu trained, and because no job was too small business was booming. By night, when she wasn’t working, she had an extremely full social life, being seen at all the in places, though never with the same escort for long. That aspect of her lifestyle hadn’t changed.

      Recently, though, she had had to juggle two jobs. Her grandfather Linus Shaw’s private personal assistant had had a serious accident and was recovering slowly. By rights he should have brought in a temporary assistant, but, being Linus, he hated change. Therefore he had turned to Rachel, his favourite granddaughter, for help. She, as he had known full well, had been unable to refuse him, so for the past few months she had been helping him with his not inconsiderable correspondence, and aiding him in the writing of his memoirs. He had been, she was discovering, every bit as flamboyant as Nathan Wade, which was probably why they fought so often. Notwithstanding that, there was genuine respect and affection between the two men, and they would probably get along much better if Linus was less fond of issuing orders that Nathan generally ignored.

      As a rule, Rachel could sympathise with the younger man, but there was something about this latest summons which was different from the others. Linus was worried, and that was why she was pacing the floor outside the spacious flat overlooking Kensington Gardens that Linus Shaw had called home since his retirement from the world of high finance.

      She took yet another glance at her wristwatch, and even as she did so the lift doors slid silently open, revealing the single male occupant. Her head came up and her heart did its customary flip-flop at the sight of him, although it hadn’t taken her long to learn what a waste of time it was to be attracted to this particular man. He had the attention span of a goldfish when it came to women, and changed them as often as he changed his socks. That was the irony of it. Of all the men she could have fallen for, she had had to pick one with an aversion to commitment just as she had.

      In those circumstances it shouldn’t have bothered her that he didn’t like her, but it did. She didn’t know what she had done to offend him. Ordinarily she would have taken the bull by the horns and demanded to know the reason for his disdain, only her newly sensitive heart had quailed. Did she really want to know? Would it change anything? The answer to both questions having been no, she had kept her feelings well and truly hidden behind a disdainful contempt of her own for what she termed his alley-cat proclivities.

      However, that didn’t stop her being pleased to see him, though she would rather eat worms than let him know it. Which was why right now her forehead creased into a frown of disapproval.

      ‘You’re late,’ she informed the man who had pushed himself away from the wall and stepped out into the expensively carpeted hallway.

      Nathan Wade’s right eyebrow lifted quizzically. ‘Miss me, sweetheart? I didn’t know you cared.’

      Rachel snorted, wondering for the trillionth time why he alone had to have a voice which crept along her spine like the softest