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She felt more naked than she had in the shower.
Worse, she felt lower than shabby.
A fisherman’s wife...
Galen turned at her mirthless laugh but said nothing until he was pulling the car in at the top of the lane.
‘We’re here.’
And really, thank goodness he’d driven her—because he silently handed her the apartment keys that she’d forgotten to bring.
‘You forgot this too.’ He handed her her wedding ring.
So she had!
‘Obviously I shan’t be coming back to work.’ Roula’s voice was shaky as she said what she had been practising on the drive.
Galen stared out through the windscreen and forced himself to keep his temporary vow of silence, but when he tried to take her angry clawed hand she would not allow it.
‘If I could have a bit of time to sort out the apartment, I’ll return the keys by the end of the week.’
‘Don’t do this,’ Galen said.
‘What? You want me back at my desk doing some cooked-up job, pretending I’m needed?’
‘It isn’t a cooked-up job, Roula. You know that. You just have friends who want to help. I told Costa that I didn’t like the idea from the very start...’ He gritted his jaw. ‘Look, I don’t know how many times I’ve tried to give you an opportunity to tell me about your brother.’
‘When?’
‘When I picked you up from the airport.’
‘You walked me home.’ The angry flush on her face leeched away. ‘That night when you asked what was on my mind...’
And she’d asked for his kiss.
She could not feel more humiliated.
‘I’m going.’
‘Roula, you can have the rest of the week off, but I expect you back at work on Monday.’
‘Get lost!’ she said.
‘As a friend, you can use the apartment... I said that to Costa at the time. But I also warned him that I don’t run a charity. I accept that you have some personal issues to deal with, so I will call in one of my regular temps to cover this weekend, but either you’re back at work on Monday or you’ll be replaced. Oh, and you have a gown fitting too.’
‘You seriously expect me to go for a gown fitting?’
‘Not if you don’t intend to return to work,’ Galen said. ‘But if you are going to leave that window open, then don’t go home till you’ve been measured. Leo is already cutting it fine to have it ready in four weeks.’ He looked right at her. ‘Unless, of course, you already have something suitable...’
She slammed the door and ran down the little lane in her pyjamas. Galen drove off, angry at himself, but at the same time glad the truth was out.
And worried.
As a friend would be, of course.
Roula stood in her lounge, breathless, and felt as if she had been running for ever—not just up the stairs to her apartment.
Her hand was holding the one he had reached for, but she let it go and tried to get back to her life, listening to the messages, reading the texts—and then the long-awaited call came from Mia.
