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      MILLS & BOON

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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 ELEVEN

      CHAPTER ONE

      WAS Stephen going to propose to her tonight? Kate wondered as she cycled home from work. The idea came into her head from nowhere and with it came a feeling of nervous anticipation, but surprisingly not the burst of joy she would have expected.

      Why didn’t the thought make her happy? They had been living together for two years now and they had agreed that if everything worked out they’d get engaged on their second anniversary. Things were working out, weren’t they? Suddenly she wasn’t sure.

      Then she felt impatient with herself. Of course things were working out. Stephen was happy in his job now, and her job at the small publishing house of Temple and Tanner was challenging and exciting. And they both loved living in this city.

      Amsterdam was bathed in beauty. The tall, majestic buildings glowed in the evening summer sun, their reflections shimmering in the waters of the canal. Pavement cafés were coming to life, buzzing with the low hum of conversation as friends met up after work, just as she was on her way to meet up with her best friend Nick Fielding again. The thought caused a frisson of pleasure to surge through her body as she hurried towards the last bridge and the café where they usually met for a drink after work.

      It was five weeks since she had last seen Nick because he had been back in London on business. She had missed him, missed his sound advice, his infectious laugh. He always made her feel good.

      Nick saw her immediately as she rode over the bridge, her long dark hair streaming back from her face. She wore a grey pair of trousers with a pretty pink strappy top that showed the perfection of her supple figure. As usual she was cycling one-handed and far too fast, with a large heavy rucksack on her back.

      He watched as she hopped off the bicycle and chained it to the railings. Then she turned and saw him and waved, a smile lighting the beauty of her heart-shaped face.

      She was thirty-two, only a year younger than him, but she looked about seventeen. Really she had changed very little since their days together at college, he thought as he watched her make her way through the crowded tables towards him.

      ‘Hi, Katy.’ Nick stood up as she approached the table and reached to kiss her on the cheek. Her skin was soft and smooth. She smelt sweetly of summer. Honeysuckle…or was it roses?

      ‘You’ve changed your perfume,’ he remarked as he pulled back from her, thinking with a pang about the bottle of her usual scent that he had purchased at the airport for her next birthday.

      ‘Yes, Stephen bought it for me ages ago and I thought I’d better use it up before it went off.’ Kate took off her rucksack and sat down opposite him. ‘So how are you?’ she asked with a smile.

      She looked fabulous; her skin glowed with health, her wide green eyes sparkled with devilment. ‘I’m fine—’ he sat back down and put up a hand to catch the waitress’s attention ‘—but I’m glad to be back. The London office was in chaos. I spent the first week just getting the files in order.’

      She laughed. ‘I bet they heaved a sigh of relief when you left. You’re such a perfectionist, Nick.’

      ‘When you run your own business you’ve got to be.’

      The waitress came over and he ordered two coffees.

      Kate suddenly noticed the woman at the next table was staring at him, open admiration in her eyes. Nick was extremely handsome, she agreed as she looked back at him. He had a fabulous physique, and he looked every inch the successful businessman that he was. The cut of his clothes was stylish, the light-coloured jacket and open-necked shirt emphasized his dark, almost Latin good looks. She felt a sudden dart of pride that he was her friend. Women had come and gone in his life, but their relationship remained constant, never changing. No matter how long it was since they had seen each other, there was always this easiness between them.

      ‘I hope you didn’t spend all of your time in London working on your computers,’ she said as the waitress left them. ‘You were supposed to be taking time out to show Serena the sights, weren’t you?’

      He shrugged ruefully. ‘Things didn’t quite work out.’

      Something in his tone of voice made her frown. ‘What do you mean?’

      ‘I mean that

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