and she just went

8/13/2019 And She Just Went

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„And she justwent? Casey

exclaimed. „But she doesn t

even know you!You could have beenanybody!


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„Such as? Thosedark brows rose asecond time. „A mass -

murderer? Or akidnapper,

perhaps?


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He gave ahumourless smile. „Well…actually, yes, Casey saidwith a fro

wn, feeling shehad every right to

be annoyed with


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Hannah sirresponsible

behaviour. Although Xander

Fraser hardly

looked the partof either, she

acknowledged privately to


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herself,dressed inthose designerlabel denimsand navy blue silkshirt, and

possessed ofthe kind

of confidence thatonly the very rich


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or very good-looking seemed toacquire. Xander Fraserscowled. „Believe

me, thecomplications that

go along with theone child I haveare


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more than enoughfor me to copewith right now! His daughter

Lauren was

six years old — the same age as

Casey s son Josh.But there the


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similarities ended.Lauren Fraser wasthe daughter ofmultimillionairefilm producer

Xander Fraser,whereas Josh was

the son of a singlemother


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juggling two jobsto try and keep aroof over theirheads.She sighedas she put her

handbag down onthe coffee table,

too tired to be ableto make much


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sense out of thisman sunexpected presence here, let alonehis enigmatic

conversation.


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It had been a longday for her. She dgot up at seven -thirty, to get heryoung son ready

and at school for nine

o clock,then hurried off to


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leaving for herevening job at therestaurant of thelocal hotel.Yes, ithad been a very

long and verytiring day, and she

was in no moodto play verbal


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fencinggames withXander Fraser, ofall people.Whether he wassinfully handsome

or not!As he wassitting in the only

chair in hersparsely furnished


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sitting room,Caseyremainedstanding,still very unhappywith Hannah

— but that, she

promised herself,was something


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shewould take upwith the girltomorrow. „So, what can I dofor you, Mr

Fraser? shechallenged tersely.

With her painfullythin frame clothed


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in a figure-hugging black teeshirt and faded

blue denims,and atonly a couple of

inches over fivefeet tall, Casey

Bridges had all theappearance of


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a bantam henaligning itselfagainst ahawk, Xanderdecided ruefully.

Her soft blondehair wasstyled

wispily about hertemples and nape,


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and her beautifulheart-shaped facewasdominated bydarkgreen eyes that did

absolutely nothingto dispel that

illusion offragility.


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And she lookedexhausted… Evenas he thought it,she swa yed slightly on her

feet. Abruptly, Xanderstood up. „Sit


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down, hecommanded,„before youcollapse.

She obviously bridled at the

order, but then didas he d said.


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Perhaps sherealised he wasfully capable of pickingher up and sitting

her in the chair hi mself, if she

refused…


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The chair, thecoffee tableand the lamp werethe only furniturein the room. He

had noted that with a frown when

he d arrivedearlier. There was


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no television in theroom, either,and when he had taken a quicklook around the

rest of the househe had found that

to be no better.Casey


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Bridges seemed tohave taken the„minimalist effectto a barren degree. Or else

— as his daughter

Lauren hadalready hinted


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— there was anotherexplanationaltogetherfor such

austerity…

Xander s eyesnarro


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wed as heregistered justhow fragilely thinthe woman beforehim was. Henoted

the shadows beneath those dark

green eyes, thehollows beneath


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her cheekbones,and theskin on herhands and wriststhat was almosttranslucent.

„Exactly what s been going on

here, Casey? heasked, his blue


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gazeuncomfortably

penetratingnow.„Where were youthis evening?

He had thoughtshe must be

out with friends —


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possiblyeven a boyfriend, as herhusband had lefther a year ago —

but she hardly hadthe look of

awoman returning


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from a pleasantevening out. She gave a firmshake of her headas she seemed

to regain some ofher composure.

„That reallyisn tany of your


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business, MrFraser. She stoodup. „I should goup and check onJosh. I stillcan t

believe — Has he woken up?

Is


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he aware thatHannah has left? she askedanxiously.

„Josh is fine, Xander assured

her. „He did wakeup once, but


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when I told him IwasLauren sdaddy hewasn t concerned.He and Laurenhave becomefriends — did you

know that?


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Yes, she did knowthat. Ironically,Josh and Laurenhad

become friends

during the eightmonthswhen Sam

and Chloehad lived together,


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their visits to theirindividual parentsoften coinciding. Casey also knewthat Josh had

missed seeingthe little girl since

Chloe and Sam sdeaths fou


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r months ago. „Yes, I believethey have — did, she corrected. „If you would just

like to wait herewhile I go and

check on Josh, wecan


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— continue thisconversation whenI come backdown. Her gazedidn t

quite meet his before she turned

and left the room,to


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presence andfiercely intelligent

blue eyes slightlyoverwhelming in

the small confinesof the three-

bedroomed housethat she had lived


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infirst with her parents, then withSam and Josh, andnow just withJosh. The house

she wasdeterminedto hold on to if

humanly possible.


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Quite what sort ofconversation sheand Xander Fraserwere going to haveshe had no idea,

buthe obviouslyconsidered it

important enoughfor him to have


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gone to the troubleof findingoutwhere shelived. She very much

doubted Xander sex

-


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wife would havetold him. Caseyand Xander s

previoustwomeetings had been

when they dhappened to call

at the same time tocollect Josh and


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Laurenafter one oftheirweekend visits tothe house Sam andChloe had so

briefly shared.Thedazzlingly

beautiful Chloehad had no choice


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but to introducethe two of them,

but herhypnotic blue eyeshad been narrowed

on themwatchfully as

she d done so.


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Casey hadn t likedthe sophisticated

but brittle ChloeFraser; she knewshe wouldn t havelikedher even ifshe hadn t been

„the other woman


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in Casey smarriage break-up. The two ofthemhadabsolutely nothing

in common —

except Sam, ofcourse.


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Only ChloeFraser s beautyhad been such thather more negativetraits obviously

hadn t repulsed the

goldenand handsome


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Sam, or the darkly broodingand immenselyrichXander Fraser.But

the fact that Chloeand Sam were now

both dead —


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killed four monthsago whenthe private jet they d beentravelling in had

crashed — meantthat Josh and

Lauren s visits tothem had


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obviously stopped,too. And it shouldhave meant thatCasey would neverhave reason to

seeXander Fraseragain, either.So

why on earth washe downstairs in


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her sitting room,obviously waitingto talk toher?CHAPTERTWOXANDER

became aware ofCasey s presence

behind him as hestood in the


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kitchen.„Youlooked likeyou could do witha cup, heexplained, as he

turned and saw her brows raised at

the


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two steamingmugs of coffee hehad just made.„How was Josh? he

prompted, whenhe noted

the pallor of thosehollow cheeks.The


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shadows remainedin her deep greeneyes but shesmiled. Deepgrooves appeared

beside thefullnessof her

lips, as if humourwas something


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that hadn t comeeasily to herrecently. And Xander

doubted that it

had. To Chloe, heknew, the

seduction of theman who had


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come totheir homeas a landscapegardener had all

been a game. Agame she had

played more timesthan

even Xander wasaware of. Or cared


59/62

about. Although inSam Bridges caseChloe had very quickly decidedthat she wanted

to take theirrelationship to the

next level —


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so the two ofthemhad left their

partners and set uphome together.Thefact that at the

same time she hadrobbed this

woman of her


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husband, and six-year-old Josh of his father,wouldn t have

been of interest to

the spoilt andwilful Chloe. She

had seen


62/62

something shewanted, and takenit withouthesitation.

and she just went

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