“You’ve been away a long time. What happened?”          Guiltily, Veronica spun around, dropping her Armani carrier bag as she did so. She had arrived back at the Rectory five minutes ago and had decided to go straight to her room. She had just reached the top of the stairs when Sasha emerged from his room, his curt comment coupled with her own guilt startling her.“You’ve been shopping…” he said sharply in disbelief, answering his own question as he saw the bag she had just dropped and the contents spilled out from it onto the carpet.“What if I have?” Veronica retorted defensively, bending down to gather up her purchases but not fast enough to match Sasha.          He bent and got there before her, scooping up the soft, expensive cloth and then, pausing, shocking her by removing it completely from the carrier

          But Sasha was ignoring her body language, her silent plea for the intimacy of his body weight lying heavily and sensuously against hers on the bed behind her. Instead, he was picking her up and gently placing her on the bed.“It’s alright, baby…” she heard him saying softly to her. “Everything’s alright… We’re going to take this nice and slow…”          And he was cupping her feet in his hands, slowly massaging them so that tingles of sensation and heat shot through her veins like liquid fire. The feeling of his lips brushing her toes, so unexpected and astonishingly intimate, made her gasp in shock.          When she instinctively tried to pull away, Sasha stopped her, his tongue weaving a rainbow patter of sensation against her skin as he caressed her to

          In the pretty living room, which his wife had made so much her own, Henry grinned in appreciation as their son headed eagerly towards him, swinging him up into his arms as Mollie looked on placidly. Henry looked lovingly at her. She was in the early stages of pregnancy with their second child and suffering from morning sickness. “I’ve just had a phone call from Sasha,” he told his wife. “Mmm... How is he… and Ronnie...?” “He wants to come down for a few days. Apparently, he wants to pick my brains for ideas on making the estate more self-sufficient.” “Do you think he and Ronnie will ever work things out?” Mollie asked him anxiously.           Henry raised his eyebrows. “Why ask me? You’re the one who thinks that they are madly in love with one another.” “My love, I don’t think, I KNOW,” Mollie corrected him sternly. “But the pair

          Her bags were packed, a note left for Sasha explaining that someone else was going to take over her work, her files were all in order… Well, there was nothing left for her to do other than get into her hire car and drive it to the airport.          Still, Veronica couldn’t quite bring herself to go. Irresolutely, she made her way around the house, going slowly upstairs, pausing outside Sasha’s bedroom. She had the house to herself. Mrs. Elliott had left for the day. So, she started walking around just for another look and found herself in front of his room.          Impulsively, she opened the door and went inside. The room was just as she remembered it from that single night she had spent here. Veronica went over to the bed, smoothing a trembling hand over the pillow which had been Sasha’s.&