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slenderness emphasized her high cheekbones and slender, elegant jaw.  It was not kindness which had made him describe her as beautiful; he had always thought her attractive but now she was stunning.  The smooth skin, full lips and huge hazel eyes were just as he remembered them, and still had the power to set butterflies fluttering in his stomach.  But she looked strained and tired too, and her fingernails, tightly clipped to hide her compulsive biting, told their own tale.  Plus, the lack of make-up and the severe cut of her black suit spoke eloquently of the traumas she had suffered, and the effect they had had on her psyche.  In fact her whole life had, one way or another, been one long trauma that she had never really resolved.
    After finishing his inspection he said softly, ‘I tried to contact yo u in England after you were attacked.  Lots of your old friends did, but you just disappeared.’
    The reminder of what had been done to her hurt, as always, and she hung her head in totally unreasonable embarrassment, her cheeks flaming red. ‘I wasn’t alone, as you know,’ she said painfully, wishing he would stop even though she k new he was motivated solely by concern for her.
    He made a wry face, ‘Peter wa s my friend before you ever met him, and no one knows better than me what a great guy he is, but he’s no therapist, is he?’
    ‘ Therapy isn’t everything,’ she responded with an attempt at lightness, ‘I just needed to get away from the rest of the world for a while.  And I’m afraid that included even you.’
    He shook his head disapprovingly, ‘Dealing with your problems by running away from them?  For such an experienced counsellor you’re remarkably shy about analysing yourself, your own actions and motives.’
    ‘It’s none of your damned business what I did, or do!’ Kate flared suddenly, for he had touched a raw nerve, ‘So don’t come the psychiatrist with me!’
    He smiled with maddening calm, his eyelids drooping in amusement, ‘On the contrary it is my business, because I love you.  Oh, I know our affair ended after you took up with that awful guy, I forget his name, but I still care about you.  I don’t have many close friends and I like to look after the few I do have.’
    Her brief anger faded and she smiled sadly, ‘I love you too, Trev, and it’s sweet that you wanted to help.  But like I said, I had Peter then, and I didn’t need anyone else.  Just time away from the whole world to lick my wounds.  I’ve always dealt with things my own way, in my own time.  You know that.’
    ‘Yes,’ he agreed, ‘I do know.’  By pretending they don’t exist, he thought but had enough sense not to say.  Instead he grinned and said slyly, ‘You buried yourself off somewhere and wrote those bloody awful books.’
    She instantly rose to the bait, unable to help herself, ‘ Awful ?  Did you bother descending from Mount Olympus long enough to actually read any of them?’
    He roared with laughter and twirled rig ht around in his swivel chair until he was facing her again.  ‘Yes, I did, actually!  Oh Kate, it’s good to see you again, if only because you’re so easy to get a rise out of.  I read them, and thought they were pretty good, actually.  The first was a bit simplistic, but I guess it was aimed at the intelligent layman rather than mental health professionals.  The second was better, and the last was the best of all.  Quite scholarly, but still accessible.’
    He waved his hand at the vast bookcase that dominated one whole wall and she saw, in a s mall section of their own, hardback copies of all three of her books.  She turned back to him and shook her head in disgust, ‘Damn you, Trevor Jordan, you’re impossible!  And if you think the last was the best you should talk to my publisher; it didn’t sell at all well and now I think she’s avoiding me in case I ever finish the fourth.  Which, I may say, right now doesn’t seem very likely.’
    He