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she was very firm about maintaining a professional distancing manner when she was working, and she was most certainly not promiscuous. The drink-and drug-fuelled group sex sessions of the type that featured in the lives of many of their clients, as well as in the more downmarket tabloids, held absolutely no appeal for her.
    But she had not been aware of how dangerous Nick was. He was taking her refusal to have sex with him far more personally than she had expected, treating it as though it were a personal strike against him he had to avenge. Shuddering a little as she remembered the horrible way he had spoken to her, and how frightened he had made her feel, Julia bundled her torn dress into the bag that had held her jeans and top. Suddenly Silas’s constant presence for the rest of the summer felt more comforting than burdensome. Not, of course, that she would ever tell Silas himself as much.
    Along with Lucy and Nick, as well as the catering staff and virtually everyone else who had accompanied them to Majorca, Julia was staying at a small budget-priced hotel in one of the main holiday resorts. She had planned to get a lift back to the hotel with Lucy and Nick but now she knew that nothing would persuade her to do so. Instead she would have to blag a lift with one of the contractors.
    ‘Jules, have you seen Nick anywhere?’
    She tensed as she heard the anxiety in Lucy’s voice as she came hurrying toward her.
    ‘Not recently,’ she answered truthfully.
    ‘He might still be with Alexina Matalos, then,’ Lucy sighed. ‘She wants us to quote for her husband’s fiftieth birthday party. Oh, and Silas was looking for you. I’m so pleased about the two of you.’
    ‘Not as pleased as I am,’ said a deep voice.
    ‘Oh, Silas, good. You’ve found her.’ Lucy laughed as he materialised beside them out of the darkness.
    ‘What happened to the dress?’ he asked Julia as he smiled in acknowledgment of Lucy’s statement.
    ‘I changed it. Jeans are more practical for putting out candles than chiffon.’
    ‘How much longer will it be before you’ve finished here?’
    ‘I’m virtually done, but there’s no need for you to hang around waiting for me, Si... darling ,’ she emphasised, conscious that Lucy was listening to them.
    ‘How are you planning to get back to the hotel?’ he asked, ignoring her hint.
    ‘Oh, I’ll get a lift with one of the contractors,’ Julia told him airily.
    ‘Fine. I’ll come with you.’
    With her?
    She knew they were supposed to be an item, but surely that was taking things too far? Especially when he would then have to make his way back to wherever it was he was staying, which she presumed must be the same ultra-exclusive boutique hotel in Palma as Dorland.
    ‘Well, now that you two have made contact with one another, I’d better go and find Nick,’ Lucy announced.
    ‘There’s really no need for you to come back to the hotel with me,’ Julia repeated as soon as Lucy had gone.
    ‘Julia, we’re going now, if you’re coming,’ one of the contractors called out.
    ‘Can you fit both of us in?’ Silas asked him.
    ‘Sure.’
    Silas’s hand was splayed across the small of her back, urging her forward.
    It was funny how, though Silas’s hand held far more hard strength than Nick’s, she somehow wanted to relax into his touch rather than shrink back from it. That might be funny, but what was definitely not was the discovery that, instead of moving forward, she really wanted to turn sideways instead, and move closer to Silas.
    Why? she derided herself, deliberately trying to whip up awareness of her own foolishness. So that she could get another look at his mouth? Another taste of his mouth? But her body’s reaction, far from being an appropriate recognition of her folly, was a wilful misunderstanding of the message she was sending it. It, it seemed, would very much like another taste of Silas.
    When had she become the kind of woman who actively liked courting danger?

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