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‘That’s all well and good, Hal, but I’ to think of what’s best for you Can’t you see that?’

‘And what about you, Kit? Do you really think it’s best for you that you leave h and dry with no new job lined up, after you’ve proain?’

Hearing the sincerity in Hal’s tone, along with the fear that she ht just up and leave him, Kit couldn’t deny her relief that he wanted her to stay He was right—she’d made him a promise And, no, she didn’t have another job lined up, and it would hurt her just as much as it would hurt him to walk out now

Knowing she should stay if she wanted to preserve her hard-won reputation with the agency and secure another job afterwards, she resigned herself to doing just that

As far as her relationship with Hal was concerned she wouldn’t expect anything more from him other than his thanks and respect when her job here was done, and as long as she had that, given tiet over this heartfelt attraction for hi to live the dependable and coed for and buy herself that little bolthole she’d been so diligently saving for, then the sooner she got over him the better she would be for it

‘Okay No doubt you’re right I would be letting h I am disappointed in et personally involved with a client If I’m to continue to do my job well, Hal, I can’t risk a repeat of what happened between us tonight You know, I can’t’

CHAPTER NINE

HAL STARED AT Kit in disbelief Did she really think to draw a line under what they had just shared as if it had never happened? It looked as if she did She was already getting out of bed and turning her back on hi down her pretty silk chemise as if to hide herself—al to their passionate unionHe couldn’t bear the thought that the only reason she’d agreed to stay was to fulfil her contract with the agency, not because of any personal regard for him

Manoeuvring hiround out, ‘Did I deludeto you, Kit? Ia very basic need?’

She turned her head at that, and her oval face was as pale as a winter ht that streamed in from the corridor

‘I’ that it can’t happen again Youelse, and this i in the road that we’ve suddenly taken can only lead to a dead-end When you’re back on your feet again you’ll realise that and be glad that we didn’t take it any further’

‘Will I? You know that for a fact, do you?’

Her eyes were downcast for amore determination to stick to her decision, Kit lifted her head ‘Now, tell o back to my room? I can help you into the bathroom, if you’d like?’

‘So you intend to play the coolly professional nurse from now on rather than er and resentment that seeped into his tone ‘I knohich one I prefer, and it isn’t the nurse’

Her lovely blue eyes reflected her anguish at his stinging remark

‘My intention is to fulfil ency’ Her restless twisting hands confirmed that his words had hurt her ‘I won’t say any more than that I’d better let you rest I’et soht’

She stooped to collect the scrunched-up underwear she’d disposed of earlier, when Hal had enticed her into bed, and as he watched her Hal’s resentment curdled like bitter aloes in the pit of his sto a soul-destroying pattern in his life It had started with his mother, and then his father, who—no matter what Hal achieved or did—would never be proud of hiement of his son aside to visit him in the hospital when he’d been injured And now Kit—the woman he found hi her back on him

Gritting his teeth and shoving his hair back froly, ‘I’ll be sure to call on you if I need anything I’d keep your door open, if I were youjust in case you don’t hear me should I call out your naency if I were to fall out of bed again and injure myself, would it?’