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'I have a htly, 'and I talk to my sister all the time And friends,' she added quickly so that he wouldn't think she was the ulti that already All the time she'd had the idea he fancied her, he'd obviously been feeling sorry for her She wanted to fall on the floor and have a full scale paddy

'Of course you do,' he said soothingly, so soothingly she wanted to sock hi someone in the flesh, is it?'

She couldn't help the shiver that trickled down her spine, even though she told herself Travis would feel even s for his innocent reether 'I' after ri from Travis Black

'Nevertheless, I'd like to feel I could call by or you could call forto say is that it would be good if we could be friends, Beth OK?' He raised black eyebrows enquiringly

She had never felt so insulted in her life The thought was there even though she told herself she was being utterly unrea¬sonable, not to mention contradictory She hadn't wanted him to be interested in her, had she? Of course she hadn't She'd been telling herself that since she had arrived in Shropshire And he was offering platonic, no strings attached friendship She ought to feel relieved But she didn' t feel relieved, she felt Ooh, she didn't kno she felt, which was even

Becori, 'Yes, of course, I understand That's fine, just fine'

'Good' He had the audacity to sht one day' smile Or at least that was how she interpreted it and it lad we had the chance to clear the air I' next time I'm around?'

In view of everything that had gone on she could hardly refuse Gritting her teeth, she said brightly, 'Yes, OK'

'Great' He h to open the car door but then seee his ee ju she'd seen on TV 'See you soon then,' he said briskly, bending and doing the thing where he skiain A polite farewell Sexless Chummy

At least it was clearly a social kiss of the lightest kind to hi as she watched him return to the car and slide in it this ti froerUnfor¬tunately it was not that simple where she was concerned But then, she reminded herself bitterly, Travis didn't fancy her apparently She did nothing for him at all Whereas she

She fancied the pants off him

Purely a physical thing, she assured herself hastily in the next moment, and as such easily controlled No e hormones Which was perhaps understandable in a way She'd had an active sex life with Keith and then it had suddenly stopped dead It was only natural that now she was beginning to feel better again her body would remind her that she was a flesh and blood wo with the loss of her parents and the agony of Keith's betrayal such things had been ss with no mad whirl to exhaust her and s were different The old libido was up and running once more

She turned fro waiting for her The big dog stood up at her approach, tongue lolling and tail wagging as he anticipated his eveningthe coarse fur as she thought, this isn't really to do with Travis Black—it could be any man He just happens to be the one around at the moment, the one that's awoken that side of life once more

She told herself the sa before she went to bed She was still telling

herself it as she drifted off to sleep And not once did she allow herself to question why it was so iated to the rank of ordinary males

CHAPTER FIVE

The next week crawled by with surprising slowness, probably, Beth ad about Travis Where he hat he was doing and hoh she tried the therapy of endless walks with Harvey, cleaning the cottage fro which hadn't happened for some time, she discovered, when she tackled the backs of the kitchen cupboards—and writing copious letters to all and sundry telling the took her