A Taste of Sin. Maggie Cox

is to be stressed about anything.’

      Smiling fondly, Philip patted her hand as it lay on the counterpane. ‘I should have told you this before, Rose... I don’t know how I would have managed these past ten years without you. Without question, your loyalty, friendship and hard work have been invaluable and if I had been a much younger man I don’t doubt I would have fallen a little bit in love with you.’

      Feeling her cheeks glow warmly, Rose smiled back—even as she remembered Gene Bonnaire’s ridiculous implication that her relationship with her boss might not be just a working one. What she’d give to wipe that self-satisfied smirk off his handsome face when next she saw him! Only she couldn’t. She had to be nice to him because Philip urgently needed this sale. The last thing she would do was jeopardise things just because the man had rattled her.

      But then, as she recalled that he’d asked her if other people ever reciprocated her kindness to them, she knew that the man had much more sensitivity than his very public persona suggested and thought that it would be intriguing to discover more...

      ‘It’s sweet of you to say so,’ she answered Philip, ‘but to be frank I think I’m destined to stay single. I’ve only been in love once in my life and it wasn’t the happiest of experiences. I’m not eager to do it again.’

      ‘I’m sorry to hear that. Don’t you believe that it might be different the next time? Not so painful, I mean?’

      ‘No, I don’t. I don’t because—present company not included—I don’t trust men. I think I’d be better off on my own.’ She shrugged. ‘Besides, I’m far too independent, and men sense that. It would take someone pretty exceptional to get me to change my mind and I haven’t yet met anyone who fits that particular bill.’

      ‘Not yet, you haven’t, Rose, but you will...you will.’

      With a knowing smile, the man in the hospital bed closed his eyes and, leaving him to doze, she folded the sheet of notepaper he’d given her, slipped it into her bag and discreetly left...