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freckled face. ‘Is that man your boyfriend, Miss Clark?’
    I’m not one to blush easily, but right then I could feel heat spreading like a grass fire across my cheeks.
    When I was a little kid I didn’t think teacherswere anything but teachers. I didn’t think they had a personal life. To me they were like police or firemen or other authority figures. They didn’t seem like real people. Not so today’s kids. They know too damn much and way too early.
    ‘No, Harriet,’ I said. ‘Dr Lucioni is enrolling his niece into our school. I’m giving him a guided tour.’
    Harriet scrunched up her face as she peered at Alessandro. ‘Are you a movie star?’
    Alessandro’s smile at Harriet made something at the backs of my knees go fizzy.
    ‘No, I’m afraid not.’
    Harriet wasn’t convinced. ‘You look famous.’
    ‘Run along, Harriet,’ I said. ‘The bell is about to ring.’
    As if I’d summoned it, the bell sounded, and Harriet scampered off to join the rest of the girls as they prepared to enter the building for the afternoon’s lessons.
    I turned to face Alessandro. ‘That’s my cue as well. When shall I expect Claudia to come to class?’
    ‘I’ll bring her tomorrow.’
    ‘Where is she now?’
    ‘With a temporary nanny.’
    ‘Why didn’t you bring her with you today?’ I said. ‘It would’ve helped her to get her bearings. Meeting the other girls and so on.’
    His eyes tethered mine in a lock that made my insides flutter as if a handful of flustered moths were trapped in the cavity of my stomach.
    ‘I thought it best for us to meet alone first,’ he said.
    I didn’t think it was wise for me to ever be alone with him. I didn’t trust myself. He had a frightening way of dismantling my self-control with a look or a casual touch. My chin was still tingling from where his thumb had stroked. My wrist was still burning as if he had left a brand on my flesh. My inner core was still pulsating with the memory of how his body had moved within mine.
    Again I wondered if he was remembering all we had shared in that brief mad fling I’d stupidly thought would last for ever.
    His gaze was dark and bottomless…inscrutable, enigmatic. Mesmerising.
    The sound of the second end-of-lunch bell startled me out of my stasis. ‘Excuse me,’ I said with a formal quirk of my lips that passed for a smile. ‘I have to get to class.’
    He put out his hand, and because we werein full view of the school admin office, as well as Miss Fletcher’s office, I had no choice but to slide mine into it.
    His fingers closed around mine in the same way they had before. There was nothing formal or polite about it. It was purely erotic. Wickedly, shamelessly erotic.
    I drew my hand away from the temptation of his touch and turned and walked into the school building. But it was not until school finished that day that my hand finally stopped tingling.

CHAPTER THREE
    I WAS AT SCHOOL early the next morning…earlier than usual. So shoot me. I’m a lark, not an owl. I like to get on with the day from the get-go. I bounce out of bed and hit the ground like a lightning bolt. It’s because I’m a list-maker. I thrive on being organised. It’s like an addiction. I even write down things I’ve already done, just so I can get that little buzz of satisfaction at seeing it ticked off.
    My parents think I’m crazy not to start my day with some peaceful mindfulness practice or yoga poses or chanting. They sleep in until midday when they come to stay, which drives me completely nuts. And I use the term ‘sleep in’ loosely. They do a lot of things in bed when they come to stay, and not much of it involves sleeping.
    Everyone thinks their parents don’t ‘do it’, but my parents make sure everyone knowsthey do. At least these days they’re only doing it with each other. Up until a couple of years ago they had an ‘open relationship’, which meant they could have sex with anyone they fancied and the other wouldn’t mind. Bertie and