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    Looking away, he eyed the cat that had its claws out, ready for an attack. It looked disowned, a drifter just like him, cautious and distrustful.
    Kate had obviously moved on, learning to trust again. Her soft laughter impaled him, amplified by his own heightened senses. Why shouldn’t she have moved on? He’d long gone from her thoughts, a bitter memory, cursed and forgotten. It shouldn’t have surprised him. Her beauty would surely have hundreds of men falling at her door, pleading for a chance.
    Not able to withstand another glimpse, he hurried down the eerily quiet street, letting the morning’s mist swallow him like a ghost.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Three
     
     
    After slipping into a comatose sleep the evening before and having been out of it for around twelve hours solid, Kate awoke to the smells of Vernazza. Pizza cooking and coffee brewing. It was enough to cause her stomach to growl. After her health scare a week ago, there were no symptoms to remind her of the night that had scared the crap out of her. Maybe it had all been connected to her intuitive side. In that case, she dreaded to think that someone she possibly knew had undergone such horrendous agony.
    Carlos had stayed the night, as he was due to leave on a business trip the next day.
    At some late hour last night he must have snuck into bed beside her and cuddled in with his hand thrown across her side, which was where he still lay, breathing deeply, the blanket tossed down to his knees due to the warm night.
    Not wanting to wake him, Kate carefully lifted the blanket off. She always managed to pull it up to her neck as security regardless of the temperature. She got up, tip-toeing into the living room in her favorite lace underwear, a gift from Carlos two weeks earlier. He liked her to wear sexy lingerie. Whenever he stayed over he got her to put some on. It normally ended with sex. He was good to her and she couldn’t fault his attentiveness or his commitment, but there was still something missing. Something Kate couldn’t quite put her finger on. Was it his temper? Was it the fact that she always thought he was keeping things from her? She felt guilty for thinking it but there was a little seed of niggling doubt that reared its silly little head from time to time. She couldn’t quite give her all to him. She was holding back. It was those feelings she probably should be paying more attention to. Sometimes she just wanted to be normal like everyone else. Because of that she tried so hard to ignore the uncomfortable forewarnings that constantly bombarded her.
    She switched the light on and opened the doors from the living room onto the small balcony facing the street, being careful to stay hidden behind the curtains so that no one spotted her in the sexy underwear. Kate didn’t like to dress until she could languish in a hot shower for ages and plan her day out. Not that it mattered what she wore if she was spending the day at the computer working from home, but sometimes she liked to head out and eat at Mister Matioli’s café before throwing herself into writing articles. That way if she skipped lunch at least she knew she’d had a decent, hearty breakfast that would often keep her going until dinner.
    As early as it was, the morning was already alive as shopkeepers opened their doors, erected their canopies, and filled their outside tables with tempting items, hoping to lure in prospective customers. Commuters locked up and walked to the nearby train station at the top of the hill and hungry patrons filed into cafés and restaurants, eager for their morning caffeine hit over breakfast. Kate beamed and took in a full breath, stretching her arms above her head. Her villa was just off the main street which led down to the piazza and small beach that also acted as a harbor. An ancient wall had been built as protection for the small accumulation of fishing boats that were moored there.
    Just before turning to go into the