Was it possible? Or was he just cruelly playing with her emotions as a cat might toy with a mouse before finally delivering the deathblow? ‘Do you mean that?’ ‘Mean it?’ Rico looked stunned that she had even had the temerity to ask. ‘Of course I mean it. Why would I say it if I meant something else?’ It still didn’t seem real. She couldn’t imagine why, having gone to the trouble of capturing her, keeping her here, he was going to let her go so easily and so quickly. Rico had turned away to the worktop and was pulling open a drawer, taking out knives and forks. ‘You can leave as soon as you like. You’d better eat something first; then you can go home.’ Go home. Last night that statement would have sounded like the most wonderful words in all the world, but somehow today they felt like the last straw. It was like being slapped hard in the face when she was already down so that she didn’t know what to think. She only knew that memory after memory was piling up inside her head, destroying any pleasure she might take in the prospect of going home and making her feel desolate and despairing.
