‘I’ve fallen in love with you, Alice,’ she said. ‘I realise we’ve only known each other for a few days and that’s why I’ve been afraid to tell you. But it’s driving me crazy wondering if you feel the same or if for you this is no more than a short fling.’

Rosa steeled herself for Alice’s response, and the nerves fluttered in her stomach.

For several seconds Alice said nothing, and Rosa feared that she had made a terrible mistake.

But then Alice spoke, her voice a soft whisper. ‘I can’t imagine why you look so worried, Maria. Surely it must be bloody obvious that I feel the same way about you.’

Rosa’s heart exploded. ‘Do you really mean that?’

Alice laughed. ‘I’ve been smitten from the moment we met. I’ve never felt like this with anyone. And it’s scaring me because I’ve always been led to believe that it can’t happen so quickly.’

‘Then we have to decide whether we should trust our feelings,’ Rosa said.

‘Well, I can only tell you that if feels right to me. And if it feels right to both of us then surely that’s all that matters.’

Rosa felt the breath of Alice’s words on her face, the faint whisper of something sweet.

‘I thought I was in love once before,’ Alice continued. ‘But it wasn’t like this. I feel like I’m under your spell.’

Rosa grinned. ‘That’s because I’m a wicked witch.’

Alice shook her head. ‘I like to think I’m a good judge of character and I can tell you’re a kind and generous person. You don’t have a wicked bone in your body.’

‘But you don’t really know me,’ Rosa said.

‘So what? I see that as a good thing. It means there’s so much more for me to find out.’

And none of it will be the truth, Alice. Everything you’re going to learn about Maria Rodriquez will be a lie. It can’t be any other way. You can never know who or what I really am. I can’t tell you about the people I’ve killed or the lives I’ve destroyed. Or about the abuse I suffered as a little girl and what I did to the man who adopted me.

If you knew all that then there’s no way you would ever love me or want to be with me. You would probably hate me and I couldn’t bear that. So we’ll both have to live with the lies if this is to work.

But it won’t be a problem, Alice, because what you don’t know can’t hurt you.

‘So what now?’ Alice said as she snuggled closer to Rosa. ‘We’ve declared our love for each other and that’s fantastic. We now have to decide where we go from here.’