Free Giselle's Choice by Penny Jordan

deal with together.
    He turned to look at Giselle to find that she was watching a small group of children, their voices raised in obvious anxiety. Half a dozen of them had dropped to the ground and were scrambling on the dusty floor of the school hall in which they were now living as well as learning, with shabby sleeping bags rolled up to make space for them to move.
    As she watched, a larger child pushed over a small child who had snatched up whatever it was that was causing all the fuss. The small child, a little girl, made a shrill sound of despair as her palm was forced open. Emotion filled Giselle as she saw what the children were fighting over—a small and dirty plastic toy.
    Poor things. The little girl was crying silently, tears running down her too-pale face. Without hesitating Giselle went to her, dropping down on one knee in front of her, brushing the untidy tangle of the child’s hair back off her face. She had only intended to comfort her. The last thing she had expected was for the little girl to hurl herself into her arms and cling to her, her small handsgripping her as tightly as small claws as she burrowed against her. Giselle was almost afraid to hold her. She felt so thin, her bones so fragile.
    A tired-looking older woman approached them, gesticulating and saying something that Giselle couldn’t understand.
    â€˜Saul?’ Giselle called to her husband for help.
    He came over immediately, speaking to the woman and then telling Giselle, ‘She is apologising to you because of the child. She has lost both her parents, and whilst her brother has been taken in by another family because he will soon be old enough to work, and he is a boy, they did not want her.’
    â€˜How old is she?’ Giselle asked Saul.
    He spoke again to the other woman. ‘She is six years old.’
    Six years old. The same age she had been when she had lost her mother.
    Gently disengaging from the child, she told Saul, ‘We have to do something for them—and soon, Saul.’
    â€˜I’ve already ordered some temporary accommodation. It should be flown in to the airport within the week. Then we’ll have to get it helicoptered out here. Luckily it’s summer, not winter, but I want to make sure they have proper accommodation before the winter sets in. We’ll work together on organising everything, Giselle. I’ll need you to design new homes, a new school, and that hospital you mentioned. Luckily we’ve got the expertise and the experience to handle something like this.’
    â€˜Yes,’ she agreed. ‘But this will be the first time we’ve reconstructed an entire town.’
    â€˜It’s a challenge,’ Saul agreed. ‘But I know it’s one we can meet—together.’
    Giselle nodded her head.
    Together. Surely one of the sweetest words in the English language—even if right now it felt bittersweet to her.

CHAPTER FIVE
    I T WAS DARK BY THE time they returned to the city and the palace. The light from the electric flambeaux set into the palace walls bathed the ancient stone in a golden glow that warmed it but also cast deep, dark shadows of hidden places and dangers.
    Light and dark, truth and deceit, love and the loss of that love.
    Giselle almost missed her footing as they climbed the steps to the palace, Saul slightly behind her as he paused to speak with the major-domo. Instantly he was there, his hand on her arm to steady her, and the look he gave her was one of protective caring love.
    She had to tell him. It couldn’t wait any longer.
    In the familiar privacy of their own quarters she stood facing the gently lit courtyard.
    The apartments had their own kitchen, into which Saul had disappeared, returning with two cups of coffee which he put down on the coffee table in front of the matt black leather sofa.
    â€˜I want to get started on the reconstruction plans as soon as possible,’ he told her, coming towards her. Hefrowned when