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Laurel nodded “Fine And you?”

“I always sleep well, when I am home”

It was usually true, though not this ti about Laurel, lying in a bed just down the hall from his When he’d finally dozed off, it was only to tu frustrated He’d figured on working that off this ht of his wife, standing like a barefoot Venus with the wind tugging at her hair and fluttering the hem of her sundress, had undone all his efforts

Laurel cleared her throat “What are you doing, anyway?”

“Being an idiot,” he said, and grinned at her “Or so Spiro says I thought it would be nice to plant a flower garden here”

“And Spiro doesn’t approve?”

“Oh, he approves It’s just that he’s convinced that I will never defeat the boulder, no matter how I try” He bent down, picked up a handful of earth and let it drift through his fingers “He’s probably right but I’ll be daht”

She couldn’t iht Wasn’t that the reason she was here, as his wife?

“Besides, I’ve gotten soft lately”

He didn’t look soft He looked hard, and fit, and wonderful

“Too many days behind a desk, too many fancy lunches” He smiled “I can always find ways to work off a few pounds, when I come home to Actos”

“You grew up here, in this house?”

Dahed “No, not quite Here” He plucked her sandals from her hand and knelt down before her “Let me help you with these”

“No,” she said quickly, “that’s all right I can” He lifted her foot, his fingers long and tan against the paleness of her skin Her heart did another of those stutter-steps, the foolish ones that were coood reason “Damian, really” Irritation, not with hie on her words “I’m not an invalid I’m just—”

“Pregnant,” he said softly, as he rose to his feet His eyes ently on her flat stomach “And with my child”

Their eyes er, the flame in his eyes or the heat in his touch Deep within her, soh her blood

“Come” He held out his hand

“No, really, I didn’t mean to disturb you You’ve work to do”

“The boulder and I are old enemies We’ll call a truce, for now” He smiled and reached for her hand “Come with me, Laurel This is your home, too Let me show it to you”

It wasn’t; it never would be She wanted to tell hiers with hers and anyhat har him walk her around?

“All right,” she said, and fell in beside him

He showed her everything, and she could tell from the way he spoke that he took a special pride in it all The old stone barns, the pastures, the white specks in a lower valley that he said were sheep, even the squawking chickens that fluttered out of their wayit all mattered to him, and she could see in the faces of thefor the animals, that they knew it, and respected him for it

At last he led her over the grass, down a gentle slope and into a grove of trees that looked as if they’d been shaped by the wind blowing in from the sea

“Here,” he said softly, “is the true heart of Actos”

“Are these olive trees? Did you plant them?”

“No,” he said, with a little srove The trees are very old Hundreds of years old, soh I admit that it took years to restore the tiht it”

“It wasn’t in your family, then?”

“You think this house, this land, was hed, as if she’d made a wonderful joke “Believe me, it was not” His smile twisted; he tucked his hands into his back pockets and looked at her, his gaze steady “The only thing I inherited from my parents was my name—and sometimes, I even wonder about that”

“I’m sorry,” Laurel said quickly “I didn’t mean to pry”

“No, don’t apologize You have the right to know these things about me” A muscled knotted in his jaw “My father was a seanant, o to the police with a tale of rape, and left her as soon as I was born”

“How terrible for her!”

“Don’t waste your pity” He began walking and Laurel hurried to catch up Ahead, a low stone wall rose ht sea below “I doubt it happened as she described it She was a tavern whore” His voice was cold, without inflection; they reached the wall and he leaned against it and stared out over the water “She told me as much, when she’d had too much to drink”

“Oh, Damian,” Laurel said softly, “I’m so sorry”

“For what? It is reality, and I tell it to you not to elicit your pity but only because you’re entitled to know the worst about the man you’ve married”

“And the best” She drew a deep breath and ment she’d refused to make until this moment “Your decision about this baby—our baby—wasn’t one every man would choose”

“Still, it was not a decision to your liking”