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She’da headache It would never have done to have told him the truth, that what ached was her heart

“Much better, thank you Eleni brought me some tea, and aspirin”

He nodded and stepped further into the room “It’s late”

“Is it? I hadn’t noticed”

He paused beside her and lifted his hand She thought, for ato touch her hair and if he had, that would have been her undoing She’d have sighed under his hand like a kitten—but he didn’t He only reached out, straightened the dressing table mirror, then put his hand into his pocket

“Are you co to bed?”

Laurel turned away and looked into the ain He’d asked the question so casually but then, ouldn’t he? So far as he was concerned, her place was in his bed Not only was she his wife, but she’d made it clear she wanted to be there Her throat constricted as she reether in that bed

Why was it that loving ahe’d never love you, could suddenly s seem cheap?

“Actually,” she said, picking up the brush again, “I thought I’d sleep in here tonight”

“In here?” he repeated, as if she’d suggested she was going to spend the night on an ice floe in the North Sea

“Yes” Briskly, she drew the brush through her hair “I still have a bit of a headache”

“Shall I phone the doctor Glass man recommended on Ctete?”

“No No, I don’t need a doctor”

“Are you sure? Laurel, if you’re ill—”

“I’htly at him in the mirror “It’s just an old habit of ht to myself Kirk used to say—”

“Kirk?” he said, and the way he said it made her heart stop

Don’t, she told herself, oh, don’t do this

“A ht aboutDidn’t I ever tell you about him?”

“No,” he said coldly, “you did not”

She looked into the ain and what she saw in his face terrified her The brush clattered to thetoward him

“Damian,” she said quickly, but it was too late He was already at the door

“You’re right,” he said, “a night apart ht be an excellent idea for the both of us I’ll see you in the ”

“Damian, wait”

Wait? He stepped into the hall and slammed the door after him She wouldn’t want hi his fist into the wall He stor open the french doors that let out onto the terrace The black heat of the Agean night curled around hi

All right, so she’d lived with a man So what? It didn’t matter a daht be

Married hi her child to him Under the worst kind of blackmail

Daainst the wall It hurt like hell, and he winced and put his knuckles to hisof blood, and wished to God it was Kirk’s blood instead of only his own What sort of na a o

Any man would want her Would desire her Would fall in love with her

And, just that simply, Damian saw the truth

He loved Laurel He loved his wife

“I love her,” he said to the night, and then he laughed out loud

What a fool he’d been, not to realize it sooner

And maybe, just maybe, she loved him, too

He lifted his face to thelight of a million stars that dotted the heavens

It would explain so much, if she did