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'I know,' Annie agreed, a reluctant snedly on to the sun-war into her motives—not even those as well known and well liked as Chris But putting her feelings for Monk's Hall into words ht make it easier for her to understand them herself

'Just instinct, I suppose,' she began with a wry shrug of slender shoulders She elaborated slowly, 'In the whole of my life I've never had a proper, settled ho around' Idly, she traced a pattern on theshoe, her deep brown eyes reflective 'When I was a little girl I used to drea a real home, a beautiful house with my own room, a place where I could keep all ive a child security and identity, the sort of things I was never allowed to keep for long because ere alwayson'

'Were you an insecure, lonely child?' Chris questioned softly, and Annie gave a quick bright smile

'Not at all I was using general ters Her childhood had been one many an outsider would have envied And there had always been plenty of people around

'And Monk's Hall became an embodiment of those childhood dreams?'

'I suppose itnow 'Three years ago, when I first set eyes on the house, I fell in love with it It was shortly after I'd come here to work for Norman I kneas the type of house I'd alanted I knew I could live happily here for the rest of my life

'

'But not at The Laurels,' Chris stated, and Annie shrugged, not knowing, her eyes fixed on her hands as they lay curled together in her lap The glint of the diaiven her made her feel like a traitor

At thirty-nine Nor was an historian of soone to work for him as his research assistant and secretary she had moved into The Laurels with him and his housekeeper She had been invited to do so and it had see if not sensible

But she had disliked the uniht, whereas the old Queen Anne house, overlooking the coast, had stolen her heart And lately, each tily beautiful e home

But Chris said warningly, 'I wouldn't set , it would take a boree to move out of The Laurels, and for another—' he spread his hands '—there could be other bidders, just as keen as you'

Meaning, Annie supposed acidly, the self-confident bastard she'd seen at the garden door

'We'll see' She gathered herself together, standing up in an unconsciously graceful, fluid movement And, as Chris took his leave and she watched him walk away, she vowed to ree to make the move

With that unexpected legacy from a father she couldn't remember she could ly pay well over the odds All Norree to leave The Laurels It was as simple—and as dif—as that

Not that she would h, she decided sensibly Monk's Hall was the first thing they had ever even reed about, and surely a house wasn't worth quarrelling over? On the other hand, she'd never made demands in all the time she'd known him, and Monk's Hall wasn't a shell of bricks and ed for

Quickly, she pushed aside that unbidden, half-angry thought and ain wandering through the house, planning how she would like to see it decorated, furnished, failed, for the first tiive her the usual uplift of intense exciteer and his unwanted interest in the house still occupied herit aler she had detected around hi of hioosebumps! It was a stupid reaction, she told herself But very real…