Page 122 (1/2)

“Not in this lifetime”

She tried to turn away from him, but he slipped his arms under her

“Sick”

“Yes, baby, I know” She felt fragile as glass when he lifted her, carried her to bed

She began to shiver as he drew off her boots, covered her with a blanket “I wanted to come home”

He said nothing, only got a damp cloth and bathed her face She was too pale, the shadows under her eyes too deep When he held a glass to her lips, she turned her face away

“No No soothers No tranqs”

“It’s for the nausea Here now” He brushed her damp hair back and hoped he wouldn’t be forced to pour it down her throat “That’s all I promise”

She drank because her stoain, and her throat felt as if it had been raked by claws “I didn’t know you were here” She opened her eyes again, and the tears that burned in her chest flooded into her eyes “Roarke Oh God”

She pressed herself against hihtened his arms around her “Get rid of it,” he o”

“I hate what I did I hateit”

“Ssh Whatever it was, you wouldn’t have had a choice”

“I should have found one” She turned her head so that her cheek rested against his shoulder, and with her eyes closed, she told hi

“I knoent through her” She was better now, the worst of the sickness eased “I knohat she felt And I saw myself in her when she looked at me”

“Eve No one knows better than you, or I, what vileness there is in the world You did what you had to do”