next day requesting an audience. Mother told me Nigel fell in love
with me immediately, but I don't believe that nonsense."
"I'll wager it was lust at first sight.
" "I don't think we should talk about this anymore. It seems to upset
you."
"I'm not upset, " he snapped. "It just seems so barbaric of your
father."
"Daniel, arranged marriages are customary in some societies."
"And you're a dutiful daughter." Her spine stiffened.
"As a matter of fact, I am. It was quite wonderful of my parents to
give me a year's . . . " "Reprieve? " "Sabbatical, " she corrected.
"They wanted me to have the chance of fulfilling my dream. They have
tremendous faith in me." His blue eyes bored into her. "But you don't
have much faith in yourself, do you, Grace? " "Of course I do.
" "Then why are you giving up so easily? " "Because I'm going to
Texas, " she answered. "I cannot be in two places at once. I've
already used up four months, and going to Texas might take as much as
two more. I won't have much of a life until you've caught all of the
members of that horrible gang, because you're going to insist on
protecting me and that might take you months and months."
"You're giving up, " he repeated.
He was hitting too close to the mark, and she didn't like that one
bit.
He was making her acknowledge what she had been trying to ignore. As
soon as the road became bumpy, she was ready to quit.
"I'm not a quitter."
"It seems to me that you are."
"Oh, what do you know? Things are different for you."
"Because I live in the United States."
"Because you're a man, " she said. "You don't ever have to get married
unless you want to, and I sincerely doubt that will ever happen. You
aren't the type to settle down and raise a family." He shifted his
position on the bench so his legs could have more room to stretch
out.
"I was married." She was astonished. "You were? " He nodded. "For
almost seven years. We had a daughter named Bridget." She didn't ask
him any more questions, but the silence didn't make him
uncomfortable.
He didn't know why he felt compelled to tell her about his past, but
the words wouldn't stay locked inside of him any longer.
"They're both dead . . . two years now."
"I'm so sorry."
"Yeah.
So am I. " He sounded as though he had been talking about strangers,
for all the emotion in his voice, but the pain was there in his eyes,
and it was devastating. She wanted to go to him and take him into her
arms and give him what small comfort she could, and the only reason she
didn't was because she knew he wouldn't accept it.
She didn't want him to see how shaken she was, and so she turned to