"Then, kiss me."

She did.

Livia moaned as ran his hand under her shirt and gently squeezed her breast. Bracing her arms on each side of him, she carefully straddled him while making sure not to put any pressure on his chest or abdomen.

His doctor's warnings had been explicit.

Adron cupped her head with one hand while he reached around behind her with the other one and released her corslet.

"I love the way you feel in my arms," he whispered against her lips.

"I love the way you look when your cheeks are flushed and your eyes are bright."

He skimmed his hand down over her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, to her stomach and the down to where she ached for him. "And I love the way you look when you come for me."

He gave her a tender smile. "You make me feel like a man again, Livia. You make me whole."

Shamelessly, she rubbed herself against him. And when she came, she cried out from it.

Adron smiled at her then, and held her close.

They spent the rest of the day, lying naked in each other's arms, caressing and stroking, and just talking about absolutely nothing important.

It was the best day of Adron's life, and he kept her up until the wee hours of the morning for fear of it ending.

That day was followed by three more days of bliss.

Adron was constantly amazed by the woman fate had miraculously dumped into his life. She was funny, intelligent and so incredibly giving that it made him hurt.

How he wished he was the husband she deserved. It pained him to think of her spending the rest of her vivacious life strapped to him.

"Hi."

He looked up from the book he was reading to see her standing in the doorway. Her hair was still damp from her bath and her eyes glowed mischievously.

"Hi," he said reservedly, unsure of what that look might herald for him.

She walked slowly toward the bed. "Would you like to go out for a bit today?"

Yes, he would. More than she would ever know. "I can't."

"C'mon, Adron. You told me your therapist said you needed more exercise."

"Not today. My leg is too stiff. Why don't you call Zarina?"

"Because I'd rather be with you."

The woman was the biggest fool he'd ever known.

She sat beside him. "Here." She placed her hands on his knee.

Adron tensed as the warmth seeped into his leg. "How do you do that?"

he asked as the pain ebbed.

"My mother taught me. She comes from a long line of great healers."

She gently ma.s.saged his knee and leg. "I wish I could get you to her.

She'd be able to heal you in an instant."

"Really?"

She looked askance at him. "You don't believe me?"

"Let's just say I have a hefty dose of skepticism. I only believe what I can see and touch."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Feeling better now?"

"Yes."

"Then, join me."

How could he say no to that? Besides, he hated being home all the time.

He left the bed, but didn't go far before she stopped him. "You still have to use your cane. I don't want you back in the hospital."

He growled as she handed it him. "I hate this thing."

"I know." She wrapped her arms around his and took him outside for the first time since he'd returned from the hospital.

"So, where are we going?" he asked.

She hailed a transport. "I want to go to the park."

"Why?"

"Because, and I know this is a new concept for you, but we might actually have fun."

He touched her cheek and watched the way her eyes sparkled with life.

"I've never allowed anyone to talk to me the way you do."

"That's what Zarina said last night. She also said she was amazed I was still alive."

He laughed at her as the transport pulled up.

Once they reached the park, he allowed Livia to lead him toward the large pond.

"Want to try a paddle boat?" she asked.

"I'm too old for a paddle boat."

"You're twenty-nine, Adron. Not an ancient by any stretch of the imagination."

"I'm too old for a paddle boat," he reiterated. "And even if I wasn't, I couldn't pedal it anyway."

"I'll do it."

"I'm not helpless."

She glared at him. "I know that. It's okay to let others help you from time to time, Adron. Why are you so afraid of it?"

He clenched his teeth, and looked away.

She took his chin in her hand and turned his head back to where he met her questing gaze. "Answer me."

Rage clouded his vision as agony coiled inside him. "You want to know what I'm afraid of? I'm afraid every morning when I wake up that this will be the day when I can no longer move for myself. I know it's coming. It's just a matter of time until I have no choice, except to have someone else clothe me, feed me. Change my diaper. And I can't stand it."

"Then, why don't you kill yourself?"

"Because every time I think of doing that, I can hear my family praying over me while I was in the hospital. I hear my mother weeping, my father begging me not to die." He swallowed. "I could never intentionally hurt them that way."

The love in her eyes scorched him. "You are the strongest man I have ever known."

"Weakest fool, you mean."

She shook her head and gave him a tender smile. "Come, husband." She led him to the paddle boats.

Reluctantly, he got inside one and let her take them out to the center of the pond.

"It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" she asked.

Adron leaned back and stared at the sky. The light blue was covered in soft, white clouds and the warmth of the sun felt good on his skin.

"It's okay."

She rolled her eyes at him. "You're such a pessimist."

In spite of himself, Adron ran a hand down her bare arm that was exposed by her sleeveless tunic. He touched the faint scar on her shoulder and frowned. "Who beat you?"

A hint of sadness flashed on her face, but she quickly recovered. "My father."

"Why?"

She leaned forward and whispered as if imparting a great secret to him. "I tend not to do what other people want me to do."

"I noticed." He laced his hand through her hair. "But I think I like that about you."

She smiled, and instantly the day was brighter.

Livia watched the way Adron leaned back on his elbows as he stared at her. His white shirt was pulled taut over the muscles of his stomach and chest. His broad shoulders were thrown back and his biceps were flexed with the promise of strength and power. The wind teased the white-blond queue.

Goodness, he was gorgeous even with the scar on his cheek.

"Tell me something," she asked as she paused in her pedaling. "Why was a royal heir in the League?"

He sighed. "I wasn't the heir at the time I enlisted."

The knowledge surprised her. "No?"

"I used to have an older sister." The pain on his face was profound and went deeper than the one he wore when his body hurt him.

"I'm sorry. What happened to her?"

"She and my father fought over Thia's choice of a husband. In a fit of anger, she stormed out of the palace and vanished. My father's been trying to find her for years, but we've had no word of her."

Now it all made sense to her. That was the real reason he hadn't killed himself. His family had already lost one child, and he had seen their grief first hand.

Had felt it himself.

"You miss her," she said, noting the agony in his eyes.

"A lot. She used to arm-wrestle me to the ground."

She smiled at the teasing in his voice.

He sighed. "She was the best confidant I had growing up. I could tell her anything and know it would never reach the ears of my parents."

She reached out and took his hand into hers. "Tell me something, Adron. Something you've never shared with anyone else. Not even Thia."

"I'm the one who glued Zarina to the toilet seat when she was seven."

Livia burst out laughing. "I was serious."

"I am, too. I'd meant to get Jayce, but she made a mad dash for the room and ran into it before he did. Poor Taryn ended up taking the blame for it."

"And you never confessed?"

"If you've ever seen my father truly angry, you'd know the answer to that. I was only thirteen and my father was a giant to me back then."

"So what happened to Taryn?"

"He was restricted from playing ball for the whole summer season."

Livia frowned. "That doesn't seem so bad a punishment. Why were you afraid to own up to it?"