Lush black lashes lifted on guarded dark golden eyes. 'Anniversary?'

'Don't you know that in another few days we'll have been together for two whole years?' Hope lifted her tousled head, a happy smile of achievement on lips still swollen from his kisses. 'I want to celebrate it.'

Two years? His gaze narrowed, his lean, darkly handsome face impassive, concealing his stunned reaction to that news. Had she really been in his life that long? He was appalled that he had neglected to notice her staggering longevity. Two years? Marriages didn't last that long. When had she become the equivalent of a fixture? She had inserted herself into his daily routine with astounding subtlety. She was just… there. She didn't cling but the tendrils of her existence were as meshed with his as ivy round a tree. That was not an inspiring analogy. But when had he last slept with another woman? He squashed the instant sliver of guilt that even the thought ignited. He had been incredibly faithful to her. Acknowledging that reality set his even white teeth on edge. Inexplicable as it seemed to him, she had infiltrated his freedom like an invisible invading army and conditioned him in ways that were foreign to him. Angry surprise turned him to ice as though he were in the presence of the enemy. 'I'm not into anniversaries with women,' Andreas delivered, brilliant eyes dark as coals and diamond bright. 'I don't do the sentimental stuff.'

Hope could hardly breathe. She wanted to put her hand over his beautiful mouth and prevent him from saying anything more. She could not bear that he should fulfil any part of Vanessa's disparaging forecast, yet she was equally unable to let that laden silence lie. 'But it's special to me that you've been a part of my life for so long.'

Andreas shrugged a muscular bronzed shoulder and firmly lifted her off him. 'We have a good time together. I value you. But it would be inappropriate to celebrate an anniversary. That's not what we're about.'