“What did she say?” Annie said, with hushedexcitement. “What words, exactly?”

Neal let out a laugh, but it sputtered to anuncertain halt. “I love you.”

Annie’s face went slack. “‘I loveyou?’”

“Yeah.”

Annie let out a cackle that sent chills upNeal’s spine. She looked down at Natasha. “Did ooo tell Daddy thatooo wuv him?”

The baby looked back up at her mother with avacant expression.

Neal took another sip of his coffee andstared at the floor. He felt like a fool. Over the past few months,he had grown quite accustomed to the feeling.

Cradling Natasha in one arm, Annie open theformula she had bought and began to heat it on the stove. “You needto stop daydreaming, Neal, and get your mind back on your work.”There was a nasty undertone in her voice, one he had not knownbefore they had gotten married. Or had been forced to get married.Neal certainly would not have married Annie under his own freewill.

Neal got up and dumped the rest of hiscoffee in the sink, glancing one last time at Natasha’s littleface.

For an instant, their eyes locked. Then, thebaby gazed past Neal and flailed her arms around.

“Guhhh,” she gurgled at the ceiling.

As Neal walked out of the kitchen, he vowedto forget what had happened that morning, or what he thought hadhappened. And he might have, had he not taken that one last glanceat Natasha.

When he saw the look on her face during thatfleeting instant, his heart had jumped into his throat.

It seemed to be a look of hate.

* * *

Neal pulled his aging Toyota into theparking lot of Snell’s Flowers and sat for a moment with the enginerunning, savoring his last few moments of freedom. By his watch, itwas only 7:57. That meant he still had three precious minutes leftbefore he had to succumb to another long day of ass kissing. He had