"And, you agree he is certainly more of a man now than he used to be?" Creagon asked, already suspecting what his wife was getting at.

"I would agree, you would agree," Marne said. "I think even John would agree. Now if one, or all three of us, could only somehow convince Melissa, we'll have everything all tied up and secured with a neat little bow."

"John's said something to you about his marriage?"

"Only that they're having their problems. He hasn't gone into any specific detail, and I've been a bit loathe to pry. After all, is it really any of my business?"

"I suspect your brother has simply become a bit too much of a man to suit my sister," Creagon said, seeing first the look of confusion that came over Marne's face, second seeing a thin grin of amusement forming as Marne came to suspect that her husband was trying to pull her leg.

"Come on, Creagon, be serious."

"Oh, I am being serious," Creagon replied.

"Too much of a man?" Marne asked, stopping the playful movements of her hand around Creagon's hardening left nipple. "How in the hell can any man be too much of a man for any woman?"

"Your brother hasn't been the only one to change," Creagon said. "My sister has done her share of changing, too, over the years. And her change has been anything but for the better, I assure you."

"Changed?" Marne asked curiously. Marne hadn't seen Melissa all that much over the years; but, Marne could certainly see no change having occurred.

"Oh, she hasn't changed since you've known her," Creagon said, automatically sensing the direction Marne's mind had taken. "It happened a good many years before you or your brother came into the lives of we Davenports."