'Must you?' His voice held a different richer note from the hard one he had used when he recited his story.

Julia looked over her shoulder at the door, wondering whether her father would appear. Then she looked back at Valens with his hooded eyes and her feet seemed to have become marble.

'I need to go back to my bedroom,' she whispered. 'Somebody might see.'

Valens threw back the cotton sheet and stood up, dressed only in his loincloth, the naked flesh of his broad shoulders and chest gleaming in the flickering light. She could see his pulse thudding in the hollow of his throat. Julia gulped and her eyes slid down his chest to his flat belly, then down his long muscular leg.

The ripple of excitement built into a wave of desire inside her. She moved her arm and felt the old linen of her under-tunic brush her breast. The nipple puckered and hardened as she remembered his touch, longed for his touch again.

'You could stay.' There was no question in his voice, merely a statement quietly made.

With her eyes, she measured the short distance to the door. Would her knees hold out until she reached the safety of corridor?

'You've recovered from your nightmare.' She twisted a tendril of hair around her finger, torn between wanting to keep her promise to her father and her body's desire for his touch.

Her breath caught as his eyes deepened and a glow came from deep within them. She found it impossible to look anywhere but at that hot gaze that scorched her soul, and caused the warmth in her belly to grow until she was engulfed in flame.

'Perhaps I am in danger.' His voice held her there, entangling her in its silken coils…

'What sort of danger? You said the Furies had fled.'

He stood next to her, so close she could see a thin white scar above his left eyebrow. He leant forward and touched her cheek with his finger. A shiver ran through her and she felt her back arch towards him before she regained control of it. She had to leave now! This instant! But her feet refused her mind's command to move.

'You chased them away, but that is not the danger I speak about.'

'I'm not sure I understand.' Her voice echoed in the room, hung there between them. 'Nobody saw me come here and nobody will see me go.'

Common sense told her that she should leave. Her father's words resounded in her ears. No more scandals. She had been foolish even to peek inside the door, let alone stand beside the head of the bed. She felt her cheeks begin to sizzle from his look.

'If you must go, may I have a kiss to see me through the rest of the night?'

Without waiting for an answer, his lips touched hers, his tongue gliding over her lips until it reached the tiny parting.

Julia felt her breasts brush his chest with only the thinness of the linen to separate the flesh.

She raised a hand and tentatively touched the silver-white scars on his chest. He captured her hand and brought it to his lips.

'From the ring?' she whispered, noting the slashes and ridges that criss-crossed his chest.

He nodded. 'Honourably won in combat'

'And that?' Julia pointed to a tattoo of a lion with a sword in its paw on the inside of his right arm.

'My gladiatorial mark. They branded me with it when I took the oath. It too is honourable, although I did not think so for a long time.'

He ran his hands underneath her tunic. His hands stilled and she saw a frown appear in his eyes.

'What are those from, Julia?" he asked.

She stepped out of his embrace and, hugged her arms about her waist. Would she disgust him as she had disgusted Lucius? Her insides knotted into a tiny ball.

'I need to go now,' she whispered, and started towards the door. 'I've stayed too long.'

'Stay,' he said in a low voice. His hand gripped her upper arm. 'Julia, who beat you? Who marked your skin?'

'Please, Valens, let me go. It was a mistake to come here.' She tried to twist away from him. How could she explain? How could she bear to see him turn from her in disgust? How could she have failed in her most important duty as a wife— to quicken with child?

'I know the marks of a whip when I see them. Tell me who beat you.' Valens turned her to face him. Her face was white-lipped. 'I won't do anything to harm you, Julia.'

Silence. Valens listened to the sound of her ragged breathing. The level of anger he felt surprised him. Not since the last of his men died in Aquilia's hold had he felt this strongly. He clenched his fist and longed to slam it into a wall, or, better still, into whoever had done this. He felt the red mist begin to descend. The memory of Julia's reaction at the Julian compound broke over him. She had shrunk from him then as well. He contented himself with clenching and unclenching his fist.

'Who did this to you, Julia? Your father?'

Her eyes widened. 'Not my father. No one knows about this except you…and the man who did this.'

'Then who?' He touched her shoulder and felt her flinch. He withdrew his hand, unable to bear that she was frightened of his touch. 'I'm not angry with you, Julia. I just want to know. What sort of person would strike you this savagely?'

Slowly she turned back towards him. Valens longed to draw her back into his arms and kiss away the hurt, but he had to be sure she would not reject him again or worse shrink from him.

'Lucius,' Julia whispered. 'I failed to pleasure him in bed. I tried, but my body disgusted him. Then I could never become pregnant. I prayed to the Good Goddess. Offered sacrifice after sacrifice, but my womb never once quickened. Each time I failed, his fists became harder.'

'Oh, Hades,' Valens swore. Why did it have to be her husband? No wonder she was shaking like a leaf. He'd behaved in an unforgivable manner. He'd nearly lost control as it was. Another caress and would he have been able to stop?

He wasn't sure who he hated more—her ex-husband or himself.

'Julia, please believe me. I have no wish to make you do anything you don't want or desire.' He reached down, picked up the blanket and put it around her shoulders. 'I think I had best take you back to your bedroom now.'

Julia watched as he pulled his tunic on and walked over to the window. Her flesh puckered from the cold. She should never have told him. She must disgust him in the same way she disgusted Lucius. But she hated to think of how he must think of her—a woman so devoid of everything that her husband had resorted to beating her.

'I did my best. I wanted to be a good bride and a good wife, the very embodiment of a Roman matron…' she began, but her throat closed, forcing her to stop. How could she explain how much she longed for children and how her failure to become pregnant had resulted in her husband's anger? He had said that others had his children but not his wife, accused her of practising black magic. Awful accusations when her dearest wish was to hold her own baby in her arms.

'I'm sure you were.' His voice sounded remote and she could see his knuckles gleaming white as they gripped the window ledge.

She took a deep shuddering breath and started again. 'At first, when I stood waiting for him, dressed in my saffron cloak and flame-coloured veil, surrounded by the scent of verbena and sweet marjoram from my wreath, I thought this was how marriage was meant to be. Sabina had assured me that all would be well. She and her mother before her had been married in the same fashion. But before the cries of "kiss the bride" faded into the night, I knew my father had done me a grave disservice.'

'How so?'

'Lucius had absolute control over me. He had everything and I had nothing. He took every opportunity to remind me…' Julia faltered, trying to forget what happened by the marriage bed, or in the months that followed. How she made it impossible for Lucius to fulfill his duty, despite everything she tried, from not moving a muscle as Sabina advised, to… She tightened her hold on her waist.

'But I thought your father retained control over you. Couldn't you have just divorced him?'

'My father would not listen. He thought I was being hysterical. Lucius was always polite to him.'

'But not to you.'

'In private? Never. He has a quick temper for those who cross him.' Julia's throat started to close again. She forced her back straighter. 'I disgusted him—too many curves.'

Valens was at her side, gathering her into his arms. He cradled her, stroked her hair, smoothed it away from her face.

'Why did you divorce?' he asked.

'One evening after the baths, I walked in and found him in our bed…with a boy. He beat me and I finally snapped. I could not stay in that house, so I walked out.' Julia pressed her hands together. There was no need to tell Valens the entire sordid story. 'I had had enough of the gilded prison. On this occasion, Sabina was in Ostia, visiting friends, and my father believed me. He wasn't happy about it, but I was able to divorce Lucius with my father's blessing.'

She waited to hear what Valens would say, but he looked at her with an inscrutable expression.

'I'm sorry,' she said, tightening the ends of the blanket around her shoulders and trying to swallow the lump in her throat. 'I'll go now.'

'Julia, I want to make love with you, but not like this.' His voice was strained.

Julia gave a small nod of her head. Perhaps this was for the best. She refused to beg. 'You're being sensible.'

The corners of his eyes crinkled. 'Not sensible, selfish. I want to have the time to show how it should be done properly. I can see the first faint streaks of dawn.'

'Until some other time,' she said, intending to sweep away, intending there would be no next time.

He caught her arm and pulled her close. She felt the hardness of his body and knew, if she stayed one heartbeat longer, she'd lose all her dignity and beg. He put his hand to his mouth, then his finger traced the outline of her lips.

'Until the next time.'


Chapter Eight


Sunlight streamed through Julia's window when she opened her eyes. The pounding in her head echoed the pounding on the door.

'I know you are in there, Julia, wake up!'

Claudia. Julia flopped against her pillow, wondering at the time. How late had she slept? The sun from the window had reached the bottom of her bed. Most days, she dressed before it crept over the window ledge.

She remembered lying awake for ages, going over the time with Valens, detail by detail, wondering, if she hadn't pulled back, whether they would have become lovers. But she must have drifted off.

She turned her head and saw a white rose, lying on her pillow. When had he left that there? Her fingers touched the petals, and she wondered at the meaning of the gift. Cupid gave a white rose to Harpocrates, the god of silence, to keep him from betraying Venus and her love affairs. Did it have to do with passion or was it a request that she keep silent about his life's story? She tapped the rose against her teem.

'Julia!' Claudia cried again. 'Are you coming out or am I coming in? You can tell whatever man you have hidden under your bed to leave by the window.'

Julia pressed her hands to her flushed cheeks. Claudia's joke caused her body to tingle. What would it be like to have Valens in her bedroom and to experience his kisses again?

'Since when do I have a man in my bedroom?' Julia called, struggling to keep her voice light as she hurriedly placed the rose on her dressing table.

The door crashed opened and Claudia swept in, face perfectly made up and a gown of the finest green wool clinging to her every curve.

'I'd have a man in my room if I could,' she said with an impish laugh. 'I'd start with that gladiator of yours. By Hercules, he has broad shoulders. And his legs! Imagine how safe a woman must feel in his arms.'

Julia stood up and concentrated on dressing, wishing she dared wear something as suggestive as Claudia's gown and settling instead for a tawny gown and matching shawl and stola.

'He's hardly my gladiator,' she protested, wondering how many times she would need to deny it.

The lifted eyebrow from Claudia signalled she had waited too long before making her protest. Julia tightened her belt just under her breasts. The last thing she wanted was more gossip, more scandal. The story about the brawl over Bato was starting to die down, but at least three people had questioned her about it at the baths yesterday.