She shook her head. "No, that's not right. You didn't like me."

"I liked you too much."

"You stayed away."

"I had no choice."

"You...No, you-"

"I haven't been with a woman for six years, Cassandra. Because all I saw was you."

She rose from the floor. And then thought that sitting on the sofa was a good idea.

"You didn't know me."

"I didn't have to. When I saw the sea, I knew it was where I wanted to be. It was the same with you. One look in your eyes and I was lost. I'm like that. I know what I want and where I want to be."

Cass released her breath. "But when we were together. You stopped. And then you said only once. You-"

"I killed your husband. How could I take your body when you didn't know that?" He dragged a hand through his hair. "Except...Oh, God, I did make love to you. And not just once but again and again. I'm sorry. Not that I was with you, but because I wasn't honest with you."

She stared into space, jumbled pictures filtering through her mind.

"Just so we're clear," she said, "I don't believe you killed him. I think that's what you fear happened. But I'm willing to bet anything that you held on for dear life and his hand slipped out of yours."

"Cassandra-"

"What was the first thing you did after you felt yourself lose him?"

"I...I went for the flashlight."

"And what did you do with it?"

"I looked for him." Alex's eyes darkened to black. "I searched the waves...for a man in the water. I searched and called out his name and..."

"And what would you have done if you'd seen him? You would have gone after him, right? That's why you were looking for him. Because you wanted to save him." She shook her head. "Those don't sound like the actions of a killer to me."

Alex opened his mouth. When no words came out, he just nodded. A little.

"So you didn't kill him," Cass said strongly. "No matter what you think you feel for me-"

"I know what I feel for you. I love you."

His face was grim, and his voice reverberated with conviction.

He honestly did love her.

Staring up at him, Cass was too stunned to speak. All she could do was look at him.

Say something, you idiot. The man you love loves you back. Say something.

Silence stretched out until the air grew tight between them.

God, she was just stuck. Caught in a morass of disbelief and hesitant, unexpected happiness.

Alex cleared his throat and started to back up toward the doorway.

"I'm sorry to dump all this on you," he said as he headed out. "I just...wanted you to know. I don't expect you to understand. But I never want to-"

Say something.

"I'm pregnant," she blurted out.

Well, at least that got him to stop.

But let's just make sure he doesn't go anywhere, she thought.

Cass burst up off the couch, pounded across the room and threw her whole body around him.

Alex seemed utterly flabbergasted, but then his arms gripped her. When he would have separated them, she hung on so hard, she heard his neck crack.

"I love you, Alex. I love you, I love you, I love you...And you're going to be a daddy."

Chapter Twenty-One.

Sean O'Banyon told his driver to pull over in the seventies on Park Avenue. "I'll be right back, Joey. Just going up to check on Mrs. Cutler."

"Yeah, sure, boss."

Sean opened the car door and waited for a hole between taxis that was big enough for him to shoot through. Cass was back in town, evidently. But the only reason he knew it was because he'd called Gray's after having gotten voice mail for three days straight.

Something was up and he was damn well going to find out what it was.

Pulling his dress coat around him, he jogged halfway across Park and paused at the median. That was when he saw the maroon Honda parked in front of Cass's apartment building with that spiky-haired guy in the driver's seat.

Sean hustled across the street, dodging a delivery truck and a bike messenger. When he hit the sidewalk, he went over to the car and peered inside.

Spike had put the seat back and was apparently snoozing, even though it must have been cold as a meat locker in there. Sean rapped on the window with his knuckle.

The man's eyes lifted slowly, the yellow gaze amused. As if he'd known who was looking into the car.

Sean opened his mouth but was cut off.

"Zoo animals have a weird life," the guy said, his voice muffled through the glass.

"Excuse me?"

"You know, getting stared at while they're in a cage. Freaky. I wonder if they think it's weird, too."

Okay, the man probably had a point. But Sean wasn't interested in a philosophical discussion right now.

"Listen, is Moorehouse up with Cass?" he said loudly so he was sure the words carried.

Spike put the window down. "Yeah. And don't think about getting in the way. He's got things he needs to say."

Sean frowned. "Are you threatening me?"

"Pretty much. Except I'll follow through on it. So I guess it's more like a promise, huh?"

Sean laughed. "I like a man's who's up-front."

"So you and I have something in common. Now, how about you return the favor. You going to be trouble?"

"If he hurts her, I'll put his head on a plate. If he's here to make nice, I'll be the first to shake his hand."

Spike nodded his head. "Good deal."

"How long you been here?"

"Bout an hour."

Frankly, it was a surprise the guy wasn't a Popsicle. The cold snap that had hit earlier in the week had stuck around, driving the temperatures into the teens.

Sean glanced over at his limo. "You think you're going to be here long?"

"Hope so."

"You got a cell he can reach you on?"

"Yeah."

"You want to get out of the cold? Have a drink or something? My place is about two blocks that way."

While he pointed to the right, he thought it might be fun to get to know this hard-ass guy. Sure as hell there was a story to him, and like the staunch Irishman he was, Sean loved a good story.

Spike put the window up and got out.

Damn, he was tall, Sean thought. There weren't a lot of men who could meet him square in the eye, but Spike sure could.

"Yo, Ricky?" the guy called out.

Richard, the doorman, poked his head out of the lobby. "Yeah?"

"I'm leaving her here, okay? Might be a while."

"Sure thing, Spike."

As they crossed Park Avenue, Sean said, "How do you know Richard?"

"Met him an hour ago."

"You got a way with people."

Spike smiled, a dark, mysterious grin. "Some of them."

Chapter Twenty-Two.

Alex stirred and nestled in close to the warm woman lying next to him. His hand found her stomach and rubbed it in slow circles. He'd done that a lot while she'd slept, trying to come to terms with a kind of joy he hadn't known existed in the world.

Cassandra was carrying his child. And she loved him back. And they were going to get married.

From out of the bottomless bliss, he saw his father's face, and a memory came back, rising to the surface of Alex's mind. The two of them had been standing on the dock the night before Alex was due to leave for another one of his races.

He'd had no idea that he wasn't coming back anytime soon. He'd figured it was going to be the same as all the other departures. Four weeks gone, maybe six. He certainly hadn't planned on it being a final cut of sorts, the break that took him away from his family.

But his father had known. Somehow his father had known.

Alex heard his father's voice. "You know, son, life takes you a lot of places. Some good, some bad. I've always found that having a home somewhere makes the good better and the bad bearable. I hope you'll remember you can always come back here. No matter how far away you go, we'll always be here."

Alex had shrugged off the words with all the arrogance and self-possession of youth.

It was the last time he'd seen his father alive. Four years later the man had been dead. Alex's mother, too. Both at the hands of the water.

Alex thought of the horrible night on the sea with Reese.

Reese was gone, as well.

As he stroked Cassandra's belly, he felt a titanic shift in himself.

His woman stirred and lifted her head. "Good morning-Alex, what's the matter?"

"I'm not going out again," he said. "I'm not going back out there. I'm staying with you and the baby."