You could depend on a dog, he thought, giving the ball a higher, harder toss that sent Simon bounding in pursuit. They never asked for more than you could give them.

He didn’t see Grace until he was well around the house. Then he simply stood.

No, one look, one quick glimpse, wasn’t enough. Would never be enough.

The sheet she lifted to the line flapped wetly in the breeze as she pegged it. The sun was on her hair. As he watched, she bent to the basket, took out a pillowcase, gave it a quick snap, then clipped it beside the sheet.

Love flooded into him, swamped him, left him weak and needy. Small details hammered him—the curve of her cheek in profile. Had he ever noticed how elegant her profile was? The way her hair sat on her head, feathered at the back of her neck. Was she letting it grow? The way the trim cuff of her shorts skimmed her thigh. She had such long, smooth thighs.

Foolish rapped his head against Ethan’s leg and snapped him back.

Abruptly nervous, he wiped his hands on his work pants, shifted his feet. It was probably best, he decided, if he just slipped back around the front, went into the house and upstairs. He took the first step back, then pulled up short when she turned. She gave him a long look, one he couldn’t read, then bent to take out another pillowcase.

‘‘Hello, Ethan.’’

‘‘Grace.’’ He tucked his hands in his pockets. It wasn’t often he heard her voice quite so cool.

‘‘It’s foolish to go all the way back around to the front of the house just to avoid me.’’

‘‘I was . . . going to check something on the boat.’’

‘‘That’s fine. You can do that after I talk to you.’’

‘‘I wasn’t sure you’d want to talk to me.’’ He approached her cautiously. Her tone of voice took the blistering heat right out of the day.

‘‘I tried to talk to you the other night, but you weren’t inclined to listen.’’ She reached into the basket, apparently unperturbed that she was now hanging his underwear. ‘‘Then I needed a little time to myself, to settle everything in my head.’’

‘‘And have you?’’

‘‘Oh, I think so. First, I should tell you that what you told me about what you went through before you came here shocked me, and it hurt me, and I have nothing but pity for that little boy and rage about what happened to him.’’ She glanced at him as she secured the nextclothespin. ‘‘You don’t want to hear that. You don’t want to think that I have feelings about it, that it touched me.’’

‘‘No,’’ he said evenly. ‘‘No, I didn’t want it to touch you.’’

‘‘Because I’m so fragile. Because I’m so delicate of nature.’’

His brows drew together. ‘‘Partly. And—’’