She smiled at the thought and softly turned the knob—then peeked her head in and froze at the tableau before her.
Darius sat at the children’s table drawing something. Maggie stood at his shoulder, while Peter sat on his lap. Both children seemed fascinated by the sweeping movements of his pastel crayon. Ellie’s heart thundered in her chest with pleasure that the children had become more comfortable with their father, but on the heels of that thought was another, much sadder scenario, where Darius and she would have separate times with them.
Deciding that Anna could wait, she started to close the door when Maggie spotted her.
“Mother! Come look!” The little girl ran to her and took her hand, pulling her in. “Father is going to build us a zoo.”
“A zoo?” Ellie didn’t remember telling the children about zoos.
Darius stopped drawing and turned his head to look at her.
Her breath caught at the black and blue skin beneath his eye. What had happened?
He pointed to the paper on the table. “It won’t have live animals. We shall have wooden ones that Peter and Maggie can play with.”
Peter, who’d still been gazing at the paper, reluctantly turned his head. “Papa is building me a big elephant.”
Ellie forced a smile. “An elephant? That’s very exciting. What other animals will you have?”
Maggie let go of her hand as they reached the table, and pointed. “This is the giraffe, and over here will be the hippa…hippamatamas, and here will be the lion.”
Ellie followed Maggie’s finger to avoid looking at Darius. The drawing was not excellent, but the images made it clear what they were. “And what is that next to the lion?”
Peter piped up. “That’s arino-sorceress. They’re mean and have a big horn.”
She nodded. “Yes, they can be dangerous. Will there be zebras?”
Maggie’s finger immediately moved. “Right here. And father said we need to add a dragon and call it Draco.”
Ellie’s heart hitched at Darius’s thoughtfulness. “Where will he be?”
“I wanted to have you choose his placement.” Darius’s voice slid through her. It wasn’t angry or contrite, just controlled, formal.
“I’ll have to think about it.”
He looked first at Peter than Maggie. “I want to talk more about the zoo with your mother. You two can decide what other animals you would like.”
“Yes!” Peter hopped off Darius’s lap. “Maggie, where’s the book?”
Immediately, Maggie ran to a bookshelf and grabbed a book from it before plopping down on the floor as Peter hobbled over on his crutch.
Darius rose, forcing her to look at him. “Shall we?” He held his arm out toward the door.
She gave a short nod and strode forward. Now that he was back inside the house, she didn’t know how to feel. She was angry and hurt, but also curious. Anthony’s letter to Darius still confused her. She’d planned to ask Anthony about it at dinner, but now she had Darius at hand.
They continued down the hall in silence until he stopped at the first door to her glass terrace and opened it.
She stepped through before him and strolled to the settee where they’d first made love. He hadn’t been in the room since then. If he thought to seduce her, he wouldn’t succeed. She wasfar too angry with him and just hoped she could keep from yelling.
Settling her hands on the top of the settee, she controlled her voice. “Did you come home just for Christmas, or will you be staying for a while?”
He’d been walking toward her but halted at her question. “I would stay here every day for the rest of my life, if I could.”
“And are you going to tell me why you can’t stay here with your family? I mean, tell me thetruthabout why you hide away in a single-room building in the middle of the north wood?” She waved her arm toward the window where her telescope was still set up, since she’d continued to watch the building at night. Though it had been lit, she’d seen little movement except Mr. Archer entering and exiting, along with Beacham.
Darius looked to the window and ambled over to the telescope. He set his eye to it then stood again. “This is how you found me.”
“I had hoped to discover a new star cluster, but instead, I discovered you on this very property, when you said you were traveling. Why were you there?” Her voice had risen, her anger taking over her hurt. “I want to know what could pull you from your family and yet be so near.”
