Fire in the Blood

He tightened his hold on her, laughing deep in his chest. 'That will be fun.'

She giggled. 'Well, we aren't starting just yet, so stop getting excited! And once the baby comes we'll work something out, get a part-time nanny, so that I can go on with my career and still be with the baby as often as possible.' She lifted her head, and looked up into his face, her eyes passionate. 'You must start trusting me, Sean. Give me space to make decisions of my own, and be prepared to talk over anything that's bothering you, instead of losing your temper and trying to browbeat me.'

He sighed heavily. 'The trouble is, when I'm worried or upset, it's hard to be calm and rational about it. My emotions run away with me, and I lose control.'

She looked at him with rueful tenderness. 'Yes,' she said, thinking that there was a lot of the little boy in him still, and maybe that was something else that could be laid at his mother's door. She had walked out at such a vital point in his adolescence, setting up a dangerous pattern in his emotional responses. Sean hadn't made the usual gradual transition from childhood to manhood; he had suddenly been left alone in a world he saw as treacherous. Oh, it explained so much! His creative impulses, his desire to bring order out of chaos, to arrange and interpret life on film—and his personality, his passion and insecurity, his explosive inner rage, his charm, his jealousy.

Nadine kissed him gently on the mouth and felt the immediate flare of passion between them, sensed his need surging upwards, his body quivering in hungry response.

'If we can only learn to trust each other, our marriage will work this time, darling,' she whispered, and Sean murmured back.

'Yes, darling.' But his mind was on other things; he was touching her with hands that were unsteady and breathing thickly. 'Nadine, let's get out of here,' he said hoarsely. 'Let's go home, I need to make love to you.'

'I need it, too,' she said, and hand in hand they walked out of the office and into their future.