At the sound of Valens's voice, Bato the traitor padded over to Valens and laid his head against his legs. Valens reached down and scratched behind Bato's ears.

'It's the guest bedroom. Mine is two doors down the corridor,' Julia said, forcing the words out as she stared at Bato and Valens, her attention caught by the way Valens's fingers stroked the dog's fur. 'I have no idea why he is behaving in such a fashion. Normally he is devoted to me and is very wary of men. He refuses to let my father touch him.'

'Perhaps he knows an animal lover when he sees one. The dog I had as a boy used to like his ears scratched in the same fashion.'

Again, their eyes met and held. Julia felt a curl of warmth start in her belly. She had to get away from here, or she'd end up in his arms, behaving like the worst female supporter and demanding he share her bed.

Some day when they met, she would be poised and not off balance. Right now, she was conscious of the cold stone from the mosaic floor against her bare feet, her hair falling to her shoulders, and the fact that her undertunic, despite her efforts, only reached her mid-calf.

She watched his fingers stroke Bato's ears in the same way a starving man watched his first meal in weeks being prepared. She dug her nails into her palms, attempting to rid her mind of the image of his long fingers touching her.

'I am terribly sorry about—' She gestured to Bato, who now lolled his head against Valens's leg.

'It's quite all right' His hand paused. His eyes stared straight into hers. 'Bato and I are friends. I enjoyed the company. Until I became a gladiator, I had a dog. It made a welcome change to have one sleeping at the bottom of the bed. I hadn't thought you'd be worried or I'd have sent him back to you.'

'I don't want Bato to make a nuisance of himself,' Julia said, snapping her fingers, hoping Bato would come to her so she could bury her burning cheeks into his soft fur. 'My stepmother is not overly fond of animals. She has threatened to send him away if he is caught doing anything untoward.'

Julia knew she ought to go. She ought to think of the scandal if she was caught in his bedroom dressed like this. No one, particularly not her father and stepmother, would accept the innocent explanation. It was an innocent explanation.

She had no desire to taste his mouth…

Her feet stayed rooted to the spot and her eyes refused to look anywhere except at his lips.

'That says it all,' Valens said. 'You can tell a lot about a person by the way they treat their animals.'

'I always think so.' She bent down and held out to her arms to Bato. 'I think this dog has bothered you enough. I don't want to impose.'

'He's welcome any time.' His voice dropped and his eyes seemed to imply there was something more.

Julia returned his smile and then shifted uneasily. Did he mean her as well as Bato? She smoothed a lock of hair back. She ought to go, but something held her there, pinned under his gaze. Her stomach knotted so much it hurt. She wanted the conversation to continue, but her words kept slipping away or else sounded inane. She refused to stand there like a mute gazing adoringly into a god's face.

'What are you doing up so early and dressed?' she blurted out, then wished she had kept silent. She turned her face towards the vine-leaf fresco so her blush was hidden. Always she said the wrong thing. She made it sound as if she expected to discover him naked!

'Training,' Valens said, withdrawing a royal blue wool cloak and a pair of sandals from his trunk. He fastened the cloak around his neck and proceeded to tie his sandals, lacing them around his calves. 'The morning session begins at dawn, but I like to arrive early in order to stretch properly. I was about to leave when you opened the door.'

'Do you know the way to the front door?' she said impulsively.

Immediately she mentally groaned. How transparent. Less than a day since meeting this man she had started to throw herself at him. He was probably certain now she had sent Bato to him. He looked at her with a quirked eyebrow and an amused smile on his face.

He did think that! Oh, help.

Julia swallowed hard and plunged on.

'The villa is a bit of a labyrinth, in case you hadn't noticed. It started off quite small, but successive owners have added to it.'

A babbling brook, that was what she was. Julia wished he'd say something. She twisted a lock of her hair around her forefinger and tried to think of how to recover. So far, in their short acquaintance she had tumbled into him, denied him a room and set her dog on him. She had her runaway tongue to blame if he thought her touched in the head. Julia realised with a jolt that she wanted him to think more of her than that. She wanted him to like her, to be attracted to her in the same way she was attracted to him.

'I noticed that,' Valens said, his voice flowing over her jangled nerves like a balm. 'Perhaps you'd be good enough to show me the way. It will save me getting lost or having to find one of the servants.'

Words of apology died on Julia's lips. He wanted to spend time with her.

With the next breath, ice washed through her veins. He had probably accepted the offer because he needed to leave quickly before his training began, before he had to ask her politely but firmly to leave. He was trying to let her down gently, behaving as a guest should towards the daughter of the house.

'As it will save time, it will be my pleasure.' She swept out of the room with her head held high, eyes firmly fixed on the hanging lamp in the corridor.

His sandalwood scent enveloped her, holding her as surely as if she was in his arms. Julia felt some beads of sweat begin to gather on her forehead as she concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other.

'If you walk quickly, I'll lose you,' he said and tucked her arm in his.

Every nerve sizzled where her bare skin brushed his. Julia swallowed hard. Her whole body tingled from his nearness.

'It is easy to find your way, once you know how to go.'

Valens watched Julia's face as they walked along. This morning, her dark hair curled softly about her shoulders. No need to wonder at the outline of her curves. The thin off-white tunic clung in all the right places. He felt his body harden at the sight of it moulding to her calves as she walked.

He watched the way her body moved as she strode down the corridor, intent on showing him the way out, a way he already knew.

Despite his resolve to forget her, her face and her voice had haunted his thoughts last night and he had had a dozen conversations with her in his head. He watched her sleep-kissed mouth, and the curve of her slender throat, and wondered where he should begin.

In many ways, it would be easier if she went into worship mode. He was used to that. He could ignore it. He was used to women offering him their bodies.

He wanted more from her than just a quick meaningless meeting. He enjoyed talking to her as an equal, being himself and not Valens the Gladiator for once. He'd almost forgotten he had an existence before the arena, before the spectacle of life and death. Only in nightmares did he remember.

'How much training do you do?' she asked as they started down the stairs.

'In the run up to the games?' Valens replied, relieved to be talking about something he knew, something he could discuss with authority. If he kept the conversation on training, he'd be less inclined to notice her lips or the way her thin tunic hinted at her thighs. His body demanded to know what she felt like against him.

'That's right—in the run up to the games.' She smoothed a lock of hair from her face and revealed more of her creamy neck.

Valens averted his eyes, concentrating on the middle distance.

'We're training nearly all the time. Making sure the moves flow like water. There is more to a gladiatorial contest than simply waving a sword about. Each move has a countermove. The public are there for the spectacle, to see the danger of controlled combat. They want more than two amateurs hacking at each other. They'd sooner watch a spinning contest than that.'

Her laugh rang out at his rather feeble quip. He risked another peek at her face and found his eyes glued to her mouth as her floral perfume tickled his nose. He wanted this woman, he realised, with a great fierce longing. He wanted her in a way he had not wanted a woman for a long time. He reached out a hand to draw her towards him.

'Will you be training here or elsewhere?' Her voice drew him back from the abyss and his outstretched hand dropped to his side. 'I know my father hoped to watch some of your sessions. He was a keen amateur gladiator in his youth. Or at least that's what he said to Mettalius Scipio last night.'

Her innocent words felt like a sword plunging into his body. He knew why he could not have her, why women like her were for ever closed to him. Every nerve in Valens's body tensed and he waited for the next blow Fate had in store for him. Would she now confide how much she cared for Mettalius? Her hopes and dreams for the future as a senator's wife?

A surge of anger went through his body.

An intelligent woman like Julia was wasted on a man like Mettalius Scipio, a man who could barely move his feet and his sword at the same time.

'Is your betrothed a keen follower of the sport?' he asked and strove to keep his voice light, to not show how the man affected him.

'Please, he is anything but that. It is my stepmother's fancy.' Julia place a hand on his arm, her face turned up towards him with an earnest expression. 'I haven't divorced one feckless fish fancier to be saddled with another one, whatever Sabina thinks. Not without a fight. For one thing, the man smells of garlic'