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appearance but it belied the responsible man beneath. He wasn’t a roamer or playboy with a wild lifestyle. Why would he not want children? Because there was no room in his heart for them? No. Vanessa couldn’t believe he was that cold or stingy with himself. Not after seeing the way he interacted with the twins.
    â€œVanessa?”
    The unexpected sound of Conall’s voice had her glancing over her shoulder to see him walking a narrow brick pathway toward her. Figuring something had to be wrong for him to come all the way out here to find her, she rose from the bench and met him on the footpath.
    â€œI’m sorry,” she quickly apologized. “I left my phone in the room. Has the lawyer or orphanage been trying to reach me?”
    Impatience creased his forehead. “You need to quit all this worrying, Vanessa. No one has tried to reach you through me. The lawyer seemed very competent. I’m sure he’ll have the last of the papers for us to sign before we catch our flight out tomorrow afternoon. And from what Mother Superior told us, the babies are perfectly healthy and able to travel.”
    Shaking her head, Vanessa forced the tenseness in her shoulders to relax. “I am a bit on edge,” she admitted. “My phone has been ringing all evening and—”
    Before she could finish, the cell in his shirt pocket went off and after a quick glance at the caller ID he said,“Sorry, Vanessa, I’ve been having the same problem. This won’t take but a minute or two.”
    With a quick nod, she turned her back and took a few steps away to where water trickled over a three-tiered fountain and into a small pool. As she watched colorful koi swim in and out of water plants, she heard him say, “No. That won’t do…. I understand you mean well. But nothing used…. Everything new…. Yes, classic…. No. Something like cherry and antique…. Got it?…Yeah. And anything else you can think of that will be needed.” There was a long pause as he listened to the caller and then he replied. “Yeah. Thanks, sis…. Good night.”
    His sister? That could be Maura, Dallas or Bridget, she thought. Apparently they were planning something together and the notion sent a sad pang through Vanessa. She’d never had a sister to conspire with and share experiences, only older brothers who’d mostly caused great agony for her parents. Now with Esther, her mother, gone and her father, Alonzo, still having trouble communicating with his halting speech, she couldn’t look for family support. Unlike Conall, who’d always been surrounded by loving siblings, parents and grandmother.
    â€œWell, now that I have that out of the way,” Conall announced behind her, “I came out here to see if you’d like to go to dinner somewhere? We’ve not eaten in hours.”
    Vanessa glanced down at herself. She was still wearing the simple pink sheathe she’d started out with this morning, minus the matching bolero sweater, but it was wrinkled and even without the aid of a mirror she knew her hair was blown to a tumbled mess. “I really don’t feel like dressing up for dinner, Conall. You go on without me.”
    He chuckled and the sound took her by surprise. Hewas a man who rarely laughed and when he did it was usually about something that she didn’t find amusing. Now as she looked at him, she was jarred by his jovial attitude.
    â€œHave you taken a look at me?” he asked. “I’m wearing jeans.”
    Dragging her gaze away from the charming grin on his lips, she slowly inspected the blue denim encasing his muscled thighs and the pair of brown alligator boots he wore. He was one of those few men who looked comfortable dressed up or down, which meant he would probably look even better without any clothes at all.
    Dear, God, what was she doing? Now wasn’t the time for those sorts of indecent thoughts, she scolded