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Casper’s jaw sagged. “I didn’t expect you to ask that.”

“Too late now. You have to answer.”

“No I don’t.” He folded his arms tighter. Then he sighed. “But, to please you, I will.”

To please me. My heart soared. He was going to do something specifically to please me.

Immediately, however, I realized how dumb I’d been. Casper was now going to tell me about someone who might have been the love of his life. My heart contracted as he said her name. Halfrida. I wanted to block my ears, but like someone who can’t turn away from a road accident, I had to absorb every heart-wrenching detail.

“Halfrida lived in my village,” he said. “I had known her all my life but I didn’t really see her until the year she turned fourteen. She had hair the color of moonlight and eyes like a clear stream. Her skin was like fresh cream and…”

I so did not want to hear this. Casper made her sound perfect. What was even worse, he made her sound like The One. Ms. Right, now and forever.

“I was sixteen,” Casper continued. “We married young in those days and we were obliged to ask our parents for permission. Luckily my father agreed to our betrothal, but he insisted we postpone the marriage until I had returned from my first—I suppose you’d call it a tour of duty.

“Naturally I protested—I worried I might die before I’d made love to Halfrida—but my father insisted I had to defend our village before the marriage took place. In those days we didn’t argue with our parents. So I went away to war.

“After four long years, I returned. Halfrida was waiting for me. We married within a week. Our wedding night was…” His eyes glowed. Then he blushed, “I’m sorry, Allegra, I can’t describe it to you. It’s too private.”

“Yeah, I know.” Frankly I was glad I didn’t have to hear the details. His expression had already told me how beautiful it had been.

“Halfrida and I had only two months together before I went off to war again. This time I was gone for three years.” Casper turned away. He walked to the window and opened the drapes. I didn’t think he was interested in the night view of the loch. I suspected he didn’t want me to see his face.

He spoke softly. “When I returned I had a two-year-old daughter. But Halfrida was gone. She’d died in childbirth. Two years she’d been dead, and all that time I’d believed her alive and thriving.” He slammed his fist onto the windowsill.

“I left my daughter, Zerlina, with my sister and went to war again. Up until then, even in the heat of battle, I’d been faithful to Halfrida. But now there was nothing to hold me back. I envied every man who had a woman he loved. I took women while their wounded husbands watched in horror. I shamed myself and my daughter. I died in shame.”

When he stopped talking the silence was very loud.

I got off the bed. I can honestly say I had no thought of seducing him when I moved to his side. All I felt was pity for the anguished young man he had been. I reached out to touch his shoulder. His shirt was thin and I could feel the firmness of his muscles beneath. The heat of his skin burned my palm.

He turned to face me. We were inches apart. I was tantalized by the fullness of his lips, the sweet depths of his eyes.

Was I in love with him? No, I couldn’t be. I wanted sex. That was all.

If I had leaned forward I could have kissed him. I could have led him to the double bed and made him forget Halfrida, but in so doing I would had made him forfeit Heaven. That was too high a price for my own selfish pleasure.

I stepped away and crossed to the other side of the room. Like the coldest TV cop I said, “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you,” said Casper formally. Then, “I think I’m needed on Cloud 9.”

“Will I see you again?” I had a terrible feeling that what had almost happened between us might mean he could no longer be my guardian angel.

“You’ll see me next time you’re in trouble.”

I vowed to go out looking for trouble first thing tomorrow.

“Gotta go,” said Casper.

Instead of his usual disappearing act, he went out the door, closing it softly behind