The Gladiator's Honor

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during this time period is just part of the joy of reading The Gladiator's Honor… Just as the gladiators' games build to a climatic end, so does the relationship between Valens and Julia…a breathtaking, satisfying ending that brought tears to my eyes."

—Romance Junkies

To my long-suffering family and to

Helen French, without whose support and

enthusiasm this would never have been written

Chapter One

Rome

65 BC

Who was that man? And, more importantly, why did she know him?

Julia Antonia risked another look at the man standing in the portico of the baths. It was not his bronzed muscular legs emerging from his almost too-short tunic nor the breadth of his shoulders that captured her attention, but rather the planes of his shadowed face. She knew those features as intimately as she knew an old friend's and yet, when she heard him speak to his companion, she knew she had never heard his voice before.

His gaze caught hers and it seemed as if he could look into her soul. He arched an eyebrow and nodded. Did he recognise her as well? Her fingers pulled her russet shawl more firmly about her head and shoulders and smoothed the folds of her green wool gown, making sure she was dressed in a manner appropriate for a Roman matron.

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