Opening the door, Jamee stepped into the shadowed hallway of Rose Cottage.

IAN FROWNEDat Angus McTavish, who was stringing rows of tiny colored lights above the back courtyard. "Is Jamee out here?"

"I"m afraid I haven"t seen the young lady," the Scotsman said, scratching his head. "Not since last night."

Ian frowned. Where could she have gone? It was ten o"clock precisely, but she wasn"t working. He had just come from the bedroom, which had been empty.

His next stop was Kara"s office. He found her surrounded by a dozen models in various states of undress.

"Did you want something, Ian?" Kara called.

"Have you seen Jamee?"

"Not since last night. Maybe you should ask Angus."

"I did. He hasn"t seen her, either."

Kara looked at Ian"s face, then dropped the ornate Victorian hat and followed him out into the hall. She put a hand on his arm. "Do you think something is wrong?"

Ian frowned out at the ragged cliffs. "I don"t know. She could be anywhere, Kara. I told hernot to go out without me."

"Have you tried Rose Cottage? She might have gone down for a look. It was her parents"

favorite place."

Rose Cottage. Ian muttered a curse and ran for the door.

His heart was pounding as he sprinted down the path from the castle. Holly and yew boughs slapped at his legs beneath a sky of blinding blue and the sea churned up white ridges of foam at the foot of the cliff. Ian barely noticed. "Jamee? Are you there?"

Over the hill a curlew cried sadly. Ian felt the cold touch of terror.

The kidnappers could be anywhere, even hidden somewhere on Dunraven"s grounds. He should never have let Jamee out of his sight.

There was no way to tell where or when they would strike next. And if something happened to Jamee...

Ian shoved past a towering yew hedge. Rose Cottage stood haloed in sunlight thirty yards down the hill. His breath caught when he saw a slender figure standing beneath the towering oak tree.

"Jamee."

Before the word left his mouth, a man bolted around the corner, headed straight for her. Ian pushed himself harder, pounding over the hill, but knew he couldn"t make it in time.

Meanwhile, Jamee didn"t even see her assailant. She was standing on a ladder, stretching toward an overhead branch when the man appeared beneath her, pulling her down.

"No," Ian bellowed as Jamee toppled backward with a cry of surprise. His lungs were screaming for air when he pounded into the quiet glade where Jamee twisted with the man"s arms clamped around her shoulders.

Ian didn"t stop for questions.

With one powerful movement, he wrestled Jamee free, then slammed the man to the ground with a savage right uppercut. "Run," he ordered, panting as he shoved her attacker facedown into the grass.

She didn"t move. "Ian, don"t. You can"t-"

"Go,"he growled.

The man groaned and tried to raise his head. He was young, fresh-faced and frightened.

Almost too young to be a kidnapper, Ian thought. But looks meant nothing. Years of experience had taught Ian that the most angelic face could hide a deranged mind.

Ian"s eyes narrowed. There was something about that brown hair and the red baseball hat that seemed faintly familiar.

"You don"t understand, Ian," Jamee rasped. "That"s Rob, Hidoshi"s assistant. I was looking through the cottage while he took some photographs for Hidoshi. Then the cat got caught up in the tree."

Ian barely heard her. Fear and fury still hammered through his veins.

"Ian, you"ve got tolisten. Rob was simply taking some photographs. Then I called him to help me get down."

Photographs.

Ian"s jaw clenched.Rob. Hidoshi"s assistant.

Jamee was right. It had been the most innocent of adventures. There had been no threat to her at all.

Silently, Ian lifted the befuddled photographer to his feet and straightened his jacket. "Sorry,"

he said gruffly. "It appears I"ve made a mistake."

Rob blinked uncertainly and brushed off the back of his pants. "No problem." He glanced from Ian"s scowling face to Jamee"s pale one. "I guess I"d better get back. You two probably want to talk. Or whatever..."

As the bewildered photographer disappeared up the hill, Jamee whirled to face Ian. "Why didn"t you listen? He was just trying to keep me from falling off the stepladder."

"I act first and listen later," Ian said harshly. "I told younot to leave without me."

"Hidoshi and Rob said you were down by the orchard. I couldn"t find you inside, so I thought..."

"Next time have someone track me down. Don"t leave the house alone, understand?"

"But I wasn"t alone. Rob was..." She stopped, seeing the coldness in Ian"s eyes. "You don"t trust him, do you?"

"I don"t trust anyone I don"t know personally, Jamee. You"re my job. Keeping you safe is all that matters. If I make a mistake while I"m doing that, it"s too bloody bad."

Jamee stiffened. "There"s something else, isn"t there?"

"I don"t know what you mean."

"Something"s upset you. I can see it in your eyes."

Dammit, the woman saw too much. He didn"t mean to tell her that the kidnappers had vanished and he was back where he had started. He didn"t want to add to her anxiety.

He shrugged. "You"re wrong."

"If there"s something else, I have the right to know, Ian. It"sme they"re following, not you."

"When I have solid facts, you"ll be the first to know."

"Will I?" Jamee snapped. "Or will you just go on cutting me out, blocking your feelings while you try to make yourself into some kind of perfect protection machine."

"You need a machine to protect you," Ian said.

"What Ineed is emotion and honesty. You need them, too, Ian. Just as much as I do."

"Emotions cause mistakes. Emotions are dangerous."

"Maybe I need the kind of danger that comes with being honest emotionally. After all, you were the one who told me I shouldn"t settle for anything less."

"Jamee, listen."

"No,you listen. I want to touch you, Ian. Otherwise I"ll think about running, and if I run now I"ll always hate myself."

His eyes darkened. "You"re not a quitter, Jamee. There would be nothing wrong with leaving now and going back to the States."

"There you go, making it easy for me," she muttered.

"I want to make things easy for you, dammit."

"Why? That"s not part of your job any more than letting me wrap myself around you in the night is."

His lips curved faintly. "It"s a dirty job, but someone"s got to do it."

"Don"t joke about this, Ian."

"Why not?" His smile slowly faded. "If I don"t joke, I"m going to do something unbelievably stupid."

"Like?"

Ian pulled her against the cottage"s weathered oak door and opened his hands over her shoulders. "Like kiss you," he said hoarsely.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

"RIGHT NOW,YOU MEAN ?"There was a ripple of joy in her voice. The sound made Ian want to groan.

"Right here."

"That"s fine with me."

Two security officers were patrolling the lower edge of the orchard, Ian knew. A third was watching from his post in one of the castle"s turrets. Ian made a hard sound and gave up to the angry singing in his blood. At the first taste of her mouth, desire flared through him. She shivered in the instant flush of heat and her body leaned into his.

Ian forgot about being stoic. He pulled her against him with a low groan.

The wind sang over the glen. The sky shimmered in a haze of light. Need exploded to the flashpoint.

With exquisite care she kissed his eyelids while she murmured his name.

"Why didn"t you run when you had a chance?" Ian whispered. "Why didn"t you leave me the way I was, dammit? Now touching like this will never be enough. I want all of you, Jamee.

And after I"ve touched you all those ways, I"ll only want you more, God help me."

Jamee shivered, hearing the pain in his voice. Hearing the loneliness of a man who had wandered in far lands for too many lonely nights.

She wouldn"t let him be lonely, not at Christmas.

Easing her fingers around his neck and leaning close, she met him kiss for hungry kiss. Her body molded to his, thigh to thigh.

Ian pulled free, his breath labored. "Have I frightened you yet?" he growled.

"No way." It was true. Instead of fear, Ian had given her passion. At the same time, Jamee sensed his own control was weakening. She smiled gently and touched his face, yearning to see him smile.

Passion would be her gift back to him, and joy would be their shared reward. Jamee sensed the hand of fate just as she had before Maire MacKinnon"s portrait.

His hands relaxed as he captured a lock of her hair. "You"ve taken down your braid," he whispered, pulling the sun-warmed strands to his lips. "I didn"t think you could be more beautiful, but you are."

Then Ian took a step back and shoved his hands into his pockets. "We"d better go. Kara and Duncan will send out a search party after that young photographer tells them how I nearly killed him."

Jamee brought her arms around his neck, feeling the sudden tension that gripped his muscles.

"I"m not running, Ian. Not from the danger. Not from you."

"Maybe you should," he said grimly. "You don"t know what you"re getting into."

Jamee rested her forehead against his chest. "I"m getting a man of honor. A man I want to share my life with, in hard times, as well as good. I can"t lie about this, Ian. I won"t close myself off to any part of you. Consider it my personal Christmas gift."

A shudder ran through him. "Jamee, you don"t understand. There are reasons why-"

She raised one finger to his mouth. "No,Ian. I don"t want to hear why loving you is impossible or unsafe or illogical. We Nights have never been very good at conditions or negatives.

Especially when it concerns the heart," she said with a crooked smile. "Besides, Christmas is a time to believe, not to deliberate."

"You could deliberate with Einstein and rip him to shreds," Ian said hoarsely. "If you were any sharper, you"d terrify me." He cupped her cheeks, his eyes bleak. "I don"t want to lose you, Jamee."

"I"ll be around, McCall. In fact, I intend to stick to you like one of my brother William"s alien droids attacking the mother ship. You"ll like William, by the way."

Ian"s hands tightened. "I already do. We met three weeks ago."