"And what about the rest?" Jamee caught his hand and held it tightly. "Tell me what"s wrong."

He spent an eternity lost in her eyes. Somewhere he heard the slow, relentless tick of a clock.

His decision did not come easy. He had lied to people before, in the line of duty. Sometimes they had been women with lost children, and Ian had said the words they needed to hear, even when they weren"t true.

But this was Jamee. Jamee, whose eyes lit with laughter when she ground snow over his neck.

Jamee, who heard the chime of a bell and found magic like a child.

Jamee, who was being hunted down by men who had no souls.

He took a deep breath. "The truth, then." He squinted, watching colors shift, the restless discharge of dying nerves. "Very well, the truth is that I"m...going blind."

He heard her gasp. He was extraordinarily still, at peace now that the words were said. And in that fragile, aching moment of peace Ian felt every sense work with extraordinary clarity.

Her body was rigid. Her breath came in husky little breaths. "Blind?"

"I"m afraid so. It seems to run in the family." He did not tell her the whole story of the Glenlyle curse. For someone who was not born in the Highlands, it would sound like madness.

"Color change is one of the symptoms, along with the pain."

She straightened, moved awkwardly like someone waking from sleep. Her hand circled his arm. "Ian, I don"t believe you. Your eyes-this is truly happening?"

"For two months now," he said, looking out over pale fields dusted with snow. Strangely, he felt no hint of bitterness, only regret. He had had thirty years to grow used to the idea and his fury was that he should find this woman only now. "It was one of the reasons that I refused the job when your brother offered it. I wasn"t certain how long I had. I still don"t know, Jamee."

He turned, his face hard. "From now on, we"ll take this hour by hour. The color has begun to change, and my vision could deteriorate quickly. I have backups, precautions, but if my sight goes, someone else will take over. No arguments. Can you accept that?"

He looked down at her face gleaming in the moonlight. Slick with tears. "Don"t, Jamee. Don"t cry for me. I"ve thought about this for a very long time and I suppose I"m as ready as any man can be for such thing."

She made a rough sound and slid against him, her chin to his chest. "ButI"m not ready," she rasped. "I don"t wantyou to be ready, either. There must be things that can be done."

"Don"t." Ian ran a hand over his forehead, where an ache was beginning to build. "It"s a solid diagnosis, Jamee. There"s no cause and no known cure. Anything else is delusion and I won"t grab at phantom hopes."

Her hands trembled, twisted in the folds of his shirt. "You knew. All this time, you knew and you thought only about me. Ian, I don"t want your last days of sight to be spent like this, full of work." She drew a ragged breath and pushed away, rising to her full height. "You told me once that I should never settle for anything but the best. That I should sleep on a pink sand beach and make love beneath the Southern Cross. Dammit, if what you said is true-"

"It is true," Ian said, without emotion or anger.

"Then go. Find that curving beach. Make love all night to a woman who isn"t being followed. I won"t let you stay here with me and become a target for a madman." With a little broken cry, she stumbled backward over the floor. "I meant it, Ian. It"s over. I"m calling Adam and having him send someone else."

"No, you"re not, Jamee." Ian walked slowly past a tiny mahogany chest covered with Christmas ornaments. "I don"t quit until I can"t keep you safe anymore."

"Adam doesn"t know. He couldn"t know. He would never have chosen you for this job if he did." Her hands clenched to fists as she stared at him with stiff dignity. "I"ll tell him and then he"ll fire you."

Ian kept coming. "Adam knows. The last time I spoke with him he insisted that I tell you."

She swayed, blinded by tears. Ian caught her by the door.

"Don"t, Jamee." His voice was a hoarse caress. "I would rather spend every day of vision with you. Forget about some calculating beauty on a pink sand beach."

She shoved at his chest. "It can"t happen, Ian. I won"t let it." She gave him a stricken look. "If you can fight for me, you can fight for yourself."

Ian gathered her carefully in his arms, overwhelming her rigid body with gentle strength.

A strength he was only now beginning to discover, as snow drifted softly past the windows and he realized that Jamee was the future he"d never expected to find.

She studied his face. "It"s true? You"re absolutely certain..."

"It"s true." He tucked her head in the warm hollow beneath his chin. There were no other words to add.

So all he did was hold her while snow veiled the glen in an unspoiled blanket of white.

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

JAMEE WAS PALEand tense as they walked over the snow to the castle. At the door Ian stopped to pick a piece of silver tinsel from her hair while the bells in the gazebo chimed softly.

Sadly, Ian thought.

He touched her cheek. "I"ll be up as soon as I talk with Duncan."

"But-"

"No arguments, remember? I"ll tell you everything Duncan tells me, I promise."

They looked up to see their host standing in the hall, framed in a halo of tiny flashing lights.

He cleared his throat. "Sorry to interrupt."

Ian watched Jamee slowly mount the stairs. At the top she turned, looked at him once. Her smile was shaky.

"Damn," he rasped as he fell into step beside Duncan.

"You"re in love with her." It was a statement, not a question.

"What I feel for Jamee is irrelevant." A muscle flashed at Ian"s jaw. "All that matters is keeping her safe. Tell me what you"ve found."

Duncan opened the door to his study and pulled a file from the paperwork on his desk. "Adam Night just faxed me these papers. They"re photos of the brother of the man who planned Jamee"s kidnapping seven years ago."

Ian studied the grainy photograph of a bearded teenager staring brashly at the camera from behind mirrored sunglasses. His head was lowered, like a bull ready to charge, and shadows hid his features.

Ian stiffened as he looked closer.

There appeared to be a length of knotted rope sticking out of the boy"s back pocket.

"Something wrong?" Duncan asked.

"That rope reminds me of the one I found in the kidnappers" all-terrain vehicle. Did Night find out if there was any Navy connection?"

"Apparently not. But Night had his people try the merchant marines. The brother was in for six months, then was asked to leave."

"Why?"

"Unstable personality. Paranoia alternating with periods of rage."

"So the motive may be more than simple profit."

Duncan rubbed his neck. "I"m afraid there"s something else," he said. "Hidoshi"s assistant, Rob..."

"What about him?"

Duncan jammed a hand through his hair. "He looked genuinely upset."

"Upset at what?" Ian growled.

"He said he met an American at a pub in Edinburgh. The man told Rob he was a friend of Jamee"s and wanted to surprise her for her birthday. Rob"s been phoning a number and leaving messages on a machine, giving him updates of where she is and the best times he can meet her by surprise. It was the same number that you found in the kidnappers" vehicle."

Ian"s hands opened and closed. "When did Rob tell you this?"

"Just a few minutes ago. He said he realized that you and Jamee were-involved. That"s when he began to suspect something was wrong with this American"s story. Obviously, Jamee"s not the sort of woman to have lovers all over the countryside."

"All so simple and innocent," Ian said grimly.

"That"s what I"ve been thinking," Duncan said grimly.

"It"s a very tidy explanation, you must admit. If Rob is involved, he would certainly have been prepared with a good story."

"Shall I have the constable hold him for questioning?"

"Not yet." Ian squinted, watching the outline of the fire.

Duncan laid a hand on his shoulder. "It"s getting worse?"

Ian simply nodded.

"What can I do to help? Name it, and it"s yours."

"I"ve got to keep Jamee safe and catch these lunatics fast. I want Rob watched at all times.

Meanwhile, he might turn out to be very useful." He pulled a map from his pocket and unrolled it on the desk. "Here"s what I think we should do."

THE NEXT MORNINGKara came down Dunraven"s front steps holding her husband"s hand while Jamee walked next to Ian. Rob came running out at the last minute. His face was flushed as he piled into Duncan"s Land Rover after the others.

Snow fell around them, silent and pure as Duncan maneuvered over the glen toward the village.

The night had been long and busy, and the five faces were grim as they drove over the hill and down toward the quiet cove. When the peaks of the houses grew closer, Duncan looked back at Ian. "Almost there."

Ian took Jamee"s hand. "Smile. You look as if the world"s ending,mo cridhe. "

Jamee straightened her shoulders and gave a tentative smile.

"Bigger," Ian said.

She forced the smile wider.

The narrow streets of the village opened before them, hemmed in by three dozen slate cottages. Beyond lay the ocean.

"It looks as if we have an audience," Duncan called from the front seat. He looked at Kara.

"All set?"

She nodded. Her face was pale, but determined.

"Duncan, I can"t thank you enough," Ian began. "You don"t have to-"

His friend said something low and hard in Gaelic and then the car bucked to a halt.

Noisy and very visible, they made their way through Dunraven Village. Their laughter spilled between the narrow whitewashed cottages and drifted down to the single dock beside the sea.

They passed the bright-red village telephone booth and continued toward the tiny pub, where a weathered shop sign creaked back and forth in the wind.

After ten minutes, everyone in the village was aware that Lord Dunraven and his guests had come to visit. After careful instructions, Rob had placed his calls.

Which was exactly what Ian had planned.

The others moved ahead and Ian turned to Jamee, frowning at her pallor. He tucked her scarf into her collar and pulled out her hair, which drifted about her shoulders in a silken cloud.

"So they will be absolutely certain it"s me?"

A muscle played at Ian"s jaw. He nodded. "It"s the only way, Jamee."

"I know it is and I"m so frightened I"m about to heave up my breakfast."

Their fingers locked. "It"s not far to the dock. Beyond that is the beach. Can you still manage this?"

After a moment, Jamee nodded. "I have to, don"t I? Otherwise it will go on and on."

Duncan and Kara walked in front of them, shoulders brushing as they spoke quietly. The wind tossed bits of dried heather and gravel over the cobblestones like the hiss of angry voices.

Jamee watched a line of breakers explode into foam, then spill away to nothing on the deserted beach. "How much farther?"

Ian"s face was hard. "Less than a mile, I expect." High up in the glen a row of clouds dappled the purple hills.