"Then maybe it's time you got a new family."

When they reached a footbridge crossing a narrow stream, Spencer took the blonde woman's hand and led her onto a smaller trail that went away from the lake. Still unsure if she was imagining things, she loosened her fingers but didn't let go. Instead of dropping her own hand, Ruth asserted herself, gripping tighter to keep the connection.

Silently, they walked deeper into the woods, both very aware and excited that there was something brewing between them. When they reached a log that had fallen across the creek, they stopped. Its mossy cover was inviting, and Spencer grabbed the smaller woman's waist and hoisted her into the comfortable seat, straddling the narrow stream to stand between her parted legs.

Now at eye-level and only inches apart, both women gave in to the electrical surge, and their faces began to slowly move toward the other. Spencer slipped her fingers through the soft blonde hair to the back of Ruth's neck and pulled her closer. Their first kiss was soft, a simple declaration that they both felt this.

"Spencer, I don't...."

"Yes, you do," she whispered.

Again, their lips met, this time more deliberate, more searching. Ruth reveled in the softness of Spencer's mouth, the smoothness of her face, and the tender way the warm tongue stroked against her own. So nice.

When they broke, their eyes held one another as each searched for clues of what had just transpired. Finally, Ruth smiled softly and reached out to caress Spencer's face.

"You're right, I do."

"I knew you would."

George Roscone gave the burgers one more turn and mashed them flat with the spatula, the dripping juice causing the fire underneath to flare. This would be his last cookout for a long time; maybe even the last one ever with this family he loved.

Last night, George had lain awake long after making love with his wife of thirteen years, despising himself for his greedy pursuits. No one in his family suspected his duplicity, but they would all pay for his mistakes.

Nearby, George, Jr. and his twin sisters were playing together on the Jungle Jim. Would they ever get past their father's crimes? George hoped so, but they deserved a father who would do the right thing, who would take responsibility for his actions.

Elena Diaz was closing her net. She'd found out about the other accounts, though it was still a mystery who had tipped him off. It would be far better if he turned himself in now and begged for a plea bargain, even if it meant risking the wrath of the drug cartel. Surely, the government would help him if he offered evidence against the bigger fish.

Tomorrow morning, he would walk into Diaz's office and give himself up. But today, he was a family man.

"I guess we should be getting back, huh?"

Spencer returned the smile and nodded, very encouraged by what she was reading in the warm green eyes. Wordlessly, they had kissed over and over, finally reining in a passion that threatened their self-control. All of the things she knew about Ruth Ferguson had come together in a package that beckoned her, and she wanted more...much more. Holding hands, they followed the trail back toward the picnic area.

"I think you should say something to Viv." The women could see the older woman on the shore of the lake, breaking off bread crumbs so the delighted child could feed a family of ducklings.

"What do you mean?"

"I think you ought to tell her who you are, and what you're running from."

Ruth shook her head. "I don't want to put her in the middle of this. Besides, the more people who know, the more we're at risk."

"I understand that, but just thinking about things right now...what if you were driving home one day from Wal-Mart and got stopped by the cops? Suppose they somehow figured out who you were? Would you want Viv to just step forward and say 'Here's the little girl you're looking for,' or would you want her to protect Jessie from going back to her father?"

"What if she doesn't want that kind of responsibility?"

"Look at her."

Spencer was right about the bond that was growing between her landlady and her daughter. "You really think I should?"

"Yeah. And it would probably take some of the pressure off Jessie about keeping things so secret."

When they got back to the picnic site, Spencer invited Jessie to walk with her to see the waterfall in the creek. That gave Ruth the opportunity to talk with Viv.

"They won't take her if I have anything to say about it!"

"I sort of hoped you'd feel that way," Ruth said gratefully. "I really hate putting you in the middle of all of this, especially on top of everything that's going on with Spencer."

"I want to be in the middle of it. It makes me feel like I'm getting another chance."

It made Ruth feel exactly the same way.

"So what have we got?" Chad Merke had gathered the entire team in his living room for an update. Elena Diaz had driven straight to his house after her meeting with Ruth on Saturday morning, knowing that her FBI surveillance team would assume she was going to discuss the break in the Roscone case.

"So far, it's checking out. The program does just what Rollins says," their Visual Basic expert offered. "And the parts that she said were inserted really stand out. It's pretty obvious they were written by someone else."

"Is there any way to know when this bogus program went into operation?"

"Not from this, but we can probably find it on the server at Margadon. It'll have a time stamp." This time, it was their network expert who spoke up.

"What if they've altered it?" Elena asked.

"We've got tools to determine that sort of thing," he explained. "Unless you really know what you're doing, it's pretty hard to get rid of something completely. But even if you can, you leave a big ugly mark that says something's been changed."

"Okay, so that part's coming together," Chad continued. "What have we got on the finances?"

This was Elena's domain. She'd been handed three auditors yesterday afternoon, and they'd all worked into the night and throughout the day today. "Well, as you already knew, we've got evidence of large amounts of cash moving through the hands of two FBI agents, Akers and Pollard. We have major purchases of high-end luxury items - cars, boats, houses - in the last fourteen months for Peter Crowell, the cytokines supplier; for Adam Huffman, the production manager in Little Rock; and for James Thayer. But we've come up empty on Stacy Eagleton."

"Are you certain she's involved in this?" their boss asked.

"Spencer seems to think so. She clearly fabricated her statements for the newspaper to throw more suspicion on Spencer. Not sure why she would do that if she weren't involved."

"Maybe she just doesn't like Spencer," he countered objectively. "Or maybe she was just repeating gossip. You know how these stories sometimes take on a life of their own."

"That's possible, Chad," Elena conceded. "But she happens to be the manager for the Kryfex contract. I don't like that coincidence."

"Agreed. So we'll keep looking. What's our next move?"

"I want to bring Spencer in and put her in protective custody."

"Fine. Do it." Chad could see the wisdom of getting their star witness out of harm's way.

"And I think we ought to do the same for the informant, and for her child."

"Why do they need to be protected?"

"Because these guys have a habit of killing people who know things."

In all the excitement of the day, Jessie missed her nap and barely made it through her bath without falling asleep. Once she was down for the night, Ruth closed the bedroom door and returned to the living room, her breath catching at the sight of the dark-haired beauty staring at her from across the room.

Spencer was sitting in the straight back chair, her long legs stretched out in front and her arms folded across her chest. It was a commanding posture.

"Do you want to talk about this afternoon?" she asked.

The electricity between them had filled the air when they walked back into the trailer. Every look, every gesture, every casual touch only served to heighten its charge. And now, they were alone again.

Ruth sat down on the arm of the recliner, adopting a pose that belied her lack of confidence. "Okay."

"Are you alright about it?"

"Sure," the small voice said. Ruth was unable to remove her eyes from the tacky symmetrical pattern on the vinyl floor.

Spencer chuckled and leaned forward, dropping her forearms to her knees. "Look at me."

Guiltily, the green eyes finally met hers.

"If it makes you too uncomfortable to even look me in the eye, I suppose asking where you want to go next with this is kind of pointless."

Ruth grimaced, not at Spencer's words, but at her own confusion. Her head was saying one thing, but her heart and body seemed to be saying something else altogether. She found herself inexplicably pulled toward this woman, driven to care for her, and compelled to have her physically close.

"I was surprised. Not by you, but by me. I didn't expect to do that, and when I did, I didn't expect it to feel like that," she admitted.

"How did it feel?"

"It felt...I liked it...a lot."

"I liked it, too. But I don't want to lead you somewhere you really don't want to go. We're both under a lot of stress right now, and I'd hate to think either of us was just looking for a port in a storm."

The blonde woman nodded in agreement, still barely able to look into the piercing blue eyes. "Is that what you're doing?"

Spencer shook her head. "No."

"Then what are you doing, Spencer?"

The silence was almost deafening as the dark-haired woman considered her response. What indeed?

"I'm just drawn to you, Ruth," she answered softly. "There's a lot about you that reaches out to me. You're brave; you're beautiful; you have a good heart. And I'm comfortable with you. It feels good to be here, with you and with Jessie."

Those were all words Ruth had told herself she'd never hear. If Skip had liked anything about her, he'd never said so. Spencer had just laid it all out there for her, and it was exactly the way she felt too.

Hoisting herself slowly from the recliner, she took the woman's long hand in her own and tugged her toward the hallway, clicking off the small lamp on the end table as she walked by.

Once they reached the bedroom, Spencer closed the door, pressing the button lock to avoid being surprised by the four-year-old.

"It feels good to have you hold me," the blonde whispered as she stepped into the long arms.

Spencer hugged her tightly and brushed her lips against the blonde crown. With her fingers, she tipped the chin upward and delivered a warm kiss, then pulled her close again. Her body was way ahead of this simple embrace, hot with want but tempered with uncertainty.

After a long time, Ruth pulled out of her grasp and turned down the spread. Unhurriedly, she pulled off her t-shirt and reached around to unclasp her bra. Without taking her eyes off the blue ones that bore through her, she pushed her jeans and panties to the floor and lifted the blanket, settling in to watch the tall beauty do the same.

Suddenly self-conscious as hell, Spencer started to undress. Once she was naked, she crawled up from the bottom to her side of the bed, pulling back the covers as Ruth watched her. Gradually, she scooted over until the length of their bodies made contact.

Ruth gently moved against the silky-smooth legs that tangled with her own. It was very sensual, as was this feeling of warm skin against her side, and the soft patch of hair pressing into her hip.

Still unsure of how far Ruth wanted to go, Spencer draped an arm across the smaller woman's waist, luxuriating in the feel of her naked body. If this was all Ruth needed tonight, it would be nice indeed, but she frankly doubted she would sleep very much.

But Ruth had other ideas, ideas that began to spiral as soon as she gave in to the intimate desire to lie naked together. She found Spencer's hand and boldly moved it to the center of her chest, softly stroking the back of her fingers.

Spencer took the cue and began to glide her fingertips gently across the bare torso, stopping at the edge of the bristly curls and tracing the path back up to a trembling chin. From there, she ventured back down, across the collarbone from one shoulder to the other. With a featherlike touch, she trailed her fingers to a breast, encircling its firm outline. No sooner did her nails scrape against a nipple did the hand dart away to start the circuit once again.

Ruth could feel her body come to life; Spencer was teasing her senseless with this delicate caress. She took several deep breaths to still her excitement as Spencer reached centimeters lower toward her center, stroked her breasts more firmly, and lingered over her now-hardened nipples. When the hand finally engulfed a breast and squeezed possessively, her gasp was swallowed by a hot mouth that covered hers. For a long minute, she nearly drowned in the kiss; it was only when the long fingers slid between her legs the she remembered to draw another breath.

CHAPTER 22.

I'VE FALLEN IN love with her.

Spencer knew it as sure as she knew her own name. In her whole life, she'd never felt the need to show her heart as she had when she'd touched Ruth last night.

And it scared her half to death. Spencer had had enough overnight flings - or even weeklong flings - to know that people could share this sort of thing without the feelings attached. This time, it felt different for her; but she couldn't even guess what Ruth was feeling.

All she knew for sure was that her lover of just a few hours ago was gone from their bed, not in her arms as she had dreamed. Damn! This was going to be awkward as hell.

Dreading the moment, the tall woman dragged herself from the bed, pulling on the jeans and t-shirt that she'd thrown on the floor last night. After a quick stop in the bathroom, she walked barefoot down the narrow hallway.

Ruth and Jessie were sitting at the kitchen bar, their backs to the living room as they paged through the coloring book.

"This one's very nice," the mother said.

"Can we put it on the refrigerator?" Jessie asked.

"Yes, we certainly can," Spencer announced from behind, startling both of the blondes.

"May," Ruth corrected, turning to eye the new arrival.

"Will," Spencer trumped. Reaching between them, she gently tore the page from the book and fished in the drawer for tape, which wasn't to be found.

"Wait, I have some." Ruth got up and went back to the bathroom, returning with the white roll from her first aid supplies.

"That's perfect." Spencer held out her hand and stared pointedly into the green eyes as Ruth laid the tape in her palm, her hand lingering in a questioning caress. The tall woman almost sighed with relief. "Lots of things are perfect."

Ruth met the smiling blue eyes, and something passed between them that set her anxious mind at ease. Spencer was feeling this too, and it wasn't just the physical part that they'd shared last night.

When Ruth awoke this morning, she'd stared at that beautiful face for the longest time, the other woman's touch still fresh on her body. In all her life, she'd never felt so possessed by another, as if her soul was already owned. But despite their intimacy, she couldn't read how deep Spencer's feelings for her ran. Soon - in a few days, perhaps - this awful episode would be wrapped up and the programmer would have her life back. Ruth worried that she might not be part of that life.