"She died," he said tonelessly.

"I know that, Lee. But please, please let me try to understand what hurts you so badly."

"I will, Bryn, I promise.Soon."

She had to let it go at that; she couldn't give him everything yet; maybe it was the same with him. His

fears seemed to be as deep as hers. Suddenly he lifted her above him; his fingers locked about her nape and he pulled her down to touch his lips against hers with reverence. He rolled her to her side and smiled as he faced her, tugging at the rumpled gown that was still tangled around her. "Could we dispense with this?" he asked. "I need to sleep--holding you, not material." Bryn silently pulled the gown over her head and tossed it from the bed. She settled down beside him. There were a million things that could have been said but they didn't say any of them. They lay there, and in time, Bryn drifted off to sleep.

She awakened later--she didn't know how much later--to find she was alone.Startled, she half rose and looked around. Then she saw him by the doors to the balcony, silently staring out into the night. The moon caught his profile and it was strong and proud...but his features, caught by shadow, were haunted. "Lee!" she cried softly. He came back to her, slipping beside her in the bed, and holding her close. "I woke you. I'm sorry." "Lee, it doesn't matter. I just wish I could help. You've given me everything--" "No," he corrected. "You've given me everything." His arms closed around her, and then he was above her, staring down into her eyes.

I'm shaking, Lee thought. I've come to know more each day just how much I need her, and I almost ruined it all....]

"I loved you like a savage once tonight," he told her. "Let me love you tenderly, softly...."

He did love her tenderly, caressing her, loving her with appreciative eyes as his hands touched her. She was stunning, clad only in the moonlight. His fingers grazed her breasts, adoring them. His lips found their rough crests, taunting them to wonderful peaks. He suckled and nipped at each, laved them with his tongue, sheltered the luscious ripeness of the full mounds in the firm massage of his hands.

And again he looked at the length of her.The rose and creamy beauty of her breasts as they rose and fell with her quickened breathing.The curve of her slender midriff and waist. Sleek. She was sleek and long...her hips were a beautiful curve all over again. She was a dancer, he reminded himself. And she brought him with her, to dance in the clouds.

He started to touch her again, all that his eyes had cherished and devoured. His hands swept over her with hot promise; his lips tasted and caressed her flesh; his tongue traced brands of fire across her belly, down the shadow of her belly. He turned her over gently, feathering kisses down her spine, to the small of her back.

And he turned her to face him again and loved her with the greatest intimacy, losing himself to reckless passion as she writhed with a dancer's fluid grace beneath his tender touch, whispering his name, crying out his name, entangling her fingers in his hair and begging that he come to her....

He did, only to find that she could be as passionate, as demanding as he.

She rose over him in the moonlight, a sculpture in proud and naked beauty as she stared down at him with moistened lips, her wealth of copper hair curling about the swollen beauty of her breasts.

She smiled at him, her lips curling whimsically.

"Now let me love you--" she told him, leaning low to grace his chest with her nipples and sending waves of erotic heat rippling through him all over again "--like a savage...."

He smiled, enveloping her with his arms. "My love, do with me what you will...."

Much later he reminded her that they needed to sleep, that tomorrow was the day when they would get Adam back.

They needed to be rested--and alert.

Bryn smiled to herself, grateful for the abandon of the night. He hadn't given her much time to worry.

He had given her something--though she just wasn't sure yet what. But whatever did happen, he had been with her now, through the greatest trial of her life.

She was very, very grateful for Lee Condor.

Chapter 11.

Bryn awoke elated; she should have been tired, but she wasn't tired at all. It was Sunday, and she was going to get Adam back.

It occurred to her that it was absurd to relish the thought of talking to a kidnapper but once she heard his voice again, she would be so grateful that she would readily crawl on her knees, if he asked her to.

The kidnapper had played her perfectly--right from the beginning. The tension had almost destroyed her--would have, if it hadn't been for Lee.

She tried not to believe that it could all have been a lie; that the kidnapper could still hold onto Adam. She didn't dare entertain such thoughts--she would crack.

Marie, who had proved to be a lovely woman in her mid-fifties, big bosomed with a deep warm smile and no nonsense manner, was glad to stay with the two older boys for a few hours again that morning when Bryn and Lee left. Brian and Keith would probably sleep until at least nine, and knowing that the morning would be tense with waiting, Bryn was glad that they could arrive after that part was over. She had tried to conceal the truth from them, but as children do, they had sensed that something was wrong. Marie would drop them off at the town house about eleven--in time to greet their brother andherself , Bryn prayed.

Bryn believed that Marie, too, knew that something was very wrong, but she didn't ask questions and showed herself willing to help in any way that she could.

When she had first met Marie, Bryn had been a little bit embarrassed by the relationship she was obviously sharing with Lee, but she had been gratified to see that the older woman seemed to like her on first sight. And Marie apparently adored her employer, so it seemed that the two of them together could do no wrong.

Bryn was up and dressed by7:00 a.m.on Sunday morning-- ready to leave before Lee was out of the shower. But early as it was, Marie had coffee ready downstairs. She tried to get Bryn to eat but Bryn knew she couldn't swallow a mouthful of food. When Lee did appear downstairs, Bryn barely allowed him to sip a cup of coffee, she was so anxious to get to the town house.

Lee didn't try to talk to her on the way over. They were both extremely tense.

Bryn almost burst through the front door; she remembered though--that even though it was her home, Andrew and Barbarawere probably together. And they deserved a certain respect for their privacy, especially since they were staying there, courting danger, to keep an eye on things for her so that she and the boys could be safe at Lee's.

Impatiently, she rang the bell. It was only eight. The call wasn't due for an hour. Lee gazed at her, and she flushed.

"Bryn--you're going to work yourself into knots before anything happens," he warned her.

Her throat tightened. "I can't help it, Lee. You don't know what it's been like."

"I have a pretty good idea," he said dryly. "And I still think we should have called the police at the very beginning." "No! Something might have happened to Adam!"

"And you also might have had him back four days ago," Lee said flatly.

"He's fine, I'm telling you, he's fine!" Bryn said irritably. Her voice was rising, getting hysterical.

The door swung open while she was still in mid-yell. Barbara, clad in a housecoat, looked from one to the other, backing up so that they could enter. Lee's hard features and Bryn's flushed ones warned her that the tension was already mounting. "I've got coffee on," she murmured, glancing at her wrist-watch. "This is going to be a long hour. Very long," she muttered.

Bryn was already inside, pacing. "Lee, when he calls this time, I'll do the talking. You have a habit of irritating him."

"Forgive me for not wanting to get both you and Adam killed," Lee retorted, his jaw hardening still further. Barbara could feel the sparks flying and she quickly grasped Bryn's arm. "Come on, honey, let's go into the kitchen and get the coffee."

It was a long hour. Andrew appeared downstairs, and Bryn heard him talking quietly to Lee. She ran out and faced both of them. "Please, please! Don't do anything to mess this up! There won't be any trouble. I'll give the prints back; Adam will be home. Don't the two of you do anything! Promise me that! Swear it--"

"Bryn," Barbara warned.

Then Andrew andBarbara who were nervous themselves, were left with the task of keeping Bryn and Lee apart. Personally, Barbara agreed with Lee that Bryn was wrong. The police should have been called. But then she couldn't blame Bryn for being terrified for her little nephew.

And it was said, Barbara decided. She sincerely believed that Lee and Bryn were just right for each other, that the love was there that should have helped them--had helped them-- now, as in the days that had passed.

But both of them, it seemed, were afraid of the depths of that emotion, and so now, with torment and tension mounting, they were at the snapping point.

At exactlynine o'clockthe phone rang. Bryn cried out and raced for it, leaving no time for a second ring. "Ah, good, Miss Keller. You're there. All ready?" "Yes, yes! I've got your negatives and the proofs and I haven't touched a thing. Please, when can I have Adam?" A husky chuckle answered her."Put Condor on." "No!" Bryn protested. "Please, you're dealing with me; I want Adam now. Oh, please--" "Put him on."

The command was unnecessary. Lee had grabbed the phone from her.' 'We want the child.Now. Or we will do something with these pictures," Lee snapped.

"You'll have him. As soon as I send the kid, you call that lobby and tell Miss Keller. She drops the stuff and leaves. Don't you dare let there be anyone suspicious around, youhear ? I don't think you're that stupid, but I just wanted to talk to you again, Condor, to remind you I don't want any tricks." "No tricks," Lee agreed, glancing at Bryn. "But so help me God, if anything goes wrong..." "Not on my end. Tell her to go." Lee hung up the phone.

"Well?" Bryn demanded, gripping his arm, unconsciously digging her nails into it like talons. "You can go now," he said unhappily. "Oh, thankGod, thankGod," she murmured. Then she caught his eyes with her own."No tricks, Lee, really. You have to be here."

"No tricks," he told her grimly. "I'll be right here." He glanced over his shoulder at Andrew. "Call Information for me, will you? Verify that number of that pay phone in the hotel's lobby."

Andrew nodded, gave Bryn an encouraging grin, and stepped over to the phone. Lee turned back to Bryn. "Have the valet park your car. And as soon as you've dropped those pictures, you walk out the front door, give the valet your ticket and get into your car as soon as he drives it up. I mean it, Bryn. Don't take any chances. Don't be anyplace where there isn't a group of people around, okay?"

She nodded numbly. It was going to work out, it was going to work out,it had to work out.

Andrew hung up the phone and handed Lee a piece of scrap paper.

Lee accepted the paper, glancing at it,then stuffing it into the pocket of his knit shirt. He nodded to Andrew. Bryn thought that the two men exchanged a strange glance, but she was too distracted to really know or care. "I'm going," Bryn murmured. "Aren't you forgetting something?" he asked. "What?"

"The pictures," he said quietly, handing her the packet that he had set on the counter. She paled. She hadn't even remembered to bring them from his house; he had been the one to do so.

"Thanks," she said swallowing nervously. "Bryn, I mean it. Calm down or you'll get into an accident before you get there." His soft tone negated the tension between them and the anger that had sparked. It gave her a sense of security, of his caring, of his strength. "I'll be calm," she promised.

He touched her lips with a light kiss. It was warm and giving and reassuring. Again, it was as if he filtered his own strength into her with his touch, with his subtle male scent. More than ever she wanted to cry, but she also felt as if now she could go on with her mission competently. "See you soon," she murmured and stepped out the door.

It didn't seem to take twenty minutes to reach the lush new Mountain View Resort Hotel; it seemed to take twenty years. And as she fumed at the traffic, Bryn worried herself into a state of nausea as one refrain kept going through her mind. What if something went wrong? What would happen to Adam if something went wrong? What if--what would happen to Adam--if something went wrong?

Her teeth were chattering as she drove up to the impressive portico of theMountain View. A cordial valet stepped up to open her door, and she tripped climbing out of the van. He steadied her; she thanked him in a confusion of monosyllables, andstarted to leave him before taking her ticket. He called her back, and she could see in his eyes that he thought she was a crazy tourist as she thanked him again for the ticket.

There must have been half a dozen conventions going on in the hotel. People were everywhere. Bryn hurried to the large red couch that was set attractively before the forty-foot glass windows that looked out on a panorama of greenery and fountains. She saw the phone booth; it was an elegant,paneled nook in the wall, not ten feet from the red couch. She stared back toward the reception desk at the large clock on the wall. She had ten minutes to wait.

Bryn took a seat at the end of the couch. She could see the phone booth, and by slightly twisting her head, she could keep an eye on the clock.

Tiny beads of perspiration were breaking out all over her body. Nervously she fumbled around in her purse for a tissue and dabbed at her forehead, then tried to dry her palms. She gazed at the clock again. Only two minutes had passed.

Her eyes began to follow people through the grandiose lobby. Businessmen, theirattache cases in their hands, walked to the elevators, alone and in groups. In a group of chairs near the couch, a threesome of affluent matrons sat discussing their husbands' golf games. A lone man in a dark trench coat paced behind the chairs. Bryn studied him. He had the stiffest black hair she had ever seen, and an absurdly curled mustache .

She heard footsteps behind her and almost jumped in a panic. They passed her by. She turned, ostensibly to stare at the clock, but in truth to see who was behind her.Another man, in a nondescript, very average dark suit. But the man wasn't average. He was taller even than Lee, about six foot six or seven. Bryn felt her limbs begin to stiffen in fear. He turned, walking the length of the couch once more.

She bit her lip and gazed at the clock. Six minutes to go. She heard the creak of a door and snapped her head back toward the phone booth. One of the affluent matrons had sat down in the elegantlypaneled little booth and was making a call.

No! Oh, please, no!she thought desperately. She gazed about the lobby wildly. Businessmen were still milling about, the matrons were still chattering, the tall man in the suit and the trench-coated man with the strange dark hair were still pacing.

Her nails cut into her palms, creating deep crescents. An insane scream started to rise in her throat as she looked into the little phone booth and saw the woman still talking. Bryn stood, clutching her purse and the package of film. She started toward the phone booth and leaned against it, pointedly staring at the woman inside. It was very rude, but...

She managed to fluster the woman who said something, then clicked down the receiver. She rose and slammed the door open. "There are other phones in the hotel!" she snapped to Bryn.

Bryn couldn't seem to swallow so she could murmur out an answer. She glanced at the clock as she slid into the booth. Three minutes to go.

The extremely tall man started walking toward the phone booth. Was he one of the kidnappers, she wondered wildly. Or was he just a businessman about to demand that she use the phone or leave it free for others? She smiled at him and picked up the receiver. As soon as he turned around to start pacing again, she turned her back to the window of thepaneled booth, using it as a shield for the hand she placed over the hang-up switch in place of the receiver. Pretend to talk! She warned herself. Lee... pretendit's Lee. "What the hell was the matter with you this morning? Keeping your music in a linen closet is ridiculous to begin with. And to jump down my throat over a set of lyrics when you're a musician is absolutely crazy. You're giving and good, but only to a point. There's a part of you that is dark and frightening and I'm half crazy that you'll leave me, half crazy to see you go...."

She bit her lip, turning to stare at the clock again. It was two minutes past the limit. Three minutes past ten. Oh, dear God, Adam! Where are you? God, if you just give him back to me, I promise I'll be the best parent in the world....

Four minutes past. The tall man in the business suit was coming toward the phone booth again.

"Lee, you rotten son of a bitch!You had no right to snap at me that way, and a simple 'I'm sorry' just isn't good enough. Lee, I want to know you. I want to know what happened in your past. I want to know what your favorite flavor of ice cream is; I want to watch you shave and have you yell at me for stealing your razor for my legs. I want to know what kind of movies you like, and I'd love to see into your past and understand how you can sometimes be so gracious, and sometimes so encased in rock that I don't know you at all and I become frightened. Frightened, but always attracted. I want Adam to be with you, Lee. I want to see Adam. I want to--" The phone began to ring. Bryn briefly noted that the tall businessman was looking at her as if she were crazy. She remembered that she already had the receiver in one hand; all that she had to do to answer the phone was to lift her other hand....

She almost shrieked, "Hello!"

It was Lee. Now, she was really and truly talking to Lee. Well, she was listening to him.

' 'Bryn, Adam is here. Drop the pictures.Calmly. Get away from the phone. Drop the pictures on the couch--and get out. Do you hear me? Don't look back; don't do anything. Just get out."

"Adam is there? Oh, Lee, let me talk to him--" "Bryn! Drop the pictures and come home!" The phone clicked on her. She could barelystand, her knees were trembling so hard. She managed to stand and walk out of the booth. She walked by the couch, dropping the packet of pictures. And she continued on, straight for the revolving doors that led to the portico.

She gave the valet her ticket and extravagantlyovertipped him. The van rolled beneath the portico and as the man held her door open, she crawled in. Her hands were damp against the wheel, but she gripped it firmly.

By happenstance she gazed into herrearview mirror. The man with the strange dark hair and the trench coat was staring after her. She started to shiver as if the temperature had suddenly dipped well below zero, but she forced herself to look forward and keep her eyes on the road.

Home, home, home. She was going home, and Adam was going to be there. Time seemed to crawl.

The roads were ridiculously busy. Bryn glanced in her rear-view mirror to try and change lanes to make an exit off the highway. She swore softly in exasperation. There was some kind of a dark sedan right on her tail. She put her blinker on. The sedan backed off. She eased over a lane, but left her blinker on. Her exit road was coming up.

Adam. I'm going to see Adam. She thought about his chubby little cheeks and his wide green eyes. She was going to hug and kiss him so hard that he'd be ready to leave home again. Bryn started to exit. Suddenly she felt a heaving jolt wrench through her; she heard the shattering of glass and the screech of metal against metal.

The last thing she consciously realized was that someone had sideswiped her, riding up her tail.

Her head cracked hard against the steering wheel. The van started to spin. Or was it only her mind that was spinning? She never knew. Her world dimmed and then faded entirely into darkness.

Adam's return to the household had resulted in pure chaos. The little boy entered into a new kind of danger, that of being smothered to death by the love of his brothers, Barbara--and himself, Lee admitted. He had run in crying for his Aunt Bryn; Lee had done his best to assure Adam that Bryn would be right back. Brian and Keith started demanding to know everything that had happened. Lee tried to calm the older boys down and speak quietly to Adam.

"Do you know where you were, Adam?"

"In a house."

"What kind of a house?" Lee asked.

"I don't know.A house."

"Who took care of you, Adam?"

The little boy looked perplexed for a minute, but then he answered. "Mary took care of me. She tried to

be nice, but she was always fighting with the man."

"What man, Adam?"