feathers?"

Lee grimaced,then shrugged."Why not? But you'd better get some sleep, because you'll have to take a plane out early in the morning."

"A jet?"Keith asked."Umm."

"My father was a pilot," Keith said proudly. "Was he now? That's wonderful. One day you're going to have to tell me all about him. But for now...well...Indians do rise at dawn, you know."

Lee stood up, allowing Keith to crawl into the double bed. Brian rose and padded over to the cot. Lee

walked to the door and placed his finger over the light switch, then paused with a frown as he realized Bryn was still lying next to Adam.

"I...I'm going to stay in here with them for a while," she said. She was, in a way, lying. She was going to

stay there all night. She knew it, and Lee knew it.

Don't hate me! Bryn pleaded. Please don't hate me because I need to be with them tonight instead of you.

She couldn't tell what he was thinking. His golden gaze was unfathomable. "Good night," he told her

softly. He switched the light off, but Bryn noticed that, just as at home, the bathroom light had been left on. She hugged Adam closer to her,then stretched her arm out to touch Keith's shoulder. Sometime during the night, Brian had left the cot and climbed in beside her. She dimly remembered waking and hugging him, too. It was crowded in the bed, but it was crowded with love.

Bryn didn't go to the airport with the boys; Lee thought it would be better if she weren't seen driving away and then returning. Lee and the group owned a private Lear, and their pilot would do the flying. It still hurt to see them go, but Bryn kept an enthusiastic smile plastered on her lips as she kissed and hugged them all goodbye. Gayle hugged her in the entryway, swearing that she would look after her charges with the diligence of a mother hen. "And you do me a favor too, will you?" Gayle whispered, lightly inclining her head to where Lee and Phil were exchanging a few last words.

"A favor?"Bryn inquired, whispering as Gayle had. "I'd love to, but what could I possibly do for you?"

"Look after my brother. Oh, Bryn! You're the first woman he's cared for--I mean really cared for--since Victoria. And all that was such a tragedy! I know that he can be as hard as rock and as cold as ice, but bear with him, huh?''

"Of course," Bryn murmured automatically. What are you talking about, she wanted to shout. But Phil was giving her a friendly hug next, and saying he would see her soon. She only had time for onemore quick kiss for each boy, and then they were on their way out. Bryn thought that Adam might shatter her cheerful composure by bursting into last-minute tears, but it seemed that Phil, as well as Gayle, knew something about kids.

He carried Adam and talked to him. "Did Lee tell you he had another sister, too? She lives near where we'll be staying, and she has five kids. And they have a stack of toys like nothing you've ever seen...."

Bryn waved until Phil's rented car was long gone. She closed the door and turned around to find Lee staring at her very strangely. As soon as he caught her eyes on him, though, the enigmatic assessment was masked with a smile.

"You okay?" he asked.

Bryn nodded."So what next, Sherlock?"

He chuckled softly. What next, he thought with bemusement. I'd like to scream like a bloodyconquerer , whip you into my arms and race up the steps to the bedroom. I don't think I'm really a savage of any kind; it's just that once man hath tasted the fruit...

She was still walking a fine line between courage and tears. It wasn't the right time to play Clark Gable in his stairway scene.

"Next," he said, "is that we join Barbara and Andrew and the rest over at theFultonplace. We work just like normal. You won't have to do anything but watch and supervise--everyone knew you were in an accident--but I think we should both be there. Then we'll have dinner and head for your house. What do you say, Dr. Watson?"

"I'm sure I could work, Lee."

"No way.You're too valuable to risk."

"You're the boss," Bryn said lightly.

"Hmmm.Why don't I believe it when you say that?" Lee chuckled.

Bryn smiled. As they walked out the door, she came up with another thought. "Lee, I'm going to need all sorts of things. Chemicals, paper. Almost everything I had was destroyed. But I'm afraid if I run into a camera store and start buying everything in sight, someone could get suspicious."

"Good thinking, Watson," Lee teased, "Give me a list and your door key. Mick or Perry can pick up the things and take them to the town house in grocery bags with bread sticking out of the top."

"Sherlock," Bryn replied in kind, "you're half genius."

"Umm, and what's the other half?"

Bryn stared into his eyes and answered, "I'm really not sure yet."

Rehearsal went smoothly. Bryn was touched by the concern of her fellow dancers, and of Tony Asp and

Gary Wright. She remembered how much she had dreaded the work she had needed so badly. Taken

aside from everything, this was one of the nicest jobs she had ever had. The rehearsal broke early for the day. Bryn and Barbara and the group went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner, where they kept the conversation so casual that Bryn began to wish again that she could just forget everything. Surely, if she made no false moves, she couldn't be in any more danger....

When she and Lee were alone in his car and heading back to her town house, she broached the subject again. "Don't you think it might still be best just to drop everything?" "Do you really think that, Bryn?" She thought about the things that happened to her. Her darkroom destroyed. Adam kidnapped.The crash that had sent her to the hospital for the night. She still felt fear, but also a ripple of that fire-hot fury. She had been pushed against a wall, and when you reached that wall, there was no place to go.Except forward again, fighting back. "No," she said quietly. He casther a crooked grin. "Do you want to hear an old Indian saying?"

"Sure, why not?" She smiled back.

"When the cougar stalks by night, the hunted must become the hunter."

Bryn grimaced. "Nice saying."

"Oh, we're full of nice sayings. When you get to meet my father you'll probably hear them all."

Mick and Perry had already been at the town house. Bryn almost laughed when she saw the neat line of

grocery bags set along her counter, a long loaf of French bread protruding from each. But beneath the bread she found everything that she had put on her list. "Well," she said briskly, "I guess I'd better get started." "Can I help?" "Can you hang paper?" "Sure."

"Then you can help!"

Time meant nothing as they worked. The darkroom was strung with so many lines that they had to duck every time they moved. But by1:00 a.m.Bryn had finished with the basics. They had enlarged one hundred eighty five-by-sevens to eight-by-elevens that had to be weeded through.

"These are still going to be too small to get much out of," Bryn said wearily as she grasped her stack and

bypassed the file cabinet to re-enter the house. "But at least we can dispense with the impossible shots before enlarging the rest." Lee grunted his agreement, following close behind. Bryn started to sink down to her sofa, but he stopped her with a soft chuckle. "Don't get too comfortable. We're not staying here." "We could--"

"No, because I just had an elaborate security system installed at my house."

"Yes," Bryn murmured. "I guess that makes sense."

They locked up her place and drove to his house. Bryn remembered yawning and resting her head

against his shoulder. The next thing she knew, she felt movement...and warmth.

Lee was carrying her up his stairway. She opened her eyes and smiled at him with heavy-lidded eyes.

"Did I ever tell you I'm crazy about red-skinned tom-tom players?"

He chuckled softly, huskily. "No. But I'm glad you are." She was still half asleep when he laid her on his

bed, but she didn't stay that way long. She discovered that he had a very sensual talent for convincing her that she wasn't tired at all....

Chapter 13.

Bryn was lingering in a pleasant stage of comfort between wakefulness and sleep when the phone began to ring. Immediately she stiffened; a week had passed since the night ofHammarfield's dinner, a quiet week in which there had been a lot of work and a lot of learning to live together. Nothing in the least frightening had happened in all that time, yet still the sound of a ringing phone sent instant shivers racing along her spine.

The sheets rustled, and she knew Lee was rolling over to answer the phone. He glanced her way and saw her anxious features, then smiled reassuringly after his quick "Hello?" Covering the mouthpiece with his hand, he said, "It's Gayle." "Oh!" Bryn exclaimed anxiously. "Nothing's wrong, she's just checking in." Bryn waited while Lee exchanged a few words with his sister, promising that they'd be there by the end of the next week. "One more day and the video will be finished up.At least at this end. Then the editor will take over." Lee laughed at something Gayle said. "I don't like to sound immodest, but, yeah, I think it's great." His eyes fell with wicked amusement on Bryn. "I had a stunning 'Lorena.'"

Bryn smiled, and he handed the phone to her. "She's got three little urchins tugging at her. They want to talk to you."

They did talk to her, all three of them, grabbing the phone from one another. They were full of enthusiasm. Brian--she thought it was Brian--told her all about his new bow and arrows. Keith was all excited about sleeping in theteepee . "It's made out of animal skins! Real animal skins, Aunt Bryn." She didn't have the slightest idea of what Adam was saying. When he got excited his speech still got garbled into a language that only another four-year-old could possibly understand.

She sent them all kisses over the phone, warned them to be good and promised that she'd be there in no time. Then Gayle was back on the phone with her.

"I just wanted to set your mind at ease," Gayle said cheerfully. "They really are having a great time."

"They sound like it. I admit I was worried about the psychological effect all this might have on them."

Gaylelaughed, a pleasant, husky sound that reminded Bryn of Lee. "Don't worry, they're absolutely normal. At least Phil says so. And he should know."

"He should?"

"Umm.He's a child psychologist. Didn't I ever tell you that?"

"No, and I never thought to ask," Bryn murmured sheepishly. "What do you do?" she added with sudden curiosity.

"What else? I'm a violinist with the Philharmonic."

"What else?" Bryn mused with a laugh in return.

"Anyway, we're so anxious for you two to get here! Mom and Dad are coming in next weekend, and they can't wait to meet you!"

"That's wonderful," Bryn murmured a little nervously.

"Well, let me go now and deal with these little Indians. Nothing new, is there?"

"No," Bryn said regretfully. "Nothing new, but nothing bad has happened, either."

"Well, we'll see you soon."

Bryn handed the receiver back to Lee and he hung up the phone,then pulled her into his arms. "Are you going to spend the day studying that new stack of blowups?" Bryn nodded, fitting herself comfortably against him. "I glanced at them last night, and I still don't think that you can see anything clearly. Every time I blow them up the result becomesgranier . I don't know, Lee. We may never be able to see anything. There is a couple coming out of the motel...but..."

She felt Lee shrug. "Keep at it, okay? That Hammarfield is sleazy."

"Lee, that's a value judgment!" Bryn cautioned.

"It's not personal. Politicians tend to be a little sleazy. It's the name of the game. The public wants its servants perfect, but no one's perfect. So keep looking. I know that things have been quiet, but there's alwaysa calm before the storm, you know."

"Is that why you're being so calm?" she teased.

"Hmmm...maybe..." he began, but they both started as the doorbell began to chime. Lee sat up, gazing at the bedside clock. "Eleven," he groaned. "That's someone from the band."

He had mentioned last night that they were having a practice. Bryn jumped out of bed, padding across the room to quickly grab underwear, jeans and a T-shirt from a drawer. She glanced back with a frown at Lee, who was still lying lazily in the bed and watching her with amusement. "What are you doing?" she demanded with exasperation.

He chuckled."Enjoying the view. There's nothing like watching a nude dancer fumble her way into her clothing."

"Very amusing," Bryn retorted, throwing a pair of briefs at him. "You're the stickler for time! Get dressed. I'll get the door." She paused before leaving him. "I thought you said the sound was already mixed. What's the session for?"

"Christmas carols. We've been asked to do an album, and our business manager wants it released by October." "Rock Christmas carols?"

"Hey, that's been my lifelong ambition! I can be the Bing Crosby of rock 'n' roll."

Bryn shrugged with a smile and left him, pelting quickly down the stairs. Checking through the peephole, she saw that Mick and Perry, as well as Barbara and Andrew, were standing there, chatting as they waited. Bryn twisted the key that turned off the security system,then unbolted the door.