She smiled and shifted up onto her knees on the bed. "We could go down to your office if you'd prefer."

"The only thing I prefer right now is my pillow and sleep." He stopped as he saw that Rayne was wearing the top to the silk pajamas his mother had given him last Christmas. "I think you forgot the bottom half of that outfit." He sat down on the far side of the bed.

Rayne shook her head. "I didn't forget. Colleen only gave me the top. I think your sister has matchmaking on her mind."

Sean considered the lighthearted tone in her voice for a moment, and then he stood back up. He tugged the comforter and sheet down on his side of the bed. "Maybe." He pulled on the blankets until Rayne got up so he could pull her side of the bed down as well. Without another word, he got into bed and pulled up the covers. He put his hands behind his head as he leaned back on the pillows.

Rayne stood and watched him for a few seconds before she spoke. "You object?"

"Nope. I am rather in favor of the idea myself. How do you feel about it?"

Rayne slipped under the covers, turning on her side to look at him. "I'm not opposed, but I don't want you to think that what happened today influenced me."

Sean rolled over onto his side to face Rayne. The room was only very dimly lit by the faintest of lights coming from the bathroom. "You may think it is too early, but I love you, Rayne. What happened last night and today didn't change my feelings."

"It is too soon for us to be sure, but I think I feel the same way."

"Just think?"

"I'm pretty sure, Sean. Today's events have changed things, or they will. I could end up in jail."

Sean shook his head negatively. "No, you aren't going to jail. We will have to be careful about your kitty cat, though." He paused to shake his finger at her.

Rayne nodded and leaned forward to grab hold of his finger. She pulled it toward her, closing her mouth around it. Sucking on it for a moment or too, she then smiled. "I feel very guilty about it all. I didn't do this without provocation. Mohan never would have attacked without my giving the signal."

"I wasn't planning on going over all of this until morning, but I am curious about one thing. I didn't know you had a tiger living with you, by the way." He paused to give her his mildest glare. "How did you end up with a tiger named Mohan?"

"It's a long story."

"Go on, honey. There is no place else on Earth I'd rather be."

"White tigers are very rare any more. Very few in the zoos and captivity survived the war, and on average in the wild, only one in ten thousand are born white. No white tigers in the wild were found after the 1950's in fact, and the wild species, which is really just a sub-species of the Bengal tiger, only survived in captivity due to inbreeding and crossbreeding programs."

"They are albinos then?"

Rayne shook her head. "Not at all. The white tigers, which survived until present times, are the result of the breeding programs using inbred and crossbred mixes of the Bengal and the Siberian tiger. An albino would have pink eyes, and there had been only one recorded instance of true albino tigers, Sean. In Cooch Behar, which we know as West Bengal, in India, two albino cubs were shot in 1922."

Rayne paused to shift slightly on the bed. "The white tiger has pale blue eyes, a mottled grayish-pink nose and is white with the dark stripes that can vary from black to a chocolate brown color. White tigers are born only to parents who both carry the recessive gene for the white coloring."

"What about the Siberian tigers I remember hearing about in history?"

"Actually, Sean, no wild white tigers have ever been reported in either the former region of Siberia, or anywhere else in the world, except the one found in Rewa. The Siberian White Tiger that existed in zoos were all cross-bred production."

Sean reached his hand out and captured a lock of Rayne's hair. Slowly he wound it around his finger. "You are a fount of information, my love, but how did you end up with something that is obviously on the endangered species list and should be in one of the few remaining zoos?"

"At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the tiger Species Survival Program reinforced its stand against the breeding of the white tiger in captivity. The white tiger is a freak of nature, and obviously cannot survive in the wild. But the popularity of the animal made it a money-maker for zoos, which was the same for the propagation of black leopards, white lions and king cheetahs. They are all phenotypic aberrations and bred solely because they are 'crowd pleasers.' Sorry, I know I keep rambling."

"It is understandable. Go on, honey."

"There was a government research compound near here. After the war, funding was cut. I'm sure you get the idea. My Mohan was the result of some kind of weird breeding program and was waiting for-"

"And you being the soft-hearted woman you are just couldn't let that happen, huh?"

"She only weighed twenty pounds when I first got her," Rayne replied quickly, defending herself.

Sean lightly tapped Rayne's forehead. "Rescuer of animals, grower of strange plants and what else should I know about you?"

"You know more about me than I know about you. I know your sister..."

"And Bob, as well," Sean added with a smile. "I come from a big family so it's better that you don't meet them all at once."

"Hmm. So, what happens now? Tomorrow do we go on as if nothing happened? What if someone starts asking questions about him?"

Sean kissed Rayne to stop her from asking more. "Shh." Slowly he made love to her lips, easing them apart before he finally caressed her tongue with his. "You taste so sweet."

"Toothpaste," Rayne told him quietly.

Laughing out loud, he shook his head. In that moment, he knew. Rayne was the woman he undeniably wanted to spend the rest of his life with; psychic headaches and all that would probably come their way. Sean guessed he should wait, but he couldn't. "I love you. Please marry me, Rayne."

"What if I go to prison? I don't think you would be happy with a monthly conjugal visit."

Sean shook his head. "You aren't going to any kind of jail. I called the Agency and everything has been taken care of. Your place looks like it did the day I met you."

"What if someone comes looking for him?"

Sean pressed his finger to her lips. "It's all over. I'll need some details, but that can wait until tomorrow. You don't have to marry me as part of the plan."

"You told your boss you were going to marry me though, didn't you? It's part of my 'parole' and marriage is how I will be observed in the future. Since I'm a psychic, right?"

"If you are repulsed by the idea, I'm sure we can work something out."

Rayne stared into his eyes for a long time, and he started to wonder if she was going to turn him down. Then he jerked in surprise as her hand grasped his c.o.c.k. As her soft hand began ma.s.saging and pulling on his hardness, he groaned softly. Dimly he was aware of her scooting toward him, but her hand didn't pause or slow down.

"I probably will have some issues I'll have to work out once my state of shock goes away, Sean. But right now," she gave a firm, unmistakable yank on his shaft. "Put this to good use, and we'll worry about tomorrow later."

"My pleasure, my love," he told her with a smile, rolling her onto her back. "I got the watering done before I came back here, so we can sleep in."

"Uhnh," Rayne groaned as Sean thrust into her body. "Thank you, my love, but I could have made it rain."

"What the...?"

Sean paused in between strokes of his c.o.c.k in and out of Rayne's wet p.u.s.s.y. Make it rain? Had she really said she would make it rain?

Rayne's hands pulled his head toward her, meeting his gaze. "Yeah, that's what the lady said, mister. Now, do your husbandly duty and we'll talk about rain and waves and tiger tails later." She kissed his lips hard, punctuating her meaning.

As Sean got back to the business at hand, he heard a squawk from a far corner of his room.

"Do your duty! Do your duty! Do your duty!"

Life certainly would never be dull with Rayne in his life!

end.