"And what?" I asked gently.

Kathryn smiled. "And, no pa.s.sion."

"In the bedroom?" I asked with my eyebrows raised.

"Yes, and in general too. Well, that little forty-eight hour drive of mine gave me a long time to think. I made some decisions about my future."

"You decided to swear off women?"

"No, I decided to swear off bad relationships. I'm gun shy and a bit reactionary. You know, what you said about hurting someone intentionally? Aisling surely had done this to other women, once they too had aged-out of her interest zone. She dumped me by making me leave her. So calculating. So hurtful. And it's left me with a suspicion I find hard to ignore sometimes."

"Were you angry at her for a long time?"

"I felt relief more than anything. I remember sleeping for hours and finally waking up and feeling lighter than I had in years. I was most angry with myself for asking so little of a relationship. She never said explicitly that we were exclusive." Kathryn paused.

I took the hint. "Kathryn, it's my understanding that we are in an exclusive relationship. And only until we may mutually express otherwise. That means that neither of us will be sleeping with, kissing, holding hands with, or, as the Andrews Sisters so eloquently sang, sitting under the apple tree with anyone else but each other. OK?"

She smiled that lovely half-smile and looked deeply into my eyes. "OK," she said.

We kissed. I could feel Kathryn's mouth curve into a smile. It was a deal-sealing kiss. She gently touched my face when we drew apart. And then we hugged and held each other again for several minutes in an unspoken conversation that said a thousand words.

"Do you ever think about Aisling?" I said when we finally parted.

"Every now and then I wonder just how many young women have shared Ash's bed, and I feel a little sorry for them," she said.

"Because she cheated on them, too?"

"No." Kathryn laughed. "Because I know what a dull time they were having!"

"So that's my cue. No pressure, huh?"

"I like a certain amount of pressure!" said Kathryn, rolling back on top of me. We kissed hotly and then she sat back.

I caressed her thighs, then urged her up the bed until I could reach her with my mouth. She stretched out and steadied herself by grasping the top edge of the headboard. I looked up at her as I found her with my tongue, then slipped my hands under and behind her to hold her tightly to me as I explored and then found my mark. She let go of the headboard, arching her back. It all happened very fast. She let the pleasure wash over her like a swollen creek swirling over rough stones. She moaned deeply in satisfaction.

Then she moved to kiss her way down my body. Soon, she was at the foot of the bed working me into the frenzy I'd been holding back since right after the brunch. She reached up to tease my b.r.e.a.s.t.s at the same time. She brought me to climax swiftly, realizing just what I needed.

As the moments of perfect pleasure flooded through my body, they chased a fleeting thought that this was a very intimate way to communicate. Kathryn seemed to agree, because after allowing me a few minutes to recharge she found me with her tongue again and brought me to another lovely climax. Slower this time, with more attention to detail. She had a way of watching as she did it that made me want to keep my eyes open.

When I was sated, I moved to satisfy her again. She responded to slow rousing strokes until she came with a long shuddering moan that surprised me with its primitive tones.

"Lordy," she groaned into my shoulder, "how can you manage to do this to me when we're both so tired? Neither of us had had more than four hours sleep."

"You have a point. Next time we should just let the trained seals do all the work." I yawned.

She laughed and put her arms around me.

As we fell asleep, I pa.r.s.ed our earlier discussions. Control, trust, fidelity, commitment. How do we prove ourselves? Where do we find the steel drum to drown out our insecurities and doubts.

Chapter 7.

The next morning I awoke before Kathryn and slipped out of bed to shower and dress before she'd even stirred. When I came back into the bedroom she turned and smiled at me, then reached her arms over her head in a feline way and groaned.

"I see what you mean about stretching," she murmured as she opened her arms to me and I went to kiss her good morning. "You did wonderful things to me last night."

"I'm flattered you think it was all me, but it takes two for a tango like that, querida."

She stretched and then swung her legs over the edge of the bed. "If I can make an appointment around lunch time, would you be able to go to the museum with me? I'd like to take my alleged Victoria Willomere Snow sculptures over there to get that woman's opinion. What was her name?"

"Funny, I can't remember."

"Piper Staplehurst," said Kathryn pointedly, leaning out of the bathroom. "I should google her to see what she's published. You can give her your crime report."

Minutes later I was staring out the window as eggs poached, trying to recall a dream I'd had in the night. Dreams have always played a significant part in my life. When I was a child, I'd dream whole scenarios with me as an observer. My dreams often helped me figure things out, and now and then they could be prophetic. I could only get the tail of the one I'd had the night before. It was Red disappearing as he ran toward the yew bushes."

Suddenly there was Kathryn, elegantly dressed in tan linen pants, cashmere top, and a soft gray kimono style jacket with mauve silk lapels.

"Coffee," she said, turning for a cup from the maker on the counter.

I was dressed in my typical private eye uniform, black jeans, dark gray sweater, polo shirt (blue this time), and black running shoes.

Toast popped up. She b.u.t.tered both pieces and put them on plates. We ate at the little table by the window in companionable silence.

"What are you going to do about that person who was killed?" she said.

"Mm," I said, putting down my coffee mug. "Carbondale fired me."

"What?"

"Well, he didn't really fire me; the case is over. Someone being killed in the cemetery pretty much confirms there's crime in there. The whole thing seems, I don't know, strange somehow. I don't like it. I'm going to work on it anyway."

Kathryn said in an amused voice, "We've established that trust is one of my issues. Perhaps not wanting to give up control is one of yours."

"I think that's one of yours too. But shall we call it tenaciousness? Then it's more like a virtue."

"Hi, Maggie," said Nora Hasan waving.

When Kathryn left for work, I'd commuted downstairs to my office, and there was Nora at the front desk on the landline phone in the shared reception room of Gale Investigations and Martinez and Strong, Partners at Law. I did a double-take, smirked, and waved back to Nora, then went directly into Sara's office.

"Tuviste suerte, eh?" I teased as I closed the door. Sara was dressed for court in a dark tailored suit and white silk blouse. She swiveled toward me in her chair and smiled.

"No tuve suerte en el sentido que tu piensas, cerebro de cisterna."

"Ay hombre, ni siquiera la besaste?" [2]

"Well, yes, I kissed her, but we decided after that we'd be better as colleagues."

"So you hired her? So much for an equal decision."

"Emma likes her. She met her before she had to go to court."

"And then there's Gale Investigations."

"Seriously, Maggie, you like her, don't you? She's very smart. She fixed the fax so that it doesn't jam; she reorganized the billing system so it sorts by a dozen categories. She speaks Arabic fluently, and French too. She figured out how to enhance the picture on the surveillance cameras. And she can type faster than I can talk. She can take client statements."

"That's a reason to hire her in itself, but I'm seeing some problems."

"What?"

"Well, she's a grad student. If she's working on an advanced degree, that's going to take all her time."

"She isn't really working on a degree. She's more like a part-time fellow at the college, working on research. So we hired her from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and then she has the rest day to work on her other stuff. She says she can handle it."

"We hired her," I said dryly.

"Pending your approval."

"I think we better ask Kathryn if Nora really has time for another job." Oh, geez, Kathryn, I thought, What's she going to think about Nora working as my a.s.sistant? I wasn't enthusiastic about having to face Kathryn's suspicious ire again even though the make-up s.e.x was fun.

"I had Nora call Kathryn and I asked her. Kathryn seemed fine about it. By the way, do you fully understand how Nora feels about Kathryn?"

"Kind of in awe?" I asked.

"Yeah, there's an understatement," said Sara.

"I'm more worried about you s.e.xually hara.s.sing the employees. I can see the headlines: Local Law Firm Sued by Student - Secretary Says Solicitor Solicited Her."

"She's too good an a.s.sistant to lose for a quick roll in the hay. Maggie, she understands Evie's filing system!"

"OK, OK, we can give her a try. But no more kissing her and she doesn't have a green card so that might cap how much she can earn."

"We're done with kissing. Its just business now. Maybe we can sponsor her. I'll look into it," mused Sara.

"We'll have to check her references. Let's have a little probationary period before you start calling in favors from senators and the INS."

"OK, fine, you check. We'll start the paralegal search once she's trained. It can be Nora's job to set up the ads and interview schedule. Meanwhile I gave her one of the office cell phones with all the bells and whistles on it so she could keep in touch and manage things when she's off-site."

I liked Nora and she was smart. It's not easy to find someone for a position like this. There are so many skills involved, and frankly, while Evie was very good at some things, she was dismal at tech. I was confident that Sara wouldn't hit on Nora once we'd hired her, but how Kathryn was really going to react to this might turn out to be a little more complicated than a phone call.

I went back into the outer office and sat down in the client chair next to Nora's new desk. She was on the phone ordering some printer toner. She hung up and said, "Hoist by your own petard?"

I said, A darting fear-a pomp-a tear- A waking on a morn To find that what one waked for, Inhales the different dawn.

"Em... crikey, I'm rubbish at anything other than the Bard."

"It's by Emily d.i.c.kinson."

"And she's meaning I might not find this job to my fancy?"

"Aye," I nodded.

"But then again, I may."

"Aye to that, too."

"Are you going to give me the nod then or have me naff off?"

"Yes to the nod, but we'll have to check your references."

"Well, Sara said she'd pay me by the hour for a wee bit and then we'll see. And Dr. Anthony said it would be all right." Nora stated this as though it should seal me on the deal.

I nodded and smiled and sorely hoped this all wasn't a major mistake. Oh crikey, indeed!

"You won't be sorry," insisted Nora. "Look, I've already taken a message. You had a ring this morning from some lady who wants to see you later today. I didn't have your schedule so I said I'd ask you when you came in. Shall I ring her back for you?"

"Yes, please call her and then put her through to my office. Nora... I have a feeling you'll work out fine here."

I showed her how to access my appointment schedule on the office phone she was now carrying and gave her all my contact numbers. She smile-dazzled me, and I went into my office thinking she was probably going to be a good addition to our work team, hoping that this wasn't going to tax my love life, and marveling that Sara wasn't really that attracted to her.

"Lois? This is Maggie Gale returning your call."

Lois Henshaw's bra.s.sy voice echoed over the phone so loudly that I had to hold it a foot from my ear.

"I don't want to talk about it over the phone. Little pitchers has big ears." she said obscurely.

"There's a child there?" I asked.

"No... my cat, he has big ears, and his name is Little Pitchers," she strained a laugh and I agreed to meet her in a half hour.

The Mews Gossip Network had postulated that the problems at the Henshaw digs were domestic. The network is seldom wrong.

Infidelity is the reason private investigators have steady employment. After I'd "retired" from the Fenchester police force, and figured out I still wanted to be in the superhero crime-fighting biz, I trained to be a P.I. by working with an already established company called Discreet Investigations. The only thing I learned from the head d.i.c.k, Seamus A. McFinn Jr. (Yes, his name really was Seamus and yes he really called himself the "Head d.i.c.k."), was: Being a private investigator is much more like being a therapist than being a cop.

A gust of wind swirled frosty air around the Mews like a dry ice demonstration at the science museum. I zipped my jacket to my chin and yearned for the warm days I'd spent in Florida with Kathryn. At the moment I'd gladly settle for a few hours in a warm bed... with Kathryn.