For a while he had allowed himself to believe the way she did.

But he knew better now.

The wgrld wasn't a kind, forgiving place for outcasts.

What kind of a life could he offer her?

Still, for the time being, as the world slept and the darkness was kept

outside the magic circle she had drawn around them, he could indulge her, and himself.

He could pretend the way she wanted him to.

He gathered her to him, heat seeking heat.

Heat fueling heat.

As he kissed her, Graham felt her mouth curving into a smile beneath his lips.

Raising his head, he framed her face with his hands.

He was right, she was the most exquisite thing he had ever beheld.

"What are you grinning about?"

Her smile was wide, guileless, like a child discovering candy store.

"I like it."

Her smile coaxed one from him without his even being conscious of it.

"What?"

"Making love. I like making love."

Her eyes softened a the love she felt for him entered into them.

She touched his face lightly with her fingertips.

"It was well worth waitin for."

He didn't answer.

Caitlin hesitated.

Maybe she had disappointed him.

"Wa I all right? I mean - " He laid his finger over her lips.

"You were wonderful," he assured her.

Before she could ask another question, h pressed a kiss to her

shoulder, then moved slowly to he throat.

She felt herself slipping away again.

The world was being reduced to a small opening the size of the head of a

pin.

"The same goes for you," she whispered, her arms tightening around his neck.

Waves of ecstasy were beginning to flow through he again.

"How would you know?"

He laughed and she felt the vibrations along her breast.

His tongue branded her, skim ming, teasing.

Caitlin's skin tingled.

"You have nothing t compare it to."

"Some things," she told Graham as she arched into him, into his kiss,

"you just know. They're an absolute."

She was absolutely precious.

Maybe he could make tonight last, he thought, holdin her to him.

Maybe somehow, he could outrun the dawn.

At the very least, he could try.

Sleep left Caitlin slowly, like shadows being replaced b sunshine.

She felt like a contented, well-fed cat, curled b fore a warm

fireplace.

Smiling to herself, she turned into Graham.

The spa beside her was empty.

Startled, Caitlin sat up, instantly awake.

He wasn't there.

"Gray?"

There was no answer- Nervous, she rose quickly.

The tangled sheet was on the bare, hardwood floor.

She nearly tripped on it as she reached for her nightgown.

Throwing it on she hurried ) from the room. Gray?

one moment the small hallway was empty, the next, Graham was in it, his

gun drawn in response to the urgency in her voice.

Caitlin gasped, flattening herself against the wall, her heart fluttering like the wings of a hovering hummingbird. bolstered his gun.

For a second he Swallowing a curse, he had thought that the killer had got in somehow.

It took her a minute before her knees solidified again.

Caitlin left the shelter of the wall.

t'Is every morning like this with you?

He shrugged, trying to ignore the fear that had seized him when he heard her cry Out his name.

"You sounded frightened

' "I was."

She relaxed a little.

It was all right.

He was here with her.

"I thought you were gone." that she had put on "I got up an hour

ago."

He wished something else, or at least pulled a robe over it.

Her nightgown left nothing to the imagination.

And ever anything.

Echoes of last night padded through his mind on soft paws.

He nodded toward the kitchen behind him.

"I was just but it's going to call you. Breakfast is ready. It's not

much,hot."

Graham abruptly turned and walked back into the kitchen.

if he stood beside her for another moment, he knew he was going to kiss