It shocked her a little to hear him suggest something that sounded very close to a compromise.

She had the feeling the concept was foreign to him.

She considered the offer.

"I'd want to be able to s~ Sarah, also."

His tone was unmistakably sarcastic.

"You have meetings with her, too?"

"No,"

she informed him e~venly, "but she's a very dear friend of mine. And

she's been having a rough time lately dealing with her younger brother.

It's affected her work, and she needs me for support."

"Fine,"

he snarled, at the end of his patience.

"Andre, Greg and Sarah will be allowed in. No one else, except my men and your family."

It was clear he was already regretting the concession he'd made.

She wondered at a sudden compulsion she had to soothe him.

"William and John don't get away from the city more than once a month,

and I just saw them last week. And I usually visit with my parents at

their home.

My mother suffers from a chronic heart a'dment, and she hasn't been well lately. As for the students..."

She hesitated, uncertain what she would tell them to keep them away.

She was loath to let them in on the threats.

Perhaps it would be enough to let them know how hectic things would be,

with Mac's work crew around.

"I'll take care of contacting them,"

she said finally.

Mac crossed to the desk in the corner of the room and rummaged through

the drawers until he found a notepad and pen.

Then he came back and sat down.

"All right, that's settled. Now I need for you to give me a complete

list of the people who have been in and out of here lately."

It wouldn't have to be a regular guest wreaking havoc on Raine's life.

Anyone who could come and go at will had the opportunity to place those

notes in her mall.

It could be, as he'd pointed out, someone who was welcomed to the

house, It could also be someone completely unknown to her, but first he was going to have to work through process of elimination.

She would have liked to ask why he needed the names, but after a look

at his face decided not to push her luck.

She knew intuitively that his temper was still simmering.

She began with Sarah, Greg and Andre.

They were by far her most frequent visitors.

She named several other friends who stopped in occasionally, and

included the art students.

He asked for the name of the courses and the instructors for whose cla.s.ses she'd been invited, to speak.

Finally, after racking her brain for a while longer, she shrugged.

"That's it, I guess."

"You're sure?"

he pressed.

"Are all the people I saw here in the last couple days on this list?"

She looked blank for a moment.

"I suppose so. I have to confess, I don't always know myself who's

here.

If my work's going well I sometimes don't come out of my studio until dusk."

She wasn't about to relay that he'd provided an unusual distraction

several times already.

He folded.

up the list he'd written.

"Things will start changing around here immediately."

That sounded ominous.

Raine looked at him distrustfully.

"Exactly what does that mean?"

"It means that I'm going to hold you to this agreement we've hammered

out,"

he said bluntly.

"And it means that you're going to have to trust me to do my job, and

stop starting a war every time I suggest something that's for your own good."

He c.o.c.ked ~an eyebrow.

"Is that clear?"

he asked.

For her own good.