"Ah... yes." At that moment his fingers were inching across her palm to glide over the tender skin of her inner wrist. Zanita tried to tangle her fingers with his to put an end to his dangerous playfulness, but he deftly avoided her ploy, lightly scraping his nails over her bare skin in a highly erotic manner.

"Very good! And what are you exploring?"

"I'm spelunking."

Zanita almost choked. It seemed that Tyber's inner child was an imp. She gripped his hand and yanked. Hard.

"Exploring caves. You know, that's very spiritual, Tyber. It signifies that you are willing to cast off your mantle of protectiveness and reach below the surface to search for your true being. I believe you are on the precipice of a breakthrough."

"I certainly hope so," he responded sincerely. Zanita wanted to kick him.

"Let's explore this a little further then-you're not frightened, are you?"

"Nope."

"Good. What do you see; will you share it?"

"I'm in a tunnel. A long, dark tunnel. . ."

I don't believe he's doing this. Zanita hissed his name under her breath. She knew he heard her because he pulled her trapped hand closer to him, resting it on his rock-hard thigh. At least, she hoped it was his thigh.

"Can you tell us anything about the tunnel? Is there any light at all?"

"No. No light... but it seems to be... moist in here; the walls seem almost wet."

"Water is a very common mystical symbol."

"It seems thicker than water, Xavier, more viscous, sort of like..." Zanita held her breath. "... like syrup."

"I see. Does this liquid essence disturb you?"

"On the contrary. I embrace it."

Zanita pushed her face against his ear and gritted out, "Stop it! He's going to see through you in a minute." He didn't answer her except to quickly turn his head in the dark and capture her lower lip between his teeth, letting it slide ever so slowly from his grip.

"Yes, very good. What else can you tell us? Is it cool so far underground?"

"No, it's warm-almost hot, in fact. I can see now that the heat is making the walls look like they're quivering."

"Are you hot?"

"Yes, but not too hot. I'm... good."

"What happens as you keep walking along this tunnel?"

"I keep going deeper and deeper... I sense that the end is just ahead of me."

"So you speed up?"

"No, I slow down."

"You're reluctant to leave the cavern?"

"You might say that."

"So you feel comfortable in this place?"

"Yes, I want to stay... forever." Even though she had promised, Zanita pinched him anyway. When he flinched, she wondered if she had missed his thigh after all.

"But you realize you can't; you realize you must go on with your journey."

Tyber sighed deeply. "I suppose so."

"Where are you now?" LaLeche almost seemed to be getting into this himself. If Zanita didn't know him for the self-serving slime he was, she might have believed him herself.

"I suddenly burst through to a room of light. Everything is peaceful here, yet I feel spent and exhilarated at the same time. I feel great." He bent forward, toward LaLeche. "I mean really great, Xavier, you know?"

Even though the room was dark, Zanita could sense LaLeche's self-satisfied smirk. "I know exactly what you are feeling. You feel renewed."

"Yes. That's it exactly. Renewed."

"Can you think of something in your real life which gives you this same feeling of newness? This feeling of being reborn? Joyfully alive?"

Tyber gently squeezed Zanita's hand. "Yes, I can."

Surprised, Zanita swung her head toward him. What a beautiful thing for Tyber to imply, even if he was acting. Before she could stop herself, she lifted their joined hands to her lips to place a gentle kiss on the back of his hand. His threaded fingers tightened on hers, sending his warmth to her.

"Now you have found an attunement from within yourself to your outer being. You have had an important revelation here, Dr. Evans. How do you feel? Everyone may open their eyes."

The first thing Zanita saw when she opened her eyes was their joined hands resting on his lap. It struck her in an odd way: his hand, large, capable, strong, enfolding her much smaller one, confidently, protectively. For a moment, the sight of it almost made her panic-until she took a deep breath, came down to planet Earth, and quietly disengaged herself from his grip.

Tyber watched LaLeche carefully as he replied, "I'm grateful, Xavier, and somewhat in awe. I never expected to receive this kind of insight this weekend. Thank you for leading me to it."

He was playing LaLeche like a master, Zanita reflected. Tyber really was very good. If only he could resist his penchant for teasing, he might have a second career calling in the wings. Not that he wanted a second career. She wondered if he had ever figured out exactly what his first career was.

"No thanks are necessary, Dr. Evans; it's my pleasure to help people along the path to inner peace. Why don't we take a break for an hour and have some dinner? I know I'm hungry, and those tofu burgers Marcie brought look delicious." Zanita tried not to visibly gag.

"I don't believe I'm going to say this," Tyber murmured in her ear, "and don't you dare tell Blooey I ever admitted to it, but I think I'd actually prefer one of his squash surprises to tofu burgers."

"Mmm, I know. I'm not really that hungry anyway, after our lunch."

"That's good, baby." He helped her up. "Because I don't want you to eat anything except the popcorn, potato chips, and soda, and those only if the containers are new."

"Okay. Did you notice how happy LaLeche seemed when you had your 'breakthrough'? I could almost see him mentally adding up his donations. Speaking of which, how are we going to deal with that? I have a twenty in my pocket; do you think that's too much?"

Tyber caught his lower lip between his white teeth. She really had no idea what was expected here. "Let me deal with it, okay? If a donation has to be made, we might as well get some mileage out of it."

She furrowed her brows. "What do you mean?"

"You'll see. I would suggest going for a walk, but it's starting to rain in earnest out there. I think I'll go out to the truck and get those blankets; it's beginning to get uncomfortable in here."

"All right. I think I'll make use of the elegant facilities." The "elegant facilities" was an ancient outhouse at the rear of the cabin.

"Brave soul." He gave her a thumbs-up.

"By the way, Tyber, you did a great acting job back there. You almost had me convinced, even if you were ticking me off. If you didn't kid around so much, you wouldn't be half-bad at this."

"Uh-huh. And who said I was acting?" He ducked out the door into the night before she could respond.

Everyone settled down on the floor to have a relaxed dinner.

Since there were no other seating arrangements, there wasn't really a choice in the matter. During dinner, LaLeche lit the fire in the fireplace, which made Zanita immensely happy. Both she and Tyber managed to get through the meal by munching on a few chips, explaining truthfully that they had had a large lunch and were not very hungry.

Afterwards, Elizabeth, the elderly woman, showed everyone how to make popcorn over the fire. Although she had been quiet throughout most of the seminar, Zanita liked her. She seemed very nice, yet removed in some indefinable way.

Then it hit her.

Elizabeth acted much the way Mrs. Haverhill had, when she was trying to deal with the ramifications of her illness. Zanita studied the older woman carefully. She had noted the first night that the woman had seemed rather wan-looking. Now, she realized, the woman looked downright pale and sickly.

The hackles on the back of her neck rose.

LaLeche was probably bleeding this unfortunate woman dry just as he had Mrs. Haverhill. Who knew what promises he had made to her? Her experiences garnered as a reporter told her that desperate people would often try anything, believe anything, sometimes even do anything, as long as a glimmer of hope was held out to them. She watched Elizabeth with a new sadness in her eyes and a growing concern.

"What is it?" Tyber put his arm around her, drawing her close to him. It always amazed her how observant Tyber was. From the moment she met him, little had escaped his acuity. While the trait made him very attractive to her, the downside was that a girl couldn't ever hope to get away with much around a man like him.

"Elizabeth. Have you noticed-"

"That she's very ill? Yes, I noticed it last night. I hope I'm wrong, but I think she may be his main mark."

"Oh, Tyber, what can we do? We can't just stand by and let such a nice old woman be flimflammed. Perhaps if I talk to her in private-"

"No." His hand stayed her. "You'll completely blow our cover as well as this story, and she won't believe you. Remember, she wants to believe him."

"We can't just do nothing!"

"We'll do something."

"What?"

"We'll shift his focus by giving him a better mark."

She transferred her sights from Elizabeth to stare up at Tyber. "Who?"

"Me."

"You've got to be kidding! He isn't going to easily trust you, Tyber. He knows how smart you are; he'll be very leery of you suddenly falling over him, begging to ply him with money."

Tyber pushed an errant curl off her forehead. "And who says I'm going to be begging him to take my money? I'll be very careful with him, lead him just so. Believe me, his greed will overcome his misgivings soon enough."

Zanita seemed concerned. "I don't know, Tyber; I didn't count on this when I asked you to help me. You could get in over your head here."

I'm already in over my head, he mused as he gazed down at her. "I can handle myself. Elizabeth is vulnerable to him in ways I could never be. I have no concerns at all, Zanita. After you've faced Field Theory not much phases you anymore."

"Huh?"

His mouth curved in a smile. "A little physicist humor. And we'd better change the subject and mingle before we invite unwanted attention. Speaking of unwanted attention, I wonder what Kim thought of my breakthrough? Think I'll go ask her." He made to move away, but Zanita clutched his arm.

"Don't you dare. All right; we'll play it your way, but the paper can't allow you to take any unnecessary financial risks. In other words, we can't afford to reimburse you if you goof up. In which case, you don't have to worry because my grandfather will have my head on a platter and I'll never speak to you again."

"Thanks for taking the pressure off, baby. Now I can lie back and enjoy it."

"Tyber!"

Chapter Ten.

It was late in the evening when LaLeche finally made what Tyber later referred to as his "move."

Once again, they were seated in a circular pattern in the center of the cabin floor. The temperature had dropped considerably with nightfall, turning the damp, raw day into a chilly, dank evening. A heavy, steady rain fell against the rotted windowsills of the shack. Even the light of the fire did not dispel the cold darkness in the room.

It was almost eerie.

And certainly not the best atmosphere for conveying a "spiritual" warmth.

A scientist not just by title, but by nature, Tyber observed the room and the man, collecting the facts which presented themselves to him. The room was uncomfortably cold. No doubt this would be the last session held here until spring. Even those on the path to inner truth would not expect to travel through these temperatures on the journey.

LaLeche would probably have to content himself with living off donations garnered from seminars, or else find a new location to conduct his weekend retreats.

In either case, Tyber figured the man was going to have to make this one count. Xavier was going to have to impress them into some heavy donations to tide him over the winter in the lifestyle he was obviously accustomed to.

Perhaps, Tyber speculated, there was something in that angle he could use later?

He thought about it as he snuggled Zanita closer to him under the blanket.

"It's freezing," Zanita croaked out of the side of her mouth. Even though Tyber had placed one of the blankets on the rough floor planking beneath them, it wasn't doing much to prevent the cold from seeping up through the floorboards. She tried to stop her shivering; it was only making her colder.

"I know," he spoke low, close to her. "Do you want to sit up on my lap?"

She nodded gratefully. "Just for a few minutes. Do you mind? I'm so cold." Levering herself, Zanita scooted from between his legs onto his lap. Tyber's body heat enveloped her immediately. "Ahhh... Thank God you're a warmblooded type, Doc."

"If you keep squirming like that, you're going to find out just how warm-blooded." His hands clamped down on her hips, holding her still.

"John," LaLeche called over, "could you turn up those kerosene lamps? Thanks." He turned to the group at large, his oh-so-sincere gaze focusing on each of them in turn. "Well, my friends, we have been through a lot with each other this weekend. I know I don't only speak for myself when I say that I feel I know each of you now so very well. I think we all feel close to each other after this special time we've shared."