Zanita gave him a speculative look. "How nominal?"

"Three-hundred-thousand dollars."

Zanita sat up. "Outrageous! Even if you were suckered into his scam, who has that kind of money to throw around?"

Tyber raised a regal eyebrow, watching the emotions play across her face. It was just as he suspected; Zanita refused to have a clue as to how wealthy he was. It was her way of not having to deal with the reality of the situation. Her way of not having to deal with the reality of him.

Zanita blinked at his expression. His implication stopped her for a minute. "You do?"

She never realized Tyber had that kind of... She shrugged her shoulders. It was not important right now. She would think about that some other time, if at all. "Even if you could, Tyber, you wouldn't."

"No." Nice job of suppression, baby. "But I'll let him think I will."

Zanita sagged against the pillow. "None of this is what we're looking for, though. We already know he inveigles money from people. It's not illegal to get a business partner."

Tyber laced his fingers behind his head, stretching stiff torso muscles by twisting sinuously left, then right. "I keep thinking it's much simpler than we suspect."

"Simplify, simplify." Her grin was gamine.

"You think I should go meditate by Walden Pond?" He leaned over to tug one of her curls.

Here was her opportunity. "Actually, I was thinking you should go jump in the pond." He released her hair to watch her with an apprehensive expression.

"I don't know whether to ask you to elaborate on that or not."

"You don't need to ask me." She patted his shoulder. "I'm going to tell you anyway."

Tyber gave her a guarded look. Women had the inalienable right to toss men into the dog house at a moment's notice.

Now why, he wondered, was he making this trip to the backyard?

She crossed her arms over her chest. Zanita meant business. "Tyber, you have overstepped the terms of our agreement."

Tyber stared at her, his thought processes skittering off in a hundred different directions at once. He wasn't sure what she was talking about, but he had to tread very carefully here lest he inadvertently give her ammunition in a whole new area. Any man past the age of puberty knew that the only way to respond in this scenario was with a question. A brief, non-informative question.

"Our agreement?" There. That should be reasonably safe.

"Yes. If you will recall, when we began this partnership, we entered into an agreement."

"I don't recall any written agreement between us."

"It was not a written agreement; it was a verbal agreement, which I will remind you is binding in the State of Massachusetts." He gave her the mysterious face of Mars look.

"I don't recall any verbal agreement, either. Zanita, what-"

"I will refresh your memory. Do you recall asking me to move in here with you?"

"Of course I do, but-"

"Do you recall telling me it would be easier for us to work together on this if we were... together?"

He knew where this was headed now. A one-way ticket to Doghouse Land. "Yes," he answered her cautiously.

"Do you recall my telling you I didn't want to get involved in a relationship?"

He started to respond; Zanita cut him off.

"Do you recall telling me you wouldn't act like my boyfriend?" She raised her chin defiantly at him, demanding an answer to the unanswerable.

Tyber swallowed. "Baby, I-"

"Frankly, Tyber, I'm not sure what to do about this. It is quite obvious to me now that you are acting like my boyfriend and you've been doing it right from the beginning." She pointed a stern finger at him. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I...".

"There's nothing you can say!" She ticked off his sins one by one. "The pretty gifts. The attentiveness. The numerous little kindnesses." She shook her head sadly as if to indicate there was nothing else to be said. "I suppose I could move back to my apartment as soon as LaLeche leaves-"

"No!"

Zanita jumped at the vehemence of his response.

Tyber racked his brain for some bizarre explanation which would make sense to her. He couldn't let her move out now; they needed more time. He stalled. "You can't move out now-we're so close to nailing him."

"How do you know?" She didn't seem to be buying it.

He threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. "I just do!" As an explanation, it made no sense. Zanita seemed to be mulling it over, though. She tapped her chin.

"I suppose I could move into one of the spare bedrooms."

He ran his hand through his hair. Stall her. "Why would you want to do that?"

"To remove the temptation from you; it's obvious to me, Tyber, you can't help yourself from acting like a boyfriend."

Think. Think. "You've got this all wrong, baby."

"I do?"

"Yes. I'm not acting like your boyfriend. I-" Think! "I'm conducting an experiment."

"An experiment?" Her brows furrowed as she mulled this over. "What kind of an experiment?"

What kind of an experiment! I'm testing my sanity. "It's... it's an experiment on... High Energy."

"High Energy? What's that?"

"It's a branch of physics-particle physics, actually. You've heard of particle accelerators, right? Like the one in Stanford? Well, another name for an accelerator is an atom smasher, but that term is not politically correct, so we don't use it anymore."

"What does any of this have to do with us?" She was looking at him as if he had a gear loose.

"Urn, I'm getting to that. You see, physicists love to make things collide just so they can see what happens. Especially atomic particles." He rubbed his hands together. "Lots of fun."

"You are really strange, you know that?"

"No, I'm charmed."

"Huh?"

"A little physics humor; strange and charmed are two kinds of particles-"

"Really, Tyber, this is not solving-"

"You didn't let me finish. To a physicist, an excited particle is an interesting particle."

"Why do I care?"

"Because excited particles do all kinds of intriguing things, especially when high energy is involved. May I demonstrate?"

Zanita nodded warily. What was the kook up to now? Her eyes widened as he slipped off his slacks and underwear. "What are you doing?"

"Exactly what you told me to-I'm demonstrating." He folded his legs, sitting in a lotus position on the bed.

"This is your experiment?" Her tone was skeptical.

"Uh-huh. I'm testing the effects of high-energy transfer among humans in regard to excitation of the body." Right. It was the hokiest thing he had ever heard, and it had come from his own mouth. Any second now, she was going to toss him out on his ear and vacate the bedroom.

Zanita, being Zanita, did neither. She peered at him with a face alight with interest. "You mean you really are doing an experiment?" That would make everything okay, she thought. There would be a scientific reason for his behavior.

Tyber didn't bat an eye. "Yes. I'll show you."

It was time to engage the opposition. He reached for the hem of her nightgown, pulling it up over her head. Without delay, he lifted her onto his lap facing him. His hands clasped her ankles, bringing her legs securely around his waist. Then he lifted her chin with his forefinger, locking their sights together.

"What's this for?" she whispered, so as not to interfere with the procedure.

"I'm getting myself into a state of excitement for you. Feel this?" He rubbed his hardening member against her stomach.

Her eyes widened in affirmation.

"See; it's working."

He draped her arms around his neck, bringing his head down to hers. The flat of his palms splayed against her bare back.

"Now I want to see if it's possible for me to convey to you my sense of excitement...."

His lips immediately took hers in a deep, soul-robbing kiss. Strong, white teeth gently captured her upper lip, which he delicately suckled.

A tingling line of excitement quivered from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.

His low voice feathered against her mouth. "I do believe I'm on the right track here."

A small sound issued from Zanita's throat. Maybe he was on to something here. To help him out, she ran her tongue across his bottom lip, convinced Tyber was on the verge of a great scientific breakthrough. She told him so.

He agreed.

His palms massaged their way up her back, the strong fingers invigorating and soothing. Competent hands stroked her neck, relaxing the stiff muscles just enough to allow anticipation to seep in.

Their skin, where she sat on him, radiated scorching heat. A teasing fire kindled through both their bodies. Zanita felt she was going to melt in his lap.

Tyber's hands continued working in languid circular motions up her back, her shoulders, her neck, until they cupped the back of her head. His long fingers tangled in her curls.

Growling low in his throat, he held her head immobile for the thorough, rich invasion of his mouth.

Beguiling masculine lips trailed across her face, her forehead, her eyelids, the tip of her nose, the underside of her jaw. His breath was hot on her.

He scraped his cheek against hers, back and forth, in a totally sensuous, catlike gesture which left her reeling. Then his lips nibbled lightly on her collarbone, a soft tasting. She shivered in response.

"Am I exciting you, baby?"

His breathy words tickled the sensitive vee at the base of her throat, raising goosebumps. Before she could think to respond, he dragged his moist tongue diagonally down her chest to the peak of her breast, where he captured the taut, pebbly nub in liquid loving. His palms braced firmly against her back to hold her steady against his mouth, the position giving him complete command of her flesh to play and suckle to his liking.

Her hands threading his hair, clutching him intimately to her, let him know that he was, indeed, exciting her. The tiny sounds she made confirmed it.

This time, when Tyber rubbed his shaft against her lower stomach, he was diamond-hard.

Zanita reached down, clasping his manhood.

Her fingers stroked down the stiff shaft, lightly tracing the throbbing vein. In a duplicating action, she simultaneously ran her open mouth down the strong column of his throat.

Tyber sucked in his breath.

Her thumb and index finger encircled him at the base of his erection, gently squeezing. A husky moan rolled low in his throat.

He buried his face in her hair, groaning, "Baby... baby... baby..."

She rolled the broad head of his manhood around the palm of her hand, feeling a small droplet of liquid escape the tip. The dewy, slightly sticky droplet was lovingly massaged back into his secret, petal-soft skin.

Tyber trembled. His whole body shook while he battled between control and the ecstasy of the moment. Her beautiful, uninhibited lovemaking was driving him crazy. He wanted more of her-had to have more of her-right now.

Tyber's hands came under Zanita's arms, suddenly lifting her onto him with a power she had only seen glimpses of in the past. He slid fast into her. Deep. Tight. Potent.

Zanita cried out from the fullness, the exquisite sensation of him so deep inside her, so close inside her. Her arms went around his chest, tightly drawing him to her. Then she placed the flat of her hand over her lower stomach.

He was throbbing inside her.

She could feel it beneath her fingertips! A vibrancy that was uniquely Tyberius Augustus Evans. Her breath caught. Everything that was this man hit her in that one instant of intimacy. Tyber.

Her eyes lifted to his, full of wonder and...

Tyber saw the look on her face, recognizing it for what it was. Moved, he clutched her to him in a fierce grip; his lips scattered kisses over the top of her head. "Zanita, I-"