Into the Lion's Den
By Arianna (aka wavBec)

Arianna rolled over and accidentally bumped her elbow against his chest, he didn't move so she guessed he was asleep. Following the wrap-up meeting with Sybil O, the team had all eaten dinner together at the hotel restaurant, and they'd both been rather tired afterward. It seemed like it had been hours since they'd gone to bed, yet when she heard the church clock strike, it was only 1am. She flipped her pillow over to see if it's other side might be cooler and burrowed her head into it once again. If only it didn't feel as though she'd been hit in the back of the head with a baseball bat she might be able to get to sleep also, but when daylight finally came, she'd heard the clock strike 2, 3, and 4.

* * *

Julian carefully closed his book and slipped it down into the outside pocket of his travel bag without moving his right arm. Arianna had finally fallen asleep with her head on his shoulder and he didn't want to disturb her, they still had another hour before landing and she needed the rest. She'd been jumpy ever since they'd broken free of the strange magic loop the computer programmer had created.

Wanting to get home as soon as possible, he'd talked Sybil O into letting them use one of the company jets rather than wait until tonight for the next scheduled flight from Vermont. The small private jet could take them to the commuter airport just outside Hastings, and Gervase had said he would arrange for a car to be waiting for them, they could drive down to LaGuardia to pick up his car tomorrow, or later in the week.

As he watched her sleeping, he was worried about her. At dinner yesterday, Taralaine had agreed with him that something seemed wrong, but Ari had insisted she was just tired, then last night she'd hardly slept. This morning she finally admitted having another headache, but now he could feel the throbbing pain in her, it was more than just a headache. Thinking back to the migraines he used to get at university, he tried to remember anything that might help. Back then, when it was at the worst and felt as if a long needle was piercing his left eye, sometimes nothing helped but retreating into total darkness, but he knew that wasn't an option for her.

As the plane rolled to a stop next to the corrugated iron hangar he shook her gently, "Time to wake up." She hadn't stirred even during the somewhat bumpy landing. *Arianna, come back from wherever you are*, he tried to get through to her thoughts.

"I didn't go anywhere," she mumbled, sitting up and blearily opening her eyes in the dimly lit cabin.

"We'll be home soon." Standing up as much as possible without hitting his head on the ceiling, he picked up their travel bags and went toward the open doorway of the small plane. She followed him to the opening and then stopped short.

"Eeew," she gasped, grabbing the handrail and closing her eyelids tightly.

"What is it?" He turned to look up from the foot of the steps.

"This damn headache, the light, it hurts."

He shifted both bags into one hand and pulled a pair of dark Ray-bans from his jacket pocket, then put them into her free hand. "Here, take my sunglasses, the car is just over there." She put on the glasses and carefully climbed down the 4 steps to the ground, very glad to see that the bronze color car had smoke tinted windows.

Settled in the passenger seat, she let her head fall back against the headrest and thought it would feel good to get home, she had never before felt quite so totally drained. Julian put their bags onto the back seat and closed the door as quietly as possible, then got into the driver's seat and adjusted the mirrors upward. Whoever had delivered the car must have been a good deal shorter than his height. After a quick check to see where the climate controls, headlight and windscreen wiper switches were on this model, they were on their way back to his house beside the river.

"Would the painkillers we have left from England help?" he asked, carrying their bags into the bedroom.

"They might, but I don't want to resort to them unless I have to, I'll just lie down for awhile." She kicked off her shoes and sat down on the edge of the bed pressing her hands against her temples.

"Will you at least try some aspirin?" he pleaded.

"All right," she answered weakly.

He went to the bathroom medicine chest and poured 2 extra strength aspirins from the green bottle. Without realising she was standing behind him with her eyes closed, he turned with a glass of water and would have knocked her over if he'd not caught her against his chest. She just stayed there limp as a rag doll, letting him hold her for several seconds before opening her eyes.

Once she'd regained her balance, she stepped back and leaned against the counter before taking the glass from him. Swallowing the pills one at a time, she handed him back the glass, then went to curl in a ball on top of the bed, with her back toward the window. Julian pulled the curtains closed as far as he thought she'd let him, making the room slightly darker, and gently laid a woven cotton blanket over her. "I'm going downstairs and call Jacob," he said quietly, stroking her hair.

"Mmmmmm," she moaned.

* * *

Downstairs in the study, he placed a transatlantic call to his old mentor, Dr. Wells, and related as much as he could without revealing the exact details of their assignment in Vermont. More than just a friend, Wells was also a medical doctor and expert on mind control and the occult. He more than anyone came closest to understanding the strange connection that enabled Julian and Arianna to sense each other's thoughts.

"She was in coma for several hours the first time, then the second time we were trying to make contact with another one of the group when were both drawn into the loop,............Yes, it almost felt as if something was draining the energy out of us, ...........She's had a couple of headaches since the first coma, I'm worried that they seem to be getting worse,..............No, I've not had one in years,........... that crossed my mind earlier, but you know how she is about closed curtains, it'll be dark soon nonetheless,...........I do hope you're right, ...........that's a good thought, I'd almost forgotten,.......... I'll try that,........ thanks Jacob."

Leaning back in the high back desk chair he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He hated seeing her in pain and hoped Jacob's theory that they both just needed time to rest and 'recharge', so to speak, was right. Come to think of it, he felt quite tired himself, and the thought of a nap sounded like a splendid idea. He'd just go check the mailbox first, then perhaps sit out on the deck for a short snooze in the afternoon sun.

* * *

Arianna came down the stairs to the living room and froze, staring at the new laptop computer sitting on the glass coffee table. It looked just like the one that had blown up on her during their assignment in Vermont, the night before the fantasy game sent her into the coma.

"Where did that come from?" she asked as Julian was rummaging to find something in the cabinet where he kept his extensive collection of teas.

"Ah-ha, got it," he exclaimed as he pulled a matte gold cylindrical tin from the far back of the cabinet. "It came by special messenger late this afternoon, a replacement for the one that melted in Vermont I suppose, is something wrong?" He scooped two spoonfuls of loose tea into the pot and added boiling water before going to stand beside her. When he rubbed his hand lightly against her back, through the silk fabric of her blouse, he could feel her apprehension and still some pain.

"No, nothing's wrong, just after what happened up there, I'm not overly eager to get near a computer."

"I can understand that, you were the only one knocked out twice. How's your headache?"

"It's still there, but not as bad as before, the aspirin took some of the edge off it. Did you talk to Jacob?"

"Yes, he thinks we just need some rest. He reminded me of an old technique I'd forgotten about. Sit down on the couch and let me try something."

She sniffed the mug of tea he handed her but couldn't recognise the flavour. Cautiously taking a sip of the steaming liquid, she found it deliciously sweet, yet tangy with perhaps just a hint of ginger.

"What kind is this?"

"It's a very old medicinal blend of Fromosan Oolong, and Lapsang Souchong, with some other ingredients. Jacob tried to analyze it once, but never did identify them all."

Whatever the other ingredients were, it tasted wonderful. She took another sip and watched as he scanned his music collection then dropped a CD into the player. Next, he turned off all but the blue peacock feather Tiffany lamp before coming to stand behind her with his hands resting lightly on her shoulders. "Close your eyes and relax."

As the soft sounds of rolling ocean waves began to come from the stereo speakers he very slowly ran his fingertips up through her hair, moving from the base of her neck to the top of her head. His hands were warm yet the sensation sent shivers down her spine. He did the same from just in front of her ears to the top, and from her forehead back, then started again at the back of her neck. Next, he lightly rubbed her temples, making circles with his fingers and then drawing the circles slowly across her forehead. Alternately massaging her temples, rubbing her neck at the base of her skull, and running his fingers up through her hair, he continued for quite some time, until he could sense the pain was gone.

"Is that better?" he asked softly, smoothing her hair back into some semblance of order.

She felt weightless, as if floating on a cloud. "Oh, it's wonderful," she sighed. "I do think you could put the aspirin industry out of business. Where did you learn to do that? "

He lightly kissed the top of her head and murmured, "Mei-Ling taught me." Both more tired than hungry, they retired early and she was fast asleep before 9pm.

* * *

Arianna woke just after daylight, hungry and craving a cup of tea. She carefully got out of bed to leave him sleeping, he'd been reading when she fell asleep. The bedside lamp was still turned on, and there was a book on the floor. Picking it up, she recognised the leather binding of his collection of favourite verse she'd found when he temporarily lost his sight a few months back. The night she found it, she never had finished reading "The Lady of Shalott", the last piece he'd copied into the book, so she took it with her down to the living room.

For making just one cup, the electric teapot was faster than the stove and in just a few minutes she had a hot mug of Earl Grey in her hand. Curled up in the corner of the sofa, she enjoyed the warm feel of sunlight coming through the sliding glass doors as she found the place in the poem where she'd left off. "Out flew the web and floated wide, The mirror crack'd from side to side; 'The curse is come upon me,' cried The Lady of Shalott...".

When she reached the end of Tennyson's work, she noticed the book's attached ribbon bookmark was moved further back in the volume and turned the page to find a new entry written in Julian's distinctively angular script:

'I heard a sound the other day
that I'd not heard for many years
it was the sound of my heart .... beating.

So long had it been entombed
behind a wall so thick and tall,
that it forgot the feel of being touched by another.

You broke through that wall
and by loving you it did start to beat once more.
Promise you'll stay .... forever.'

Every other selection copied into his book had a title and author credited at the end, but this piece had only two words, - for Arianna.

Trying to blink back tears, she stared at the page for some time, then silently crept upstairs and crawled back into bed next to him. He looked so peaceful and serene, with his tousled hair drooping down over his forehead. As she lay there silently watching him, he rolled over and snuggled closer, mumbling something that sounded like forever. She quietly whispered "I promise," and though she could tell he was still sound asleep, he smiled.

* * *

The morning mail forwarded from her apartment held an envelope with an official looking seal. Arianna groaned when she saw the return address read Dr. Wilimena Klaus, and tossed it onto the coffee table unopened before going to stand at the window gazing out at the river. A wind had come up during the night making the surface of the water a bit choppy and sunlight reflecting off the tiny ripples looked like thousands of glittering diamonds

Julian looked up from his own pile of mail and saw the envelope. "I had a chat with Gervase when we were in Vermont, while you were 'out of the game' so to speak. He's had some doubts about Dr. Klaus as well."

"What kind of doubts?" She turned from the window and came back to sit beside him on the sofa.

"He said several of her recent reports were somewhat less than objective, sometimes ignoring the facts and filling in the blanks with what she 'thought' happened. Sound familiar? And she seems to have an almost personal vendetta against certain personnel, well, me in particular, and now you by association."

"What can we do about it?" She picked up the envelope and tore it open.

"I really don't know. He thought if somehow we could get her to admit it, there might be grounds to have her dismissed."

"Well, she's taking a different approach now, this says she wants to talk to me about you. Maybe I could provoke her into admitting something."

He ran his hand over his chin thoughtfully, "It would be your word against hers, but it may be enough."

"Stay here, I want to try something." She went across the living room and up to the top of the stairs.

*As long as you're close enough, we can still communicate with each other, so you'll know what she says too,* she thought to him.

*I'll be right outside the office,* he returned to her clearly. *Well done.*

"The carpark is next to the building and her office is on the corner, I can park just out of sight but close by," he suggested as she came back to the sofa. "We still wouldn't have any concrete proof, but I suppose it's worth a try."

"Well, there's a new micro recorder I've been dying to try out. With digitized recording they've made one that's only the size of a cufflink."

He chuckled. "I was wondering how long it would be before you got back into your toy box."

Later that afternoon, Arianna phoned Dr. Klaus' office for an appointment. The doctor was more than willing to see her the very next morning. "It's about time one of you two delinquents came in for evaluation. I need to see Seven as well." Arianna tried not to giggle as she got an mental image from Julian of the doctor eagerly rubbing her hands together in anticipation of the appointment.

"Well, I can't speak for him, but I'll be there at 9am sharp, goodbye doctor." She hung up the phone and looked at him. "Why do I suddenly feel like a lamb being led into a lion's den?"

"I'd prefer to think of you as a wolf in sheep's clothing," he smiled.

* * *

Arianna took a deep breath to calm herself before opening the door. They'd already practiced sending thoughts to each other to check the distance range. *Relax, you can do this,* Julian re-assured her. *Thanks, it helps knowing you're with me,* she answered back. She checked the enameled rose pin on her jacket lapel, the micro recorder was securely fastened to the underside of it and the tiny switch was in the on position.

When she entered the office, the doctor looked up from her desk with a grim expression and motioned for her to have a seat. Watching as she finished reading through the folder of papers on her desk, Arianna noticed that her eyes and her suit were the same steel grey colour as the hair twisted into a tight bun at the back of her head. She tried not to smile as she heard Julian snicker, *She's looked like that for 20 years.*

Finally she closed the folder and looked up. "I want to apologize for being remiss in my duty to you Miss MacDuff. I'd intended to have a discussion with you before you started working with Seven. Honestly I didn't think your association would last anywhere near this long. In recent years, he's rarely kept a contact more that a couple of months without requesting re-assignment. How are you getting along with him?"

"Fine."

"Tell me about the incident when you were injured in England."

"There's not much to tell, we were out riding, my horse tripped crossing some rough ground, and I fell. As I told you before, it was just an accident."

"I see from your current dossier that you're still living in Manhattan, do you ride often?" *See Julian, I told you keeping the apartment would be useful sometime*

"No, I hadn't ridden in years."

"And whose idea was it to go riding?"

"What difference would that make? I wanted to go, nobody forced me."

"I see. The report says you broke your wrist and had a mild concussion, you were unconscious when he took you to the hospital, is that correct?"

"Yes. After the fall, the next thing I clearly remember is waking up there the next morning. But I know he stayed with me through the night."

"I suppose he would have told you that," she sneered.

Arianna didn't like the confrontational tone of voice the doctor was starting to use. "He didn't have to tell me. While I was unconscious, I could still hear him talking, and reading to me."

"Perhaps. Any residual headaches or dizziness from the concussion?"

"Not from that accident, no."

Dr. Klaus opened the folder again and checked something on the top sheet of paper. "And the altercation with Elliot Chase, you were kidnapped and kept in darkness for how long?"

Arianna squirmed a bit at the memory of that. "About 36 hours."

"And how did you handle your claustrophobia for that long."

"Julian has taught me a few techniques to help deal with it."

"I see, he's up to his old mind control tricks then."

"They're not tricks, what he's taught me really works." She could see from the disapproving look on the doctor's fact that she didn't believe her as Julian reminded, *She refuses to believe in any form of telepathy or meditation.*

Dr. Klaus took one more look into the folder on her desk. "What about your recent assignment in Vermont, any aftereffects from that?"

"There have been a couple of headaches since that assignment, but mostly just a drained, tired feeling."

"Would you like to be re-assigned to an easier contact for awhile, have a chance to rest up a bit? I know he's difficult to work with." She picked up a pencil from the desk cup and began turning it end over end against the pad of notepaper next to the folder.

"No," Arianna protested, trying to keep the alarm out of her voice. "Julian's not difficult at all."

"Well, maybe you just haven't seen all the various sides of him yet, he's probably been on his best behaviour."

"What do you mean by that Doctor?" Arianna was trying to remain calm but she was getting very annoyed with the snide comments the doctor kept making about him.

*Watch her actions, when she gets rattled, she plays with things on the desk.* She heard him again.

"He's one of our more troublesome personnel. I know he looks charming on the outside but he's cold, arrogant, and manipulative. The 'powers that be' have chosen to ignore my recommendations and let him back on active duty, but I believe he's reckless, and dangerous, both to himself, and to anyone working with him. Your recent injuries prove that. "

"None of them were his fault. " Arianna objected. "We've been working together for a year now, I think I know him fairly well."

"He's never let anyone close enough to really know him at all. A word of warning, just be careful he doesn't pull you into his spider's web."

"Spider's web?"

As Arianna watched her, the woman's grey eyes took on an even colder sheen. "He's hooked other partners before. Drawn them in just enough to let them think he cared for them, seduced them, and then cast them aside. Usually managing to get them killed in the end."

"I don't believe that."

"Ask him about Alexis or Cassandra sometime," she sneered, her words fairly dripping with venom.

"I already know about them both, it wasn't like that." Arianna could see from the older woman's expression the fact that she knew came as a surprise.

"Wasn't it? The report from our people in Paris said he killed Cassandra himself." The doctor began rolling the pencil rapidly between her palms.

"Yes he did, but she'd already tried to kill us both, and was holding me hostage with a gun to my head. She turned and fired at him before he shot back, and he did not kill Alex, I think he loved her."

"He's a vacuum, empty, with no emotions at all."

"That's not true," Arianna said realising the doctor was no longer listening.

"He's never really loved any....." she stopped herself and looked up from the pencil fiddling. "How could you know about Alex?"

"It's not important how I know, but your opinions of him are so very wrong."

"How much his past has he told you?"

"Not as much as I've found out on my own, besides, he can't remember a lot of it, your debriefing saw to that." As the doctor was getting more agitated, it looked as if she was trying to bend the pencil from both ends.

"That debrief.......That was for his own protection. The organization involved were very powerful enemies."

"And Cassandra was part of that organization - the incident at the bridge, he didn't try to kill himself, did he? Why were you trying to cover up what really happened by calling it an attempted suicide?"

"We, ...I,....He'd tried to find Alex for two years after she disappeared, and there were rumours he and Cassandra were more than just partners. I believe he's emotionally unstable. After seeing Alex killed, how do you think he'd have reacted if he'd known his new partner was behind it, and that she'd tried to kill him as well? It was better for him to think she was dead."

"So you wiped out his memories of the year after the explosion when Cassandra disappeared. Well, she tried again when we were in Paris, and almost killed him then too. If we'd known she was alive, the assignment would have gone much easier, and might have saved him from being shot again."

"Erasing that memory was for his own good. No-one else knew about her, I transcribed the last day of his debriefing myself. If he'd known she was alive, he would have gone after her alone."

"Do you really hate him that much?"

"I don't hate him, I....." Suddenly the pressure was too much and the pencil snapped in two. She looked from one half to the other in astonishment.

"I think I'm beginning to understand now. You've lost your objectivity Doctor. You call him manipulative, but you've distorted the truth to suit your own purposes. The 'powers that be' as you called them were right to ignore your recommendations." Arianna stood up when she heard Julian's thoughts saying *She's said more than enough to hang herself, get out of there as soon as you can.*

"Where are you going?" Dr. Klaus glanced up from the broken pencil with a slightly dazed look.

"I've heard enough of your lies against Julian, I'm going home."

"Here, at least let me give you something for the headaches." She opened her desk drawer and reached into the back section for a brown bottle of capsules. "Two of these should take care of it the next time you have any pain." Arianna took the bottle by it's cap and left the office. Once outside, she carefully wrapped it in the scarf she had in her coat pocket.

* * *

"You're not going to take any of those are you?" Julian asked when she returned to the car.

"Not unless they've been thoroughly analyzed, see your mistrust of her has finally rubbed off."

"I'm glad to hear it, let's stop by my secret lab on the way home," he smiled.

"Anywhere as long as it's far away from her." Arianna breathed a sigh of relief as they drove off.

Julian's 'secret lab' was actually the pharmaceutical department of SUNY in Purchase, NY. The small satellite campus of the college was just across the street from the Pepsi-Cola corporate headquarters. He tapped lightly on the frosted glass panel of the door before peeking inside. "Hello, anyone home?"

"Julian! Heavens it's been a long time, what is it, 2 years?" They were greeted by a small woman with short curly brown hair, and wire rimmed glasses. The name tag pinned to her white lab coat read "Prof. M. Grant."

"Probably something like that. Dr. Madison Grant, I'd like you to meet my partner Arianna MacDuff."

"Nice to meet you Doctor." Ms.Grant had small hands but a firm handshake and a warm smile.

"Oh, please, call me Maddy," she offered them a seat. "So Julian, is this a social call, or your usual 'I was never officially here' business?"

"Personal business, we need some pills analyzed if you have the time." Arianna took the wrapped bottle from her purse and carefully set it on the counter.

"Oh good, you know I love a mystery. Preserving fingerprints on the bottle are we?"

"Just my usual paranoia Maddy, they may be harmless," he shrugged.

She glanced at her watch and pulled a pair of latex gloves out of her pocket. "Why don't you go have some lunch and come back in about 2 hours. Sorry Julian, here's nothing Thai around here, but there is a nice little place just up the street, the Hilltop, they have great fish. I'll have the analysis ready when you come back."

"Thanks Maddy," he said as they stood and moved to the door.

"Can we bring you back something?" Arianna asked.

"No thanks, I've already eaten." She was already opening the bottle of capsules, anxious to get to work.

* * *

The Hilltop was an interesting place. Originally two houses, a connecting room on the second floor formed a bridge spanning the entrance to the carpark in back. At the front of the restaurant was a small greenhouse addition just large enough for two small tables. The early afternoon business was light, so the hostess told them to pick any table they liked, and they chose one in the greenhouse. Bringing a basket of warm crusty rolls, the waitress rattled off the specials of the day. When she returned with their drink orders, Arianna decided on the swordfish broiled in lemon butter while Julian chose Cajun grilled salmon.

They were still a bit early so on their way back to the lab, he turned the car into Pepsi's headquarters and followed the winding drive around the grounds to show Arianna the sculpture garden. At the head of the small lake filled with ducks and geese, was a massive black granite sculpture of a grizzly bear that he'd always liked. Set onto an outcropping of rock ledge, it was a spectacular sight.

Arianna walked up to the enormous statue and touched its satiny black surface. The sun was warm and she expected the stone to be hot, but what she felt was a completely different sensation. The satiny surface was cool but tingly, almost like the feel of an energy vibration. She turned with a surprised look to see Julian watching for her reaction.

"This is the closest thing I've found to my favourite spot at the ringstones back in England. I can't explain it, but like the stones, this statue seems to have a power, I wanted to show it to you and see if you could feel it as well." He moved closer and took her hand while touching the statue with his other hand.

"It's incredible, and wonderful," she said. When Julian had completed the circle, it felt as if the energy from the stone was flowing through them both.

As they walked back to the car, Arianna realised that she felt better than she had since they'd arrived in Vermont. When she looked over at Julian, he just grinned and answered *So do I*. By the time they returned to Dr. Grant's office, they'd been gone just a little over the two hours she had requested.

"Thanks for the recommendation Maddy, lunch was splendid," he said as they went through the open door to the lab.

She looked up from the folder on the bench beside her with an expression that made them both stop dead in their tracks. "Julian, where the hell did you get these capsules?"

He looked worriedly at Arianna. "They were given to me for headaches," she answered.

"Well, it's a damned good thing you didn't take any," Maddy sighed.

"What's in them?" Julian asked, his forehead wrinkled into a scowl.

"Just one capsule has enough amphetamines to kill a horse, but you'd go out headache free." She handed him a manila folder of computer printouts. "Here's the tox screen if you want the specifics. They're homemade capsules, no registry marks of any kind, but their maker really knew what they were doing. A death from these would look like a simple overdose of aspirin, and be very difficult to prove. Be careful, whoever gave them to you is extremely dangerous."

"We will be, thanks Maddy." As they started to leave the lab, Julian turned back to ask, "Oh, by the way, where's your dad these days?"

She sighed, shaking her head. "He's back traipsing around South America again, he just won't give up searching for that damned bromeliad flower."

"Tell him I was asking for him, will you?" Julian winked.

"I will thanks, you take care of yourself, and get rid of those pills."

Arianna looked at him curiously as they got back into the car. "Am I allowed to ask, or don't I want to know?"

"Her dad was the one that found me in Buenos Aires. Maddy was just out of high school and had taken a year off to be his research assistant down there, before starting medical school. She made an excellent nurse," he smiled rather furtively.

The afternoon traffic was light on their drive back to Hastings, and Julian was abnormally silent. Arianna noticed he was absent mindedly rubbing his left leg and for a moment wondered what he was thinking about before she remembered the indented scar on his thigh.

* * *

Even after all these years, he could still remember the feel of the tourniquet Maddy's father had tied around his thigh to stop the bleeding. His captors had fired just one parting shot as they left the warehouse. Some of the memories of his rescue were a bit fuzzy but he could recall seeing Dr.Grant put his thumb into the gunshot wound to slow the spurting, then reaching up to untie the ropes holding his wrists. As his saviour lowered him to the ground, he heard another voice say something about the femoral artery just before he'd blacked out. The next day when he finally woke from the psychedelic nightmares, he'd thought Maddy was just another trippy hallucination. What would a young American girl be doing in a tent somewhere in South America sponging his chest with a cool damp cloth?

"Julian, where are we going?" Arianna touched his arm lightly, startling him back to reality.

"What?"

"You just missed the exit for Hastings. Where were you?" She looked worried.

"I'm sorry, just daydreaming."

"Daydreaming or remembering?"

"You know me far too well." He glanced at her rather sheepishly.

"I didn't realise I was riding with an autopilot," she joked to try to lighten his mood.

"It won't happen again, honest." He signaled for the next exit off the motorway and doubled back toward home.

* * *

"So what are we going to do about Dr. Klaus?" she asked when they got back to the house that evening, after stopping for a box of take away food from Star of Siam.

"I rang Gervase while you were in with her, all we have to do now is overnight the recording of your meeting to him at headquarters, there's more than enough evidence against her. He should be able to see that she's dismissed, and with the report on those pills, possibly charged with attempted murder."

The next afternoon just before sunset, Arianna was enjoying the sun's warmth from the back deck when Julian stepped through the sliding glass door. He held a tall glass of iced tea in each hand, and a very smug expression on his face.

"You look like a cat that's just swallowed a canary," she teased. "What's up?"

"I just rang off from talking with Gervase. Dr. Klaus is to be 'retired' to one of the company health spas. She won't be giving any of us anymore trouble."

"That's a relief." She accepted the icy glass gratefully.

"And, because of your headaches, we can have two weeks off to rest up from Vermont - anywhere you'd like."

"But I haven't had one since you made it go away the other night."

"Well, he didn't need to know that. Did he?" She squirmed as he playfully rubbed his cold damp hand along her arm.

"Hmmm, anywhere?" She thought of the possibilities, Paris, London, Hawaii, then looked around at the red and purple sunset reflecting on the river, the wisteria vine blooming against the side of the house, and the soft new chaise lounge cushions he'd bought for the deck. When she gazed up at him standing beside her, sipping his tea, she knew the perfect place for rest and relaxation.

"How about right here?" she asked.

"You just read my mind" he whispered as he bent down to meet her sun warmed smile with his ice cooled lips.