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CHAPTER ONE

RATIONAL THOUGHT AND a working knowledge of hand-to-hand combat were useless when faced with the villainous power of the American house spider

Felicia Swift stood immobilized in the corner of the warehouse, aware of the web, of the arachnid watching her, no doubt plotting her downfall Where there was one female American house spider, there were others, and she knew they were all after her

The logical part of her brain nearly laughed out loud at her fears In her head, Felicia understood that spiders did not, in fact, travel in packs or scheic were no match for a true arachnophobe She could write papers, prepare flow charts and even do experiments from now until the next appearance of Halley’s Cooing to back away slowly," she said in a soft, soothing voice

Technically, spiders didn’t have ears They could sense vibration, but with her speaking quietly, there wouldn’t be , so she kept up the words as she inched toward the exit, always keeping her gaze locked firht ht ht suddenly blacked out Felicia juiant y hair and a scar by his eyebrow

"I heard a scream," he said "I came to see if there was a problem" He frowned "Felicia?"

Because the spiders weren’t enough, she thought frantically Hoas that possible?

Fortes fortuna adiuvat

She tried to rein in her unwieldy brain Fortune favors the brave? That was helpful how? She had spiders behind her, the inity in front of her, and she was thinking in Latin?

Felicia sucked in a breath and steadied herself She was a logistics expert She’d never anize her way out of, and today would be no exception She would work fro the Sunday New York Times crossword in less than fourherself for her hormonal reaction to thiswith e other people’s feelings, but even she recognized confusion

As he approached, she are of the size of him--the sheer broadness of his shoulders His T-shirt see across his chest and biceps He looked lethal but still graceful The kind of erous part of the world

"What are you doing here?" he asked

By here, she assumed he meant in Fool’s Gold and not in the warehouse itself

She squared her shoulders--a feeble atteer andits fur But she doubted Gideon was going to be anytabby

"I live in to"

"I knew that Iin this warehouse?"

"Oh"

An unexpected response, she thought, suddenly less sure of herself A result of the spider encounter Their poere far-reaching She’d planned to avoid any contact with Gideon for several months Here it was less than five weeks into her plan and they’d run into each other

"I’ her attention to his question "How did you knoas in town?"

"Justice toldher business associate hadn’t o" Gideon’s mouth curved into a smile "He toldnot to get lost in the memories of what the sound ht to be the strongest, a sound or a phrase could also shift a person back to another time Felicia had no doubt she could easily be transported by Gideon’s scent; right now she was most concerned about his voice

He had one of those low, sexy voices As ridiculous as it sounded, the combination of tone and cadence reminded her of chocolate Now his voice was a vibration she was sure the spiders could get behind She should--

Her chin came up as her brain replayed his statement

"Justice told you to stay away froested it was a good idea After what happened"

Outraged, she planted her hands on her hips, then thought hitting Justice was a far better idea Only, he wasn’t there

"What happened between you and me isn’t his business," she said firht to get in theto find ured you were coan, only to realize she had been avoiding Gideon, but not for the reasons he thought "It’s co that," he told her "So you’re okay?"

"Of course Our sexual encounter was over four years ago" She had no idea if he’d guessed she’d been a virgin or not and didn’t see any reason to " An understate how Gideon had made her feel "I’m sorry Justice and Ford broke down the hotel rooed to one of a, and she knew it meant she’d so coh She was srown up around scientists and graduate students Ask her about the origins of the universe and she could give a fact-based lecture on the subject without having to prepare But interpersonal interactions were harder She was so da or sounded like a space alien with bad progra, when all she wanted was to be just like everyone else

"I meant are you okay now," he said "You screaether For possibly the thousandth tie thirty IQ points for just a small increase in social awareness

"I’ s to my rescue--however unnecessary that was"

He took a step toward her "I’, she thought, auto his pupil dilation to see if it was real or simply politeness When a man was sexually interested, his pupils dilated But it was too dark in the warehouse for her to be sure

"What made you scream?" he asked

She drew in a breath "I saw a spider"

One eyebrow rose

"It was large and aggressive," she added

"A spider?"

"Yes I have issues with them"

"Apparently"