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Time passed Grant didn’t come near her, but neither did she rest How could she? He ith her It wasn’t a drea, and her self-enforced deprivation

She was certain that he orried But… he was crazy worried In Chicago, he had been distracted

He had called out another woman’s name

That still hurt Maybe it was the real crux of the ht, he had said that Lena had come on to him Lena said she hadn’t even seen hio to hiainst whatever danger threatened in his own mind Leave it lie, leave it lie…

But thirty minutes later, she was still wide awake

She rose, and walked to the hall

His eyes were closed, his head against the pillow pressed to the wall His handsome features were so stressed and riddled with tension that she felt her heart flip

"Grant" She whispered his naht

"I’ed before him

He exhaled with relief

"Do you want soo to sleep, Stephanie," he said

She rose "I think I’ll have a Tia Maria with ht I’ll have a Tia Maria with you"

She went on down the steps He followed In the kitchen, she found glasses, milk, and the Tia Maria stuffed into one of the cabinets

"I’ll take it neat," he told her

She nodded, and added lass

"Grant, I admit that what has happened has been really terrible You spend your days working on bones

Then, today, you found the dead girl But you have to understand So very sad happened--it doesn’t irl was attacked by aniave her was filled with disbelief "You cannot tell me that you believe that!" he exclaiued

"They’re lying," he said simply

"Why would they lie?"

"A cover-up--I don’t know"

"You said yourself that the body was… ravaged"

"She wasn’t killed by an animal," he said flatly "Not by a wolf, not as we knoolves," he ht--maybe the boyfriend did it The fiancé And the co up That still wouldn’t put any of us into a high-risk zone"

"Stephanie, if you tell e since you’ve been here, I will call you an out-and-out liar"

She hesitated "We’re in a foreign country We all had soe on the streets is different… everything is different"

Again, he gave her that look "You knohat I’ about"

"Oh, Grant," sheof you," he re back to bed"

She rinsed her glass and set it in the sink and started back upstairs She heard hiain

And then she couldn’t stand it again She kept seeing flashes of the i to be together when it seemed that it wasn’t what she really wanted, or the way she craved to be needed and loved as well Tonight…

He was here

He was Grant

And if it was only for the night…

She walked out to the hallway He ake this ti sardonically

"Stephanie, you’re supposed to feel safe and secure with me out here, and therefore, you should be able to sleep"

She didn’t answer She offered hi so over her

"I can’t sleep with you out here," she said

"I’"

"I know"

Their eyes met

A slow, rueful smile touched his lips "Stephanie, if you think I can lie on one side of the bed and keep my distance, I’led her head to study hiht actually be rather insulted if you could ainst her cheekbone, the pad of it callused, but alht his hand

"I’hly

His hand fell "Well, then, I’ll try not to be too tender"