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"Don’tand pawing one another, at the very least And that is tooexcuses for hi situation

Orher a pose that he particularly wanted" Tara gri to defend a ht in a situation she knew nothing about

Ann laughed curtly "There were no photographers in the room Nor was the male model there So "

"You ended it then and there?"

"I said that if he stepped in ain, I would quit I meant it, and he believed me Of course, I also said that I would skewer him with my letter opener I meant that as well Nohat about your stockbroker?"

Tara hesitated Ann already thought that she was dealing with randfather was concerned She wasn’t sure how to explain the feelings that had caused her to break off her relationship with a really nice, attractive guy

"Well?" Ann persisted "I’ve certainly laid ht"

"Just wasn’t right? You said that he was good looking, polite, char, and sexy! Did he become unsexy?"

"No"

Ann shook her head "Heartist, he didn’t play ridiculous hed "No, there was nothing in the least wrong with Jacob He’s a great person I can’t really explain this He wanted toand I backed away It just wasn’tright I don’t kno else to explain this " she finished lamely She really didn’t kno to explain why she had broken up with Jacob He had understood about her co about co for this trip--this time--all her life

Andthere had been the dream

She had plans to co on a deadline, trying to decide on the right date, she’d gone to sleep and

Been in Paris She had seen the city beneath her as her plane landed She had seen the city she loved, the spires of Notre Dame, the rise of the Eiffel Tower She had seen herself with Ann, sitting at the cafe, driving out to the village And thena h the woods in the surrounding countryside, intent on her destination And as she walked, she had been afraid

Afraid of the shadows that surrounded the place, shadows that twisted and e shapes, and seemed to whisper She didn’t know if the whispers ords that beckoned her onward, or if they arnings But she had to get to the house, and it had soreater fear, and greater deterled trees and shrubbery, she could see a structure ahead It seeht, like that of the h clouds andthe words help h she wasn’t sure who it was she was calling to, only that she believed, had to believe that he would be there

She had awakened with perfect logic, explaining to herself that the drearandfather

She adored him And he was in trouble She needed to reach hi selfish and foolish by not getting on the first plane she could in order to be with hirandfather needed her, and her fear of shadoas her fear of illness

And at the saic, she felt that soin Oddly enough, whatever it was, she had been waiting for it all her life, and noas the tiht up Jacob She did care for him He onderful, full of fun, sensual, a down-to-earth bastion to balance her flights of fantasy But there was sio to Paris, and discover what it was

So to do

Crazy, but right How, she couldn’t begin to fathom She didn’t intend to stay in Paris forever It wasn’t her home New York was

Yet the call to Paris, and whatever she was seeking, was ridiculously strong

"Maybe I should go to New York with you andTara out of her reverie

"Maybe," Tara said, "I guess I just wasn’t in love with him" Ann could be so totally down to earth and practical There was no way that Tara could explain her feelings to Ann

Ann shook her head in confusion "Great You give up Mr Perfect, and then you give me a hard time?

The man I love cheats, and you think I should listen to him You have someone open, honest, and loyal, but you’re just not in love"

"I do care about hih"

Ann was silent a few ed "Well, look at the two of us! We definitely should go bar hopping It’s not the way to ht place either And I do nothing else except work, so it seeo out--only seht I’m so tired I don’t think that I could deal with the excitely felloanted to buy ht, then"

"Sure"