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“Why? Are you afraid of competition? What’s your problem, O’Connell? Are you afraid that if a woman looks at another man, she’ll discover you aren’t much?”

Keir rab for Gray Gray sidestepped quickly and blocked the move with his forearm

“Don’t,” he said softly

The lowered at each other Then, slowly, each took a step back

“If I were you,” Keir said quietly, “I’d cut o back where I came from”

“Isn’t it a good thing you aren’t ht smile

He could feel the adrenaline pu as he brushed past O’Connell, wrenched open the door and headed across the lobby and out the front door O’Connell didn’t follow him, which he’d half expected It was just as well He didn’t need the hassle a street braould produce, especially if he was still going toto Dawn

The valet brought his car around Gray dropped a bill in the kid’s hand, tried not to growl at the bright smile and “Have a nice day” crap He headed north for no better reason than that traffic seeo all the way out of the city Eventually the road opened up and he stepped hard on the gas The car shot ahead, as if it were as glad to be free of the constraints of neon and concrete as he was

Gray drove aimlessly for more than an hour, his eyes fixed on the distant ht-as-an-arrow road There were cars heading into town but only a few heading out and he passed them quickly After a while, they were just dots in the mirror

Except for a couple of tractor trailers going in the other direction, he was alone on the road

It ry Funny, he thought as he eased back i

n the seat and flexed his hands lightly on the wheel He was a creature of the city, at holass canyons, but Vegas hts, too ed in an a fun, or pretending to

Dawn seeine her on that Arizona mountaintop, the wind in her hair, the sun on her face There would be no Harman in the picture but there would be a child, a shadowy little boy huddled just behind her…

Gray cursed and goosed the car up to ninety There was a turnoff ahead and a gas station looking lonely on the intersection of Nowhere and Noplace He slowed, took the turnoff and found hins of life Perfect, he thought

After a while, he relaxed again