New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author SUZANNE BROCKMANN brings readers two beloved stories of men who will stop at nothing to get the women they love….

LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER

FBI agent John Miller was on the trail of a notorious female serial killer, and he couldn’t blow his cover to anyone. Not even the beguiling Mariah Carver, who had unwittingly entangled herself in a web of deadly deceit. The daring lawman was poised to wed another woman: the ruthless Black Widow, who marries—then murders—her victims….

LETTERS TO KELLY

For years, a trumped-up charge—and a Central American prison cell—kept Jax Winchester from claiming the girl he loved. Now he was a free man. Or was he? He was still a prisoner—in a jail of his own making. The way out this time? Keep that promise he’d made to Kelly O’Brien all those years ago—and claim her for his own.…

Praise for the novels of

New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author

Suzanne Brockmann

“Zingy dialogue, a great sense of drama, and a pair of lovers who generate enough steam heat to power a whole city.”

—RT Book Reviews on Hero Under Cover

“Brockmann deftly delivers another testosterone-drenched, adrenaline-fueled tale of danger and desire that brilliantly combines superbly crafted, realistically complex characters with white-knuckle plotting.”

—Booklist on Force of Nature

“Readers will be on the edge of their seats.”

—Library Journal on Breaking Point

“Another excellently paced, action-filled read. Brockmann delivers yet again!”

—RT Book Reviews on Into the Storm

“Funny, sexy, suspenseful, and superb.”

—Booklist on Hot Target

“Sizzling with military intrigue and sexual tension, with characters so vivid they leap right off the page, Gone Too Far is a bold, brassy read with a momentum that just doesn’t quit.”

—New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen

“An unusual and compelling romance.”

—Affaire de Coeur on No Ordinary Man

“Sensational sizzle, powerful emotion and sheer fun.”

—RT Book Reviews on Body Language

Unstoppable
Suzanne Brockmann

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Love with the

Proper Stranger

Suzanne Brockmann

For Mary Gray, Kirsten McDonough, Sylvia Micalone

and all of the other wonderful Workcamp volunteers who have

allowed me to help raise a hammer and

build houses alongside them, even if only in spirit.

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Prologue

SHE LACED HIS COFFEE with opium.

He wasn’t supposed to drink coffee this late at night. The doctor had told him not to. But she knew how much it pleased him to cheat the doctor’s rules just a little every now and then.

He smiled as she brought it to him, smiled again as he took a sip. He liked it sweet.

The opium wouldn’t kill him. It was part of the ritual, part of the game. She’d given him enough to confuse him, enough to slow his wits, to keep him docile and in control as she prepared for her checkmate.

She kissed the top of his balding head and he smiled again, breathing a deep sigh of contentment—the king, relaxing after a hard day at the office, secure in his castle alongside his beautiful queen.

Tonight, this king would die.

TONY WAS BREATHING HARD. John Miller could hear him clearly over the wire, his voice raspy and loud in the radio headset. Tony was breathing hard and Miller knew he was scared.

“Yeah, that’s right. I’m FBI,” Tony said, giving up his cover. Miller knew without a doubt that his partner and best friend was in serious, serious trouble. “And if you’re as smart as your reputation says you are, Domino, then you’ll order these goons to lay down their weapons and surrender to me.”

Domino laughed. “I’ve got twenty men surrounding you, and you think I’m going to surrender…?”

“I’ve got more than twenty men on backup,” Tony lied, as Miller keyed his radio.

“Where the hell is that backup?” Miller’s usually unshakable control was nearing a breaking point. He’d been ordered to sit tight and wait here outside the warehouse until the choppers arrived in a show of force, but he couldn’t wait any longer. He wouldn’t wait.

“Jesus, John, didn’t you get the word?” came Fred’s scratchy voice over the radio. “The choppers have been rerouted—there’s been an assassination attempt on the governor. It’s code red, priority. You’re on your own.”

No choppers. No backup. Just Tony inside the warehouse, about to be executed by Alfonse Domino, and John Miller here, outside.

It was the one scenario Miller hadn’t considered. It was the one scenario he wasn’t ready for.

Miller grabbed the assault rifle from the floor of the van and ran toward the warehouse. He needed a miracle, but he didn’t waste time praying. He knew full well that he—and Tony—didn’t have a prayer.

“I QUIT.”

The board of directors looked at her in stunned silence.

Marie Carver gazed back at the expressions of shock on the familiar faces and knew that those two little words she’d uttered had granted her freedom. It was that easy. That simple. She quit.

“I’ve made arrangements for my replacement,” she told them, careful not to let her giddy laughter escape. She quit. Tomorrow she would not walk through the front doors and take the elevator up to her executive office on the penthouse floor. Tomorrow she would be in another place. Another city, another state. Maybe even another country. She passed around the hiring reports her secretary had typed up and bound neatly with cheery yellow covers. “I’ve done all the preliminary interviews and narrowed the candidates down to three—any one of which I myself would have utmost faith in as the new president of Carver Software.”

All twelve members of the board starting talking at once.

Marie held up her hand. “Should you decide to hire an outside candidate,” she said, “you would, of course, require my approval as the major stockholder of this company. But I think you’ll be impressed with the choices I’ve given you here.” She rapped the yellow-covered report with her knuckles. “I ask that you hold all of your questions until after you’ve read this. If any concerns remain unanswered, you can reach me at home until six o’clock this evening. After that, I’ll remain in touch with my secretary, whom I’ve promoted to Executive Assistant.” She smiled. “I appreciate your understanding, and will see you all at the next annual shareholders meeting.”

She gathered up her briefcase and walked quickly out of the room.

THE OPIUM WAS working.

His pupils had retracted almost to a pinpoint and he was drooling slightly, blinking sleepily as he watched her dance.

This was the part she liked. This was where she showed him what he would never again have the chance to experience, to violate.

True, this one had been gentle. His soft, old hands had never struck her. He’d been careful not to hurt her. He’d given her expensive presents, fancy gifts. But the act itself would always be an act of violence, always despicable, always requiring punishment.

Capital punishment.

Her dress fell in a pool of silk at her feet, and she deftly stepped out of it. His eyes were glazed, but not enough to hide his hunger at the sight of her. He stretched one hand out toward her, but he didn’t have the strength to reach her.

And still she danced, to the rhythm of the blood pounding through her veins, to the anticipation of the moment when he would gaze into her eyes and know without a doubt that he was a dead man.

FREEDOM.

It hit Marie like the coolness of the air that swept through the open door at the end of the hall. It felt fresh and clean, like that very spring breeze, bringing hope and life and renewal. Through that open door she could see her car, sitting out in the parking lot, ready for her escape.

“Mariah.”

There was only one person on that board of directors who could slow her departure. Susan Kane. Aunt Susan. Marie turned, but kept moving, backward, down the hall.

Susan followed, her long, batik-patterned dress moving in the breeze, disapproval in her slate-blue eyes. “Mariah,” she said again, calling Marie by her childhood nickname. “Obviously you’ve been planning this for some time.”

Marie shook her head. “Only two weeks.”

“I wish you had told me.”

Marie stopped walking then, meeting the older woman’s sternly unwavering gaze. “I couldn’t,” she said. “I didn’t tell most of my own staff until this morning.”

“Why?”

“The company doesn’t need me anymore,” Marie said. “It’s been three years since the last layoffs. We’ve turned it around, Sue. Profits continue to rise—we’re thriving. You know the numbers as well as I do.”

“So take a vacation. Take a leave of absence. Sit back on your laurels and relax for a while.”

Marie smiled ruefully. “That’s part of my problem,” she said. “I can’t relax.”

Susan’s face softened, concern in her eyes. “Is your stomach still bothering you?”

“Among other things.” Like, for instance, the fact that Marie was thirty-two years old and since her divorce four years ago, she had no life outside of the office. Like, the fact that she still worked long overtime hours to increase profits, to expand, to hire more people, even though the failing computer software company that her father’s sudden fatal heart attack had thrust into her lap had long ago become a Fortune 500 business. Like, the fact that each morning she found herself walking into the new, fancy office building into which the company had recently moved, and she wondered, what exactly was the point? What purpose did she serve by being here, by stressing herself out enough to develop stomach ulcers over the mundane, day-to-day operation of this business?

One day she was going to wake up, and she was going to be sixty years old and still walking into that building, still going home much too late to that sad excuse for a condo, still living out of boxes that she still hadn’t managed to unpack.

And she’d look at her life, and all those meaningless, wasted years would stretch back into her meaningless, wasted past.

Because the truth was, even though she’d dutifully gotten her degree in business as her father had wanted, Marie had never wanted to run this company.

Shoot, it had taken years before she’d admitted that to herself. As far as knowing what she really wanted to do, Marie honestly didn’t have a clue. But there was something that she did know.

She wanted to do more than keep a multimillion-dollar corporation up and running. She wanted to have a sense of real purpose. She wanted to be able to look back on her life and feel proud—feel as if she’d truly made a difference.

She was considering running for office. She was also thinking about joining the peace corps. She had found a list a mile long of volunteer organizations that desperately needed man power—everything from accountants for the Salvation Army to hands-on, hammer-wielding home builders for Foundations for Families.

But before she could do anything, she had to handle her stress.

Step one was cutting herself off from this company—breaking her addiction to this job and the company’s addiction to her. She was going to do it cold turkey.

The company would survive. Marie knew they’d survive. Any one of her three job candidates would bring a freshness and vitality to the job that she’d lacked for nearly two years now. Whether or not Marie would survive was a different story…

“Where are you going?” Susan asked.

“I don’t know,” Marie admitted. “I’m just going to take my camera and go. I read in a book about stress-reduction that I should take a few months and leave everything behind—including my name. This book recommended that I temporarily take on a new identity. Supposedly that’ll help me distance myself from everything that’s been causing my ulcers.” She smiled. “I’m going to leave Marie Carver locked in my condo—along with all my doubts about my sanity and my worries that Carver Software will go into a nosedive the moment I leave town.”

Susan pulled her in for a quick hug—an unusual display of affection. “The job will be yours again when you come back,” the older woman whispered. “I’ll make sure of that.”

Marie pulled away, unable to answer. If she had her way, she’d never be back. If she had her way, Marie Carver and her damned ulcers would be gone forever.

SHE USED THE KNIFE TO CUT off a lock of his hair.

He didn’t have too much, just a light fringe of gray at the back of his head, but that didn’t matter. It was the only thing of his that she would keep.

Besides the money.

He was handcuffed now. He’d let her do that willingly, thinking she was playing some new sex game, never suspecting he had only moments left to live.

But when she unsheathed the stiletto, there was a hint of consternation in his drug-glazed eyes.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

She shushed him with a kiss. He couldn’t speak. He wasn’t allowed to speak.

But he didn’t know the rules. “Clarise?” he said, fear pushing past the opium, creeping into his voice, making it waver as she set the tip of the stiletto against his chest.

She felt a flash of regret.

Clarise. She liked that name a lot. It was a shame that she would only be Clarise for a few moments longer. She couldn’t use that name again. And she wouldn’t. She was too smart to make that mistake.

“This has gone far enough,” he said, trying to hide his fear behind an air of authority. “Release me now, Clarise.”

She smiled and leaned on the whisper-thin blade, sliding it deep into his heart, setting him forever free.

“KILL HIM.”

Domino’s order came before John Miller had reached the warehouse doors, and the gunshots—four of them in rapid sequence were amplified deafeningly through his headset.

Tony.

Tony was dead.

Miller knew it. He had no chance of saving his friend.

He had this tape, though, this tape of Domino giving the order to off a federal agent. He had enough evidence to put Domino on death row. Blasting his way through that warehouse door at twenty to one odds would only get himself killed, too.

He knew that as well as he knew his own heartbeat.

But the heart that was pounding in his chest wasn’t beating with a recognizable rhythm. And the red cloud of rage that covered his eyes didn’t obscure his vision, but rather made it sharper, clearer.

Tony was dead, and the son of a bitch who ordered it done was not going to make his escape in a powerboat, losing himself in South America, outside of the FBI’s jurisdiction. No, Alfonse Domino was going to burn in hell.

Miller hit the warehouse door at full run, bringing his gun up and into position at his hip, shouting in rage at the sight of Tony’s crumpled body lying on the cold, blood-soaked concrete, shooting the surprise off the faces of Alfonse Domino and his men.

SHE HAD HER AIRLINE TICKET all ready, under an assumed name, of course. A temporary name.

Jane Riley. Plain Jane. Plane Jane. The thought amused her and she smiled. But only briefly. She knew she had a noticeable smile, and right now she had no desire to be noticed.

Her hair was under a kerchief for the occasion, and she wore a dowdy camel-colored jacket she’d picked up at a secondhand store downtown.

She took nothing of Clarise’s with her. Nothing but the money and her collection. Nine locks of hair.

She traveled light, boarding the plane to Atlanta with only a tote bag that held several novels she’d picked up at the airport shop and two hundred thousand dollars in cash. The rest of the money was already in her Swiss bank account.

In Atlanta, she’d catch a train to who knows where. Maybe New York. Maybe Philadelphia.

She’d catch a show or two, take her time deciding exactly who she wanted to be. Then she’d get her hair cut and colored, shop for a new wardrobe to match her new personality, pick a new town in a new state, and start the game all over again.

And then she’d have ten locks of hair.

Chapter One

JOHN MILLER’S HEART WAS pounding and his mouth was dry as he awoke with a start. He stood up fast, trying hard to get his bearings, reaching automatically for his gun.

“John, are you all right?”

Christ, he was in his office. He’d fallen asleep with his head on his desk, and now he was standing in his office, with his side arm drawn and his hands shaking.

And Daniel Tonaka was standing in the doorway watching him. Daniel was expressionless, as he often was. But he was gazing rather pointedly at Miller’s weapon.

Miller reholstered his gun, then ran both hands across his face. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just fell asleep—or something—for a second.”

“Maybe you should go home and go to bed.”

Bed. Yeah, right. Maybe in some other lifetime.

“You look like hell, man,” Daniel continued.

Miller felt like hell. He needed a case to work on. As long as he was working, the dreams weren’t so bad. It was this damned in-between time that was unbearable. “I just need some more coffee.”

Daniel didn’t say anything. He just looked at Miller. He was relatively new to the bureau—just a kid. He was hardly twenty-five years old, with a young handsome face, high cheekbones and deep brown, exotically shaped eyes that announced his part-Asian parentage. Those eyes held a wisdom that extended far beyond his tender years. And true to the wisdom in his eyes, the kid always knew when to hold his tongue.

Daniel Tonaka could say more with his silence and maybe a lift of one of his dark eyebrows than twenty other men could say if they talked all day.

Miller had had half a dozen new partners since Tony, but Daniel was the only one who had lasted for any length of time. Next week it would be, what? Seven months? The kid deserved some kind of award.

Miller knew quite well the reputation he had in the bureau. He was “The Robot.” He was a machine, an automaton, letting nothing and no one get in the way of his investigation. He was capable of putting everyone around him into a deep freeze with a single laser-sharp look. Even before Tony had died, Miller had kept his emotions to himself, and he had to admit he’d played his cards even closer to his vest over the past few years.

He was aware of the speculation about his lack of close friends within the bureau, the whispered conversations that concluded he was incapable of emotion, devoid of compassion and humanity. After all, a man who so obviously didn’t possess a heart and soul couldn’t possibly feel.

Some of the younger agents would go well out of their way to avoid him. Hell, some of the older agents did the same. He was respected. With his record of arrests and successful investigations, he’d have to be. But he wasn’t well liked.

Not that a robot would give a damn about that.

Daniel stepped farther into Miller’s office. “Working on the Black Widow case?”

Miller nodded, gazing down at the open file on his desk. He’d been studying the photos and information from the latest in a string of connected murders before he’d fallen asleep.

And dreamed about Tony again.

He sat back down in his chair, grimacing at his stiff muscles. Christ, everything ached. Every part of him was sore. He desperately needed sleep, but the thought of going home to his apartment and sinking into his bed and closing his eyes was unbearable. The moment he closed his eyes, he’d be back outside that warehouse. He’d dream about the night that Tony died, and he’d watch it happen all over again. And for the four thousandth time, the choppers would never come. For the four thousandth time, Miller would arrive too late. For the four thousandth time, blowing Domino’s ass straight to hell still wouldn’t make up for the fact that Tony’s brains were smeared across the concrete.

God, the stab of guilt and loss he felt was still so sharp, so piercing. Miller tried to push it away, to bury it deep inside, someplace from which it would never escape. He tried to put more distance between himself and this pain, these emotions. He could do it. He would do it. He was, after all, the robot.

Miller took a swig from a mug of now-cold coffee, trying to ignore the fact that his hand was still shaking. “The killer did her last victim about three months ago.” The coffee tasted like something from a stable floor, but at least it moistened his mouth. “Which means she’s probably preparing to make another go of it. She’s out there somewhere, hunting down husband number eight. At least we think it’s number eight. Maybe there’ve been more we just don’t know about.”

“What if she’s decided she’s rich enough?”

“She doesn’t kill for the money.” Miller picked up the picture of Randolph Powers, knife blade protruding from his chest as he gazed sightlessly from his seat at the dinner table. “She kills because she likes to.” And she was getting ready to do it again. He knew it.

“I haven’t had time to look at this file,” Daniel admitted, sitting down on the other side of the desk, pulling the report toward him. “Are we sure this is the same woman?”

“Exact M.O. The victim was found in the dining room, cuffed to the chair, with the remains of dinner on the table.” Miller ran his fingers through his hair. God, he had a headache. “Opium was found in his system in the autopsy. The entire house was wiped clean of fingerprints. The only photo was a wedding portrait—and the bride’s veil was over her face. It’s her.”

Daniel skimmed the report. “According to this, Powers married a woman named Clarise Harris two and a half weeks prior to his death.” He glanced up at Miller. “The honeymoon was barely over. Didn’t she usually wait two or three months?”

Miller nodded, rummaging through his desk drawers for his bottle of aspirin. “She’s getting impatient.” Jackpot. Miller twisted off the aspirin bottle’s cap—empty. “Damn. Tonaka, do you have any aspirin in your desk?”

“You don’t need aspirin, man. You need sleep. Go home and go to bed.”

“If I wanted free advice, I would’ve asked for it. I think what I asked for was aspirin.”

The deadly look Miller gave Daniel was designed to freeze a man in his tracks.

But Daniel just smiled as he stood up. “You know, I really hope we’re partners for a good long time, John, because I cannot for the life of me imitate that look. I’ve tried. I practice every night in my bathroom mirror, but…” He shook his head. “I just can’t do it. You have a real God-given talent there. See you later.”

Daniel closed the door on the way out and Miller just sat, staring after him, wishing…for what?

If the kid had been Tony, Miller might have told him about the nightmares, about the fact that he was too damn scared even to try to sleep. If the kid had been Tony, Miller might have told him that this morning when he’d gotten on the bathroom scale, he’d found he’d lost twenty pounds. Twenty pounds, just like that.

But Daniel Tonaka wasn’t Tony.

Tony was gone. He’d been dead and gone for years.

Years.

Miller reached for the phone. “Yeah, John Miller. Put me through to Captain Blake.”

It was time to get down to real work on this Black Widow case. Maybe then he could get some damned sleep.

GARDEN ISLE, GEORGIA, was the best kept secret among the jet set. The beaches were covered with soft white sand. The sky was blue and the ocean, although murky with mineral deposits, was clean. The town itself was quaint, with cobblestone streets and charming brick houses and window boxes that overflowed with brightly colored flowers. Most of the shops were exclusive, the restaurants trendy and four-star and outrageously expensive—except if you knew where to go.

And after two months on Garden Isle, Mariah Robinson knew exactly where to go to avoid the crowds. She loaded her camera and her beach bag into the front basket of her bike and headed toward the beach.

Not toward the quiet, windswept beach that was only several yards from her rental house, but rather toward the usually crowded, always happening beach next to the five-star resort.

Most of the time, she embraced the solitude, often reveling in the noise-dampening sound of the surf and the raucous calls of the seabirds. But today she felt social. Today, she wanted the crowds. Today, just on a whim, she wanted to use her camera to take photographs of people.

Today she was meeting her friend, Serena, for lunch at one of those very same four-star restaurants.

But she was more than an hour early, and she took her bike with her onto the sand. She set it gently on its side and spread her beach blanket alongside it. There was a reggae band playing in the tent next to the resort bar even this early in the morning, and the music floated out across the beach.

She sat in the sun, just watching the dynamics of the people around her.

Some sunbathers lay in chaise lounges, their noses buried in books. Others socialized, talking and flirting in large and small groups. Men and women in athletic gear ran up and down the miles of flat, hard sand at the edge of the water. Others walked or strolled. Still others paraded—clearly advertising their trim, tanned bodies, scantily clad in designer bathing suits.

Mariah took out her camera, focusing on a golden retriever running next to a muscular man in neon green running shorts. She loved dogs. In fact, now that she wasn’t shut up in an office each day from dawn till dusk, she was thinking about getting one and—

“Fancy meeting you here this early.”

Mariah looked up but the glare from the bright sun threw the face of the woman standing next to her into shadows. It didn’t matter. The crisp English-accented voice was unmistakable.

“Hey,” Mariah said, smiling as Serena sat down next to her on her blanket.

“I thought you’d sworn off the resort beach,” Serena continued, looking at Mariah over the tops of her expensive sunglasses.

Serena Westford was older than Mariah had originally thought when they’d first met a few weeks ago—she was closer to forty than thirty, anyway. Her smile was young though. It was mercurial and charming, displaying perfect white teeth. Her hair was blond with wisps escaping from underneath the big straw hat she always wore, and her trim body was that of a twenty-four-year-old.

She was as cool and confident as she was beautiful. She was everything Mariah wished she could be. Everything Marie Carver wished she could be, Mariah corrected herself. But Marie Carver had purposely been left behind in Phoenix, Arizona. Mariah Robinson was here in Georgia, and Mariah was happy with her life. She went with the flow, calm and relaxed. No worries. No problems. No stress. No jealousy.

Serena was wearing a black thong bathing suit, covered only by a diaphanous short wrap that fluttered about her buttocks and thighs in the ocean breeze, leaving only slightly more than nothing to the imagination. Despite the fact that Serena Westford was no longer a schoolgirl, she was one of the minuscule percentage of the population who actually looked good in a thong bikini.

Mariah let herself hate her friend—but only for a fraction of a second. So what if Mariah was destined never to wear a similarly styled bathing suit? So what if Mariah was the exact physical opposite of petite, slender, golden Serena? So what if Mariah was just over six feet tall, broad shouldered, large breasted and athletically built? So what if her hair was an unremarkable shade of brown curls, always messy and impossible to control? So what if her eyes were brown? Light brown, not that dark-as-midnight intriguing shade of brown, or cat green like Serena’s.

Mariah was willing to bet that behind Serena Westford’s cool, confident facade, there lurked a woman with a thousand screaming anxieties. She probably worked out two hours each day to maintain her youthful figure. She probably spent an equal amount of time on her hair and makeup. She was probably consumed with worries and stress, poor thing.

“I just came down here to violate the photographic rights of these unsuspecting beachgoers,” Mariah told her friend, unable to hide a smile.

The two women had first met when Mariah took Serena’s picture here on the resort beach. Serena had been less than happy about that and had demanded Mariah hand over the undeveloped film then and there. What could have been an antagonistic and adversarial relationship quickly changed to one of mutual respect as Serena explained that while in the peace corps, she’d spent a great deal of time with certain tribes in Africa who believed that being photographed was tantamount to having one’s soul kidnapped.

Mariah had surrendered the film, and spent an entire afternoon listening to Serena’s fascinating stories of her travels around the world as a volunteer humanitarian.

They’d talked about Mariah’s work for Foundations for Families, too. Serena had mentioned she’d seen Mariah getting dropped off by the Triple F van in the evenings. And they’d talked about the grassroots organization that used volunteers to help build affordable homes for hardworking, low-income families. Mariah spent three or four days each week with a hammer in her hand, and she loved both the work and the sense of purpose it gave her.

“Hey, I got a package notice from the post office,” Mariah told her friend. “I think it’s my darkroom supplies. Any chance I can talk you into picking it up for me?”

“If you had a car, you could pick it up yourself.”

“If I had a car, I would use it once a month, when a heavy package needed to be picked up at the post office.”

“If you had a car, you wouldn’t have to wait for that awful van to take you over to the mainland four times a week,” Serena pointed out.

Mariah smiled. “I like taking the van.”

Serena looked at her closely. “The driver is a real hunk.”

“The driver is happily married to one of the Triple F site supervisors.”

“Too bad.”

Serena’s sigh of regret was so heartfelt, Mariah had to laugh. “You know, Serena, not everyone in the world is husband hunting. I’m actually very happy all by myself.”

Serena smiled. “Husband hunting,” she repeated. “The biggest of the big game.” She laughed. “I like that image. I wonder what gauge bullet I’d need to bring one down…”

Mariah gathered up her things. “Let’s go have lunch.”

SHE WOULD KNOW HIM WHEN she saw him, but she simply hadn’t seen him yet. He would have money. Lots of money. Enough so that when she asked for the funds for the down payment on a house, he wouldn’t hesitate to give it directly to her. Enough so that he would open a checking account in her name—an account she would immediately start draining. She would transfer the money to dummy accounts out of state.

She had the system set up so that anyone following the paper trail would be stopped cold, left high and dry.

She’d sit on the cash for a week or two, then make the deposits into her Swiss bank accounts.

Three million dollars. She had three million dollars American already in her Swiss accounts.

Three million dollars, and nine locks of hair.

Yes, she’d know him when she saw him.

“GARDEN ISLE, GEORGIA,” the agent named Taylor said as he looked around the table from Daniel Tonaka to Pat Blake, the head of the FBI unit, and finally to John Miller. “It’s her. The Black Widow killer. It’s got to be.”

He slid several enlarged black-and-white photos across the conference table, one toward Blake and the other toward Miller and Daniel. Miller sat forward slightly in his chair, picking it up and angling it away from the reflections of the overhead lights. He couldn’t seem to hold it steady—his hands were shaking—and he quickly put it down on the table.

“She’s going by the name Serena Westford,” the young agent was saying. “She came out of nowhere. Her story is that she spent the past seven years in Europe—in Paris—but no one seems to know her over there. If she was living there, she wasn’t paying taxes, that’s for sure.”

The photograph showed a woman moving rapidly, purposefully across a parking lot. She was wearing a hat and sunglasses, and her face was blurred.

Miller looked up. “What’s your name again?”

The young man held his gaze only briefly. “Taylor. Steven Taylor.”

“Couldn’t you get a better picture than this, Taylor?”

“No, sir,” he said. “We’re lucky we even got this one. It was taken with a telephoto lens from the window of the resort. It’s the best of about twenty that I managed to get at that time. Any other time I tried to take her picture, she somehow seemed to know there was a camera around and she covered herself almost completely. I have about five hundred perfect pictures where her face is nearly entirely obscured by enormous sunglasses or her hat. I have five hundred other perfect shots of the back of her head.”

“Yet you’re certain this woman is our Black Widow.” Miller didn’t hide his skepticism.

Daniel shifted in his seat. “I believe it’s her, John. Hear him out.”

Miller was usually unerringly accurate when it came to reading people. He knew for a fact that Patrick Blake disliked him despite his record of arrests. And he knew quite clearly that Steven Taylor was afraid of him. Oh, he was polite and respectful, but something about his stance told Miller clear as day that Taylor was going to request a transfer off this case now that he knew Miller was aboard.

Daniel Tonaka, on the other hand, had never been easy to read. He was unflappable, with a quirky sense of humor that surfaced at the most unexpected moments. As far as Miller could tell, Daniel treated every person with whom he came into contact with the same amount of courtesy and kindness. He treated everyone from a bag lady to the governor’s wife with respect, always giving them his full attention.

Daniel had spoken up to say he had a hunch or a feeling about a suspect or a case only a handful of times, and all of those times he’d been right on target. But this time he’d used even stronger language. He believed Serena Westford was the Black Widow.

Miller looked expectantly at Steven Taylor, waiting for him to continue.

Taylor cleared his throat. “I, um, used the computer to search out the most likely locations the Widow would choose for her next target,” the young man told him. “She prefers small towns with only one or two resorts nearby. I programmed the computer to ignore everything within two hundred miles of the places she either met or lived with her previous victims, and narrowed the list down to a hundred and twenty-three possibilities. From there, I accessed resort records and used a phone investigation to query the resort staff, searching for female guests under five feet two inches, traveling alone, staying for extended lengths of time.

“Frankly, there was a great deal of luck involved in finding Serena Westford. She’d arrived at the Garden Isle resort only two days prior to our call. When it became clear she was traveling under an alias, I went to Georgia myself to try to further identify the suspect.” He shook his head ruefully. “But as you can see, in all of the pictures we have of the Black Widow, her face is covered.”

“But her legs aren’t,” Daniel pointed out. “Steve got plenty of pictures of Serena Westford’s legs.”

“Her legs are visible in some of the other photos we found in the victims’ houses,” Taylor said. “We have no pictures of the Black Widow’s face, but we have plenty of photos of her legs.” He looked at Daniel and grinned. “Tonaka had the idea to take those pictures and these pictures and run a computer comparison. According to the computer, there’s a ninety-eight percent chance that the Black Widow’s legs and Serena Westford’s legs are one and the same.”

Miller glanced at Daniel. Damn, the kid was good at finding creative alternatives. “A computer match of legs won’t hold up in a court of law as proof of identity,” he commented.

“No kidding,” Taylor said, quickly adding, “Sir. But it’s enough to convince me that there should be a further investigation.”

Miller passed the photograph to Captain Blake, and again his hands shook. The older man glanced at him, eyebrows slightly raised.

Miller turned back to Taylor. “Tell me more,” he commanded.

“When Serena first arrived, she had traces of bruising beneath her eyes,” Taylor continued. “I’d dare to speculate that that was from recent plastic surgery—probably a nose job to alter her appearance.”

“We’ve been talking about the possibility of flying husband number seven’s former housekeeper to Garden Isle,” Pat Blake interrupted, “but if the Widow has had extensive plastic surgery, there’s no way she could make a one hundred percent positive ID. I want no room for reasonable doubt. This one isn’t going to walk away.”

Miller nodded. What they needed was to catch the killer in the act.

“She’s recently rented a beach house on Garden Isle,” Taylor continued. “That’s a clear indication that she’s intending to stay, although at this point, I don’t believe she’s targeted her next victim. I’ve compiled a list of all of the people—both men and women—whom our suspect has had contact with over the past several weeks. Out of forty-seven people, twenty-eight have since left the island. They were there only on vacation, and they’ve gone home. Out of the other nineteen, one in particular stands out.”

Taylor took a series of photos from his file, spreading them out on the table.

“Her name is Mariah Robinson,” he said. “Or so she says. According to our files, no such person exists. We’ve identified her as Marie Carver, former CEO of Carver Software out of Phoenix, Arizona.”

Miller leaned forward to look at the photographs. One was of a tall young woman with shoulder-length dark hair, wearing a bathing-suit top and shorts, seated on a beach blanket. Another bikini-clad woman was sitting next to her, her face obscured by a huge straw hat.

The woman in the hat had to be Serena Westford. Her barely there bikini was designed to make blood pressures rise, yet it was the woman sitting next to her that drew Miller’s eyes.

“Marie Carver—or Mariah Robinson as she calls herself—lives alone in a rented house on the island,” Taylor continued. “She spends most of her time on a private beach taking nature photographs. She has a darkroom in her cottage. Every few days, she goes off island—I don’t know where. I haven’t had the opportunity yet to follow her. She and Serena seem pretty tight.”

Mariah Robinson was more than tall, Miller realized. She was an Amazon—a goddess. She had to be only an inch or two shorter than his own six feet two inches. She was as tall as a man, but built entirely like a woman. Her breasts were full and generously proportioned to the rest of her body. Her hips were appropriately wide—enough so that she was probably self-conscious, hence the shorts. Her legs were impossibly long and well muscled.

Another picture caught her riding an ancient bicycle. She was going up a slight hill and standing above the seat, muscles straining in her legs, breasts tight against the cotton of her T-shirt.

Christ, what a body. There was so damned much of her.

Serena Westford was their Black Widow suspect. She had allegedly lured seven men to their deaths with her searing sexuality. She was a femme fatale in the most literal sense.

Yet it was this other woman, Mariah Robinson, who made Miller stand at attention. Of course, he’d always been a breast-and-leg man. And from what he could see from these pictures, she had more than enough of both. Enough for a man to sink into and lose himself in for a solid year or two.

God, what was wrong with him? He didn’t usually have this kind of reaction to the female suspects in a case. Apparently, it had been too long since his last sexual encounter. Way too long. Back even before Daniel came on as his partner. Miller couldn’t even remember when it was, or even whom he’d been with.

Maybe that was why he wasn’t sleeping. Maybe he would finally be able to sleep if a woman was in bed with him. Maybe all he needed was a little sexual relief.

Except the reason he hadn’t had sex since forever was because none of the women he’d met during that time had managed to turn him on.

Yet here he was, having a definite physical reaction from surveillance photos of a murderess’s best friend, who also happened to be living under an alias. What the hell was wrong with him?

And wasn’t it just his luck that it wasn’t going to be the goddess, but the murderess who was probably going to end up in his bed? And that sure as hell wasn’t going to make him sleep any better.

Miller picked up the fifth photo. It was a close-up of Mariah Robinson’s face.

She was pretty in a sweet, girl-next-door kind of way. Her face was heart shaped, with broad cheekbones and a strong, almost pointed chin. Her mouth was generous and wide. Her smile revealed straight white teeth and made dimples appear in her cheeks. Her eyes were light colored—Miller couldn’t tell from the black-and-white photo if they were blue or light brown. But they sparkled with some secret amusement, as if she were laughing at him.

Miller felt a swirl of anticipation deep in his gut. It was sexual energy combined with something else, something deeper and far more complicated. Something that made his pulse quicken. Something he couldn’t identify.

Captain Blake smoothed one hand along the top of his nearly bald head as he shuffled through his copy of the file. “How long do you think it’ll take till we can get a cover in place for an agent to portray potential husband material?” he asked.

“A week,” Taylor answered. “Two at the most. In order to match the profiles of the previous victims, we’d need to find an agent who could pose either as a much older man or a man in poor health. We’d need to provide fictional background, complete with financial records and heavily padded bank accounts. You can bet Serena will run a credit check on anyone she’s considering targeting. We’ll need to prep the agent, set up protection and a surveillance team—”

Miller sat forward. “I could be ready to go down to Garden Isle tomorrow.”

Taylor stared at him, unable to hide his expression of surprise. “You? You’re not old enough.”

“Husband number three was only twenty-nine years old,” Daniel pointed out mildly. “And husband six was in his mid-thirties.”

“Both were in extremely poor health, one in a wheelchair.”

Miller took two copies of his file from his briefcase, handed one to Blake and tossed the other onto the table in front of Steven Taylor. “Meet Jonathan Mills,” he said. “I’m thirty-nine years old. Recently in remission after a long struggle with Hodgkin’s disease—that’s a kind of cancer of the lymph system.”

Taylor opened the file and quickly skimmed Miller’s investigation summary. His eyes widened. “You actually intend to marry this woman…?”

“If I don’t, she won’t try to kill me.”

“You’re going to be her husband,” Taylor said. “You’re actually planning to sleep with her…?”

Even Daniel had a hint of curiosity in his dark brown eyes as he waited for Miller’s answer.

Pat Blake shook his head. “Should I not be hearing this?”

“Don’t worry, Captain, the marriage will be legal. She’ll be my wife,” Miller said. “And I’ll make a point to practice safe sex.” He smiled. “Of course, in her case, that means no knives in bed.” He stood up, scooping the photos and files off the table, and looked at Blake. “Am I good to go?”

The older man nodded. “Let’s do it.”

Daniel and Steven Taylor got to their feet, and Miller turned to leave the room.

“One moment, if you don’t mind, John,” Blake said. He waited until the younger agents had left his office, then stood up and closed the door behind them. “You look like crap.”

Miller knew Blake hadn’t missed the fact that his hands were shaking. “Too much coffee,” he said. “I’m fine, but thanks for your concern.”

Blake nodded, clearly not buying it for one second. “I know we haven’t exactly been friends down through the years, John. I’ve always just figured I’ll stay out of your way, let you do what you do best, and you’ll continue to give me the highest success record in the Bureau. But if you’ve got some kind of problem, maybe there’s something I can do to help.”

Miller met his superior’s eyes steadily. “I just want to get to work.”

“Do you have anyone at all you can talk to, Miller?”

“Will that be all, sir?”

Blake sighed. “I’m not supposed to give you a warning, but after this one’s over, I’m bringing you in for a full psychological evaluation. So go on, get out of here. And try to spend a least some of your time on that resort island with your eyes closed and your head on a pillow.”

Miller had to protest. “Over the past eighteen months my efficiency has increased—”

“Yeah, because you work twenty-two hours each day.” Blake sighed again. “Go to Georgia, John. Catch this killer. Get the job done and make the world safe again for rich, dirty old men. But be ready to be stuck under a shrink’s microscope when you get back.”

Blake turned toward his desk, and Miller knew the conversation was over. He let himself out, aware that his pulse was racing, the sound of blood rushing through his veins roaring in his ears. Psych evaluation. Christ, he didn’t stand a chance. Somehow, over the next few weeks, he was going to have to teach himself to sleep again—or face the new nightmare of a psychological evaluation.

God, he needed another cup of coffee.

He was halfway down the hall that led to the lounge when he heard voices coming from one of the tiny windowless cubicles assigned to the less experienced agents. He heard what’s-his-name’s voice. Taylor. Steven Taylor’s voice.

“He’s a time bomb, about to explode. You know that as well as I do. You wouldn’t believe the rumors that are circulating about John Miller. Talk is that he’s on the verge of some kind of breakdown.”

“Do you always listen to rumors?” It was Daniel, and there was a hint of amusement in his voice.

“Not usually, no. But the man looks terrible—”

Daniel’s voice was gentle now. “He’s a living legend, Steve. He’s the best there is. He looks terrible because he’s got insomnia. It gets worse when he’s between investigations. But believe me, he’ll be fine. Don’t request a transfer—you’ll be able to learn a lot from this guy. Trust me on this one.”

“Humph.” Taylor didn’t sound convinced. “Did you see the way his hands shook? No way do I want to be under the command of some flaky insomniac James Bond has-been who’s on the edge. No, I’m outta here. Haven’t you heard that his partners have a way of dying on him?”

Miller stepped into the room. “If you’ve got a problem with me, Taylor,” he said coldly, “come and tell me to my face.”

A flush of embarrassment darkened Taylor’s cheeks as he gazed at him in surprise. His eyes lost their focus for a second or two, and Miller knew that he was replaying his words in his mind, recalling all the harsh things he’d said that Miller had no doubt overheard.

Time bomb. Flaky insomniac. James Bond has-been.

“Excuse me, sir,” Taylor said, making a quick exit out of the room.

That was one agent he was never going to see again. Miller turned to Daniel Tonaka. “Mind stepping into my office with me?”

Daniel didn’t look perturbed, but then again, Daniel never did.

Miller went out into the corridor, leading the way back to his office. He went inside, then turned and waited for Daniel to join him.

“What’s up?” Daniel asked evenly.

Miller closed the door and immediately lit into him. “If I hear you discussing my personal life with another agent ever again, you will be transferred off my team so fast, you won’t know what hit you.”

He’d truly caught Daniel off guard, and a myriad of emotions flashed across the young man’s face. But he quickly recovered. “I was unaware that you believed your inability to sleep was a secret around here.”

“I know damn well that it’s no secret,” Miller said coolly. “But it’s not your business to discuss.”

Daniel nodded and even managed to smile. “Okay. I can respect that, John. And I apologize for offending you.”

Miller opened his office door. “Just be ready to leave first thing in the morning.”

“I will.” Daniel paused and smiled again before he went out the door. “I’m glad we had this little time to talk and straighten things out.”

Miller didn’t let himself smile until he’d closed his office door behind Daniel. I’m glad we had this little time to talk… Hell, other men would’ve wet themselves. Taylor sure as hell would’ve—it was just as well he wasn’t going to be hanging around, getting in the way.

Miller tossed his briefcase onto a chair and the photos Taylor had taken onto his desk. The blurred picture of Serena Westford had been on top, but it slid off the pile, and Mariah Robinson’s laughing eyes peeked out at him.

Tomorrow he was going to be in Garden Isle, Georgia, and he was “accidentally” going to bump into Mariah Robinson. For the first time in weeks, he felt wide-awake with the buzz of anticipation.

Chapter Two

THERE WAS A DOG ON THE beach, frolicking in the surf in the predawn light.

There was a dog—and a man.

It wasn’t such a rare occurrence for a dog and its master to be on the beach outside of Mariah’s cottage. The stretch of sand was nearly seven miles long, starting down by the resort, and ending at the lighthouse on the northernmost tip of the island. Ambitious runners and power walkers often provided a steady stream of traffic going in both directions.

No, finding a dog and a man on the beach wasn’t odd at all, except for the fact that it wasn’t yet even five o’clock in the morning.

Mariah had risen early, hoping to get some photos of the deserted beach at sunrise.

There was still time—she could ask them to move away, off farther down the beach. But the man was sitting in the sand, his back slumped in a posture of exhaustion, his head in his hands. And the dog was having one hell of a good time.

Mariah moved closer. The wind was coming in off the water, and neither dog nor man was aware of her presence. She settled herself on her stomach in the sand and propped her camera up on her elbows as she focused her lens on the dog.

It was a mutt and probably female. Mariah could see traces of collie in the animal, along with maybe a little spaniel and something odd—maybe dachshund. Her coat was long and shaggy—and right now almost entirely soaked. She had short legs and a barrel-shaped body, a long, pointed nose and two ears that flapped ungracefully around her head. She may not have been eligible to win any beauty contests, but Mariah found herself smiling at her expression of delight as she bounded in and out of the waves. She could swear the dog was full-out grinning.

Her master, on the other hand, was not.

He stood up slowly, painfully, as if every movement hurt. He moved as if he were a hundred years old, but he wasn’t an old man. His crew-cut hair was dark without even a trace of gray, and the lines from the glimpse she saw of his face seemed more from pain than age.

As he straightened to his full height, Mariah saw that he was tall—taller even than she was by at least a few inches. He wore sweatpants and a windbreaker that seemed to fit him loosely, as if he’d recently lost weight or been ill.

Together, man and dog made a great picture, and Mariah snapped shot after shot.

The dog bounded happily up to the man.

“Hey, Princess. Hey, girl.” His voice was carried on the wind directly to Mariah. “Time to go back.”

His voice was low and resonant, rich and full.

Dog and master were silhouetted against the red-orange sky, making a striking picture. Mariah moved her camera up to snap another photo, and the dog turned toward her, ears up and alert. She launched herself in Mariah’s direction, and the man turned, too.

“Stop,” he commanded. He spoke softly, just one single word, but the dog pulled up. She backed off slightly, her entire backside wagging as she grinned at Mariah.

Mariah looked from the dog to the man.

The man was far better-looking—or at least he would be if he smiled.

His hair was dark and severely cut close to his scalp, almost as if it was growing in after he’d shaved his head. Despite the austerity of his crew cut, he was a strikingly handsome man. His features looked almost chiseled, the bone structure of his face more elegant than rugged. His eyebrows were thick and dark, and right now forming a rather intimidating scowl over eyes that she guessed were brown. His chin quite possibly was perfect, his lips generously full, but his nose was large and slightly crooked.

On closer scrutiny, Mariah realized that it was possible some people might not have found this man worthy of a second glance. Actually, he wasn’t conventionally handsome—he’d certainly never grace the cover of a men’s fashion magazine. But there was something about his looks that she found incredibly appealing.

Or maybe it wasn’t his looks at all, Mariah thought with a smile, remembering how the young woman in the natural-food store on the mainland had spoken of cosmic reverberations and auras. Maybe as far as auras went, his was a solid ten.

As he stepped closer, she saw in the pale morning light that his face was lined with weariness and gray with fatigue. Still, despite that and his too-short hair, she found him to be remarkably attractive.

“Hi,” Mariah said, sitting up and brushing the sand off the front of her T-shirt. His eyes followed the movement of her hand, and she became self-consciously aware of the fact that she’d only thrown a pair of shorts on underneath the T-shirt she’d worn to bed. She wasn’t wearing a bra and she didn’t have the body type that allowed for such wardrobe omissions. The only times she didn’t bother to put on a bra were mornings like this, when she was certain she would be alone.

But she’d been wrong. Right now, she most definitely was not alone.

“I’m sorry,” she said, trying to fold her arms across her chest in a casual manner. “I didn’t mean to intrude.”

Dear God, would you listen to her? She was apologizing for being on her own stretch of beach.

She didn’t have to apologize for that. And she certainly shouldn’t bother to apologize for her missing bra. Despite the man’s earlier scowl, it was clear from the way that his gaze kept straying in the direction of her breasts that he, for one, was not in the least put out by her lack of underwear.

He pulled his gaze away from her long enough to glance up at the cottage. “Is this your place?”

Mariah nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “I’m renting it for the season.”

“Nice,” he said, but his eyes were back on her, sweeping along the lengths of her bare legs, skimming again across her body and face. “I hope we didn’t disturb you. The dog can get loud—she’s still young.”

“No, I woke up to catch the sunrise on film.”

He glanced up at the sky. The sun was already above the horizon and climbing fast. “I’m sorry,” he said. “We were in your way.”

“It’s all right.”

He held out one hand, offering to help her up.

Taking his hand meant she’d have to unfold her arms. But there was no way she’d be able to get to her feet with her arms folded anyway.

What the heck, Mariah thought, reaching up to clasp his hand. With a face like his, this man had no doubt seen a vast array of female bodies, and probably wearing far less than a worn-out T-shirt. She was nothing new, no big deal.

He, on the other hand, was a very, very big deal. He pulled her up from the sand, and she found herself standing much too close to him. But when she moved to back away, he steadied her with his other hand, his fingers warm against her elbow.

He was tall, with shoulders that went on forever and a broad chest that tapered down to a narrow waist and slim hips and… Embarrassed, Mariah quickly brought her eyes back to his face.

His eyes were blue. They were electric, brilliant, neon blue. And they sparked with the heat of attraction. Dear God, he found her attractive, too.

“Is it just you?” the man asked, and Mariah gazed up at him stupidly, wondering what he was talking about.

“Renting the house,” he added, and she understood.

“Yes,” she said, gently pulling free and putting some distance between them. “I’m here by myself.”

He nodded. God, whoever he was, he was so serious. She’d yet to see him smile.

“How about you?” she asked. “Are you vacationing with your family?”

He shook his head. “No, I’m here alone, too.” He motioned vaguely down the beach. “I’m staying at the resort, at least temporarily. I was thinking about renting one of the houses up on this part of the beach. I’m getting tired of room service—I’d like to have my own kitchen.”

“It’s a trade-off,” Mariah told him. “Renting a house is more private, but you lose the benefits of having a hotel maid. And if you’re not careful about cleaning up after yourself in the kitchen… Well, the variety of insect life you can attract is immense. You can’t leave anything out. Not even a plate with crumbs on it. You have to keep all the food in the refrigerator—or in plastic containers. But as long as you don’t mind doing that, it’s great.”

He nodded. “Maybe I’ll stick with room service for a while longer.”

Princess the dog inched forward and pressed her cold nose against the back of Mariah’s knee. “Yikes!” Mariah exclaimed.

“Princess, back,” the man said sharply.

“She was just playing,” Mariah protested as the dog immediately obeyed. “It’s okay—she just startled me. I don’t mind. She’s…an unusual mix.”

There was a glint of amusement in his eyes. “You’re unusually tactful. But it’s okay. She’s not a mix of anything. She’s a pure mutt, and she knows it. There’s no ego involved—for either one of us.”

“She does what you say,” Mariah said. Princess gazed up at her, tongue lolling from her mouth, eyes sharp, ears alert, tail thumping slightly even though she was sitting down. She seemed to understand every word of the conversation. “That’s worth more than a pedigree.”

“She was well trained,” he told her. “I…inherited her from a friend a few years ago.”

He glanced out over the ocean as if trying to hide the sudden sadness in his eyes. Or maybe she only imagined she saw such an emotion there—when he looked back at her, it was gone.

He held out his hand. “I’m Jonathan Mills.”

His fingers were warm and large and made her own hand seem slender and practically petite. “I’m…” She hesitated for a moment, uncertain of which name to give him. “…Mariah Robinson,” she decided. It wasn’t as if she were telling a lie. It had become true. Over the past two months, she’d acted less and less like Marie Carver and more and more like Mariah Robinson. At least more like the Mariah Robinson she’d heard about from her grandmother. The Mariah her own childhood nickname had come from.

He was still holding her hand, but his gaze had dropped to her breasts again.

“Are you here for the week?” she asked.

He looked up, and for half a second, Mariah thought she saw a flash of embarrassment in his eyes—embarrassment that he’d been caught staring. But it, too, was quickly gone. This man was a master at hiding his feelings.

“I’m here until my hair grows back in,” he told her.

Mariah gently pulled her fingers free from his grip. “Well, that’s one way to handle a bad-hair day.”

Jonathan Mills almost smiled. Almost, but not quite. He ran one hand across his short hair. “Actually, today’s a rather good hair day, if you want to know the truth.”

God, had she insulted him? “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that your hair looks bad…or anything…” Her voice trailed off.

He finally smiled. “It’s okay. I know exactly what it looks like, and it looks much better than it did a few days ago.”

He had a nice smile. It was only a small smile, barely playing about the corners of his elegantly shaped lips, but it was very nice just the same.

He looked down at the camera she was holding, its strap still encircling her arm. “Are you a professional photographer?” he asked.

Mariah shook her head. “No, no, I’m…not.” God, what was her problem? It had been two decades since she was a seventh grader, so why was she suddenly acting like one? “It’s a hobby.”

Was it her imagination, or had Jonathan Mills just gone another shade paler?

“I’ve got a camera, too,” he said, “though I’ve got to confess I’m not sure I can get it to work. I bought it a few years ago and don’t use it much. Would you mind if I brought it over sometime? Maybe you could show me how it works.”

Would she mind? “Of course not.”

He looked down the beach in the direction of the resort. “I think I better go,” he said.

He was more pale. And perspiration was beading on his upper lip. He wiped it away with the back of his hand. The morning sun was hot, but it wasn’t that hot.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

He pressed his temples with both hands. “I’m not sure. I’m feeling a little…faint.”

He was a stranger. Mariah knew she shouldn’t invite him into her house. But it couldn’t hurt to bring him up so he could sit for a minute in the shade on her deck, could it?

“Why don’t you come up to the house and sit in the shade?” she suggested. “I’ve got some iced tea in the fridge.”

Jonathan nodded. “Thanks.”

His entire face was slick with sweat as he followed Mariah up toward the cottage.

Even Princess was subdued, trailing after them quietly.

Mariah walked backward, watching him worriedly. “You’re not, like, having a heart attack on me, are you?”

Whatever was happening, he was hurting. His lips twisted in a smilelike grimace. “My heart’s fine.”

Mariah could see that it took him some effort to speak, so she didn’t ask any other questions. He staggered slightly, and she quickly moved to help him, unthinkingly supporting him by putting her arm around his back and his arm across her shoulders.

He was warm and he was solid and he was pressed against her side from her underarm all the way to her thighs. She may have reached for him unthinkingly, but now that she was in this rather intimate position, she could do nothing but think.

When was the last time she’d walked arm in arm with a man like this?

Never.

The thought flashed crazily through her mind as she misinterpreted her own silent question. She’d walked arm in arm with plenty of men—although not recently—but she’d never walked arm in arm with a man like this.

Jonathan Mills was different from all of the men she’d ever known. Including Trevor. Maybe especially Trevor.

“I’m really sorry about this,” he murmured as they reached the stairs that led to her deck.

“Can you make it up here?” Mariah asked.

But he’d already started to lower himself down so that he was sitting on the third step. He shook his head. “Can you do me a favor?”

“I can try.”

“Call my assistant at the resort. His name’s Daniel Tonaka. Room 756. Will you ask him to come and please pick me up?”

“Of course.”

Mariah took the steps up two at a time, leaving Princess sitting and worriedly watching her master.

It didn’t take long to make the phone call. She woke Daniel Tonaka up, but he snapped instantly awake. She gave him directions, and he told her he was on his way. Mariah had to wonder. Did this happen often?

She poured a plastic tumbler of iced tea as she spoke on the phone, then carried it back to the deck. “It shouldn’t take him much more than ten minutes to get over here from the resort....”

Jonathan Mills was no longer sitting on the stairs. He wasn’t on the deck, and she would have seen him if he’d come into the house…

Down in the sandy yard, Princess barked sharply. Mariah went halfway down the stairs and then she saw Jonathan.

He was crumpled in the sand, out cold.

At first she thought he was dead, he was lying there so completely motionless. She set the glass of iced tea down on the stairs but knocked it over in her haste to get down to him as quickly as possible.

She found the pulse in his neck beating slowly and steadily and she breathed a sigh of relief. His skin was warm and the stubble from his chin felt rough against her fingers. When was the last time she’d touched a man’s face? Surely not an entire five years, back before Trevor finally left? Still, she honestly couldn’t remember.

“John,” she said softly, trying to rouse him but not wanting to shout in his ear.

He groaned and stirred, but didn’t open his eyes.

Mariah could feel the early morning sun already beating down on her head and her back. “John,” she said again, louder this time, touching his shoulder. “Come on, wake up. We’ve got to get you out of the sun.”

He was a large man, but Mariah was no lightweight herself, and she was able to hoist him up by taking hold under both arms. As she dragged him toward the shade, he roused slightly, trying to help her. He opened his eyes, but quickly shut them, wincing against the brightness of the sun.

“God, what happened?”

“I think you fainted,” she told him.

There was a bit of shade at the side of the house, and he sank to the ground.

“Can you sit up?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Still dizzy.”

He lay on his back, right there on the sandy ground. His eyes were closed, and he had one arm thrown across them as if for added protection from the brightness. There were bits of gravel and sand stuck to the side of his face, and Mariah gently brushed them off.

“John, I’m going to go get some cold towels,” she told him. “Don’t try to stand up, all right?”

“Yeah,” he managed to say.

Mariah dashed back up the stairs and into the house. She grabbed two hand towels from the linen closet, stopping only to dampen one with cool water in the kitchen sink.

Jonathan hadn’t moved when she reached him, but he did open his eyes again at the sound of her footsteps. “I’m really sorry about this,” he said. His eyes were so blue.

Mariah sat down next to him, lifting him slightly so that his head was off the hardness of the ground and resting instead in her lap. She pressed the cool towel against his forehead and he closed his eyes. “I really hope whatever this is, it’s not contagious.”

Another flash of blue as he looked up at her. “It’s not. I’m…not contagious, I promise. I haven’t been sleeping that well and… I’m really sorry about this,” he said again.

Someday their children would marvel at the story of the way they’d met....

Where had that thought come from? It had simply popped into Mariah’s mind. Their children? What was that about? Still, she had to admit, this made one heck of a good story. They meet on the beach, and he turns green and passes out. It certainly was different, at any rate.

“I don’t know what happened,” he admitted. “I was sitting on the steps, and I was positive I was going to get sick to my stomach, so I stood up and…” He laughed, but it was painful-sounding, embarrassed. “I don’t think I’ve ever fainted before.”

He seemed to want to sit up, so Mariah helped him. She could tell with just one touch that he was a mass of tension, a giant bundle of stress. She could feel it in his body, in his shoulders and neck, even see it in the tightened muscles in his face. Gently, she massaged his shoulders and back, wishing she had the power to teach this man in one minute all that she’d learned in the past two months, all the relaxation techniques and stress-reduction exercises that had helped her.

“God, that feels good,” he breathed.

“There’s a licensed masseur at the resort,” Mariah told him. “You should definitely schedule some time with him. You’re really tense.”

He was starting to relax, the tightness in his shoulders melting down to a more tolerable level. He sighed and she saw that his eyes were closed as he sat slumped forward, forehead resting in his hands.

“Don’t fall asleep yet,” Mariah leaned closer to whisper. “I think your friend just pulled up in front of the house.”

Her lips were millimeters away from the softness of his ear, and on a whim, she closed the final gap, brushing her lips gently against him in the softest of kisses.

His eyes opened again, and he turned to stare at her, as if she’d taken a bite out of him instead.

Mariah felt her cheeks heat with a blush. Obviously, she’d finally lost her mind. It was the only explanation she could come up with, the only reason she had for kissing this stranger who’d fainted in her yard.

But his eyes seemed to soften as he saw her blush, and with that softness came an almost haunting vulnerability.

That vulnerability was something she instinctively knew that he usually kept hidden. He kept a lot hidden, she knew that, too. There was quite a bit about this man that she recognized, that seemed familiar.

“Wow, John, are you okay?”

Daniel Tonaka was a man of slightly shorter than average height. But he was stronger than his lean build suggested. He leaned over and easily helped Jonathan to his feet.

Daniel looked at Mariah. “What happened?”

“I don’t know.” She shook her head, gracefully rising and helping Daniel support John as they headed toward his car. “He walked out here from the resort, along the beach. We were talking, and then suddenly, wham-o. He started to sweat and then he passed out.”

“I just need some breakfast,” John insisted as they helped him into the passenger seat. “I’m all right.”

“Yeah, man, you look about as all right as roadkill.”

Mariah reclined the seat slightly, then leaned across John to fasten his seat belt. Her breasts brushed his chest, and when she glanced down at him, his eyes were open again, and he was looking directly at her.

“Thank you,” he said, giving her one of his almost smiles.

Mariah’s mouth was dry as she backed out of the car and closed the door.

“Come on, Princess,” Daniel said.

The dog jumped into the car, taking a surefooted stance on the back seat.

“Thank you very much, Miss…?” Daniel called to her. “I’m sorry, I’ve forgotten your name.”

“Robinson,” she told him. “Mariah Robinson.”

Jonathan Mills lifted a hand in a weak wave as the car pulled away.

Mariah looked at her watch. It wasn’t even 6:00 a.m. The day had barely just begun.

SHE SAW THEM THROUGH THE window of the resort health club.

She worked out for several hours early each morning—earlier than most other people used the resort facility. She was here only to tone and strengthen her body. She wasn’t here to flash her spandex-clad reflection in the mirrors on the wall, to catch the attention of some healthy, weight-lifting, muscle-bound man.

No, the man she was looking for wasn’t going to be found pumping iron.

A car pulled into the parking lot alongside the building—the only thing moving in the early-morning stillness. As she worked her triceps, she watched a young Asian man help another man out of that car and toward the wing that held the more expensive rooms. A dog trotted obediently behind them.

The older man was bent over, his shoulders stooped as if from fatigue or pain. His skin had a grayish cast. Yet there was still something about him that caught her eye.

She set down her weights and moved closer to the window, watching until they moved out of sight.

MARIAH ROBINSON belonged to him.

The game had begun early this morning, and already he’d gotten much further than he’d hoped.

John Miller pulled to a stop in Mariah’s driveway. He took a deep breath, both amused and disgusted by the sensation of anticipation that was flowing through him.

This woman was his way to get closer to a suspected killer. No more, no less.

He tried to tell himself that the anticipation he was feeling was from being under cover, from closing in on the Black Widow. And those flowers he had on the car seat next to him were all part of his plan to make friends with a woman who was close to his suspect.

Miller had ordered a dozen roses yesterday—a thank-you gift for helping him—before he’d even met Mariah Robinson, as she was currently calling herself. But as he’d gone into the florist’s to pick them up this afternoon, he’d spotted a display of bright yellow flowers—great big, round flowers that brought huge, colorful splashes of brilliance into the room.

He’d known instantly that Mariah would prefer wild-looking flowers like that over hothouse roses. On a whim, he’d canceled the roses and bought a huge bouquet of the yellow flowers instead, mixed together with a bunch of daisies and something delicate and white called baby’s breath.

He should’ve stomped down his impulse and bought the damned roses. The roses were part of his plan. The roses said an impersonal thanks. But the yellow flowers echoed the memory of Mariah’s gentle hands touching his face, her strong, slender fingers massaging his shoulders, her lips brushing lightly against his ear.

And that was trouble.

The yellow flowers had nothing to do with catching Serena Westford and everything to do with the unmistakable heat of desire that had flooded him as he’d gazed into Mariah’s soft brown eyes.

She was everything her picture had shown and more.

And now he was going to walk into her house with these stupid flowers and lie to her about who he was and why he was here. But the biggest lie of all would be in denying the attraction that had flared between them. Jonathan Mills was only to become Mariah’s friend. It was John Miller who wanted to take this woman as his lover and lose himself in her quiet serenity for the entire rest of the year.

It was John Miller who’d found himself unable to tear his eyes away from the soft cotton of Mariah’s T-shirt as it clung revealingly to her body out on the beach that morning. He’d caught himself staring more than once, and he could only hope that she hadn’t noticed.

But he knew damn well that she had. He’d seen the slight pink of her blush on her cheeks.

Miller got out of the car and, carrying the flowers with him, went to Mariah’s front door and rang the bell.

There was no answer.

He knew she was home—Daniel had been out on surveillance all day and had just called saying that Mariah was back home after an afternoon of running errands in town. Sure enough, her bike was leaning against the side of the house.

Miller went around toward the back, toward the beach, and nearly ran smack into Mariah.

She’d come directly from the ocean. Her hair was wet, her dark curls like a cap against her head. Her skin glistened from the water, and her tank-style bathing suit was plastered to her incredible body. The sun sparkled on a bead of water caught in her eyelashes as her eyes widened in surprise.

“John! Hi! What are you doing here?”

God, she was gorgeous. Every last inch of her was fantastic. But she wrapped her towel around her waist as if self-conscious of the way she looked in a bathing suit.

He held out the yellow flowers. “I wanted to thank you for helping me this morning.”

She took the flowers, but barely looked at them. Her attention was fully on him, her gaze searching his face. “Are you all right? You didn’t walk all the way out here, did you?”

“No, I drove.”

“By yourself?” She looked over his shoulder at the car, parked in her drive.

“I’m feeling much better,” he said. “It was just…I don’t know, low blood sugar, I guess. I didn’t have much dinner last night, and I didn’t have anything to eat before I left the resort this morning. But I had some breakfast and even managed to catch a few hours of sleep after Daniel gave me a ride back to my room.”

“Low blood sugar,” she repeated her gaze never leaving his face.

She clearly didn’t believe him. It was the perfect opening for him to begin to tell her Jonathan Mills’s cover story. But the words—the lies—stuck in his throat, and for the first time in his life, he almost couldn’t do it.

What was wrong with him? This was the part of being under cover that he always enjoyed—getting close to the major players in the game. He’d never thought of his cover story as lies before. It was, instead, the new truth. His cover became his new reality. He was Jonathan Mills.

But as he looked into Mariah’s eyes, he couldn’t push John Miller away. No doubt the fatigue and the stress of the past few years were taking their toll.

“Actually,” he said, clearing his throat, “it was probably a combination of low blood sugar-and the fact that I’ve just finished a course of chemotherapy.” He ran his fingers through his barely there hair as he watched realization and horror dawn in Mariah’s eyes. He should have felt a burst of satisfaction, but all he felt was this damned twinge of guilt. He hardened himself. He was the robot, after all.

“Oh,” she said.

“Cancer,” he told her. “Hodgkin’s. The doctors caught it early. I’m…I’m lucky, you know?”

She was looking down at the flowers now, but her gaze was unfocused. When she glanced back up at him, he could see that she had tears in her eyes. Tears of compassion, of sympathy. He knew he’d moved another step closer to his goal, but robot or not, he felt like a bastard.

“Would you be interested in that glass of iced tea I offered you this morning?” she asked, blinking back the tears and forcing a friendly smile.

Miller nodded. “Thanks.”

Mariah led the way up the stairs to her deck, her hips swaying beneath her beach towel. Miller let himself look. Looking was all he was going to be able to do, God help him.

“These flowers are beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like them before.” She gestured toward a round, umbrella shaded table, surrounded by cushioned chairs. “Why don’t you sit down?”

“Thanks.”

Mariah carried the flowers into the kitchen and set them down on the counter. Cancer. Jonathan Mills had cancer. He’d just finished a course of chemotherapy.

She gripped the edge of the counter, trying hard to keep her balance.

Talk about stress. Talk about pain. Talk about problems. Her own petty problems were laughable compared to having an illness that, left unchecked, was sure to kill him. And even with the treatment, there was still a pretty big chance that he wouldn’t survive.

Cancer. God. And he was the one bringing her flowers.

Mariah took a moment to put them in water, gathering the strength she needed to go back out onto the deck and make small talk with a man who was probably going to die.

Taking a deep breath, she took two glasses from the cabinets and filled them with ice, then poured the tea. Cancer.

Somehow, she was able to smile by the time she carried the glasses back out to the deck.

But he wasn’t fooled. “I freaked you out, didn’t I?” John asked as she set the glass down in front of him. “I’m sorry.”

Mariah sat down across from him, arranging her towel so that it covered most of her legs, grateful that he wasn’t going to ignore the fact that he’d just told her he was so desperately ill. “Are you able to talk about it?” she asked.

He took a sip of his iced tea. “Sometimes it seems as if it’s all I’ve talked about for the past year.”

“If you don’t want to, it’s—”

“No, that’s all right. I guess I…wanted you to know. I haven’t always made a habit of doing nosedives into the sand at the drop of a hat.” He took a deep breath and forced a smile. “So. I’ll give you the Reader’s Digest version. I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease, which is a form of cancer of the lymph nodes. Like I said, my doctors caught it early—I was stage one, which means the cancer hasn’t metastasized. It hasn’t spread. The survival rate is higher for patients with stage one Hodgkin’s. So I took the treatments, did the chemo—which made me far sicker than the Hodgkin’s ever did—and here I am, waiting for my hair to grow back in.” He paused. “And to find out if I’m finally out of danger.”

Mariah remembered the tension she’d felt in his shoulders. Was it any wonder this man was a walking bundle of nerves? He was waiting to find out if he was going to live or die. He looked exhausted, sitting there across from her, the lines in his face pronounced.

“No wonder you’re not eating well. You’re probably not sleeping very well, either,” she said. “Are you?”

Something shifted in his eyes, and he looked out at the ocean, shimmering at the edge of the sand. He didn’t answer right away, but she just waited, and he finally turned back to her. “No,” he said. “I’m not.”

“Is it that you can’t fall asleep?” she asked. “Or after you fall asleep, do you wake up a few hours later and just lie there, thinking about everything, worrying…?”

“Both,” he admitted.

“I used to do that,” she told him. “Two hours after I fell asleep, I’d be wide-awake, lying in bed, suffocating underneath all these screaming anxieties....” She shook her head. “That’s not a fun way to live.”

“I have nightmares.” Miller heard the words leave his mouth, and it was too late to bite them back. Jonathan Mills didn’t have nightmares. The nightmares were John Miller’s albatross. They belonged to Miller alone. He drank the last of his iced tea and stood up. “I really didn’t mean to stay long. I know you probably have things to do. I just wanted to thank you for…everything.”

Mariah stood up, too. “You know, I have a book on stress-reduction techniques that I could lend you, if you want.”

A book. She could lend him. How perfect was that? He could drop by to return it some afternoon—while Serena Westford just happened to be visiting. What a coincidence. Serena meet Jonathan Mills. John, this is Serena…

“Thanks,” Miller said. “I’d like that.”

With the swish of her towel against her legs, she disappeared into the darkness of the house. The book must’ve been right in the living room because she came out almost immediately.

He took it from her, glancing quickly at the cover, which read 101 Innovative Ways to Relieve Stress. “Thanks,” he said again. “I’ll bring it back in a few days.”

“Why don’t you keep it,” she said. “I’ve gotten pretty good at most of the exercises in there. Besides, I can always pick up another copy.”

Miller had to laugh as his perfect plan crumbled. “Don’t you get it? I want to return it. It gives me an excuse to come back out here.”

Mariah’s soft brown eyes got even softer, and John was reminded of the way she’d looked at him this morning after she’d gently kissed his ear. “You don’t need an excuse to come over,” she told him quietly. “You’re welcome here. Anytime.”

Miller tried to force a smile as he thanked her. What was wrong with him? he wondered again as he walked around to his car. He should be feeling triumphant. She liked him—that couldn’t have been more obvious. This was working out perfectly.

Feeling like an absolute bastard, he put the car in gear and drove away.

Chapter Three

MARIAH WAS ON THE ROOF when she saw Serena’s sports car pull up in front of the Foundations for Families building site.

“Hel-lo!” Her friend’s bright English accent carried clearly up to her.

Mariah used the back of her hand to wipe the perspiration from her forehead. Tomorrow she was going to have to remember to bring a sweatband—the weather forecast had predicted more of this relentless heat. She was dirty and hot, with stinging salt and sunblock dripping into her eyes, and her back was starting to ache.

But she was surrounded by people who laughed and sang as they worked. Today she was driving nails alongside Thomas and Renee, the man and woman who would own this house, watching the pride they took in being able to help build the home that would shelter them and their two daughters—Jane Ann and Emma.

Foundations for Families started each day with a minute of silent meditation, of joining hands and closing their eyes, just taking a moment to touch base with the powers that be—God, or Mother Nature, or even Luke Skywalker’s Force—it didn’t matter which. Meals were something out of an old-fashioned barn raising with sandwiches and lemonade provided by volunteers. And each day, Thomas and Renee would call to Mariah and thank her by name—sometimes even enveloping her in an embrace as she left to go home.

Mariah couldn’t remember ever being happier.

Down on the ground, Serena shaded her eyes to gaze up at her. “What time are you done here?”

Mariah rested her hammer against her work boot and unfastened her water bottle from her belt. She took a long swig before answering. “My shift ends at six,” she said.

“Good. Then you can meet me at seven, at the resort,” Serena decided. “We can eat at the grill out by the pool, then prowl the bars, husband hunting as you so aptly put it.”

The resort. Where Jonathan Mills was staying. Except Mariah was almost certain he wasn’t the type to hang out in a bar. Still, she was almost tempted to go over there. Almost.

She hooked her water bottle back onto her belt and hefted her hammer. “Sorry. Can’t,” she told her friend, glad she had an excuse. She wasn’t the type to hang out in bars, either. They were noisy, crowded and filled with smoke and desperation. “I’m coming back out here tomorrow. I’ve got to be up early in the morning. Laronda scheduled a building blitz. We’re gonna get this sucker watertight by sundown.”

Serena looked at the rough plywood that framed the modestly sized house and skeptically lifted an elegant eyebrow. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope,” Mariah said cheerfully. “Of course, we could always use more volunteers. I don’t suppose you’re interested…?”

“Not on your life.” Serena snorted. “I did my share—in Africa fifteen years ago, with the peace corps.”

The peace corps. Funny. Mariah knew Serena had spent nearly eighteen months with the peace corps—building roads and houses, working in a part of Africa where electricity hadn’t found its way to this very day. They’d talked about it quite a bit, but Mariah still couldn’t picture the elegant blonde actually getting her hands dirty digging latrines. Serena? No, she just couldn’t imagine it. Still, why would the woman lie? And she spoke of her time in the corps with such authority.

“Sure I can’t talk you into having some fun tonight?” Serena asked.

Mariah shook her head. “I’m having fun right now,” she told her friend.

“You,” Serena said, “are one seriously twisted woman.” She called back over her shoulder as she headed toward her car, “Don’t forget about my party Friday night.”

“You know, Serena, I’m not really the party type…”

But Serena had already climbed behind the wheel, starting her car with a roar.

Mariah didn’t want to go to any party. She’d been to several of Serena’s affairs before and stood uncomfortably while Serena’s chic resort friends talked about nothing of any substance. The weather. The stock market. The best place to rent jet skis.

Last time, she’d left early and vowed to make up an excuse if Serena ever invited her again. She’d have to think up something convincing…

But she wasn’t going to think about it right now. She had a house to build. No worries. No problems.

Mariah got back to work.

MILLER WAS RUNNING on empty.

He’d awakened before dawn, after only a few hours of rest, jarred out of sleep by an ominous dream. It wasn’t his usual nightmare, but it was a dream filled with shadows and darkness, and he knew if he fell back to sleep, he’d soon find himself outside that damned warehouse.

So he’d made himself a cup of coffee, roused Princess and headed down the beach, toward Mariah’s cottage.

The first glimmer of daybreak had been lighting the sky when he’d reached the part of the strand where he’d met Mariah two mornings ago. And as he’d watched, the light in her beach house went off, and she came outside, shouldering a backpack.

She climbed on her bicycle and rode away, down the road toward town, before he was even close enough to call out to her.

He stayed for a while, hoping she would return, but she hadn’t. Later, he’d found her bike, locked to a rack by the public library.

Having to wait for her to come back was frustrating, but Miller had been on stakeouts that had literally lasted for months, and he knew how to curb his impatience. He’d set up camp under the shade of a brightly colored beach umbrella, lathered himself with sunblock and waited.

He’d spent the first part of the morning reading that book Mariah had lent him. It was one of those touchy-feely books that urged the reader to become one with his or her emotions, and to vent—to talk or cry. Emotional release was necessary—according to the author, a Dr. Gerrard Hollis from California, of course—before the anxiety causing stress could be relieved.

Miller flipped through the chapters on breathing exercises and self-hypnosis techniques, focusing instead on the section about reducing stress through sex. There was nothing like regularly scheduled orgasmic release—according to the esteemed Dr. Hollis, whoever the hell he was—to counter the bad effects of stress on the human nervous system.

Each of the exercises outlined in the book—and this section went on for an entire detailed chapter—were designed to be both physically and emotionally relaxing. They were also designed to be done either by a couple, or by an individual. Women could make use of certain “assistive” devices if they so desired, Dr. Hollis pointed out.

Miller had gotten a hell of a lot of mileage out of thinking about Mariah performing those exercises, with or without assistive devices.

But she still hadn’t returned by lunchtime, and Miller had gone back to the resort. He’d spent the afternoon helping Daniel fine-tune the surveillance equipment the younger man had planted in Serena Westford’s rented house. Yesterday, around noon, their suspect had gone off island. Instead of following her, assuming that if she was going over the causeway to the mainland she was planning to stay for a while, Daniel had used the opportunity to hide miniature microphones in key spots in Serena’s home.

Their surveillance system was up and running.

And now Miller was back outside Mariah’s house, watching the sun set, wondering where she had gone, feeling slightly sick to his stomach from fatigue.

He heard the squeak of her bicycle before he saw her. As he watched, she turned up her driveway, getting off her bike and pushing it the last few feet up the hill. She put down the kickstand, but the sandy ground was too soft to hold it up, and she leaned it against the side of the house instead.

She slipped her arms out of her backpack and tossed it down near the foot of the stairs leading up to her deck. And then, kicking her feet free from a pair of almost ridiculously clunky work boots, she pulled her T-shirt over her head and headed directly toward the ocean.

As Miller watched, she dropped her shirt on the sand and crash-dived into the water. She didn’t notice him until she was on her way back out. And then she saw Princess first.

Mariah’s running shorts clung to her thighs, their waistband sagging down across her smooth stomach, the pull of the water turning them into hip huggers. The effect was incredibly sexy, but she quickly hiked her shorts up, pulling at the thin fabric in an attempt to keep it from sticking to her legs.

“John,” she said, smiling at him. “Hi.”

She was wearing some kind of athletic bra-type thing, the word “Champion,” emblazoned across her full breasts. There was nothing she could do to keep that wet fabric from clinging, but she seemed more concerned with keeping her belly button properly concealed.

And Miller couldn’t think of anything besides the exercise that Dr. Hollis called “Releasing Control.” And the one the good doctor called “Pressure Cooker Release.” And something particularly intriguing that was cutely labeled “Seabirds in Flight.” It was a damned good thing his shorts weren’t wet and clinging to his body.

“Hey.” Somehow he managed to make his voice sound friendly—and as if he wasn’t thinking about how incredible it would be to reenact that famous beach scene in From Here to Eternity with this woman right here and now. “Where’ve you been all day?”

“Were you looking for me?” She couldn’t hide the pleasure in her voice or the spark of attraction in her eyes.

Miller felt that same twinge of something disquieting and he forced it away. So she liked him. Big deal. “I came by this morning,” he told her.

The waves tugged again at her shorts, and she came all the way out of the water to stand self-consciously, dripping on the sand. She had no towel to cover herself this time, and she was obviously uncomfortable about that. But she leaned over to greet Princess, enthusiastically rubbing the dog’s ears.

“I went over to the mainland,” she told Miller, rinsing her hands in the ocean. “I volunteer for Foundations for Families, and I was working at a building site. We got the vinyl siding up today.”

“Foundations for Families?”

She nodded, squeezing the water out of her ponytail with one hand. “It’s an organization that builds quality homes for people with low incomes. The houses are affordable because of the low-interest mortgages Triple F arranges, and because volunteers actually build the houses alongside the future home owners.”

Miller had heard of the group. “I thought you had to be a carpenter or an electrician or a professional roofer to volunteer.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “And how do you know I’m not one?”

Miller covered his sudden flare of alarm with a laugh. She wasn’t challenging him or questioning him. She hadn’t suddenly realized he knew all about her background through his FBI files. She was teasing. So he teased her back. “Obviously because I’m a sexist bastard who archaically thinks that only men can be carpenters or electricians or roofers. I apologize, Miz Robinson. I stand guilty as charged.”

Mariah smiled. “Well, now that you’ve confessed, I can tell you that I’m not a carpenter. Although I am well on my way to being a professional roofer. I’ve helped do ten roofs since I got here a couple of months ago. I’m not afraid of heights, so I somehow always end up working there.”

“How many days a week do you do this?”

“Three or four,” she told him. “Sometimes more if there’s a building blitz scheduled.”

“A building blitz?”

“That’s when we push really hard to get one phase of the project finished. Today we blitzed the siding. We’ve had weeklong blitzes when we start and finish an entire house inside and out.” She glanced at him. “If you’re interested, you could come along with me next time I go. I’ve got tomorrow off, but I’m working again the day after that.”

“I’d like that,” he said quietly. The uneasiness was back—this time not because he was deceiving her, but because his words rang with too much truth. He would like it. A lot.

Means to an end, he reminded himself. Mariah Robinson was merely the means to meeting—and catching—Serena Westford.

But Mariah smiled almost shyly into his eyes and he found himself comparing them to whiskey—smoky and light brown and intoxicatingly warming.

“Well, good. I leave early in the morning—the van picks me up at six. You could either meet me here or downtown in front of the library.” She looked away from him and glanced up at the sky. The high, dappled clouds were streaked with the pink of the setting sun. “Look at how pretty that is,” she breathed.

She was mostly turned away from him, and he was struck by the soft curve of her cheek. Her skin would feel so smooth beneath his fingers, beneath his lips. Her own lips were slightly parted as she gazed raptly out at the water, at the red-orange fingers of clouds extending nearly to the horizon, lit by the sun setting to the west, to their backs.

And then Miller followed her gaze and looked at the sky. The clouds were colored in every hue of pink and orange imaginable. It was beautiful. When was the last time he’d stopped to look at a sunset?

“My mother loved sunsets,” he said, before he even realized he was speaking. God, what was he telling her? About his mother…?

But she’d turned to look at him, her eyes still so warm. “Past tense,” she said. “Is she…?”

“She died when I was a kid,” he told her, pretending that he had only said that because he was looking for that flare of compassion he knew was going to appear in her eyes. Serena Westford, he reminded himself. Mariah was a means to an end.

Jackpot. Her eyes softened as he knew they would. She was an easy target. He was used to manipulating hardened, suspicious criminals. Compared to them, Mariah Robinson was laughably easy to control. One mention of his poor dead mother—never mind that it was true—and her eyes damn near became filled with tears.

“I’m so sorry,” she murmured. She actually reached for his hand and gently squeezed his fingers before she let him go.

“She always wanted to go to Key West,” Miller said, watching her eyes. “She thought it was really great that the people on Key West celebrate every single sunset—that they stop and watch and just sit quietly for a few minutes every evening. God, I haven’t thought about that in years.”

Mariah gave him another gentle smile, and he knew he was lying to himself. He was doing it again. This was his background, his history, not Jonathan Mills’s cover story. He was telling her about his mother because he wanted to tell her. He’d known Tony for nearly two decades, and the topic had never come up in their conversations. Not even once. He knew this girl, what? Two days? And he was telling her about his mother’s craziest dream.

They’d planned to rent a car and drive all the way from New Haven down to Key West. But then she’d gone and died.

Mariah was silent, just watching the sky as the last of the light slipped away. Who was controlling whom? Miller had to wonder.

“Do you have plans for this evening?” he asked.

She turned to scoop her T-shirt up off the sand. “A friend wanted me to go barhopping, but I turned her down. That’s not exactly my idea of fun. Besides, I’m beat. I’m going to have a shower, a quick dinner, and then sit down with a good book with my feet up.”

“I should go,” Miller murmured. He definitely had to go. Serena Westford was probably that friend, and if she was out, she probably wasn’t going to be dropping by tonight. He’d come back in the morning when the sun was up, when the soft dusk of early evening wasn’t throwing seductive shadows across everything.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Mariah said. “I picked something up for you on the mainland this morning.”

She hurried back up the beach toward the backpack she’d left at the bottom of the stairs. Miller followed more slowly. She’d picked something up for him?

“Wait a sec,” she said, bounding up the stairs, carrying the heavy-looking backpack effortlessly. “I want to turn on the deck light.”

Princess followed her up the stairs.

“Hey, what are you doing?” he heard Mariah say to Princess. “You can’t go in there. My rental agreement distinctly says no dogs or cats. And I hate to break it to you, babe, but you’re definitely a dog. I know you don’t believe me....”

The light came on as Miller started up the stairs. It was one of those yellow bug lights, easy on the eyes. It cast a golden, almost fairy-tale-like glow on the deck.

Mariah had her backpack on the table as she unzipped one of the compartments. He stopped halfway up the stairs, afraid to get too close, fighting the pull that drew him toward her. Means to an end, he reminded himself.

“There’s a Native American craft shop on the mainland,” she told him as she drew a heavy tool belt out and set it on the table. “I love going in there—they’ve got some really beautiful jewelry and some fabulous artwork. But when I went past this morning, I was thinking about you and I went in and bought you this.” She pulled a bag out of her pack and something out of that bag.

It was round and crisscrossed with a delicate string of some kind, intricately woven as if it were a web. A feather was in the center, held in place by the string, and several other longer feathers hung down from the bottom of the circle.

Miller didn’t know what the hell it was, but whatever it was, Mariah had bought it for him. She’d actually bought him a gift.

“Wow,” he said. “Thanks.”

She grinned at him. “You don’t have a clue what this is, do you?”

“It’s, um, something to hang on the wall?”

“It’s something to hang on the wall by your bed,” she told him. “It’s a dream catcher. Certain Southwestern Native American tribes believed having one near while you slept would keep you from having nightmares.” She held it out to him. “Who knows? Maybe they’re right. Maybe if you hang it up, you’ll be able to sleep.”

Miller had to climb the last few steps to take the dream catcher from her hands. He wasn’t sure what to say. He couldn’t remember the last time anyone had bought him anything. “Thank you,” he managed. She had been thinking about him today. They’d only met twice, and she had been thinking about him....

That was good for the case, he tried to tell himself, but he knew the real truth. It had nothing to do with Serena Westford and everything to do with this sudden ache of desire he couldn’t seem to ignore.

For the briefest, wildest moment, he actually considered following through on his urges to make his relationship with Mariah a sexual one. But even he couldn’t do that. Even he wasn’t enough of a son of a bitch to use her that way.

Still, when Miller opened his mouth to take his leave, he found himself saying something else entirely. “I haven’t had dinner yet. Can I talk you into joining me? There’s a fish place right down the road…?”

“I’m really not up to going out,” Mariah told him. “But I’ve got a swordfish steak in the fridge that I was going to throw on the grill. I’d love it if you’d join me.” She didn’t give him time to respond. “I’ve got to take a shower,” she said, pushing open the sliding door that led from the deck into the house. “I’ll be quick—help yourself to a beer or a soda from the kitchen.”

She was inside the house before he could come up with a good reason why he shouldn’t stay for dinner. But there were plenty of reasons. Because eating here, in the seclusion of her cottage, was too intimate. Because he wasn’t sure he’d be able to maintain this pretense of wanting to be only friends. Because the thought of her in the shower while he was out here waiting was far too provocative. Because he didn’t trust himself to keep his distance.

But Miller didn’t say anything.

Because, despite the fact he knew he was playing with fire, he wanted to stay here with Mariah Robinson more than he’d wanted anything in years.

“CAR ALARMS,” JOHN SAID as he helped Mariah carry the last of the dishes back into the kitchen. “The company makes car alarms, and in the late eighties the business boomed. I took over as CEO when my father retired. I’ve been gone too long—I need to get back to work in a month or two.”

Mariah leaned back against the sink. “How have the sales figures been since you’ve left?”

He shrugged. “Holding steady.”

“Then you don’t need to do anything,” she told him. “Particularly not throw yourself back into the rat race before you’re physically ready. Give yourself a break.”

He smiled very slightly. “I still look pretty awful, huh?”

“Actually, you look much better.” Over the past few days, his hair had grown in quite a bit more. Mariah figured he must be one of those men who needed a cut every two weeks or so because his hair grew so quickly. It was dark and thick and he now looked as if he’d intentionally gotten a crew cut rather than as if he’d been attacked by a mad barber with an electric razor.

His skin looked a whole lot less gray, too. He actually had some color, as if he’d been out in the sun for part of the day.

His eyes were a different story. Slightly bloodshot and bleary, he still looked as if he hadn’t slept in weeks.

“Did you get a chance to look at that book I gave you?” she added.

“Yeah.” He couldn’t hide his smile. “It was…educational. Particularly the chapter about stress reduction through sex.”

Mariah felt her cheeks heat with a blush. “Oh, God,” she said. “I forgot all about that chapter. He does go into some detail, doesn’t he? I hope you didn’t think I was—”

“I didn’t think anything,” he interrupted her. “It’s all right. I was just teasing.”

She laughed giddily. “And I was just going to ask you into the living room to try out one of my favorite stress-relieving exercises, but now I’m not sure how you’ll take that invitation.”

“It wouldn’t happen to be the exercise called “Pressure Cooker Release,” by any chance?” he asked.

She knew exactly which one he was talking about, and she snorted, feeling her face turn an even brighter shade of red. “Not a chance.” But maybe after she got to know him quite a bit better…

He smiled as if he was following the direction of her thoughts. Jonathan Mills had the nicest smile. He didn’t use it very often, but when he did, it softened the harsh lines of his face and warmed the electric blue of his eyes.

She found herself smiling back at him almost foolishly.

He broke their gaze, glancing away from her as if he were afraid the heat that was building in both of their eyes had the potential to burn the house down.

Pressure cooker release indeed.

Mariah waited for a moment, but he didn’t look back at her. Instead, he poured himself another mug of decaf, adding just a touch of sugar, no milk.

The conversation had been heading in a dangerously flirtatious and sexually charged direction. John had started it, but then he’d just as definitely ended it. He’d stopped them cold instead of continuing on into an area peppered with lingering looks and hot sparks that could jolt to life a powerful lightning bolt between them.

Mariah didn’t know whether to feel disappointed or relieved.

Jonathan Mills had proven himself to be the perfect dinner guest. He’d started the gas grill while she was in the shower and had even put together a salad from the fresh vegetables she’d had in the refrigerator.

He was clearly good at fending for himself in a kitchen. He had to be—he’d told her over dinner that he’d never been married. He’d told her quite a bit more about the successful business he’d inherited.

What she couldn’t figure out was why no woman had managed yet to get her hooks into such an attractive and well-to-do man.

Not that Mariah was looking to get involved on any kind of permanent basis. She wasn’t like Serena, eyeing every man who came her way for eligibility and holding a checklist of whatever characteristics she required in a husband. Money, Mariah thought. Serena wouldn’t want a man if he didn’t have plenty of money. John had that, but he also had cancer. Serena probably wouldn’t be very interested in acquiring a man who was fighting a potentially terminal illness.

Nobody would.

Who would want to risk becoming involved with a man who had Death, complete with black robe and sickle, hovering over him?

Mariah cleared her throat. “Well,” she said, “if you’re interested in giving it a try, the relaxation exercise I’m thinking about is one I found extremely effective and…”

He looked a little embarrassed. “I don’t know. I’ve never been very good at that kind of thing. I mean, it’s never worked for me in the past and—”

“What can it hurt to try?”

John met her eyes then. He laughed halfheartedly, sheepishly. “I really don’t have much patience for doing things like lying on your back and closing your eyes and having someone tell you to imagine you’re in some special place with a waterfall trickling and birds singing. I’ve never been to a place like that and I can’t relate at all and—”

Mariah held out her hand. “Just try it.”

He looked from her face to her hand and back, but didn’t move. “I should just go.”

She stepped closer and took his hand. “I promise it won’t hurt,” she said as she led him into the living room.

Miller knew he shouldn’t be doing this. This kind of touchy-feely stuff could lead to actual touching and feeling. And as much as he wanted that, it wasn’t on his agenda.

He was here to catch a killer, he reminded himself. Mariah was going to provide his introduction to that killer. Her role was to be that of a mutual friend. A friend, not a lover. A means to an end.

As Mariah passed a halogen lamp, she turned the switch, fading the light to an almost nonexistent glow. It was a typical rental beach house living room. Sturdy furniture with stain-resistant slipcovers. Low-pile, wall-to-wall carpeting. Generic pictures of lighthouses and seabirds on the walls. A rental TV and VCR all but chained to the floor. White walls and plain, easy-to-clean curtains.

But Mariah had been here for two months, and she’d added touches of her own personality to the room.

A wind chime near the sliding glass doors, moving slightly in the evening breeze. Books stacked on an end table—everything from romances to military nonfiction. A boom box and a pile of CDs on another end table. A crystal bird on a string in front of a window, sparkling even in the dim light. A batik-print throw across the couch. The bouquet of bright yellow flowers he’d brought her just a few mornings ago.

She released his hand. “Lie down.”

“On the floor?” God, he hated this already. But he did it, lying on his back. “And close my eyes, right?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

As he closed his eyes, he heard her sit on the couch, heard her sandals drop to the floor as she pulled her long legs up underneath her.

“Okay, are your eyes closed?”

Miller sighed. “Yeah.”

“Okay, now I want you to picture yourself lying in a special place. In a field with flowers growing and birds flying all around and a waterfall in the distance…”

Miller opened his eyes. She was laughing at him.

“You should see the look on your face.”

He sat up, rubbing his neck and shoulders with one hand. “I’m glad I entertained you. Of course, now my stress levels are so high I may never recover.”

Mariah laughed. It was a husky, musical sound that warmed him.

“Lie down here on the couch,” she said, moving out of his way and patting the cushions. “On your stomach this time. I’ll rub your back while we do this, get those stress levels back down to a more normal level—which for you is probably off the scale, right?” She stopped, suddenly uncertain. “What I meant to say was, I’ll rub your back if you want…”

Miller hesitated. Did he want…? God, yes. A back rub. Mariah’s fingers on his neck and shoulders… He moved up onto the couch. Surely he was strong enough to keep it from going any further.

“Thanks,” he said, resting his head on top of his folded arms.

“It’ll be easier if you take your shirt off,” she told him, “but you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” she added quickly.

Miller turned to look up at her. “This is just a back rub, right?”

She nodded.

“You’re doing me a favor. Why wouldn’t I want to make it easier for you?”

Mariah was blunt. “Because people sometimes misinterpret removing clothes as a sign that something of a sexual nature is going to follow.”

He had to smile. “Yeah, well, that’s mostly true, isn’t it?”

She sat down next to him, on the very edge of the couch. “If I was going to come on to you, I would be honest about it. I would tell you, ‘Hey. John, I’m going to come on to you now, okay?’ But that’s not what I’m doing here. Really. We just met. And if that weren’t enough, you have issues. I have issues.”

“You have issues?” he asked. Did they have something to do with the reason why she’d traveled more than halfway across the country to live under an assumed name?

“Not like yours. But yeah. I do. Doesn’t everyone?”

“I guess.”

She was remarkably pretty, sitting there above him like that, her clean, shiny hair falling in curls and waves down to her shoulders.

She’d put on a pair of cutoff jeans and a tank top when she came out of the shower. She smelled like after-sun lotion, sweet and fresh.

Miller pulled his T-shirt over his head, rolling it into a ball and using it, along with his arms, as a pillow. As he shifted into position, he could feel Mariah’s leg pressed against him. It felt much too good, but she didn’t move away, and he was penned in by the back of the couch. He had nowhere to go.

But then she touched him, her fingers cool against the back of his neck, and he forgot about trying to move away from her. All he wanted was to move closer. He closed his eyes, gritting his teeth against the sweet sensation.

“This is supposed to make you relax, not tighten up,” Mariah murmured.

“Sorry.”

“Make a fist,” she told him.

Miller opened his eyes, lifting his head to look back at her. “What?”

She gently pushed his head back down. “Are you right-or left-handed?”

“Right-handed.”

“Make a fist with your right hand,” she said. “Hold it tightly—don’t let go.”

“Am I allowed to ask why?”

“Yeah. Sure.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m telling you to. You agreed to do this exercise, and it won’t work unless you make a fist. So do it.”

“I never agreed to do anything,” he protested.

“You gave your unspoken consent when you lay down on this couch. Make a fist, Mills.” She paused. “Or I’ll stop rubbing your back.”

Miller quickly made a fist. “Now what?”

“Now relax every other muscle in your body—but keep that fist tight. Start with your toes, then your feet. You’ve surely done that exercise where you relax every muscle, first in your legs and then your arms and then all the way up to your neck?”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t work,” he said flatly.

“Yes, it does. I’ll talk you through it. Start with your feet. Flex them, flex your toes, then relax them. Do it a couple of times.”

She ran her fingers through his hair, massaging the back of his head and even his temples. Christ, it felt heavenly.

“Okay, now do the same thing with your calves,” she told him. “Tighten, then relax. You know, this is actually an exercise from a Lamaze childbirthing class. The mothers-to-be learn to keep the rest of their bodies relaxed while one muscle is tensed and working hard. Of course they can’t practice with the actual muscle that’s going to be contracting, so they contract something else, like a fist.” Her voice was soft and as soothing as her hands. Despite himself, he felt his tension draining away. He actually felt himself start to relax. “Okay, tighten and relax the rest of your legs. Are you doing it? Are you loose?”

He felt her reach down with one hand and touch his legs, shaking them slightly.

“That’s pretty good, John. You’re doing great. Relax your hips and stomach…and your rear end. And don’t forget to breathe—slow it down, take your time. But keep that fist tight.”

Miller felt as if he were floating.

“Okay, now relax your shoulders and your arms. Relax your left hand—everything but that right fist. Keep holding that.”

He could feel her touching him, her hands light against his back, caressing his shoulders and arms.

“Relax the muscles in your face,” she told him softly. Her husky, musical voice seemed to come from a great distance. “Loosen your jaw. Let it drop open.

“Okay, now relax your right hand. Open it up as if you’re setting everything free—all of your tension and stress. Just let it go.”

Let it go.

Let it go.

Miller did as she commanded, and before he could stop himself, he sank into a deep, complete, dreamless sleep.

Chapter Four

MARIAH WOKE UP, heart pounding, sure she’d been dreaming.

But then she heard it again. A strangled, anguished cry from the living room. She nearly knocked over the lamp on her bedside table as she lunged for it, using both hands to flip the switch.

Four fifty-eight. It was 4:58 in the morning.

And that was Jonathan Mills making those noises out in her living room.

He’d fallen asleep on her couch. He’d lain there motionless, as thoroughly out cold as if he’d been hit over the head with a sledgehammer. Mariah had stayed up reading for as long as she could, but had finally given in to her own fatigue. She hadn’t had the heart to wake him and send him home.

She’d put an old blanket under the patio table for Princess to curl up on and covered John with a light sheet before she went to bed herself.

He cried out again, and she went out into the hall, turning on the light.

He was still asleep, still on the couch. He’d thrown off the sheet, shifting onto his back. Perspiration shone on his face and chest as he moved restlessly.

He was having a nightmare.

“John.” Mariah knelt next to him. “John, wake up.”

She touched him gently on the shoulder, but he didn’t seem to feel her. His eyes opened, but he didn’t even seem to see her. What he did see, she couldn’t imagine—the look of sheer horror on his face was awful. And then he cried out, a not quite human sounding “No!” that ripped from his throat. And then the horror turned to rage. “No!” he shouted again. “No!”

He grabbed her by the upper arms, and Mariah felt a flash of real fear as his fingers bit harshly into her. For one terrifying moment, she was sure he was going to fling her across the room. Whoever it was he saw here in her place, he was intending to hurt and hurt badly. She tried to pull away, but he only tightened his grip, making her squeal with pain.

“Ow! John! God! Wake up! It’s me, Mariah! Don’t—”

Recognition flared in his eyes. “Oh, God!”

He released her, and she fell back on the rug on her rear end and elbows. She pushed herself away from him, scooting back until she bumped into an easy chair.

She was breathing hard, and he was, too, as he sat, almost doubled over on the couch.

The shock in his eyes was unmistakable. “Mariah, I’m sorry,” he rasped. “What the hell happened? I was… God, I was dreaming about—” He cut himself off abruptly. “Did I hurt you? God, I didn’t mean to hurt you....”

Mariah rubbed her arms. Already she could see faint bruises where his fingers had pressed too hard in the soft underside of her upper arms. “You scared me,” she admitted. “You were so angry and—”

“I’m sorry,” he said again. “Oh, God.” He stood up. “I better go. I’m so sorry....”

As Mariah watched, he turned to search for his T-shirt. He couldn’t find it and he had to sit down on the couch again for a moment because he was shaking. He was actually physically shaking.

“You don’t ever let yourself get good and angry,” Mariah realized suddenly. “Do you?”

“Do you have a shirt I can borrow? Mine’s gone.”

“You don’t, do you?” she persisted.

He could barely meet her eyes. “No. Getting angry doesn’t solve anything.”

“Yeah, but sometimes it makes you feel better.” She crawled back toward him. “John, when was the last time you let yourself cry?”

He shook his head. “Mariah—”

“You don’t cry, either, do you?” she said, sitting next to him on the couch. “You just live with all of your fear and anger and grief all bottled up inside. No wonder you have nightmares!”

Miller turned away from her, desperate to find his shirt, desperate to be out of there, away from the fear he’d seen in her eyes. God, he could have hurt her so badly.

But then she touched him. His hand, his shoulder, her fingers soft against the side of his face, and he realized there was no fear in her eyes anymore. There was only sweet concern.

Her face was clean of any makeup and her hair was mussed from sleep. She was wearing an oversize T-shirt that barely covered the tops of her thighs, exposing the full length of her statuesque legs. Her smooth, soft skin seemed to radiate heat.

He reached for her almost blindly, wanting only…what? Miller didn’t know what he wanted. All he knew was that she was there, offering comfort that he couldn’t keep himself from taking.

She seemed to melt into his arms, her face lifted toward his, and then he was kissing her.

Her lips were warm and soft and so incredibly sweet. He kissed her harder, drinking of her thirstily, unable to get enough.

Her body was so soft, her breasts brushing against his chest, and he pulled her closer. She fit against him so perfectly, the room seemed to spin around him. He wanted to touch her everywhere. He wanted to pull off her shirt and feel her smooth skin against his.

He pulled her back with him onto the couch and their legs intertwined. Not for the first time that night, Miller wished he’d worn shorts instead of jeans.

He shifted his weight and nestled between the softness of her thighs, nearly delirious with need as he kissed her harder, deeper.

This was one hell of a bad mistake.

She pushed herself tightly against him, and he pushed the thought away, refusing to think at all, losing himself in her kisses, in the softness of her breast cupped in his hand.

She was opening herself to him, so generously giving him everything he asked for, and more.

And he was going to use her to satisfy his sexual desires, then walk away from her without looking back the moment she introduced him to Serena Westford—her friend, his chief suspect.

He couldn’t do this. How could he do this and look himself in the eye in the mirror while he shaved each morning?

But look where he was. Poised on the edge of total ecstasy. Inches away from paradise.

He pulled back, and she smiled up at him, hooking her legs around him, her hands slipping down to his buttocks and pressing him securely against her.

“John, don’t stop,” she whispered. “In case you haven’t noticed, I am coming on to you now.”

“I don’t have any protection,” he lied.

“I do,” she told him. “In my bedroom.” She reached between them, her fingers unfastening the top button of his jeans. “I can get it....”

Miller felt himself weaken. She wanted him. She couldn’t be any more obvious about it.

He let her pull his head down toward hers for another kiss, let her stroke the solid length of his arousal through the denim of his jeans, all the while cursing his inability to keep this from going too far.

He was a lowlife. He was a snake. And after all was said and done, she would hate him forever.

Somehow, Miller found the strength to pull back from her, out of her arms, outside the reach of her hands. “I can’t do this,” he said, nearly choking on the words. He sat on the edge of the couch, turned away from her, running his shaking hands through his hair. “Mariah, I can’t take advantage of you this way.”

She touched his back gently, lightly. “You’re not taking advantage of me,” she said quietly. “I promise.”

He turned to look at her. Big mistake. She looked incredible with her T-shirt pushed up and twisted around her waist. She was wearing high-cut white cotton panties that were far sexier than any satin or lace he’d ever seen. She wanted to make love to him. He could reach for her and have that T-shirt and those panties off of her in less than a second. He could be inside of her in the time it took to go into her bedroom and find her supply of condoms.

He had to look away before he could speak.

“It’s not that I don’t want to, because I do,” he told her. “It’s just…”

Miller could feel her moving, straightening her T-shirt, sitting up on the other end of the couch. “It’s all right. You don’t have to explain.”

“I don’t want to rush things,” he said, wishing he could tell her the truth. But what was the truth? That he couldn’t make love to her because he was intending to woo and marry a woman she considered one of her closest friends?

He had to stop thinking like John Miller and start thinking like Jonathan Mills. He had to become Jonathan Mills, and his reality—and the truth—would change, too. But he’d never had so much trouble taking on a different persona before.

“I’m not ready to do more than just be friends with you, Mariah. I just got out of the hospital, my latest test results aren’t even in and…” He broke off, staring out the window at the dawn breaking on the horizon, Jonathan Mills all but forgotten. “It’s morning.”

As Mariah watched, John stood up, transfixed by the smear of color in the eastern sky.

“I slept until morning,” he said, turning to look at her. He smiled—a slight lifting of one side of his mouth, but a smile just the same. “Whoa. How’d that happen?”

She smiled back at him. “I guess you’re going to have to admit that my silly relaxation exercise worked.”

He shook his head in wonder, just gazing at her. She could still see heat in his eyes and she knew he could see the same in hers.

He looked impossibly good with his shirt off and the top button of his jeans still unfastened. He was maybe just a little bit too skinny, but it was clear that before his illness he’d been in exceptionally good shape.

She could guess why he didn’t want to become involved with her. He was just out of the hospital, he’d said. He didn’t even know if he was going to live or die. And if he thought he was going to die…

Another man might have more of a live-for-today attitude. But John refused to take advantage of her. He was trying to keep her from being hurt, to keep her from becoming too involved in what could quite possibly be a dead-end relationship in a very literal sense.

But it was too late. She already was involved.

It was crazy—she should be pushing to keep her distance, not wanting to get closer to him. She didn’t need to fall for some guy who was going to go and die. She should find his shirt for him, and help him out the door.

But he found his shirt on his own, on the floor next to the couch. He slipped it on. “I better go.”

He didn’t want to leave. She could see it in his eyes. And when he leaned over to kiss her goodbye—not just once, but twice, then three times, each kiss longer than the last—she thought he just might change his mind.

But he didn’t. He finally pulled away, backing toward the door.

“I’d love it if you came over for dinner again tonight,” she told him, knowing that she was risking everything—everything—with her invitation.

Something shifted in his eyes. “I’m not sure I can.”

Mariah was picking up all kinds of mixed signals from him. First those lingering goodbye kisses, and now this evasiveness. It didn’t make sense. Or maybe it made perfect sense. Mariah wasn’t sure which—she’d never been this intimate with someone dealing with a catastrophic illness before.

“Call me,” Mariah told him, adding softly, “if you want.”

He looked back at her one more time before going out the door. “I want. I’m just not sure I should.”

SERENA WENT THROUGH the sliding glass doors, past the dining table and directly into the kitchen, raising her voice so that Mariah could hear from her vantage point on the deck. “Thank God you’re home. I’m so thirsty, I was sure I was going to die if I had to wait until I got all the way to my place.”

“Your place is not that much farther up the road.” Mariah glanced up from the piles of black-and-white photographs she was sorting as Serena sat down across from her at the table on the deck, a tall glass of iced tea in hand.

“Three miles,” Serena told her after taking a long sip. “I couldn’t have made it even one-tenth of a mile. Bless you for keeping this in the icebox, already chilled. I was parched.” She leaned forward to pull one of the pictures out from the others, pointing with one long, perfectly manicured fingernail. “Is that me?”

Mariah looked closely. Ever since her initial meeting with Serena, she had tried to be careful not to offend her friend by taking her picture. Or rather, she had tried not to offend Serena by letting her know her picture was being taken. Mariah had actually managed to get several excellent photographs of the beautiful Englishwoman—taken, no less, with one of those cheap little disposable cameras. Serena was incredibly photogenic, and in color, even on inexpensive film, her inner vibrance was emphasized. Mariah was careful to keep those pictures hidden.

But yes, that was definitely Serena, caught in motion at the edge of a particularly nice shot of the resort beach, moments before a storm struck. “You must’ve walked into the shot,” Mariah said.

Serena picked it up, looking at it more closely. “I’m a big blur—except for my face.” She lifted her gaze to Mariah. “Do you have any copies of this?”

Mariah sifted through the pile that photo had been in. “No, I don’t think so.”

“How about the negative? You still have that, right?”

Mariah sighed. “I don’t know. It might be down in the darkroom, but it might’ve been in the batch I just brought over to B&W Photo Lab for safekeeping.”

“Safekeeping?” Serena’s voice rose an octave in disbelief. “Forgive me for being insensitive, but, Mariah sweetheart, no one’s going to want to steal your negatives. You know I love you madly, dearest, but it’s not as if you’re Ansel Adams.”

Mariah laughed. “I bring them to B&W for storage. I don’t have air-conditioning here, and the humidity and salt air are hell on film.”

Serena slipped the photo in question into her purse. “You realize, of course, that I’m going to have to kill you now for stealing my soul,” she said with a smile.

“Hey, you were the one who stuck your soul into my shot,” Mariah protested. “Besides, I’ll get the negative next time I’m over at B&W. You can have it, and your soul will be as good as new.”

“Do you promise?”

“I promise. Although it occurs to me that you might want to get yourself a more American approach to having your picture taken. You’re not living in Africa anymore.”

“Thank God.” Serena took another sip of her drink. “So. How are you?”

“Fine.” Mariah glanced suspiciously at the other woman. “Why?”

“Just wondering.”

“Don’t I look fine?”

Serena rested her chin in the palm of her hand, studying Mariah with great scrutiny. “Actually, you don’t look half as fine as I would have thought.”

Mariah just waited.

“You’re not going to tell me a thing, are you?” Serena asked. “You’re going to make me ask, aren’t you? You’re going to make me pull every little last juicy detail out of you.”

Mariah went back to work. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’m talking about the man.”

“What man?”

“The one I saw leaving your house at five-thirty this morning. Tall, dark and probably handsome—although I’m not certain. I was too far away to see details.”

Mariah was floored. “What on earth were you doing up at five-thirty in the morning?”

“I get up that early every morning and go over to use the resort health club,” Serena told her.

“You’re kidding. Five-thirty? Every morning?”

“Just about. This morning the tide was low, so I rode my bike along the beach. And as I went past your place, I distinctly saw a man emerging from your deck door. I’m assuming he wasn’t the refrigerator repairman.”

“No, he wasn’t.” Mariah didn’t look up from her photos.

“Well…?”

“Well what?”

“This is the place in the conversation where you tell me who he is, where you met him, and any other fascinating facts such as whether he was any good in bed, and so on and so forth?”

Mariah felt herself blush. “Serena, we’re just friends.”

“A friend who happens to stay until dawn? How modern of you, Mariah.”

“He came over for dinner and fell asleep on my couch. He’s been ill recently.” Mariah hesitated, wanting to tell Serena about Jonathan Mills, but not wanting to tell too much. “His name is John, and he’s very nice. He’s staying over at the resort.”

“So he’s rich,” Serena surmised. “Medium rich or filthy rich?”

“I don’t know—who cares?”

“I care. Take a guess.”

Mariah sighed in exasperation. “Filthy rich, I think. He inherited a company that makes car alarms.”

“You said he’s been ill? Nothing serious, I hope.”

Mariah sighed again. “Actually, it is serious. He’s got cancer. He’s just had a round of chemotherapy. I think the prognosis is good, but there’s never any guarantees with something like this.”

“What did you say his name was?”

“Jonathan Mills.”

“It’s probably smart to keep your distance. If you’re not careful, you could end up a widow. Of course, in his case, that means you’d inherit his car alarm fortune, so it could be worse—”

”Serena!” Mariah stared at her friend. “Don’t even think that. He’s not going to die.”

The blonde was unperturbed. “You just told me that he might.” She stood up. “Look, I’ve got to run. Thanks for the tea. See you later tonight.”

Mariah frowned. “Later…tonight?”

“My party. You’ve forgotten, haven’t you? Lord, Mariah, you’re hopeless without your date book.”

“No, I’m relaxed without my date book. Oh, that reminds me—can I borrow your car this afternoon? Just for an hour?”

Serena looked at her watch. “I’m getting my hair done at half past two. If you want to drive me to the salon, you can use the car for about an hour then.”

“Perfect. Except I’m not sure I can make it to the party—I’m tentatively scheduled to have dinner again with John.” Except she wasn’t. Not really. She’d asked, but he’d run away.

“Bring him. Call him, invite him to my party, and bring him along with you. I want to meet this friend of yours. No excuses,” Serena said sternly as she disappeared down the deck steps.

Mariah gazed after her. Call him. Invite him to the party. Who knows? Maybe he’d actually agree to go.

HE WAS THE ONE. THE gray-faced man from the resort.

She’d recognized him right away.

The fact that he’d spent the night with that silly cow only served to make him even more perfect.

Tonight she would begin to cast her spell.

Tonight she would allow herself to start thinking about the dinner she would serve him.

Oh, it was still weeks away—maybe even months. But it was coming. She could taste it.

And tomorrow morning, she would go shopping for the perfect knife.

THE MESSAGE LIGHT ON HIS telephone was blinking when Miller returned to his suite of rooms after lunch.

Daniel had the portable surveillance equipment set up in the living room. The system was up and running when Miller came in. Daniel was wearing headphones, listening intently, using his laptop computer to control the volume of the different microphones they’d distributed throughout Serena Westford’s house. The DAT recorder was running—making a permanent record of every word spoken in the huge beach house.

“Lots of activity,” Daniel reported, his eyes never leaving his computer screen. “Some kind of party is happening over at the spider’s web tonight.”

“I know.” Miller picked up the phone and dialed the resort desk. “Jonathan Mills,” he said. “Any messages?”

“A Mariah Robinson asked to leave voice mail. Shall I connect you to that now, sir?” the desk clerk asked.

“Yes. Please.”

There was a whirr and a click, and then Mariah’s voice came on the line.

“John. Hi. It’s me, Mariah. Robinson. From, um, last night? God, I sound totally lame. Of course you know who I am. I just… I wanted to invite you to a party that a friend is having tonight—”

“Jackpot,” Miller said.

Daniel glanced in his direction. “Party invitation?”

Miller nodded, holding up his hand. Mariah’s message wasn’t over yet.

“…going to start at around nine,” her voice said, “and I was thinking that maybe we could have dinner together first—if you’re free. If you want to.” He heard her draw in a deep breath. “I’d really like to see you again. I guess that’s kind of obvious, considering everything that happened this morning.” She hesitated. “So, call me, all right?” She left her phone number, then the message ended.

Miller really wanted to see her again, too. Really wanted to see her again.

Daniel glanced at him one more time, and Miller realized he was standing there, staring at nothing, listening to nothing. He quickly hung up the phone.

“Everything all right?” Daniel asked.

“Yeah.” He was well aware that Daniel had said not one word about the fact that Miller hadn’t come back to the hotel last night until after dawn. The kid hadn’t even lifted an eyebrow.

But now Daniel cleared his throat. “John, I don’t mean to pry, but—”

“Then don’t,” Miller said shortly. “Not that it’s any of your business, but nothing happened last night.” But even as he said the words, Miller knew they were a lie. Something had happened last night. Mariah Robinson had touched him, and for nearly eight hours, his demons had been kept at bay.

Something very big had happened last night.

For the first time since forever, John Miller had slept.

MARIAH WAS DRESSING UP.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d worn anything besides shorts and a T-shirt or a bathing suit. She’d gone to Serena’s other parties in casual clothes. But tonight, she’d pulled her full collection of dresses—all four of ’em—out of the back of her closet. Three of them were pretty standard Sunday-best, goin’-to-meeting-type affairs, with tiny, demure flowers and conservative necklines.

The fourth was black. It was a short-sleeved sheath cut fashionably above the knee, with a sweetheart neckline that would draw one’s eyes—preferably Jonathan Mills’s eyes—to her plentiful assets. Her full breasts were, depending on her mood, one of her best features or one of her worst. Tonight, she was going to think positively. Tonight they were an asset.

She briefly considered sheer black stockings, but rejected them in place of bare legs and a healthy coating of Cutter’s—in consideration of the sultry evening heat.

Usually when she went out with a man, she wore flats, but Jonathan Mills was tall enough for her to wear heels. They might make her stand nose to nose with him, but she wouldn’t tower over him.

Since the moment he’d called to tell her that he wasn’t available for dinner but he’d love to go to the party with her, Mariah had been walking on air. She was ridiculously excited about seeing him again—she’d thought about almost nothing else all afternoon.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this way. Even in college, when she was first dating Trevor, she hadn’t felt this giddy.

Even the dark cloud of anxiety cast by John’s potentially terminal illness didn’t faze her tonight. They’d caught the cancer early, he’d told her. The survival rate for this type of cancer was high. He was going to live. Positive thinking.

Mariah felt another surge of anticipation as she slipped into her shoes and stepped back to look at herself in the mirror.

She looked…sexy. She looked…well proportioned. It was true that those proportions were extra large, but they had to be to fit her height. And in this case, she was using her body to her advantage. In this dress, with this neckline, she had cleavage with a capital C. All that without a WonderBra in sight.

The doorbell rang, and she smoothed the dress over her hips one last time, leaning closer to check her lipstick.

Ready or not, her date had come.

Praying that she wasn’t coming on too strong, what with the attack of the monster cleavage and all, Mariah opened her front door.

“Hi,” she said breathlessly.

John’s eyes skimmed down her once, then twice, then more slowly, before coming back to rest on her face as he smiled. “Wow. You look…incredible.”

She stepped back and opened the door wider to let him in.

“Incredibly tall,” he added as he noted the heels that put them eye to eye.

Was that a compliment? Mariah took it as one. “Thank you,” she said, leading the way into the kitchen. “I’m ready to go, but I wanted to show you something first.”

He was dressed a whole lot more casually than she, in a faded pair of jeans, time-softened leather boat shoes and a sport jacket over a plain T-shirt.

“I think I might be underdressed,” he said.

“Don’t worry about it. Knowing Serena’s friends, there’ll be an equal mix of sequined gowns and tank tops over swimsuits.” Mariah opened the door to the basement.

“Serena?” he asked.

“Westford,” she told him, turning on the switch that lit the stairs going down. “She lives a little more than three miles north, just up the road.”

“Is she one of the Boston Westfords? Funny, maybe I know one of her brothers.”

Mariah shook her head, poised at the top of the stairs. “She hasn’t talked about Boston. Or any brothers. When we met, she did give me a business card with a Hartford hotel, but I think that was only a temporary address. I think she lived in Paris for a few years.” She started down, careful of the rough wooden steps in her heels. “Aren’t you coming?”

“Into the basement? Is your darkroom down there?”

“My darkroom’s down here,” Mariah told him, “but that’s not what I want to show you.”

She turned on another light.

The ceiling was low, and both she and John had to duck to avoid pipes and beams. But it was a nice basement, as far as basements went. The concrete floor had been painted a light shade of gray and it had been carefully swept. Boxes were neatly stacked on utility shelves that lined most of the walls.

A washer and dryer stood in one corner, along with a table for folding laundry. Another corner had been walled off to make the darkroom.

But she led him to the open area of the basement, where an entire concrete-block wall and the floor beneath it had been cleared. Only one box sat nearby, in the middle of the room on top of a broken chair.

Mariah reached inside and pulled out one of the plates she’d bought dirt cheap at a tag sale that afternoon, when she’d borrowed Serena’s car. It was undeniably one of the ugliest china patterns she’d ever seen in her life. She handed it to John.

He stared at it, perplexed.

“It occurred to me this morning that you probably never give yourself the opportunity to really vent,” she explained.

“Vent.”

“Yes.” She took another plate from the box. “Like this.” As hard as she could, she hurled the china plate against the wall. It smashed into a thousand pieces with a resounding and quite satisfying crash.

John laughed, but then stopped. “You’re kidding, right?”

“No.” She gestured to the plate in his hands. “Try it.”

He hesitated. “Don’t these belong to someone?”

“No. Look at it, John. Have you ever eaten off something that unappetizing? It’s begging for you to break it and put it out of its misery.”

He hefted it in his hand.

“Just do it. It feels…liberating.” Mariah took another plate from the box and sent it smashing into the wall. “Oh, yeah!”

John turned suddenly and, throwing the plate like a Frisbee, shattered it against the wall.

Mariah handed him another one. “Good, huh?”

“Yeah.”

She took another herself. “This one’s for my father, who didn’t even ask if I wanted to spend nearly seven years of my life working eighty-hour weeks, who didn’t even try to quit smoking or lose weight after his doctor told him he was a walking heart attack waiting to happen, and who died before I could tell him that I loved him, the bastard.” The plate exploded as it hit the wall.

John threw his, too, and reached into the box for another before she could hand him one.

“This one’s the head of the bank officer who wouldn’t approve the Johnsons’ loan for a Foundations for Families house even when the deacons of their church offered to co-sign it, all on account of the fact that she’s a recovering alcoholic and he’s an ex-con, even though they both have good, steady jobs now, and they both volunteer all the time as sponsors for AA.”

The two plates hit the wall almost simultaneously.

“We only have time for one more,” Mariah said, breathing hard as she prepared to throw her last plate of the evening. “Who’s this one for, John? You call it.”

He shook his head. “I can’t.”

“Sure you can. It’s easy.”

“No.” He glanced at the plate he was holding loosely in his hands. “It gets too complicated.”

“Are you kidding? It simplifies things. You break a plate instead of someone’s face.”

“It’s not always that easy.” He gazed searchingly into her eyes as if trying to find the words to explain. But he gave up, shaking his head. Then he swore suddenly, sharply. “This one’s for me.” He threw the plate against the wall so hard that shards of ceramic shot back at them. He moved quickly, shielding her.

“Whoa!” Mariah said. She wasn’t entirely sure what he meant by that, but he was catching on.

“I’m sorry. God—”

“No, that was good,” she said. “That was very good.”

He had a tiny piece of broken plate in his hair, and she stepped toward him to pull it free.

He smelled delicious, like faintly exotic cologne and coffee.

“We should get going,” he murmured, but he didn’t step back, and she didn’t, either, even after the ceramic shard was gone.

As Mariah watched, his gaze flickered to her mouth and then back to her eyes. He shook his head very slightly. “I shouldn’t kiss you.”

“Why not?” He’d shaved, probably right before he’d come to pick her up, and his cheeks looked smooth and soft. Mariah couldn’t resist touching his face, and when she did, he closed his eyes.

“Because I won’t want to stop,” he whispered.

She leaned forward and brushed his lips with hers. With her heels on, she didn’t even need to stand on her toes. She kissed him again, as softly and gently as before, and he groaned, pulling her into his arms and covering her mouth with his.

Mariah closed her eyes as he kissed her hungrily, his tongue possessively claiming her mouth, his hands claiming her body with the same proprietary familiarity.

But just as suddenly as he’d given in to his need to kiss her, he pulled himself away, holding her at arm’s length. “You’re dangerous,” he gasped, half laughing, half groaning. “What am I going to do with you?”

Mariah smiled.

“No,” John said, backing even farther away. “Don’t answer that.”

“I didn’t say anything,” she protested.

“You didn’t have to. That wicked smile said more than enough.”

Mariah started back up the stairs. “What wicked smile? That was just a regular smile.”

When she reached the top of the stairs, she realized he wasn’t behind her.

“John?” she called.

From the basement, she heard the sound of a shattering plate.

“Did that help?” she asked with a smile, as he came up the stairs.

He shook his head. “No.” His expression was so somber, his eyes so bleak, all laughter gone from his face. “Mariah, I’m…I’m really sorry.”

“Why, because you want to take some time before becoming involved? Because you’re trying to deal with a life-threatening illness? Because it’s so damn unfair and you’re mad as hell? Don’t be sorry about that.” She gazed at him. “We don’t have to go to this party. We can stay here and break some more plates.” She paused. “Or we could talk.”

He tried to smile, but it didn’t quite cancel out the sadness in his eyes. “No, let’s do it,” he said. “I’m ready to go.” He took a deep breath. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Chapter Five

SERENA WESTFORD. SHE WAS small and blond and green-eyed with a waist Miller could probably span with his hands. Her fingernails were perfectly manicured, her hair arranged in a youthful style. She was trim and lithe, dressed in a tight black dress that hugged her slender curves and showed off her flat stomach and taut derriere to their best advantage. She had sinewy muscles in her arms and legs that, along with that perfect body, told of countless hours on the Nautilus machine and the StairMaster.

She was beautiful, with a body that most men would die for.

But Miller knew more than most men.

And even if she wasn’t his only suspect in a string of grisly murders, he still wouldn’t have wanted to give her more than a cursory glance.

But she was his suspect, and even though he didn’t want to look at anyone but Mariah, he smiled into Serena’s cat green eyes. He’d come into this game intending to do more than smile at this woman. He was intending to marry her. Until death—or attempted murder—do us part.

Of course, his plan depended quite a bit on Serena’s cooperation. And it was entirely possible that she wouldn’t hone in on what Mariah was clearly marking as her territory with a hand nestled into the crook of his elbow. Serena was probably a killer, but Miller’s experience had taught him that even killers had their codes. She may not hesitate to jam a stiletto into a lover’s heart, but hitting on a girlfriend’s man might not be acceptable behavior.

And that would leave Miller out in the cold, forced to bring in another agent to do what? To play the part of his even more terminally ill friend? A buddy he’d met in the oncology unit of the hospital?

God, if Serena wouldn’t take his bait, the entire case could well be lost. Still, he found himself hoping…

But Serena smiled back at him and held his hand just a little too long as Mariah introduced them, and Miller knew that he was looking into the eyes of a woman who had no kind of code at all. If she was interested, and he thought that she was, she would do what she wanted, Mariah be damned.

“Look at us,” the blond woman said, turning back to Mariah. “We’re wearing almost exactly the same thing tonight. We’re twins.” She flashed a glance directly into Miller’s eyes, just so that he knew she was well aware of the physical differences between the two women.

Miller forced himself to smile conspiratorially back at Serena, knowing that Mariah was going to see the exchange, knowing that she was going to interpret it as friendliness. At first.

Later, when she’d had time to think about it, Mariah would realize that he’d been flirting with her friend right from the start.

“You wouldn’t happen to be from the Boston area, would you?” he asked Serena. “I know a Harcourt Westford from my Harvard days—his family came from…I think it might’ve been Belmont.”

“No, as a matter of fact, I’ve never even been to Boston.”

She was lying. She’d met, married and murdered victim number six in Hyannisport, out on Cape Cod. The victim’s sister had told investigating officers that her brother and his new wife—she was using Alana as an alias back then—frequently went into Boston to attend performances of the BSO.

“Help yourself to something from the bar,” Serena directed them. “And the caterer made the best crab puffs tonight—be sure you sample them.”

As Serena moved off to greet other arriving guests, she glanced back at Miller and blew him a kiss that Mariah couldn’t see.

“Are you okay?” Mariah’s fingers gently squeezed his upper arm. “You look a little pale.”

He met her eyes and forced a smile. “I’m fine.”

“Why don’t you sit down and I’ll get us something to drink?”

“You don’t have to do that.” He didn’t want her to go. He didn’t want to have to use the opportunity to watch Serena, to smile at her when he caught her eye.

“I don’t mind,” Mariah told him. “What can I get you?”

“Just a soda.”

“Be right back.”

Miller couldn’t stop himself from watching her walk away, knowing that by the time she came back, he’d be well on his way toward destroying the easy familiarity between them.

There were chairs along the edge of the deck, but he didn’t sit down. If he sat down there, he wouldn’t be able to see Serena Westford where she was standing on the other end of the wide deck, at the top of the stairs that led down to the beach.

He made his way to one of the more comfortable-looking lounge chairs instead. He’d have a clear view of Serena from there.

Serena was watching him. He could feel her glancing in his direction as he gingerly lowered himself into one of the chairs. From the corner of his eye, he saw her lean closer to the man she was talking to. The man turned to look over at the bar and nodded. As he walked away, Miller sensed more than saw Serena heading in his direction.

His cover flashed through his mind like words scrolling down a computer screen. He was Jonathan Mills. Harvard University, class of ’80. M.B.A. from NYU in 1985. Car alarms. Hodgkin’s. Chemotherapy. Never married. Facing his own mortality and the end of his family line.

Forget about Mariah. God knows she’d be better off without a man like him in the long run. He was “The Robot,” for God’s sake. What would a woman who was so incredibly warm and alive want with a man rumored to have no soul?

“Are you feeling all right?” Serena’s cool English voice broke into his thoughts. He glanced over to find her settling onto the chair next to his. “Mariah was telling me how you’ve recently been ill.”

There was an unmistakable glint of interest in her eyes.

Miller nodded. “Yeah. I have been.” Across the deck he could see Mariah, a glass of something tall and cool in each hand, held in conversation by the same man who’d been talking to Serena earlier. She glanced at him, but he looked away before she could meet his eyes.

“How awful,” Serena murmured.

“Mariah didn’t tell me anything at all about you,” Miller countered, knowing that everything she was about to tell him about herself would be a lie.

In the past, this game of pretend had had the power to excite him, to invigorate him. She would lie to him, and he would lie to her, and the game would go on and on and on until one of them slipped up.

It wouldn’t be him. It never was him.

But tonight he didn’t want to play. He wanted to turn back the clock and spend the next one hundred years of his life reliving this morning’s dawn, with Mariah in his arms, the taste of her kisses on his lips.

“I think our Mariah has something of a crush on you,” Serena told him. “I don’t think she was eager for you to meet me.”

Meaning that it was an indisputable fact that the moment Miller met Serena, he would turn away from Mariah, and—in Serena’s opinion—rightly so.

This woman’s self-confidence and ego were both the size of the Taj Mahal.

Miller leaned closer to Serena, feeling like Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane. “I don’t really know her—not very well. We just met a few days ago, and…I know we’re here together tonight, but we’re really just friends. She seems very nice, though.”

Meaning, he hadn’t made up his mind about anything.

“Tell me,” Miller said, “what’s a woman like you doing on Garden Isle all by yourself?”

Meaning Serena was definitely interesting and attractive to him with her petite, aerobicized body and her gleaming blond hair and killer smile.

Serena smiled.

The game had moved into the next round.

MARIAH FELT LIKE A GIANTESS. Standing next to Serena, she felt like a towering football linebacker despite the dress and heels. Maybe because of the dress and heels. She felt as if she’d dressed up like this in an attempt to fool everyone into thinking she was delicate and feminine, but had failed.

Miserably.

John and Serena were deep in a conversation about Acapulco. Mariah had never been to Acapulco. When had she had the time? Up until just a few months ago, she hadn’t gone anywhere besides the office and to the occasional business meeting up in Lake Havasu City or Flagstaff.

Feeling dreadfully left out, but trying hard not to let it show, Mariah shifted her weight from one Amazon-sized leg to another and took a sip of her wine, wishing the alcohol would make her feel better, but knowing that drinking too much would only give her a headache in the morning.

This evening was so not what she’d hoped. Silly her. She’d never even considered the fact that Jonathan Mills would take one look at Serena and be smitten. But he was obviously infatuated with Mariah’s friend. He’d watched the blond woman constantly, all evening long. The few times Mariah had been alone with him, he’d talked only about Serena. He’d asked Mariah questions about her. He’d commented on her hair, her house, her party, her shoes.

Her tiny shoes. Oh, he didn’t say anything about size, but Serena’s feet were small and feminine. Mariah hadn’t worn shoes that size since third grade.

All those signals she’d thought she’d picked up from him were wrong. Those kisses. Had he kissed her first, or had she kissed him? She couldn’t remember. It was entirely possible that she had made the first move this morning on the couch. She knew she’d made the first move down in the basement.

And each time she’d kissed him, he’d told her in plain English that he thought they should just be friends.

But did she listen? Nope, not her. But she was listening now. It was all that she could do—she had nothing worth adding to the conversation. Acapulco. Skiing in Aspen. John and Serena had so much in common. So much to talk about. Art museums they’d both been to in New York…

Serena seemed just as taken with John as he was with her. In spite of the fact that she herself had warned Mariah about becoming involved with a man who could very well die, Serena looked for all the world as if she was getting ready to reel John in.

Some friend.

Of course, Mariah had told Serena that she and John were just that—friends. Still, Mariah had the sense that even if she’d told her friend that she was already well on her way to falling in love with this man, Serena wouldn’t have given a damn.

Neither John nor Serena looked up as Mariah excused herself quietly and went back to the bar.

The hard, cold fact was that Mariah didn’t stand a chance with John if Serena decided that she wanted him for her own. And it sure seemed as if she wanted him.

Disgusted with all of them—herself included—Mariah set her empty glass down on the bar, shaking her head when the bartender asked if she wanted a refill. No, it was time to accept defeat and beat a retreat.

The bartender had a pen but no paper, so Mariah quickly wrote a note on a napkin. “I’m partied out, and I’ve got to be up early in the morning. I’ve gone ahead home—didn’t want you to feel obligated to drive me. Enjoy the rest of party. Mariah.”

She folded the napkin in half and asked the bartender to bring it to John in a minute or two.

Chin up, she silently commanded herself as she took off her shoes and went barefoot down the stairs that led to the beach. Jonathan Mills wasn’t the man she’d thought he was anyway. He was just another member of the jet set, able to talk for hours at a time about nothing of any importance whatsoever. Frankly, she’d expected more of him. More depth. More soul. She’d thought she’d seen more when she’d looked into his eyes.

She’d thought she’d seen a lover, but she’d only seen the most casual of acquaintances.

She headed down the beach, toward home, determined not to look back.

“JOHN.” THERE WAS THE briefest flare of surprise in Daniel Tonaka’s eyes as he opened the door to his hotel room and saw Miller standing on the other side. “Is there a problem?”

Miller shook his head. What the hell was he doing here? “No. I…” He ran his hand through his too short hair. “I saw that your light was still on and…” And what? “I couldn’t sleep,” he admitted, then shrugged. “What else is new?”

What was new was his admitting it.

Daniel didn’t comment, though. He just nodded, opening the door wider. “Come in.”

The hotel suite was smaller than Miller’s room, but decorated with the same style furniture, the same patterned curtains, the same color rug. Still, it seemed like another planet entirely, strange and alien. Miller stood awkwardly, uncertain whether to sit or stand or beat a quick exit before it was too late.

He remembered the way he used to go into Tony’s room without even knocking, the way he’d simply help himself to a beer from Tony’s refrigerator. He remembered the way they’d pick apart every word spoken in the course of the night’s investigation, hashing it out, searching for the hidden meanings and subtle clues, trying to figure out from what had—or hadn’t—been said, if their cover had been blown.

They’d done the same thing in high school, except back then the conversation had been about girls, about basketball, about the seemingly huge but in retrospect quite petty troubles they’d had with the two rival gangs that ruled the streets of their worn-out little town. They’d often been threatened and ordered to choose sides, but Tony had followed Miller’s lead and remained neutral. They were Switzerland, for no one and against no one.

Switzerland. God, Miller hadn’t thought about that in ages.

“Can I get you something to drink?” Daniel asked politely. “A beer?”

“Are you having one?”

Daniel shook his head. “I don’t drink.” He paused. “I thought you knew that.”

Miller gazed at him. “I knew that when you were around me, you chose not to drink. I didn’t want to assume that held for all the times you weren’t with me.”

“I don’t drink,” Daniel said again.

“I shouldn’t have bothered you. It’s late—”

“Be careful about coming on too strong with the suspect,” Daniel warned him.

Miller blinked. “Excuse me?”

The kid’s lips curved slightly in amusement. “I figured that’s why you came over here, right? To ask my opinion about where you stand with Serena Westford?”

Miller didn’t know why the hell he was here. He turned toward the door. “I’ll let you get back to whatever you were doing.”

“John,” Daniel said, “sit down. Have a soda.” He unlocked the little self-service refrigerator and crouched down to look inside. “How about something without any caffeine?”

Miller found himself sitting down on the edge of the flower-patterned couch as Daniel set a pair of lemon-

lime sodas on the coffee table.

Daniel sat across from him and opened one of the cans of soda. “I listened in on most of your conversations,” he said. “I think it went well—Serena kept talking about you even after you left. She was asking people if they knew you. She’s definitely interested. But she kept referring to you as Mariah’s friend, John, and it was more than just a way to identify you. I got the feeling that she’s getting off on the idea of stealing you away from her friend.”

Miller gazed at his partner. He’d never heard Daniel talk quite so much—and certainly not unless his opinion had been specifically solicited. “Yeah, I got that feeling, too,” he finally said.

“What are you going to do about it?” Daniel asked.

“What do you think I should do?”

It was clear that Daniel had already given this a great deal of thought. “The obvious solution is for you to see the friend again. Play Serena’s game. Hook her interest even further by making it seem as if you’re not going to be an easy catch.” The kid gazed down at the soda can in his hands as if seeing the bright-colored label for the first time. “But that doesn’t take into consideration other things.”

Other things. “Such as?”

Daniel looked up, squarely meeting Miller’s gaze. “Such as the fact that you really like this other lady. Mariah. Marie. Whatever she wants to call herself.”

Miller couldn’t deny it. But he could steer the conversation in a slightly different direction. “Mariah invited me to go out to the Triple F building site tomorrow morning.” Of course, that had been before he’d ignored her so completely at Serena’s party.

Daniel nodded. “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.”

Miller had never hesitated over making this kind of a decision before. If he had a choice to do something that would further him in his case, by God, he’d do it. No questions, no doubt. But here he was wavering for fear of hurting someone’s feelings.

It was absurd.

And yet when he closed his eyes, he could still see Mariah, hurt enough to leave the party without him, but kind enough to write a note telling him she was leaving. He could see her, head held high as she went down the stairs to the beach.

He’d left the party soon after and followed her to make sure she’d arrived home safely. He’d sat in his car on the street with his lights off and watched her move about her house through the slats in her blinds. He watched her disappear down the hall to her bedroom, unzipping the back of that incredible dress as she went.

She’d returned only a moment later, dressed in the same kind of oversize T-shirt that she’d worn to bed the night before. When she’d curled up on the couch with a book he’d driven away—afraid if he stayed much longer he’d act on the urge to get out of the car, knock on her door and apologize until she let him in.

And once she let him in, he knew damn well he’d end up in her bed. He’d apologize and she’d eventually accept. He’d touch her, and it wouldn’t be long until they kissed. And once he kissed her, there’d be no turning back. The attraction between them was too hot, too volatile.

And then she would really be hurt—after he slept with her, then married her best friend.

So he’d make damn sure that he wouldn’t sleep with her.

He’d show up in front of the library tomorrow at 6:00 a.m. He’d see her again—God, he wanted to see her again—but in public, where there’d be no danger of intimacies getting out of hand. Somehow he’d make her understand that their relationship was to be nothing more than a friendship, all the while making Serena believe otherwise. Then Serena could “steal” him from Mariah without Mariah getting hurt.

Miller stood up. “I’m going to do it. Figure I’ll be out of the picture all day tomorrow.”

Daniel rose to his feet, too. “I’ll stay near Serena.” Miller turned to leave, but Daniel’s quiet voice stopped him. “You know, John, we could do this another way.”

His cover was all set up. He was here, he was in place. And all of his reasons for not going ahead would be purely personal. He’d never pulled out of a case for personal reasons before and he sure as hell wasn’t about to start now.

“I haven’t come up with a better way—or a quicker way—to catch this killer,” he flatly told his partner. “Let’s do this right and lock her up before she hurts anyone else.”

Chapter Six

MARIAH SAW HIM AS soon as she rounded the corner.

Jonathan Mills was sitting on the steps to the library, shoulders hunched over, nursing a cup of coffee.

He couldn’t have been waiting for her—not after last night. Not after he’d been visibly dazzled by Serena.

And yet she knew there was no one else he could have been waiting for. She was the only one on all of Garden Isle who regularly volunteered for Foundations for Families. Occasionally there would be a group of college students on vacation, but the Triple F van would pick them up over by the campground.

Mariah briefly considered just riding past. Not stopping. Flagging the van down near the drugstore or the post office. Leaving her bike…where? This bike rack in front of the library was the only one in town.

Maybe if she ignored him, he’d go away.

But Mariah knew that that, too, wasn’t any kind of solution, so she nodded to him briefly as she braked to a stop.

He stood up as if every bone in his body ached, as if he, too, hadn’t had an awful lot of sleep last night.

“I realized as I was getting ready to meet you here that I don’t have a tool belt,” he told her.

Her own belt was in her backpack, weighing it down, and she slid it off her shoulders and onto the sidewalk as she positioned her bike in the rack. She didn’t know what to say. Was he actually serious? Did he really intend to spend the day with her?

Her cheeks still flushed with embarrassment when she thought about last night. And the night before. She’d actually thought he was as attracted to her as she was to him. She’d gone and thrown herself at him and…

She could think of nothing worse than spending the entire day with this man, yet she couldn’t simply tell him to go home. She couldn’t bring herself to do it. Yes, she’d resolved last night that she’d have nothing more to do with him. Yes, she’d come to the conclusion that he was far more shallow and self-absorbed than she’d previously thought. Still, she couldn’t tell him to go away.