Brazen Virtue

this for five years. After listening to her take calls for a few hours, I got the drift. Then there’s this.” She lifted a blue binder from the coffee table. “My training manual.”
    “No shit?” Delighted, Ben took it from her.

    “It lists sexual penchants, the usual and a few I’ve never heard of.”
    “Me either,” Ben murmured as he flipped a page.
    “It also gives you different ways to say the same things. Like a thesaurus.” She blew out smoke, then chuckled. “Do you know how many ways there are to say …” She trailed off when she looked at Ed. It only took her a moment to decide he wouldn’t care for a rundown. “Well, it’s handy. Let me tell you, it’s a lot easier to have sex than to talk about it. Anybody want some stale chocolate-chip cookies?”
    Ed shook his head, but all she got from Ben was a grunt as he leafed through the manual. “You’ll grow hair on your palms,” Ed said mildly when Grace left the room.
    “Could be worth it.” With a grin, Ben glanced up. “You wouldn’t believe some of this. How come we’re not working Vice?”
    “Your wife’s a shrink,” Ed reminded him. “Nothing you could come up with in there’s going to surprise her.”
    “Yeah. You’re right.” Ben set the manual aside. “Sounds to me like Grace handled herself all right.”
    “Looks like.”
    “Give her a break, Ed. She needs to do this. And she might just help bust things open.”
    “When they bust, they could fall all over her.”
    “We’re here to see that doesn’t happen.” He paused a moment. He knew what it was to want to kick something, but not to have anything around big enough. “Do you remember how I felt when Tess was involved last winter?”
    “I remember.”
    “I’m on your side, buddy. I always am.”

    Ed stopped pacing to just look at the room. It was funny how quickly it had become Grace’s. Kathleen was gone; perhaps Grace didn’t realize it yet, but she’d nudged her sister out with opened magazines and discarded shoes. There were wilting flowers in an old jar and dust on the furniture. In days, without even intending to, she’d made a home.
    “I want her to marry me.”
    Ben stared at his partner a minute, then slowly sat back. “I’ll be damned. Looks like Doc hit the bull’s-eye again. Did you ask her?”
    “Yeah, I asked her.”
    “And?”
    “She needs some time.”
    Ben only nodded. He understood perfectly. She needed time. Ed didn’t. “Want some advice?”
    “Why not?”
    “Don’t let her think too long. She might find out what an asshole you are.” When Ed grinned, Ben rose and reached for his jacket. “Wouldn’t hurt to look over that training manual either. Page six looks like a winner.”
    “You leaving?” Grace walked back in with a tray of cookies and three beers.
    “Jackson should be able to handle the night shift.” Ben picked up a cookie and bit in. “These are terrible.”
    “I know.” She laughed when he picked up another. “Got time for a beer?”
    “I’ll take it with me.” Ben slipped the bottle into his pocket. “You did good, sugar.” Because she looked like she could use it, Ben leaned over the tray to kiss her. “See you.”
    “Thanks.” Grace waited until she heard the front door shut before she set down the tray. “He’s quite a guy.”
    “The best.”
    And as long as he’d been there, they hadn’t had to talk too directly to each other. Taking the end of the sofa, Grace began to nibble on a cookie. “I guess you’ve known him a long time.”
    “Long enough. Ben’s got the best instincts in the department.”
    “Yours don’t seem too shabby.”

    Ed watched her as he picked up his beer. “Mine tell me to shove you on the shuttle back to New York.”
    Grace lifted a brow. Apparently they were finished circling each other. “Are you still upset with me?”
    “Worried about you.”
    “I don’t want you to be.” Then she smiled and held out a hand. “Yes, I do.” When his fingers linked with hers, she brought them to her lips. “I have a feeling you’re the best thing that ever happened to me. I’m sorry I can’t make things easier.”
    “You screwed up my plans, Grace.”
    There was a half smile on her face as she tilted her head. “I did?”
    “Come here.”
    Obliging, she wriggled along the sofa until she was cuddled against him. “When I bought the place next door, I had it all worked out. I was going to fix it up, just right, just the way I’d always imagined a