In Death 07 - Holiday in Death

is good."
    Fifteen minutes later she stepped out of the drying tube with her muscles warmed and limber, her mind clear and alert.
    Roarke toweled off -- another of his habits she couldn't understand. Why waste time rubbing yourself with cotton when a quick spin in the drying tube took care of it? She was reaching for her robe when she noticed it wasn't the one she'd left hanging there that morning.
    "What's this?" She took down the long flow of scarlet.
    "Cashmere. You'll like it."
    "You've bought me a million robes. I don't see..." But her voice trailed off as she slipped it on. "Oh." She hated it when she lost herself in something as shallow as textures. But this was soft as a cloud, warm as a hug. "It's pretty nice."
    He grinned, belting a black robe in the same material. "Suits you. Come on, you can fill me in on the case while I tackle the lights."
    "Peabody and McNab are in. They'll have their match lists by tomorrow." She wandered back into the bedroom, and spotted the silver bucket with champagne; a silver tray with canapes was waiting. What the hell, she decided, and stuffed something glorious into her mouth as she poured two flutes. "Your covers for them passed screening."
    "Of course." From a large box, Roarke took a long string of tiny lights.
    "Don't get cocky, we've got a long way to go. Nadine was in my office when I got to Central," Eve added, and set Roarke's champagne on the table by the bed. "She got a load of Peabody so I had to fill her in more than I wanted. Off the record."
    "Nadine is one of those rare reporters you can trust." Roarke studied the tree, the lights, and decided to dive straight in. "She won't leak sensitive data."
    "Yeah, I know. We got into that a bit." Frowning, Eve circled the tree while Roarke worked. She had no idea if he knew what he was doing. "If Piper and Rudy hadn't seen me, I'd have done the inside work myself."
    Roarke lifted an eyebrow as he secured the first string and took out another. "I might have some mild objection to my wife dating strange men."
    She went back to the tray, took another pretty canape at random. "I wouldn't have slept with any of them... unless the job called for it." She grinned at him. "And I would have thought of you the whole time."
    "It wouldn't have taken very long -- since I'd have cut off his balls and handed them to you."
    He kept stringing lights as she choked on her wine. "Jesus, Roarke, I'm only kidding."
    "Mmm-hmm. Me, too, darling. Hand me another string of these."
    Not at all sure of him, Eve pulled out another string of lights. "How many of these are you going to use?"
    "As many as it takes."
    "Yeah." She blew out a breath. "What I meant -- before -- was I've done undercover before, Peabody's green."
    "Peabody's had good training. You should trust her. And yourself."
    "McNab's still kicking about it."
    "He's smitten with her."
    "He really -- What?"
    "He's smitten with her." Roarke stepped back, pursed his lips. "Tree lights on," he ordered, then nodded, satisfied as the tiny diamond points blinked on. "Yes, that'll do it."
    "What do you mean, smitten? Like he's got a case on her? McNab? No way."
    "He's not sure he likes her, but he's attracted." Wanting to see his work from another angle, Roarke walked over, picked up his wine, and sipped as he studied. "Ornaments, next."
    "He irritates the hell out of her."
    "I believe you felt the same way about me initially." He toasted his wife in the glow of tree and fire lights. "And look where we ended up."
    Eve stared at him for a full ten seconds, then sat heavily on the side of the bed. "Oh Christ, this is perfect. This is just perfect. I can't have the two of them working together like this if there's a thing there. Annoyance I can deal with; sexual shit, no way."
    "Sometimes you have to let your children go, darling." He opened another box, chose an antique porcelain angel. "You put the first one on. It'll be our little tradition."
    Eve stared at it. "If anything happens to her -- "
    "You won't let anything happen to her."
    "No." She let out a breath, and rose. "No, I won't. I'm going to need your help."
    He reached out, stroked a fingertip over the shallow dent in her chin. "You have it."
    She turned, picked her branch, and hung the angel. "I love you. I guess that's turning out to be our little tradition, too."
    "It's my favorite."
    Late, very late, when the tree lights were off and the fire burned low, she lay awake. Was he out there, now? Would her 'link beep, announcing another