Sanctuary

around her throat. “You’ll be my angel now.”
    He tightened the scarf, slowly, wanting to draw out the moment. He watched her mouth open, struggle to suck in air. Her heels drummed on the sand, her body jerked.
    His breath became labored, the power flooding him, screaming in his head, racing through his blood. He lost track of the times he stopped, let her claw back to consciousness before he took her to the brink again. He would rise, aim the camera again. Not just one decisive moment, he thought. But many. The fear of death, the acceptance, the flicker of hope as life pumped back. The surrender when it blinked out again.
    Oh, he regretted the lack of a tripod and remote.
    Finally his system roared past control and he finished it.
    Gasping, he murmured endearments, kissed her gratefully. She had shown him a new level, this unexpected angel that fate had tossed at his feet. It had been meant to be, of course. He understood that now. He’d had more to learn before he met his destiny with Jo. So much more to learn.
    He removed the scarf, folded it, and laid it reverently over the gun. He took time to pose her, adjusting her hands after he’d freed them. The welts on the wrists troubled him a little until he slid her hands under her head like a pillow.
    He thought he would title this one Gift of an Angel .
    He dressed, then bundled her clothes. The marsh was too far, he decided. Whatever the gators and other predators had left of Ginny was buried deep there. He didn’t have time for the hike, or energy for the labor.
    There were conveniently deep spots in the river, however, and that would do well enough. He would take her to her final resting place, weigh her body down so that it would rest on the slippery bottom.
    And then, he decided with a wide yawn, he’d call it a night.

TWENTY-TWO
    W HEN Giff slipped out of Lexy’s room and down the back steps, the sky was pearled with dawn. He’d meant to be out of the house and on his way before sunup. But then, he thought with a lazy smile, Lexy had a way of persuading a man to tarry.
    She’d needed him. First to work off her mad at Brian, then to tell him about her sister’s troubles. They could talk about things like that, and all manner of other things, tucked in her room, their voices hushed with secrets.
    That ease of talking, Giff mused, was just one of the advantages of being in love with someone you’d known since childhood.
    Then there was the electric jolt, the unexpected sizzle of surprise, as you got to know that very familiar person on other, more intimate levels. Giff puffed out a breath as he reached for the door. It sure wasn’t any hardship to study Lexy Hathaway on those other levels. The way she’d looked in that little silk nightie she’d bought in Savannah had been enough to make a strong man sink to his knees and praise God for coming up with the brilliant notion of creating Eve.
    Getting her out of that sheer little concoction hadn’t been a worrisome task either. In fact, he decided that when he took her to Savannah on Saturday he’d buy her another one, just so he could . . .
    The erotic image of Lexy in buttermilk silk fled as he found himself faced with her father. It was a toss-up as to which one of them was more disconcerted, Lexy’s lover, with his hair still tumbled from sex and sleep, or Lexy’s father, with a bowl of cornflakes in his hand.
    Both cleared their throats.
    “Mr. Hathaway.”
    “Giff.”
    “I . . . ah . . . I was . . .”
    “That plumbing need seeing to again upstairs?”
    It was an out, offered as desperately as it was nearly taken. But Giff straightened his shoulders, told himself not to take the coward’s way, and met Sam’s eyes directly. “No, sir.”
    Miserably uneasy, Sam set his bowl down and dumped milk onto the cereal. “Well, then,” was all he could think to say.
    “Mr. Hathaway, I don’t want you to think I’m sneaking out of your house.” Which of course, Giff admitted, was exactly what he was doing.
    “You’ve been running tame in Sanctuary since you could walk.” Leave it alone, boy, Sam prayed. Leave it lie and move along. “You’re welcome to come and go as you please, just like you ever were.”
    “I’ve been walking a lot of years now, Mr. Hathaway. And for most of them I’ve been ... I figure you know how I feel about Lexy. How I always have.”
    Damn cereal was going to get soggy, Sam thought with regret. “I guess you didn’t grow out of it like most thought you