Witchcraft

are always one hundred percent with me," she agreed simply. "A man who is free to give me as much as I can give him." Kimberly shook off the assessing intent of his gaze and summoned a brisk smile. "And now about this little matter of where you will sleep tonight." Cavenaugh looked as though he was going to pursue the discussion of her "fantasy" man but the forbidding expression in her amber eyes must have stopped him. He bit back whatever words had been poised to attack and nodded once. "As we've already decided, I don't fall into the category of enemy. And as I'm not yet your lover-" Kimberly flushed at the easy way he began that last sentence and found herself rushing to interrupt. "I'll get some blankets from the closet. You can use the couch. I'll want your word of honor, however, that I'm not going to have to kick you out of my bedroom at any time during the night."
    "Your hospitality overwhelms me."
    "Sorry, but you're a little overwhelming, yourself," she confessed wryly. "And I've had an unsettling day." Humor flashed in the green eyes. "I take it you don't have many unsettling days?"
    "Hardly. Another advantage to living alone, Cavenaugh . My days usually go exactly as I wish them to go."
    "I think you're really quite spoiled, Kim."
    "Thoroughly spoiled," she said with a quick laugh. "Believe me, I treasure the luxury of my independence. Now, back to your word of honor. Do I have it?"
    "About not invading your bedroom? I would much prefer to be invited." She let that pass, assuming it was as close to a promise as she was going to get and fully aware of the fact that she wasn't about to force him back out into the storm tonight. He was not her enemy even though he represented a very ancient form of danger. Walking to the hall closet she opened it and began pulling down sheets and blankets. "One pillow or two?"
    "One will do." He caught the pillow she tossed at him, his hand moving in an almost negligent gesture that betrayed an easy sense of coordination.
    "Kim, about your coming home with me in the morning," he began quietly.
    "In the morning you'll be on your way back to the Cavenaugh Vineyards.
    Alone. How many quilts do you want?"
    "One," he ordered, sounding irritated. "Kim, you were right to be nervous about that damn rose.
    We're going to take precautions."
    "I'll take them."
    "You called on me to protect you" he reminded her grimly. "No, I did not call on you. I considered calling you, and at a few points during the day I almost did call you. But in the end I never actually asked for any help, did I, Cavenaugh ? You keep forgetting that. You're here because you decided all on your own to drive over to the coast, not because I yelled for help."
    "You're being unreasonable about this and with any luck by morning you'll have calmed down enough to realize it." Cavenaugh shoved his hands into the back pockets of his jeans and regarded her with ominous warning. Kim refused to be browbeaten. She had been taking care of herself too long to allow herself to be intimidated by any man.
    "That expression may be very effective on little Scott or on one of your employees who is late for work, but that's the limit of its usefulness, I'm afraid. It doesn't have any effect on me at all."
    "I keep asking myself how Josh Valerian would handle this," Cavenaugh murmured just as Kimberly swept past the counter where the buff-colored envelope from the Los Angeles law office had been lying. "He'd know when to stop pushing," Kimberly advised. The trailing corner of the quilt she was carrying in her arms caught the envelope and nudged it over the counter edge. "He'd know when to stop because of this uncanny communication he shares with Amy Solitaire, I take it." Cavenaugh watched the envelope drop to the floor and moved forward to retrieve it. "You don't have to sound so scornful. The relationship between Amy and Josh is going to help sell a lot of books."
    "Not to men," Cavenaugh predicted as he studied the return address on the envelope. "Women are the largest segment of my readers," Kimberly informed him grandly. "And I'll tell you right now they're going to love the sense of complete emotional and mental intimacy I'm building between Josh and Amy."
    "Well, if you put enough sexual intimacy in the books, maybe you'll hang on to your male readership, too. "I use the violence to keep my male readers interested," Kim gritted. "Men are really big on violence. Maybe it's a substitute for genuine intimacy for them. What are you