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deliberately tranquil voice that held just an edge of warning. "I'm up here making our guest welcome."
    "Go on downstairs," he said, with an uneasy attempt at amiability. "Mrs. Hawkins has set out a buffet. You know you don't eat enough." He glanced at Alex, and his face was dark with dislike. "We'll be down in a minute."
    "Jeremy." The warning in her voice was sharper now.
    "Go along now."
    She didn't move for a moment, her soft mouth set in stubborn lines, and Alex wondered with vague amusement what she was trying to protect him from. Whatever it was clearly caused her more pain than it could ever cause him, so he simply nodded at her. "Don't fuss, Laura. Your stepbrother just wishes to lay out the rules of the house."
    "Damn straight," Jeremy said.
    "Ignore him," Laura said firmly. "I always do."
    The two men waited until she was gone. And then Alex turned to Jeremy, keeping the faint smile on his face.
    "Could you take off those damned sunglasses?" Jeremy demanded in his well-bred whine. "I like to see who I'm talking to."
    Not in this case you wouldn't,
Alex thought cynically. "I told you before, my eyes are sensitive to light," he said in a deceptively civil tone.
    Jeremy wasn't the type of man to make a stand. "Suit yourself," he said. "I just wanted to make a few things clear about our household."
    "Certainly."
    "You're to keep away from Laura."
    It was just as well the mirrored sunglasses covered half his face. He kept it impassive. "And why is that?"
    "We look out for her. My stepsister isn't…isn't like other women."
    "And why not?"
    "She's ill. Dying, as a matter of fact. Any stress could kill her."
    "She told me about her heart."
    Jeremy looked shocked. "You're lying. She never talks about it with strangers."
    "I'm not a stranger."
    "I don't care who the hell you say you are. You're to keep away from her. There are trees down all over the place, blocking the driveway, and the phones are out so there's nothing we can do about it now, but by tomorrow this freak storm should have passed, and I'm going to want you out of here."
    "I'll leave as soon as the storm is over," he said in a tranquil voice, knowing he was conceding nothing. The storm would be over when he chose it to be over.
    Jeremy nodded. "As long as we understand each other. You're not to touch her, you understand?"
    "I understand," he said, agreeing to nothing. "I would have thought you'd be more concerned about your wife than your unmarried stepsister."
    "Cynthia knows what she's getting herself into," he said with a faint sneer. "Laura doesn't. She's a complete innocent when it comes to men. Do you understand what I'm telling you? A complete innocent."
    He managed a bored yawn, pleased with the effect. "If you're trying to tell me she's still a virgin at her advanced age, then let me assure you, I understand. My command of the English language is actually quite good."
    "And she's going to stay that way."
    "Why?" It was a simple enough question, but Jeremy looked taken aback.
    "Because… because…" he blustered.
    "Never mind," Alex said gently. "I've never been all that interested in innocents."
    "And Laura is uninterested in men."
    It was a patent lie, one that sat between them like a coiled snake. "Of course," Alex murmured politely, following his reluctant host into the darkness.

    J eremy looked disgustingly smug when he walked into the dining room, Laura thought, squashing down her unexpected anger. But the man behind him didn't look the slightest bit embarrassed or chastened.
    Oh, she knew perfectly well what Jeremy had told him. That she was a poor, dying virgin. That to touch her was to kill her, and he surely didn't want that on his conscience.
    She'd seen it happen time and time again, as her father and then her brothers warned men away from her, and her embarrassment had faded to mild annoyance over the years as she told herself she didn't care.
    Tonight was different, and she wasn't certain why. Tonight she was shaking with anger and a