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time she began responding to the invigorating effects of the hot
    water, Anne also began to take stock of her situation. In every fantasy she
    had ever spun concerning a reunion with Julian Aries, matters had always
    taken a different course from the one they had pursued tonight. She had
    dreamed of long, quiet talks while they finally got to know each other. She
    had imagined herself explaining that she now understood that Julian
    hadn't "lured" her brother to that island. Michael Silver had a reporter's
    instincts and a willingness to go wherever he had to go in order to get his
    story. The story Julian had offered him in exchange for providing
    journalistic cover had been too good to turn down.
    Anne had planned to make her apologies and explanations and then
    wait to see if Julian still had any interest in pursuing the electric
    attraction that had flared between them from the first moment they had
    met. She had been prepared to accept the limitations his career would put
    on any relationship they built. Or at least she had told herself she was
    prepared to accept those limits.
    In return she had wanted some answers. He had promised to come back
    for her and he had never kept that promise. She had to know if the
    attraction he had felt wasn't sufficient to make him tolerate her anger and
    the demands he undoubtedly expected her to make. For six months she
    had waited for him to make the first move.
    In the end she had been forced to come to him. The result had been
    explosive but not at all illuminating or constructive. Deep down she had
    known that sooner or later physically, at least, she would surrender. It had
    been inevitable and she suspected that something in her had recognized
    that from the start.
    The problem was that the sensual coupling could provide no real,
    long-term answers. It only served to solidify the chains that bound her to
    Julian. And she had no way of knowing if even that much had been
    accomplished from Julian's point of view.
    He had claimed he wanted to exorcise her from his mind. Perhaps
    tonight was all he would ever need from her.
    Tugging on the jeans and sweater and her warm socks, Anne finished
    dressing and padded back out into the dark bedroom. Julian still lay in a
    sprawl across the bed. The light from the bathroom shafted across the
    solid, lean lines of his body, revealing the angry scar across his shoulders
    and another forbidding line along the back of his thigh. Her heart turned
    over at the thought of the pain those wounds must have inflicted.
    Even as she fought back the instinctive reaction, Julian moved slightly
    on the bed. There was a restless abruptness to the movement that alarmed
    her. He mumbled something and flung his hand out over the pillow.
    "Julian, what's wrong?" She hurried forward and sat down on the edge
    of the bed, testing the warmth of him with her palm. "My God, you're
    burning up!"
    In the few minutes she had been in the shower, the fever she had sensed
    in him had blossomed into a fire. Alarmed by the intensity of it, she
    struggled to get him under the bedclothes.
    "Too hot," he muttered, pushing at her with his hands. "Much too hot.
    Put out the fire."
    "Hush, Julian. It's all right. I'll take care of you."
    Eyes closed he turned his head in the direction of her voice. "Ghost lady.
    Why are you here? It's dangerous…"
    "I'm here to take care of you, Julian. Please let me." She managed to
    pull the sheet over him although his movements were becoming more
    disturbed. His strength was a problem. Even gripped with fever his hands
    retained a lot of their normal power. When he tried to rip aside the sheet
    she was helpless to keep it in place.
    "Julian, try to lie still. I'm going to get something to cool you down."
    He was far too warm. When a fever soared like this it ought to be
    broken in any way possible. Somewhere she remembered hearing that bit
    of first-aid advice. Anne stopped battling him for the sheet and went back
    into the bathroom. Opening the