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mind!”
    “Memories you can’t handle?”
    “That’s right.”
    “Or memories you want to relive?”
    “Leif—get out of here. Just go.”
    “I am going, Tracy. Thanks for the coffee—and the hospitality.” He started down the hallway, then turned back with a pleasant smile.
    “Tomorrow night is Jamie’s last concert on the tour, you know. We’ll be here one more night. Sunday morning he’s leaving with me for Connecticut. And by the way, Tracy, my plan is already in action. Your mother, stepfather, and grandfather have already agreed to come. You didn’t know that, did you? Maybe you really did break the ties that bind you, Tracy. Good for you. But if you want to see Jamie, you’d better plan on a trip to Connecticut.”
    “Speak of binding ties!” she snapped.
    He shrugged, and came back to her. He was smiling with a certain amount of admiration; there was just a touch of the gentle silver she had once known to his eyes.
    She wanted to swear at him. The words didn’t come, nor did she move when he touched her chin again. There was no force to that touch. It was nearly tender.
    Just his knuckle below her chin, lightly lifting her face to his.
    “You really haven’t changed, Tracy,” he told her very softly. “You’re still very, very beautiful.”
    He shouldn’t have touched her, Leif realized. He shouldn’t have come so near her—felt the brush of her nothing gown, stared into the liquid elegance of her eyes. He shouldn’t have felt the softness of her flesh, because time didn’t really heal all wounds at all; he felt as if he bled all over again. He hadn’t—surely, he hadn’t!—loved her all those years.
    Maybe he had; maybe he hadn’t. Maybe time had no bearing on things at all. Maybe it was just the moment. He wanted to slip his arms around her as if she had never been gone, touch her lips and feel the magic, hold her agains t him and never let her go…
    Madness. There was nothing between them. Nothing except for mistrust and bitterness … and magic. He wanted her now. Desperately. To hold her, touch her, feel her hair cascade upon his naked flesh, the heat of her body meld with his own…
    He forced a crooked smile to his face; forced his lids to fall, to break the spell.
    “Very, very lovely, Tracy,” he said lightly. Release her, fool! his mind cried.
    She couldn’t think of a reply. She couldn’t make a sound. The cast of his e yes, the touch of his hand… Again, time slipped away and the traitorous sensation eclipsed all else. All she could do was stare at him, caught in the web of a strange spell once again.
    He released her at last—and walked down the hall. She still didn’t move nor speak. Until the door closed softly in his wake.
    Then, swearing, she leapt to her feet. She bolted the door. And when that was done, she hurried to the sliding-glass balcony doors, drew them shut—and locked them.

 
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER THREE
     
     
    I t was almost dawn when Tracy had finally slept, so she shouldn’t have been terribly surprised that it was well after noon when she was awakened by a phone call.
    It was Jamie to tell her that he’d just ordered breakfast up from room service—would she come over and join him.
    She hesitated just a second, then asked him, “Where’s Leif?”
    Jamie hesitated just a little bit longer than she had. “He’s still in his room. Why?”
    “No reason,” she said quickly—and then again she paused. She couldn’t avoid Leif—not if he was with Jamie. Nor did she want to create friction between the two of them.
    “Tracy?”
    “Give me a few minutes. You just woke me up. Okay?”
    “Sure.”
    Jamie rang off and Tracy hurried into the shower. Last night she had been off guard—she simply hadn’t known that Leif was with Jamie. Well, today she knew. And the past was ancient history. She wouldn’t allow her emotions to control her; she would be polite and cordial and so calm that he couldn’t get beneath her skin.
    With that in