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getting another beer. At this rate she’d drive him to alcoholism within a week. Telling himself it was his own fault was no comfort at all. Telling himself there was absolutely nothing he could do about it without seeming like a meddling, jealous jerk didn’t quiet his tightly strung nerves, either. Telling himself he could not possibly survive an entire night of this torture motivated him to get out of bed, yank on a pair of jogging shorts and risk humiliation by pounding on Gabrielle’s door. He acted quickly, before he could think about the consequences.
    â€œKeep it down in there,” he yelled, then stomped back toward his own room.
    With surprising speed for someone engaged in such heated activity, she flung her door open and stepped into the corridor. He hadn’t counted on that. It stopped him right in his tracks, unable to do any more than stare at her as his pulse throbbed. Her face was flushed, her hair mussed. Her chest was heaving. His entire body tightened in immediate response. Knocking on that door had been the second stupidest damn mistake of his entire life, topped only by inviting her to live here in the first place. If listening had been torment, witnessing her sensual arousal was pure agony.
    â€œI’m sorry,” she said breathlessly. “I had no idea you could hear me. I didn’t even realize you’d come home.”
    â€œI’m not surprised,” he said.
    Apparently the sarcasm escaped her. She continued to regard him with wide, innocent eyes. “I couldn’t sleep,” she explained, “so I had my radio on for a while, but it didn’t help. Then I got to thinking about how I’ve been missing so many aerobics classes and, since I couldn’t sleep anyway, I thought I’d just runthrough the exercises. I’m sorry if the tape woke you.”
    As the significance of her explanation sank in, Paul felt his entire body go slack with relief. “Aerobics?” he said, hoping that the grin spreading across his face wasn’t nearly as silly as it felt. “That’s what you were doing in there?”
    â€œOf course. What did you think?” Her eyes widened, then sparked with amusement. She bit back a chuckle. “You didn’t?”
    He stared back indignantly, still fighting his own grin.
    â€œYou did, didn’t you? You thought I had someone in there.” Then she began laughing, the first genuine, honest emotion he’d ever seen from her. It was a glorious sound. She peeked at him and started chuckling all over again.
    â€œOkay,” he grumbled. “So I got it wrong. Just go back to bed.”
    She swallowed back another laugh with effort. “I told you. I can’t sleep.”
    â€œCount sheep.”
    â€œIt doesn’t work.”
    â€œTry reciting the names of all the states and their capitals.”
    â€œI want to sleep, not test my memory. If I miss one, I’ll be up the rest of the night trying to remember it.”
    â€œI’m sure the aerobics won’t help. Your blood’s probably pumping so fast right now, it’ll be hours before you settle down. Try some warm milk.”
    â€œWe don’t have any. We never did get to the store today.” She smiled at him enticingly. “Since you’re awake, too, we could play cards.”
    â€œBridge, I suppose?”
    â€œPoker.”
    He hesitated. The idea of playing poker with a half-dressed woman in the middle of the night held a certain appeal. Too much appeal. If he had a grain of sense, he’d go out for the blasted milk instead. “Do you have any cards?”
    â€œOf course,” she said, going immediately to a box that had been carefully labeled with every item in it.
    â€œThat much organization is probably illegal.When you move, you’re supposed to lose things.”
    â€œWho says?”
    â€œIt’s a law of nature or something.” He led the way into the living room and