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that.
    Besides, McCloud was well connected in the community. Ex-military, a respected private investigator, ties to the local police, brother in the FBI. Discretion was called for. Faris would organize something special for him. Quiet, untraceable, personal. And very, very painful.
    Faris watched through the window with hot eyes. He’d been so hurt when she fled the hotel room without waiting for him.
    He’d forgiven her, though. In spite of the trouble she’d caused. The mold Caruso had hidden was the key to Marcus’s plan, and stupid Faris had let the one person who could have revealed its location slip away. Marcus had been so angry. Faris still shuddered at the memory.
    The situation was delicate now. It had taken a tediously long time to find her, and time had run short. Marcus was impatient. Faris wouldn’t let her play him for a fool again. He loved her, but he could be very stern if he had to be. Very cruel. Marcus had taught him how.
    He choked up with emotion when he thought of carrying her unconscious body in his arms, her head lolling against his shoulder with childlike trust. He’d heard somewhere that if you saved a person’s life, you were responsible for that person for as long as she lived.
    He’d spared Margaret’s life, so it was up to him to shield her from the predators drawn by her exquisite vulnerability. Like sharks to blood.
    He could not allow Margaret’s attention be distracted from him now. He was herding her into his trap so gradually that when the time came, she would be exhausted. Grateful and relieved to fall into it.
    She didn’t need work, or money, or other people. She didn’t need to drive through dangerous traffic, to be surrounded by dirty-minded men at that graphics firm. She did not need to slave into the night on that computer, straining her beautiful eyes to build a business that had no future anyway. She did not need that worthless, crippled old dog.
    He was stripping it away from her, piece by piece. When it was all gone, she would understand. She just had to give herself to him. That was all. He would be her universe, her reason to exist.
    The rest was just noise and clutter. She would learn.

Chapter
4
    M argot flattened herself against the wall to make room in the narrow corridor as Davy McCloud’s big body overwhelmed her space.
    He looked into what doubled as her living room and bedroom, his eyes resting on the folded quilt on the floor that currently served as her bed. Her futon had been slashed to ribbons in the break-in, along with her new couch, both bought with the first paycheck of the short-lived job at the graphics firm. His eloquent silence made her twitch.
    â€œDid you just move in?” he asked cautiously.
    She grabbed the bag out of his hand and hefted it as she headed for the kitchen. Mmm, nice and heavy. “Seven months ago,” she told him. “My stuff got wrecked in the burglary.”
    â€œTell me more about that burglary.”
    She spun around, and he stopped short to keep from bumping into her. So close, she could smell his shower soap, feel his body heat.
    â€œI appreciate your interest, but I don’t want to talk about it,” she said. “Big fat downer. I want some food, and a beer. Do you mind?”
    She forced herself to stare back into his eyes, counting the seconds to center herself; one thousand one, one thousand two, but somewhere along the way she got waylaid and stopped counting.
    Wow. That subtle downward slant of his eyelids was so sensual. Almost exotic looking. And how could a blond guy have such dark brows and lashes? It just wasn’t right. There should be a law.
    She’d been floating in a gaga, timeless nowhere for who knew how long when he nodded, finally breaking the spell. “OK. Let’s eat first.”
    That wasn’t the deal she’d proposed, but she was too rattled to argue the point. She laid containers out on the table as McCloud put