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below the photo was printed height, weight, coloring, general description. The report of an identifying scar on her lower back, the wound gained during a knife fight.
    It was Raven.
    “Thank you, Zach.” Josh’s voice was toneless now. “Your usual … thorough job.”
    Zach hesitated for a moment, then turned and silently left the room, bothered by what he had left behind.
    Josh drew out his lighter and held the printout to the flame. When the last charred ashes in the glass tray on his desk heaped to overflowing, he burned the picture. Not that it mattered, since the efficient Zach would have made duplicate copies of both. And he couldn’t burn the words or the image in his mind of a striking face with merry eyes, an image not even the harsh photo could replace. He turned off his desk lamp and sat in the darkness, gazing sightlessly out over the glittering lights of the city far below.
    “Man was here asking about you, Raven.”
    She unlocked the apartment door, but paused to smile at the manager. “When, Liz?”
    “Saturday. Told him the apartment was empty and I’d never heard of you.” Her sharp brown eyes were steady on Raven’s face. “Seemeda bit upset, but a very nice man.” She described Josh Long briskly, adding in satisfaction, “A hunk.”
    Raven laughed. “You’ve been watching too much television. And stop guarding me like a cat with one kitten and trying to marry me off.”
    Liz sniffed. “High time you were married, at your age.”
    It was a frequent comment, and Raven only smiled, waved, and disappeared into her apartment. Then she poked her head out as Liz was turning to leave and whispered conspiratorially, “He
is
a hunk, though, isn’t he?”
    She thought about her own words later, disturbed by the flare of excitement she’d felt in knowing Josh had come searching for her. But that would never do. He’d ruin everything if he started asking questions about her. She felt a sudden chill, thinking of another handsome face, this one topped by silver hair and wearing a constant, beneficent smile.
    Though dangerous, it was entirely necessary for her to return here from time to time, here, where there was no taint of Leon Travers’sdeceptively charming presence, and where she could relax her ever-present guard. He would be in meetings all day today, so she had a few hours to relax and unwind before she had to be back at the penthouse to meet him for dinner tonight.
    The thought of hours without the strain of performance made her voice light and cheerful when she answered the pealing demand of the phone. “Hello?”
    There was an instant of silence, and then a deep, oddly husky voice. “Raven? It’s Josh.”
    She caught her breath and silently commanded her heart to quit pounding so erratically. “Oh—hello, Josh.”
    “You’ve been gone.”
    Raven licked her lips nervously, wondering what Kelsey would think of the betraying gesture. “Yes, a job out of town.”
    “I’d like to see you.”
    She watched her fingers twisting the phone cord. “I have plans for tonight.”
    “How about now? I’ll get a picnic lunch and we can go somewhere.”
    “All—all right.” Was that shy voice reallyhers? A part of her mind was working swiftly. Where could they avoid being seen? “I know a place.”
    “Pick you up in an hour.” He hung up.
    Raven cradled the receiver slowly. So. She was, she knew, being incredibly stupid, rash, and insanely reckless. She was putting lives in danger, including her own.
    And Josh’s.
    She looked around the bright, cheerful apartment, and became conscious, not for the first time, of walking a tightrope between two worlds. Her neighbors in this area and the other few friends she had made considered her a laughing and carefree young woman with a penchant for taking in strays—animal and human. Someone who was quick to offer a loan and who, when not out of town on one of her frequent “business trips,” was always willing to watch neighborhood kids for an