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of you. I gather you didn’t admire the lady for her brilliant mind.”
    “Actually, the only portion of her anatomy that I was enamored with were her breasts. The rest was strictly mediocre.”
    For a moment Kelly didn’t know whether she was more shocked at his open discussion of his former mistress or at her own resentment of his partiality for an attribute with which she was not generously endowed.
    “Personally, I think she’s a trifle overblown,”Kelly said loftily, opening her book decisively and gluing her eyes blindly to the first page.
    She heard O’Brien’s pleased chuckle. “I believe you’re right at that. I find myself definitely drawn more to quality than to quantity of late.” She did not need to look up to know that his gaze was running lingeringly over her breasts. Despite her conscientious attempt to ignore his provocative words, she could feel the pink steal up to her cheeks. O’Brien’s chuckle was triumphant.
    She purposely did not again lift her eyes, and soon she heard the rustle of the yellow pad on O’Brien’s lap. It was another ten minutes until she felt it safe to stop pretending to read. Peeking from beneath her long lashes, she stared at O’Brien’s intent face. She needn’t have been so careful, she thought ruefully. O’Brien’s attention was so concentrated on his task that he didn’t know she was in the same world, much less the same gondola. Her gaze ran lingeringly over the lean, almost barbaric beauty of his strong, well-defined features. Lord, a man had no right to be that gorgeous, she thought.
    But it was his expression that sent an oddtwinge through her. She wondered if he had ever looked at a woman with that same excitement and intensity of purpose that he was devoting to his papers. Well, why should she care if there was a woman somewhere who could invoke that type of response in Nick O’Brien? She scarcely knew the man, and they certainly had nothing in common. Who could possibly be attracted to a man of O’Brien’s incredible mental powers and accomplishments? she wondered crossly. It would be like snuggling up to a master computer. So what if he was the most sexually magnetic man she had ever run across in her twenty-three years? He was a man who constantly had to be challenged, who was always making new discoveries; he was bound to become bored and restless with any woman in a relatively short period of time. No, she must take great care to guard herself against that potent charm that was already eroding her resistance and leaving her bewildered and slightly dazzled.
    Despite her stern self-admonition, for the remainder of the morning and early afternoonshe found both her gaze and attention returning again and again to that quiet, frowning figure sitting tailor fashion across from her. Except for the occasions when he roused himself to check the altimeter and start the burners for short periods, he was entirely absorbed in whatever he was working on. Instead of following her stern resolve to concentrate on her novel, she found herself listening with almost maternal amusement to O’Brien’s absent mutterings and occasional chuckles of triumph. She was not aware at what point she gave up entirely, dropped the paperback, and curled up with her head pillowed on her crossed arms to gaze at O’Brien. Nor was she conscious of the exact time when her eyes fluttered shut and she fell peacefully asleep.

T HREE
    W HEN K ELLY OPENED her eyes again, it was to see O’Brien sitting quietly, his pad and pen put away and his gaze on her. “Hi,” he said softly. “I’m glad you’re awake. I was getting lonely.” He stretched lazily. “How about some dinner? You haven’t eaten all day, but I figured that you needed the rest more than sustenance after your broken sleep last night. You only catnapped on the plane from San Francisco.”
    “I never sleep well on jets,” Kelly said, yawning. She sat up and ran her hand through her tousled curls. “Though I seem to