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harassment!”
    â€œIt’s happened before?” He was inside her door now, automatically sizing the place up. A few nice pieces—way too much clutter. Potted plants, books, papers—bottom line, it looked like a cross between one of those house-and-garden spreads and a city dump.
    â€œIt happens almost every day. Not the…the flower and the awful underwear, but the calls.”
    â€œThe, uh, awful underwear?”
    â€œSome creep left a rose and a pair of really disgusting panties in my underwear drawer day before yesterday, and then he had the nerve to call me and brag about it. I just want it to stop!”
    â€œHave you reported it?”
    â€œWell, of course I’ve reported it, what do you take me for, an idiot?”
    He didn’t think she really wanted him to answer the question, and so he didn’t. “What did they advise?”
    She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Change my phone number, change my lock—go on an extended vacation until the creep loses interest.”
    â€œAnd?” Curt prompted. He needed to get on with his own business, but no officer who called himself a gentleman would walk away, leaving a lady in this much distress. Not that he was much of a gentleman—in name only, maybe.
    And not that she was that much of a lady.
    â€œOh, I did it all—the works. The caller missed one day, and then he started in again. I hope he fries in hell. I hope he catches an awful disease and rots from the toes up. Slowly!”
    â€œRemind me never to tick you off,” he said dryly. “Uh, about the other. My boxes?”
    She took a deep breath and crossed her arms over her small but definitely feminine chest. “Look, whether youlike it or not, I bought those boxes. They’re mine, along with whatever happens to be inside them, end of argument.”
    â€œEnd of defense argument,” he corrected smoothly. “Now it’s my turn.”
    â€œI’m expecting my lawyer at any moment. If you have anything further to say, you may take it up with her.”
    â€œAll prepared, huh? Lawyer already on the hook. I’d say that’s a pretty good indication of guilt.”
    â€œJust what is your problem, Mr. Powers? Hearing or understanding?”
    â€œMy problem? I think I stated it pretty clearly, but for the record those papers you took from my storage unit are my property. I lost them through no fault of my own.”
    â€œThe sale was perfectly legitimate. I have a receipt to prove it.”
    He could have told her what she could do with her receipt, but he had better manners. Marginally. Instead, he gave her a smile that would have done credit to a barracuda and deliberately allowed his gaze to move over her, from the crown of her head to her bare toes.
    She was tall?
    He was taller.
    She was tough?
    He was tougher.
    Two sets of arms crossed over two chests. Full battle stations.
    Lily did her best to stare him down, but her best wasn’t working. There was a crude name for this kind of contest. Little boys—and even big ones—were equipped for it. Women weren’t. Even so, if it weren’t for this other thing that had her nerves so ragged that all she wanted to do was run and bury her head under a blanket, she could have taken him, easy. At least she could have run.
    Only she had nowhere left to run. It was all she could do when she thought about that creepy voice not to cry, and she had never been a crier, not even in the bad old days. So she took another deep breath and offered him the smile she had perfected in front of her bathroom mirror. Lily the Diplomat. Lily the Gracious Lady. “Tell you what, Mr. Powers, why don’t you leave your card and I promise I’ll let you have anything I don’t need, once I’ve had time to go through it. Is that acceptable?”
    Smile still in place, she looked him directly in the eye. She knew better than to look a strange dog in the eyes, but as