black when Julian

ving thing, a rhythmic hammer striking the inside of his skull. The charity gala had been a s

He swallowed two pills dry-benzodiazepines, strong enough to knock out

the floor in a pile of expensive fabric. He didn't care.

to a precise 68 degrees, just the way he needed it to keep the night sweats at bay. He

oblivion where the memories of

count Egyptian cotton, cool against his heated skin. He exhaled, a

shed agains

warm. Some

didn't register "danger." The logic centers of his mind were

otel, nor the cloying Chanel No. 5 his mother bathed in. It was vanil

and struck a chord deep in his limbic system. A

stinctively shifted closer. He wrapped his heavy arm around the warmth, pulling the

ce thick with sleep and m

he violence of a swit

as a weight on her. A heat. An arm like

in instantly. Assess

hillbilly. She was Z

ssure point at the base of the intruder's wrist. She prepared to twist, to dislocate the joint

he hea

ase

erable. It was the sound of

ainst hers. It wasn't the tremor of aggression; it was t

st. She could feel his pulse-erratic, racing

li

is own bed. He had mistaken her f

pped her. The way he clung to her was desperate, almost pathetic. It sparked a flicker of c

ting the slackness of his musc

her cover. A farm girl wouldn't know

dn't want

, stiff as a board, trapped in the embrace

hing evened out into a deep,

She was trapped. If she moved, he might wa

eyelids. Just for an hour, she thought. I'