She groaned and rolled over. “But, oh, God, it’s only”—Erin reached for the alarm clock and pulled the luminescent dial within inches of her face and sleepy eyes—”four-thirty in the morning.” There was another agonized groan as she pushed the clock back on the nightstand. “No one in his right mind gets up at this time of day,” she moaned, and stuffed her face back into the downy softness of her pillow.

The bed sagged under Kane’s weight and he pressed a warm kiss against her forehead. “Do you want me to stay until dawn?” he asked quietly. “What about your tenants, not to mentioned our fellow bankers? You were the one who didn’t want our relationship open for public viewing,” he reminded her. “Besides all of that nonsense, I need a shower, shave and a change of clothing.”

Even to Erin’s cobweb-filled mind, Kane’s reasoning seemed logical and clear. She propped up her head with her hand and tugged at the quilt close to the base of her throat. An autumn chill stung the morning air.

It took a little time, but slowly she began to awaken, and with interested eyes, she watched him get dressed. It was strange how comfortable she felt just being with him, how natural and right it all seemed. But he was correct. The fewer people who knew of their relationship, the better.

Kane left just as dawn was stretching its golden rays through her bedroom window. She listened as his car roared off down the hill and faded in the distance. It was a faraway, lonely sound that retreated into the misty morning air.

It was impossible to fall back into the heavy slumber that had come to her in Kane’s arms. And so, with one final assessing and dubious glance at the clock, she got up, showered and dressed for the day.

Surprisingly, with only a few hours sleep, Erin felt wonderfully refreshed after the hot needlelike spray of the shower pulsated against her skin. She toweled herself dry, applied a thin sheen of makeup, twisted the ebony strands of her hair into her businesslike chignon and stepped into her favorite burgundy suedelike suit. As she tied the broad white bow of her silk blouse she glanced in the mirror, and the woman in the reflection smiled back in genuine fondness. Erin felt good about herself this morning.

Fingers of fog still held the city, but the bright morning sun sent prisms of colorful light streaming heavenward in what promised to be a gorgeous fall day.

Unwittingly Erin smiled as she pushed her way through the large plate-glass doors of the bank building. The dismal feeling of trepidation that had been with her during the transition of ownership of the bank seemed to have disappeared. Even as she brushed by Kane’s office, she felt only a tinge of regret for Mitch. She still had a fondness in her heart for her ex-employer, but she realized that there was nothing that she or anyone else could do to help him. He had never returned any of her calls, although she had left several messages on the mechanical answering device that Mitch had installed. She had tried her best. Now, surely, if he needed to get in touch with her, he would.