“Sorry.” North turned on the bathroom light and left the door open. “Does that work for you?”

“Yes. Thanks.”

In the shadows she could see that he was wearing a T-shirt and his cargo pants. He had his holstered gun in one hand.

Sierra settled back down into the quilt and sheet. She listened to the small sounds North made as he removed the trousers. There was a muffled clunk when he put the gun on the floor.

There was a long silence. Sierra gazed up at the shelves of books towering above her.

“It occurs to me,” she said, “that this is not a good idea.”

“What’s not a good idea?”

“You and me, sleeping between rows of library shelves.”

“I know I’m going to regret asking this, but what could possibly go wrong?”

“If there was an earthquake we would be buried under a pile of heavy books. Maybe killed.”

“Thanks for pointing that out,” North said. “Now I won’t be able to sleep a wink.”

“We could move under the big table,” Sierra said. “That would be much safer.”

“In the event of an earthquake, you mean.”

“Right.”

There was another short silence.

“All right,” North said. “Let’s move.”

Sierra scrambled to her feet, gathered up the quilt, sheet and pillow, and walked, barefoot, out of the ancestry-records aisle. North was already at the long table, moving the chairs out of the way. She noticed he had taken the time to pull on his trousers and collect the gun.

They arranged the quilts, sheets and pillows side by side. When they were finished North looked at her across the table.

“There’s just one thing I would like to clarify,” he said.

She summoned up her breeziest smile. “Don’t worry, I’m a professional.”

“In Vegas, that could be interpreted a couple of different ways.”

She felt the heat rise in her face and then worried that with his special night vision he might be able to tell that she was embarrassed. Annoyed, she glared at him.

“You know what I mean,” she said.

“Sure. And I respect your professionalism. Last night in the cave I told you that I didn’t kiss you the other morning because I was feeling grateful.”

“Right.”

“I also want to make it clear that I didn’t kiss you because I was overcome with a rush of post-adrenaline energy due to the fact that we nearly got killed that night.”

“Oh.” She paused. “You’re sure?”

“Positive.”

“Because we were both riding an emotional roller coaster after all the excitement,” she said. “Everyone knows that kind of experience can induce a temporary sense of physical attraction.”

“Turns out that in my case, it doesn’t seem to be temporary.”

She took another deep breath. “It doesn’t seem to be temporary for me, either.”

“Want to run an experiment? Try another kiss?”

A thrill of anticipation zapped across her senses.

“Yes,” she said. “Yes, I would like that. A lot.”

North moved to the far end of the table. She went to meet him. For a few seconds they just stood there, looking at each other. She reached up and traced the line of his jaw with one finger.