Richard removed his glasses and put then on the bedside table. It was obvious that he would get no more reading done tonight. He gathered up all the reports and put them on the floor. 'Well,' he said, trying to lighten the conversation, 'at least she only opens her mouth once every few years, like someone running for reelection.'

'Not funny,' said Ann. She put down her hairbrush and turned off the dressing table light. Then she stood up, stretched, and walked over to the bed. Richard was always amazed at how beautiful she was, and how lucky he was to have found her when he did. After Mary died so suddenly and horribly, he felt sure that he would never again be in love. And then Ann came, like a gift from God. They had met briefly in Washington. He had been there on business, and she had just moved there to start a new career, working for HEW. At first, she had flirted with him outrageously until he told her about Mary's death and his reluctance to embark on a new involvement. She had become very thoughtful then, very sympathetic. Perhaps nothing would have come of it had he not found her sitting next to him in first-class on his flight back to Chicago. She had insisted that it was coincidence, and he had allowed her that, but he was flattered nonetheless, and intrigued. Their courtship was brief and intense, and their engagement announcement came as a great surprise to the outside world. But Richard was beyond worrying about social considerations at that point; not only was he too important to be threatened by gossip, but, more to the point, by then he was also wildly, madly, in love with Ann.

And here she was, seven years later, in his arms, and he was still obsessed with her. Sex had a lot to do with it, he had to admit. Ann had taken him to heights that seemed all but sinful. Mary had been almost shy in bed, whereas Ann was aggressive, seductive, addicting. Richard could hardly believe how much sexuality had been lying dormant in him, unaroused until Ann came into his life.

'What are you thinking?' Ann broke into his reverie.

'About you. How we met. How much I love you.'

'Oh, that.'

He laughed. That was another thing. Ann could make him laugh in ways he had never laughed with Mary. But he resisted comparing the two. It made him feel guilty.

'Feeling guilty again?' she asked. She had a way of reading his mind as well.

'No,' he lied. He didn't feel like getting into that old routine again tonight. Too many other things were on his mind. It had been a charged evening without adding to it.

Ann nuzzled up against him. 'What did you say to her?' she purred into his neck.

'Hmmm?'