“We’ll start in the desert.” And soon, he thought. Very soon. “Sutherland, how about the movies?”

She blinked. “Excuse me?”

“I said how about the movies.” He shifted his body toward hers, only the slightest bit. Mel couldn’t have said why the movement seemed so much like a threat. Or why the threat seemed so exciting. “Tomorrow night,” he continued. “My cousins and I are going. I think you might find my family interesting.”

“I’m not much on socializing.”

“This would be worth your while.” He vaulted the fence as gracefully as Ana had, but this time Mel didn’t think of a deer. She thought of a wolf. Now, without the fence between them, the threat, and the excitement, ripened. “A couple of hours of entertainment—to clear your mind. Afterward, I think you and I might have somewhere to go.”

“If you’re going to talk in riddles, we won’t get anywhere.”

“Trust me on this.” He cupped a hand on her cheek. His fingers lay there as lightly as butterfly wings, but she found it impossible to brush them away. “An evening with the Donovans will be good for both of us.”

She knew her voice would be breathless before she spoke, and she damned him for it. He only had his hand on her face. “I’ve pretty well decided nothing about you could be good for me.”

He smiled then, thinking how flattering the evening light was to her skin, how caution added an odd attraction to her eyes. “It’s a invitation to the movies, Mel, not a proposition. At least not precisely like the one you dodged this morning from the lonely man on the third floor of Rose’s building.”

Wary, she stepped back. It could have been a good guess. A remarkably good one. “How did you know about that?”

“I’ll pick you up in time for the nine-o’clock show. Maybe I’ll explain it to you.” He held up a hand before she could refuse. “You said you weren’t afraid of me, Sutherland. Prove it.”

It was a perfect ploy. She understood that they both knew it. “I pay my own way. This isn’t a date.”

“No, indeed.”

“Okay, then. Tomorrow night.” She took a backward step, then turned. It was easier to think, she realized, when she wasn’t facing him, or staring into those patient, amused eyes. “See you.”

“Yes,” he murmured. “You certainly will.”

As he watched her walk away, his smile slowly faded. No, it wasn’t a date. He doubted there would be anything as simple as a date in their relationship. And, though he was far from comfortable with the idea, he already knew they would have a relationship.

When he’d had his hand over Mel’s, just before she yanked it away from that sudden flare of heat, he’d seen. He hadn’t looked, not voluntarily, but he’d seen.