While the students pored over questions, her encounter with Detective Iberville replayed in Erin’s mind, and she wondered if she’d tried hard enough to convince her. Maybe if the detective knew about her previous life, where she’d been a master of language, the woman would believe. But to reveal that would be to reveal all, a chance Erin wouldn’t take. Not her life for a stranger’s, not when there was still another way: working with Gabriel.

After the room emptied, Erin remained behind to grade their tests, grateful for the distraction. She plowed through the stack, impressed by the responses. It seemed this class proved slightly more attentive than her psychopathology students and less prone to sharing answers.

“If you’d been my professor, I’d probably have been a better student.”

The sudden announcement startled Erin and she clutched her pen like a dagger. Looking up, she met the mildly lecherous smile of Dr. Kenneth Bernard, chair of the psychology department. She was doing her best not to overreact to every sound, but the emotion always hovered close to the surface. Slowly she relaxed her fingers. “Kenneth. I didn’t hear you come in.”

“I was passing by and saw you inside. Getting ready to leave?”

Hooded eyes watched her with a sharp gaze. His narrow face was pale from its infrequent adventures out-of-doors. Of medium height, he tended to favor hand-tooled leather boots. He worked out precisely thirty minutes per day, never in a gymnasium. The stench of sweat and body odor did not settle well in his stomach. He preferred the artificial lights of well-air-conditioned buildings to the oppressive heat of actual sun and the privacy of his treadmill to public gyms. In both places—outdoors and in gyms—too many of God’s inferior creatures prowled their restless bodies over every spare inch of earth to suit his urbane tastes.

He favored the refined and aloof city dweller to the average tumescent local resident. Erin Abbott had the bearing of someone who understood the distinction. Lightly tapping the test she had graded, Kenneth shook his head.

“Such dedication, Erin.” He balanced on the edge of the desk and casually draped his arm across a thigh muscled from Pilates and yoga. He wore loose linen pants in a soft burgundy and an elegant ivory shirt of the same fine weave. Against the linen, the muscles were outlined nicely. “You’ll wear yourself out.”

“I have miles to go before I sleep,” she quipped. She assigned a B+ to the exam and conceded silently that her respite had evaporated. Apparently, the rest of the papers would have to wait for the quiet of her office or her home.