“It had to be cats.”

Gia looked at him and knew that he didn’t believe that. She pulled her robe more tightly about her. She wished she hadn’t demanded to know what he was thinking, and wished even more that he hadn’t told her.

“Right,” she said, playing along with the game. “Cats. Had to be.”

Jack stretched and yawned as he moved toward the center of the room. “It’s late and I’m tired. Think it’d be all right if I spent the night here?”

Gia bottled a sudden gush of relief to keep it from showing on her face.

“I suppose so.”

“Good.” He settled into Nellie’s recliner and pushed it all the way back. “I’ll just bed down right here while you go up with Vicky.”

He turned on the reading lamp next to the chair and reached for a magazine from the pile next to the dish full of the Black Magic chocolates. Gia felt a lump swell in her throat at the thought of Nellie’s child-like glee at receiving that box of candy.

“Need a blanket?”

“No. I’m fine. I’ll just read for a little while. Good night.”

Gia rose and walked toward the door.

“Goodnight.”

She flipped off the room lights, leaving Jack in a pool of light in the center of the darkened room. She hurried up to Vicky’s side and snuggled against her, hunting sleep. But despite the quiet and the knowledge that Jack was on guard downstairs, sleep never came.

Jack… He had come when needed and had single-handedly accomplished what the New York Police force had been unable to do: He had made her feel safe tonight. Without him she would have spent the remaining hours until daylight in a shuddering panic. She had a growing urge to be with him. She fought it but found herself losing. Vicky breathed slowly and rhythmically at her side. She was safe. They all were safe now that the alarm system was working again—no window or outer door could be opened without setting it off.

Gia slipped out of bed and stole downstairs, taking a lightweight summer blanket with her. She hesitated at the door to the library. What if he rejected her? She had been so cold to him… what if he… ?

Only one way to find out.

She stepped inside the door and found Jack looking at her. He must have heard her come down.

“Sure you don’t need a blanket?” she asked.

His expression was serious. “I could use someone to share it with me.”

Her mouth dry, Gia went to the chair and stretched herself alongside Jack, who spread the blanket over both of them. Neither spoke. There was nothing to say, at least for her. All she could do was lie beside him and contain the hunger within her.

After an eternity, Jack lifted her chin and kissed her. It must have taken him as much courage to do that as it had taken her to come down to him. Gia let herself respond, releasing all the pent-up need in her. She pulled at his clothes, he lifted her nightgown, and then nothing separated them. She clung to him as if to keep him from being torn away from her. This was it, this was what she needed, this was what had been missing from her life.