Haley's look of muted surprise had Cam wondering, but he was so churned up with emotion from the newspaper report, he couldn't think about it. "Zach thinks he's a man of all trades," he told her. "Truth is, we only keep him around because no one else will have him." Zach growled and Cam went on. "Now, Thea, that pretty librarian in town, she just doesn't know better. I'd go down there and tell her myself, but for some reason she doesn't have eyes for anyone but Zach, here."

"Oh, shut up." Zach scraped the pan clean and poured more batter into it.

Nellie and Jason came in, wrapped in each other's arms. "Oh, great, it's you two," Zach said. "I thought Cam told you to have that damn bed of yours moved away from the wall. You kept me up, again. Don't you people ever sleep?"

Cam watched Haley bite back a smile. God, he hurt. Don't believe it, a little part of his brain commanded. The report was wrong somehow. She's not a criminal. Be patient and she'll tell you the truth.

"I did move the bed," Jason claimed, after muffling Nellie's giggle against his chest. "I guess I didn't move it far enough."

"Build that couple a guesthouse," Zach said, with heartfelt disgust to the room in general. "Please."

Cam watched his family coax smiles and even a laugh out of Haley while they ate. As usual, she didn't prepare a plate for herself, so for some reason he couldn't have explained to save his life, he did it for her, even managing to cajole her into actually having a few bites.

He had no idea why he cared. "I know this isn't the junk food you seem to prefer," he told her as they cleared the dishes a little while later, after everyone else had left. "But you've got to eat more." Please, tell me, he nearly demanded. Tell me everything.

She stopped at the sink and looked at him, her hands on her hips. There was a hint of amusement in her eyes when she asked, "Why? So I could look more like Nellie?"

He managed a laugh and came close to where she'd turned to start washing dishes. Moving up behind her, he grabbed her hips, then slid his hand over her flat stomach. He closed his eyes, every inch of him yearning, aching. "There's only one way you're going to look like Nellie, darlin'," he said with a lightness he didn't feel. "In fact, I have some interesting ideas on that."

She rolled her eyes. "You need help, Cam. Serious help."

He hugged her from behind, closing his eyes at the way her body fit to his. "Just an offer." His voice sounded husky, even to his own ears. God, he was pathetic. "I'd certainly be willing to oblige you in any way I can."

"Now why doesn't that surprise me?" She shouldered him away, then sent him a saucy look over her shoulder, soapsuds flying.

He'd never thought the mundane chore of dishwashing as particularly sexy before. But there was something about the way her hips wiggled slightly, the quick, precise movements of her arms… It became incredibly seductive. She reached for more dishes, stretching, and he lost track of what she said next.

"Well?" she asked, giving him another one of her smart-ass looks she had no idea made his blood hum.

"I'm sorry. I didn't hear you." He encircled her hips with his hands again, letting out his breath in one loud whoosh as she planted her elbow firmly in his stomach.

"I warned you not to crowd me."

He backed up, alert, hopeful. "Did you have something else in mind?" Would she tell him now?

"Actually, yes." She reached and flipped off the water before turning to look at him. "You have a library in town. How current is it?"

Her earnest expression wiped away his joke about Thea-the-Librarian. That busy mind of hers was whirling. "Hard to answer a question when you only asked half of it," he said carefully.

"Can't you just answer the part I asked?"

He reached for a large green apple from the fruit basket on the counter, biting into it to play for time. "It's current," he said finally. "What're you looking for?"

"Nothing important." She reached for a towel to dry her hands, but he put his apple down and captured her hands in his. Eyes narrowed, he studied her, ignoring her struggle to pull back from him.

"It's important enough," he guessed. And he wasn't going to miss it. "I'll drive you."

"You don't have to-"

"Yes, I do. Especially if it has anything to do with what's keeping you up at night." Short of coming right out with the newspaper he'd read, he couldn't have given her a better opening.

"I'm sleeping fine."

He touched the faint, purple shadow beneath one eye. "Another lie."

With a disparaging sound, she looked away, biting her lip. "Fine," she ground out. "I'm having a little trouble sleeping. Okay?"

"Not okay." Before she could evade him, he took her shoulders. "My guess is that you know damn well you're lying. You even know what it's doing to me. And you hate it. You also don't want me to know that, so you'll tell the truth wherever you can to ease your conscience."

"I'm not-"

"It only gets worse, Haley, I promise. You'll drown beneath the weight of them one of these days. Believe me, I know."

"I can't do this. I can't keep reminding you of Lorraine, having you wonder what kind of jerk I am that I can't tell you the truth." She sighed. "I want to look something up. Something in the newspaper."

"Something to do with what you're running from?"

"Yes," she whispered, resting fisted hands against his chest and bowing her head. "Yes."

"You'll let me in this time," he insisted, gently running his hands down her arms, massaging gently.

"No. No."

He studied her quietly, then murmured, "Let me put this another way." Tightening his hands on her, he pulled her closer. His mouth found hers.

Heaven. Hot, wet, deep heaven.

More shaken than he cared to admit, he slid his hands up to cup her face, pouring his fear for her, all his longing, into that kiss; and when she trembled and pushed closer to hold him tight, it only aroused him all the more. Her flavor, her scent, the feel of her beneath his fingertips-it wasn't enough. He wanted more, needed more.

"Haley," he whispered, sliding his lips over the soft firmness of her neck to nuzzle at her throat, licking the frantic beat he found there. "God. You're driving me crazy."

"I'm not ready for this. Not yet." But she still held him to her, tightly.

He rubbed his forehead against hers and took a deep breath. He said the words his heart already knew, for she was in serious trouble and he instinctively knew she wasn't a criminal. "You're not like Lorraine. I'm sorry I said you were."

Taking a steadying breath, she backed up, into the sink. "I told you as much as I could."

"But-"

"What I'm dealing with is dangerous, Cam. People have… died." Her voice broke. "I'm afraid for you."

Moving forward, he bracketed her hips with his hands against the tile. "I'm not going to walk away from this. Don't ask me to. Do you understand what I'm saying? I'm telling you that I'm here for you, no matter what it is."

"I don't need a hero."

"Good," he said with a little laugh. "Because I'm not hero material. But I'm your friend, and much more, if you'd only say the word. I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

Her eyes seemed huge and luminous in the morning light. And full of shadowed, hopeful surprise. That she didn't expect anyone to back her had an unexpected tenderness and that strange possessiveness once again flowing through him.

"What if I'm used to handling my own problems?" she asked tentatively.

"Independence is nice. But a little help never hurt."

"This will require more than a little help, Cam."

"You've got whatever it takes, darlin'. That's a promise."

No one had ever offered Haley so much, so simply. And genuinely. She didn't fool herself. She could read the steely determination in his gaze and knew he'd decided he was in. He'd never give up. If she didn't come clean, he'd go find out the truth on his own now. But she wanted him in. Wanted to share. The need to cling to him hit her hard. Useless to struggle against it, she decided. It seemed coy to pretend he didn't affect her when he did so very much. She reached for him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, and for the first time, she kissed him.

Hunger and passion, hope and promise-they were all there for the taking. She would have pulled away, stunned by the depth of her feelings, but Cam deepened the kiss. Even as she struggled to hold something back, she became aware that she wouldn't be able to do that for long. Had she ever been needed like this? Wanted like this? Her heart filled, and she just barely managed to rein it in, unbearably close to giving him everything.

"Too fast," she whispered, pulling back. The blood swam in her head. "Way too fast."

"No," he denied, but he stepped away, too, obviously as shaken as she was. "But taking you in my kitchen with my nosy family around isn't my usual style." He cupped her cheek with warm fingers and sent that sweet, irresistible smile her way. "Ready for a ride to the library?"

She smiled a little shakily.

"Good." He squeezed her to his side briefly. "Afterward, when you've gotten what you need, we talk, if I have to tie you down."

She owed him. "Yes," she whispered. "We'll talk."


* * *

The city library was not only a beautiful brick building, but held a surprisingly large selection and a wonderful, efficient staff.

Haley couldn't contain her small, knowing smile when Cam introduced her to Thea.

"Is she the one?" she whispered, when the pretty brunette had walked away to answer a question from another patron.