“The big businessman over there figures I should tap-dance around, and well play lets negotiate for an hour or two. I dont see the point. I dont know what your plans are for the place once this is all done, but if youre willing to sell, Im ready to buy.”

Why doesnt he just give them a blank check? Brad thought to himself. Access to his brokerage account, the deed to his condo in New York?

“Your business-minded friend has some excellent points.” Sending Brad a nod of acknowledgment,Pitte swirled his beer. “Ive developed a number of business interests over time. I enjoy…” He gave Rowena a questioning glance. “Wheeling and dealing.”

“Yes. Its an entertaining hobby. This property, beyond suiting our needs during this period, is quite desirable. A house of this size and material, with its history and its location—which includes twenty-five point three acres, both cleared and wooded, a six-car garage, an indoor swimming pool, with steam room and…”

“Whirlpool tub,” Rowena supplied on a bubble of laughter. “We quite enjoy the whirlpool tub.”

“Yes.” He lifted her hand, nipped her knuckles. “As well as a number of other details and amenities—”

“Please.” Unable to hold back, Brad lifted a hand. “This place is an enormous white elephant. Amenities and history are one thing, but its twenty miles away from the Valley—”

“Eighteen point six,”Pitte corrected blandly.

“On a narrow road that twists straight up the mountain,” Brad continued. “Its bound to cost a fortune to heat and cool. You put it on the market tomorrow, youd be lucky to get a serious offer within the next decade.”

Pittestretched out his legs, crossed his ankles. It occurred to Jordan that this was the most relaxed hed seenPitte in the weeks of their acquaintance.

“I would enjoy doing business with you,” he told Brad. “Perhaps, at some point, there will be an opportunity. I believe it would be very stimulating.”

“Right now youre doing business with me” Jordan reminded him, .

“Yes, thats true.”Pittes gaze shifted to Jordan.

“I have a question first.” Rowena pattedPittes arm to hold him off, then looked at Jordan. “Why do you want this house?”

“Ive always wanted it.”

Brad rolled his eyes toward heaven. “Have pity on him.”

“The question is why.”

“It… spoke to me. I dont mean that literally.”

“No.” Rowena nodded. “I understand you. Go on.” “When I was a kid, I would look up here and Id think: Thats my house. Its just waiting for me to grow up. I remember telling my mother that I was going to buy it for her one day, and shed be able to stand up here, on the top of the world.”

He shrugged. “When I was older, I would drive up here sometimes, look at the place and tell myself that one day Id drive through the gates and walk right in the front door. Its beautiful, and its strong, and it may be all the way up here, but its part of what makes the Valley what it is. I couldnt give it to my mother. I want to give it to Dana. I want to build a life with her here, raise children with her here. I want to be able to look down at the Valley and know were all a part of something solid and real and important.”

“You can have the house.”

The gleam inPittes eyes winked out. “Rowena!”

“For its appraised value,” she continued, wagging a finger at her lover. “And not a penny more.”

“You wound me, aghra ”

“You wont charge him for the legal business of it, the settlement, the transfer, whatever it is. You will pay the fees and the… what are they called?” she asked Brad.

“Points.” He had to swallow a laugh. “I think you mean points.”

“Yes, all of that sort of business.” She thought for a moment. “I think thats everything.”

Pittehissed out a breath. “Women are a trial to a man. Why dont I just wrap bows around the place and gift it to him?”

“Because he wouldnt accept.” She leaned over to kissPittes cheek while he scowled. “Its always been his,” she said. “You know that as well as I.”

“Be that as it may.” He drummed his fingers on his knee. “You and I,” he said to Jordan, “will work out the details of the thing without the female buzzing about.”

“At your convenience.”

“Shake hands on it,Pitte .” Rowena gave him a nudge. “Shake hands on the terms just set.”

“Bloody hell.” He shoved himself to his feet, held out a hand. “Might as well do it, then, or shell nag me hairless.”

Jordan claspedPittes hand, felt a quick jolt. It might have been power, he mused, or simple frustration. It was hard to tell when you were closing a deal with a god. “Thank you.”

“So you should thank me. Your friend over there will know I could turn considerably more than the appraised value in this current market.”

“That handshake binding?” Brad wondered.

“It is.”

“Without a full inspection of the property, Id say youd have gotten ten percent over appraisal. Minimum.”

“More like fifteen.” Though hed been carefully silent during the transaction, Flynn spoke up now. “When you publish the local paper, you know these things. Theres a hotelier whos tried to buy it up, turn it into a resort. He got close a couple of times,” Flynn continued conversationally. “But something always screwed the deal. Bad luck for him.”

Rowena met his quiet look, and smiled. “Indeed. Would you care to go through some of the house now, Jordan?”

Before he could open his mouth, Flynn tapped his watch. “Were running a little short on time.”

“Ah, well. Soon, then.” She took Jordans hand as well, squeezed it once. “You must see more of it, and the views, of course, from the terraces and balcony and parapet.”

“Ill look forward to it. Ill bring Dana and well…”

He trailed off, staring at her, the way she stood. Slim and quiet and somehow apart from the rest of them.

And he saw the woman standing on the parapet under a gleaming moon with her dark cloak billowing in the wind.

“It was you. All those years ago, I saw you.”

“I saw you.” She touched a hand, very gently, to his cheek. “A young, handsome boy, so troubled, so full of thoughts. I wondered when youd remember me.”

“Why did I see you? Why didnt they?”

“They didnt need to.”

HE wasnt sure what it all meant, and Rowena had left him wondering. What he needed, Jordan decided, as he let himself into Danas apartment, was a little time to get his thoughts into some sort of order.

Maybe he should write them down, as he had with the sequence of events. He would sit down at Danas computer and just let it flow.

But when he walked into the bedroom, he heard the shower running. He hadnt noticed her car parked out front, which meant, he concluded, that his mind was somewhere else. He poked into the bathroom to let her know he was there.

Her scream could have shattered brick when he tugged back the shower curtain.

With one hand over her heart, the other shoving at her dripping hair, she gasped for air. “Why dont you just make that squeaky violin music and finish the job?”

“Hey, its not like Im wearing a dress and carrying a knife. I just wanted to tell you I was here, so I wouldnt scare you when you came out.”

“Yeah, better to scare me when Im wet and naked and helpless.”

He pursed his lips. Shed always looked good wet and naked. “Helpless?”

“Okay, maybe not helpless.” She reached out, grabbed a fistful of his shirt. “Get in here, big guy.”

“Tempting, very tempting, but I need to talk to you about some stuff, and we need to get to Flynns.”

“Talk later, hot, steamy sex now.”

“Its really hard to argue with that.” He toed off his shoes.

She waited until he stepped in behind her, then handed him the soap and an over-the shoulder invitation. “Wash my back?”

“I can start there.”

“Mmrn. Im going to get all… slippery and… slick and… Thats not my back.”

He slid his soapy hands over her butt. “Its behind you, so it counts.” Bending his head, he skimmed his teeth over her shoulder. “Youve got the most incredible body. Have I mentioned that before?”

“Maybe once or twice, but I dont mind redundancy under certain circumstances.” She dipped her head back as his hands sleeked up her torso, slithered over her breasts. “Such as that.”

“Then Ill risk repeating myself.” He turned her around. “I love you.” He laid his lips on hers. “Im so in love with you.”

With a sound of pleasure and joy, she hooked her arms around his neck, poured herself into him.

Water sluiced over them, and the steam billowed up.Resh slid over flesh, and soapy hands glided to tease and arouse. Lips rubbed and nibbled, then began to hunger.

Her heart was so full she wondered it didnt burst like light and rock the room. “Its different.” She kissed his mouth, his throat, his mouth. “Its different now, knowing you love me.” She fisted her hands in his hair to draw him back an inch. “Its different now, when I can tell you I love you.”

“Then its always going to be different, because Im never going to stop.”

Their mouths met again.

It was different. Every touch, every taste, every need was gilded with a sense of belonging. Water showered over them as he anchored her, as he slipped inside her. The beauty of it brought her a thousand sweet aches.

Hers now, he was hers now. And she was his.

She held tight, and matched him beat for beat.

Emotions swamped him, sensations; drowned him, and all he could see was her. The dark eyes, the sleek hair, the strong mouth, and water streaming down her face like tears. She held him, body and heart. And, he realized, she always had.