"Do you think I could do that? Be with her? Touch her after this? After you?" He rose. "Mavis, I love you."

"Oh." Her eyes filled, spilled over. "Oh, Leonardo. Not now. I love you too much to watch her ruin you. I'm going away. To save you."

She dashed out, leaving Leonardo staring after her. "I'm trapped. The vindictive bitch. She can take everything from me. The woman I love, my work, everything. I could kill her for putting that look in Mavis's eyes." He drew a deep breath, looked at his hands. "A man can be pulled in by beauty and not see beneath it."

"Does what she says to these people matter so much? They wouldn't have put money behind you if they hadn't believed in your work."

"Pandora is one of the top models on the planet. She has power, prestige, connections. A few words from her into the right ear can make or break a man in my position." He lifted a hand to a fantasy of net and stones hanging beside him. "If she goes public, claiming my designs are inferior, the projected sales will drop away. She knows exactly how to accomplish that. I've worked all my life for this show. She knows it, and she knows how to take it from me. And it won't end there."

His hand fell back to his side. "Mavis doesn't understand that, not yet. Pandora can hold that laser beam above my neck for the rest of my professional life – or hers. I'll never be free of her, Lieutenant, until she decides she's finished with me."

By the time Eve got home, she was exhausted. An added session of tears and recriminations with Mavis had sapped her energy. For now, at least, Mavis was comforted with a quart of ice cream and several hours of videos in Eve's old apartment.

Wanting to forget emotional upheavals and fashion, Eve went straight to the bedroom and fell facedown on the bed. The cat Galahad leaped up beside her, purring manically. After a few head butts brought no reaction, he settled down to sleep. When Roarke found her, she hadn't moved a muscle.

"So, how was your day off?"

"I hate shopping."

"You just haven't developed the knack for it."

"Who wants to?" Curious, she rolled over, studied him. "You like it. You really like to just buy things."

"Sure." Roarke stretched out beside her, stroking the cat when it pawed its way onto his chest. "It's nearly as satisfying as having things. Being poor, Lieutenant, quite simply sucks."

She thought it over. As she'd been poor once, had managed to lever herself up to struggling, she couldn't disagree. "Anyway, I think I got the worst of it over with."

"That was quick." And the speed worried him, a little. "You know, Eve, you don't have to settle for something."

"Actually, I think Leonardo and I reached an understanding." Staring up and through the sky window where the sky was the color of old bleach, she frowned. "Mavis is in love with him."

"Um-hmm." Eyes half closed, Roarke continued to stroke the cat and thought about switching the gesture to Eve.

"No, I'm talking the big one." She let out a long breath. "The day didn't go exactly smoothly."

He had the figures for three major deals running through his head. Shuttling them aside, he shifted closer to her. "Tell me about it."

"Leonardo – he's this massive, and oddly attractive… I don't know. Event. Heavy on the Native American blood, at a guess. He has the bone structure and coloring of an NA, biceps like astro torpedoes, and a voice that has a hint of magnolia. I'm not much of a judge, but when he settled down to sketch, he seemed very focused and talented. Anyway, I was standing there naked – "

"Were you?" Roarke said mildly, and nudging the cat away, he rolled on top of her.

"For measurements," she said with a sneer.

"Do go on."

"Okay. Mavis was getting some tea – "

"Convenient."

"And this woman bursts in, all but drooling at the mouth. A jaw dropper – close to six foot, thin as a laser beam, about a yard of red hair and a face… well, I'll use magnolias again. She's screaming at him, and this big bull of a guy cowers back, so she jumps at me. I had to flatten her."

"You hit her."

"Well, yeah, before she sliced my face with those knifepoint nails of hers."

"Darling Eve." He kissed her cheek, then the other, then the dent in her chin. "What is it about you that draws the beast out of people?"

"Just lucky, I guess. So, this Pandora – "

"Pandora?" His head came up, eyes narrowing. "The model."

"Yeah, she's supposed to be pretty hot shit."

He started to laugh, just a chuckle at first that grew and swelled until he had to roll over on his back again. "You punched precious Pandora in her billion-dollar face. Did you knock her on her pretty ass?"

"As a matter of fact." Understanding bloomed and with it a surprising and unexpected twinge of jealousy. "You know her."

"You could say that."

"Well."

He cocked a brow, not so much warily as with amusement. She was sitting up now and scowling down at him. For the first time in their relationship, he sensed a hint of green in the look. "There was a time – briefly." He scratched his chin. "It's all very vague."

"Bull."

"It could come back to me. But you were saying?"

"Is there any exceptionally beautiful woman you haven't slept with?"

"I'll make you a list. So, you knocked her down."

"Yeah." Eve regretted now pulling her punch. "She's squealing and whining, then Mavis comes in and Pandora goes for her. The two of them are pulling hair and scratching; Leonardo's wringing his hands."

Roarke tugged her down on top of him. "You lead such an interesting life."

"The upshot is, Pandora threatens Leonardo: he ditches Mavis for her or she's going to wreck this fashion show he's counting on. Apparently he's sunk everything into it, borrowed from spine crackers, too. She blackballs the show, he's ruined."

"Sounds just like her."

"After Pandora leaves, Mavis – "

"Were you still naked?"

"I was getting dressed. Mavis decides to make the supreme sacrifice. It was all pretty dramatic stuff. Leonardo declares his love, she starts crying and runs out. Jesus, Roarke, I felt like some pervert with surveillance goggles. I got Mavis settled in my old apartment, at least for the night. She doesn't have to be in to the club until tomorrow."

"Stay tuned," he murmured and smiled at her blank look. "The old daytime dramas. Always end on a cliff-hanger. What is our hero going to do?"

"Some hero," Eve muttered. "Damn it, I like him, even if he is a pussy. What he'd like to do is bash Pandora's head in, but he'll probably cave. Which is why I thought we could put Mavis up here for a few days if she needs it."

"Sure."

"Really?"

"It is, as you've often pointed out, a big house. I'm fond of Mavis."

"I know." She gave him one of her quick, rare smiles. "Thanks. So, how was your day?"

"I bought a small planet. I'm joking," he said when her mouth fell open. "I did, however, complete negotiations for a farming commune on Taurus Five."

"Farming?"

"People have to eat. With a bit of restructuring, the commune should be able to provide grain to the manufacturing colonies of Mars, where I have a sizable investment. So, one hand washes the other."

"I guess. Now about Pandora…"

He rolled her over and tugged the shirt he'd already unbuttoned off her shoulders.

"You're not distracting me," she told him. "Just how brief is brief in this case?''

He gave what passed for a shrug and nibbled his way from her mouth to her throat.

"Is it like a night, a week…" Her body flashed hot when he closed his mouth over her breast. "A month – Okay, now you're distracting me."

"I can do better," he promised. And did.