His secretary shrugged slightly and flipped the page in her notebook. “How do you want to proceed?”

Harm rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Get a hold of Charlie Simons and have him get everything he can on the stabbing of a transient named John Richards. There’s a clipping in the file to point him in the right direction. Tell him I want not only copies of the written stuff but for him to talk to everyone involved in this death, from the busboy who found the body and the beat cops who responded all the way up to the investigating detectives and the ME. And find out who we’ve got for surveillance duty, twenty-four/seven. We’ll be shadowing the victim at a discreet distance primarily to see if she’s being followed and if so, by whom. I’d like to get someone in the field as quickly as possible. According to our client, she lives at The Whittier Towers and works at home. There’s a photo in the file.”

“Will do,” she told him crisply, closing her notebook and taking the file from her boss.

As she headed for the door, she began to scan the notes he’d taken. About midway across she stopped, staring at the words.

“Anything wrong?” he asked. His professional, efficient secretary didn’t pull up short with a file in her hand.

Looking up, he could see bewilderment in her eyes. “Sheila Forbes,” she began, pointing at the slightly open file in her hand. “She…she’s Fantasy Publishing?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“And this Elgin Collier? She’s Gillian Shelby?” Amazement drenched her words.

“If that’s what I wrote, yeah. Why?” In three and a half years, he’d never seen her act this way.

“Oh my God,” she breathed. “Gillian Shelby. I…I can’t believe it. I love her! She’s on my auto-buy list.” She took a step back toward him, her voice filled with awe. “You wouldn’t believe how hot she writes. Her Blue Monday? Got five alarms and a fire extinguisher from Ecstasy Romance and was voted “The Book Most Likely to Be Banned in Boston” by readers of Heartbeat, which is the biggest romance magazine in the country. Maybe the world. I know when I read it I had to change my panties. Twice.”

The shocked look on her boss’s face snapped her instantly back to reality. Gathering herself, she swallowed hard and began backing toward the door.

“I’ll…uh…get started on this file right away.” And with that, she scurried out of the room.

Silently, he slouched in the shadows, watching her intently as her slender body, bathed in the moonlight and the aquamarine glow of the pool, knifed through the water like some pale, exotic sea creature. From his hiding place in the heavy foliage just at the edge of the clearing, he could make out every detail of her as she swam slowly back and forth from one end of the pool to the other.

Long, beautiful legs propelled her with hardly a ripple as her perfect arms pulled through the warm water. The crest of her lovely ass just visible. Abruptly, she turned on her back and floated near the deep end, her breasts like soft, tantalizing mounds of cream with cherries at their centers, her dark hair ringing her head like the rays of some Renaissance painter’s halo.

Inside his jeans, his cock stirred, taken by the sight of this magical being, at once pure and seductive. Sexual and simple. Heat and desired flashed through him. He wanted her; needed her. Everything that had gone before had built up to this.

Slowly, carefully, he moved himself around the clearing, keeping to the jungle’s fringe, fearful that the snap of a twig, the sudden rise of a startled bird, might alert her to his presence.

At last, the foliage made an inward sweep and he found himself almost at the pool’s edge. By sticking to the shadows between the torches, he managed to get within striking distance of his quarry.

Rolling onto her stomach, she stroked lazily back to the shallow end, emerging up the stone steps like a sea nymph, her sleek, wet body covered in tiny diamond sparkles. Dripping wet, she paused at the pool’s lip and stretched; a long, contented, almost feline movement. Lacing her fingers together, she raised her arms to their full length, pointing her round, pale breasts to the moon and pushing her dark pubic curls forward a little.

He swallowed hard and ran the tip of his tongue over his dry lips. As swiftly as he could without taking his eyes off her, he began stripping off his pants and shirt. A hot tropical breeze caressed his naked body as he stepped out of his jeans, his cock already hard and full of need and desire.

Leisurely, she picked up a large, multi-colored beach towel and walked the couple of steps to the grass just beyond the cement walkway hugging the pool. Spreading it out, she lay down on her back, arms at her sides, legs slightly apart and closed her eyes to let the warm night air and the moonlight dry her.

His dry mouth suddenly filled with the imagined taste of her lips, her breasts, her sweet pussy. A ripple of fire swept through his body as in his mind he took her in his arms, the feel of her warm, wet flesh melting to him, surrendering. The ripple became a tidal wave as he felt himself slipping inside her willing, waiting body.

Leaving his clothes where they lay, he crept the last few yards until only a thin curtain of lush green foliage separated them. For a few more precious moments he let himself feast on her nakedness, her ethereal, almost dream-like beauty. He’d waited and hoped and fantasized about this moment for so long, he could scarcely believe the time had actually come.

Stealthy as a jungle cat, he moved out of the covering vegetation and inched toward her, his throbbing cock straining with every step. Just as he reached her, he kneeled down and in one fluid motion, pressed his shin across her chest to keep her from moving and covered her mouth with his huge hand to keep her from crying out.

Instantly, her eyes flew open, stark terror showing in their dark depths. Her whole body flinched and went rigid under him. He moved his face to within an inch of hers and they stared at each other in silence.

And then he felt her relax, the muscles of her cheek under his hand changing their shape. Slowly, he moved it; she smiled. Breaking into his own smile, he bent down and kissed her, feeling her mouth open wide to receive him.

“You bastard,” she breathed between passionate kisses. “You damned near scared me to death leaping out of the bushes like that. How…how long have you been hiding out there?”

“Long enough to watch you skinny-dipping. By the way, you’re very beautiful, especially when you’re wet and have nothing on but moonlight.”

“Pervert,” she teased as he moved his leg and settled on his side next to her.

“Why? Because I like watching the woman I love?” He rubbed his aching cock along her thigh as he took a nipple between his fingers.

“I thought you said you had to work tonight,” she murmured, closing her eyes again and sinking into a cloud of pleasure.

“Deal closed over drinks instead of dinner.” His mouth replaced his fingers and she shivered with delight. “So I explained that I had a very hot deal on the verge of climaxing, apologized profusely, told him to have dinner on me and shot over here as fast as I could. The thought of you made me so horny I almost slammed my cock in the car door.”

“Then why didn’t you just come to the front door like any other respectable gentleman caller?”

“Because I figured on a night like tonight, with the moon and the stars and a private beach cabana, you’d be out here instead of inside. I wanted to surprise you. Finding you naked’s just an unexpected bonus.”

“I couldn’t sleep,” she whispered hoarsely, turning on her side so that his cock rubbed tightly between their bodies. “I kept thinking about how much I wanted to fuck and you were off making another gazillion dollars or buying an aircraft carrier or some other dumb macho thing and you left me all alone. I finally came out here hoping to…cool off a little.”