"Dominic kept contact with someone in the rebel group. He still believes a lost soul can be saved. We were betrayed."

"By whom?"

She didn't answer for a moment. "My brother, Luis. He works as an informant for Chavez now."

"So much for family feeling."

"Family feeling doesn't stand a chance against a kilo of cocaine. Luis has been on drugs for years."

"Chavez again."

"Yes."

"It must have been tough for you."

She nodded. "I loved Luis. You can't just turn feeling off and on. God knows I've tried." She pushed her chair back. "I'm going to bed. Good night."

"Good night." He rose to his feet and followed her out into the hall. "Try to have pleasant dreams."

"Sometimes you can't control your dreams."

"You surprise me. I thought you could control everything these days."

She looked back over her shoulder. "Don't try to make me feel better about the way I behaved tonight. I know you probably think I was weak."

"No, you were human. There's nothing weak about you." He met her gaze. "Everyone's entitled to let their guard down occasionally."

"When do I get to see you do it? Never mind." She started up the stairs, then she turned to face him as she reached the landing. "You've been kind to me tonight. I. thank you."

"Oh, for God's sake. All I did was listen."

"No, you did more than that. I'll remember."

"See that you do. You never can tell when I'll decide to collect. I don't suppose you're going to he sensible and stay out of that gym from now on?"

She shook her head. "I have to face it until it doesn't hurt me any longer. That time with him is still dominating me, twisting my life, changing what I am. I didn't realize that until tonight. I have to find a way of freeing myself."

"Then I guess I'll have to think of a way of speeding up the process. All this lingering gloom depresses me."

"You have nothing to do with this."

"That's what I keep telling myself." He met and held her eyes. "It's not working."

She went still. She couldn't tear her gaze away.

"Go to bed." He turned away. "I have to go wash those cups. A man's job is never done."

She gazed after him. What had happened in that last moment of contact? He hadn't touched her, hadn't said a word that wasn't simply meant to comfort her. Yet that single glance was enough to cause a wave of heat to tingle through her. It shouldn't have happened. Particularly not tonight. She had been mentally reliving that period of sexual horror and brutality, and she should have felt only revulsion, as she had with other men. But it had happened, which meant that the chemistry between them must be as strong as that bitter memory.

Forget it. She was too weary and confused to think about sex and chemistry and Sean Galen. The realization that she was still crippled by that memory had come as too much of a shock. She had been lying to herself. She had thought in the years after she'd escaped from Chavez that she'd gradually healed herself. It was clear she still had a long way to go.

She started up the stairs again.

But she would get there. She couldn't let Chavez win. During those last days when she had pretended to be defeated by him, she had been filled with self-doubt and bitterness. There had been times when she had wondered whether the pretense was reality.

That could be fatal when she met Chavez again. He would take advantage of every doubt, every weakness. And if there was still a lingering poison in her system from that horror, he would pounce on that as well.

There would be no weakness. She had discovered it in time, and she would make sure she exorcised any hint of it before she had to confront Chavez.

Shit.

Galen turned the water at the sink on full blast.

That's the way to do it, my man. Give her a hand up, listen to a story that had made him want to draw and quarter Chavez, and then let her know you want to jump her and do the same thing. He was lucky she hadn't come back down those stairs and given him a karate chop.

He deserved it.

Hell, it had been bound to happen. The sexual tension was a constant undercurrent since the night they'd met, and he'd been fighting it tooth and nail. He didn't even know if Elena had been aware it was there until tonight. He hadn't wanted her to know. If he ignored it, it might go away, and that would be best for both of them. He preferred to keep his relations with women light and enjoyable, skimming on the surface, and there was nothing light about Elena. She was too intense, and she filled him with a mixture of emotions that ranged from protective pity to admiration to exasperation. Sometimes in the space of a few moments. He didn't need this. He didn't want it.

He rinsed out the cups and put them on the drain.

Okay. Solve the problem and get her out of here. If he did it fast enough, he might be able to keep from making a move on her they'd both regret.

He sat down in a kitchen chair and dialed Manero. Although it was late, he picked up immediately.

"What's the word on Chavez?"

"Still in Colombia. The Delgados left this morning, and I've been told the departure was very cordial."

"And Gomez?"

"No sign of him." He paused. "But there have been questions about you buzzing around the grapevine."

"What kind of questions?"

"Oh, tender, caring little inquiries. How to get to you? Who to pay off to bring Chavez your head? Where you might be? You must have been stirring things up."

"I've been a little busy." He thought for a moment. "Make sure you let Chavez find out my phone number. It will make him feel like he's getting somewhere, and I want to encourage his initiative."

"Chavez doesn't need encouragement."

"The tiger always needs to feel he's the only predator. It makes him careless about any pits that might be dug for him. Call me if Chavez moves out." He hung up and leaned back in his chair. Keep cool. The rage he had felt as he listened to Elena was still strong. It had been a long time since he'd wanted to kill a man this much, and hatred caused a man to make mistakes.

Come on, Chavez. I'm waiting for you.

Barry was laughing.

Elena smiled as she started down the stairs. He and Dominic must have awakened before her this morning. He sounded like he was having a wonderful-

The laughter was coming from the gym.

She stopped in shock and then slowly continued down the steps and the hall.

"Barry?"

"Mama, come quick. I'm turning somersaults."

"I see you are." She stood in the doorway. Barry and Galen were on the mat, and he was helping the little boy flip over. She held tight to the doorjamb. She wanted to snatch Barry up and carry him out of there. She wanted to kill Galen.

"Watch me, Mama."

Galen met her gaze. "Yes, watch him, Mama. He won't hurt himself. The mat will cushion him. That's all it's meant to do." He turned back to Barry. "Okay, now we try a handspring."

"Are you watching, Mama?"

She moistened her lips. "I'm watching, Barry."

She watched him for another ten minutes. She watched him do somersaults. She watched him do handsprings. She watched him collapse into giggles when Galen slyly raked his ribs and tickled him.

Galen finally set him on his feet and gave his behind a swat. "Enough of this horseplay. We'll put in another session tomorrow. Go wash your hands and get into the kitchen. We've got work to do."