Catherine stiffened. “He did?”

“He said to keep it safe and send it to him if I needed him or if I changed my mind.”

It was the first time that Erin had indicated that Catherine’s guesswork might have a basis in fact. Don’t push it. Keep everything low-key. “Changed your mind?”

“I wanted to change my mind. I really did. Such a beautiful dream. You’d think it was beautiful, too.”

“Would I?”

“But you can’t believe in dreams, can you? You’re afraid that they’ll interfere with your reality. I was like that once. Hell, I’m a journalist. I deal in facts. But since I’ve been working in Tibet, I’ve been changing. The life is so simple, it has a kind of purity. It lures you into thinking that all life should be clean and simple, with rules that everyone obeys. A world without men like Kadmus and countries that want to blow everyone to kingdom come.”

“That’s the way it should be,” Catherine said. “But you’re right, it’s only a beautiful dream.” She had to move slowly, carefully. “Why would Cameron tell you not to wear that necklace?”

“He was trying to protect me. He said that he couldn’t be sure that it would be safe for me.” She was silent a moment. “I know you want me to tell you everything, but I can’t do it. I don’t have that right. But you’ve risked your life for me. Your son’s at risk now, too. I can’t treat you as if you were a stranger. I trust you. I consider you my friend.”

“I am your friend.”

“And because you’re my friend, I can’t let you go on thinking that Cameron is totally ruthless. It’s not true.”

“I saw those wounds on your body. He could have stepped in and stopped it.”

“He told me when he gave me the necklace that he couldn’t help me if I didn’t do what he told me.” She went on in a rush, “He’s not what you think. Oh, yes, he’s tough, and maybe he wants his own way. But if you could have seen him the way I did at the earthquake site at Qinghai, you’d know how wonderful he is.”

“He was at Qinghai?”

“Yes,” she said. “I was there with the monks trying to rescue the people buried under the ruins of the villages. We had little help from the Chinese soldiers because they had developed altitude sickness. The second day, we had to make our way down a trail that was almost nonexistent to reach a buried school. When we finally made it, I saw that a man was already there working with a pick to clear the rubble. I was stunned. I couldn’t imagine how he had gotten down there. But the monks weren’t surprised. It was Cameron, and they knew him. And during the next twelve hours, I got to know him, too. Though he never told me his name. It didn’t bother me, it wasn’t a time for names. It was a time to get those kids out. And I didn’t get over being stunned for that entire twelve hours. He started giving orders, telling us exactly where to dig. I knew later that he was mentally communicating with the children buried beneath that rubble. At the time, I thought he was either a domineering bastard or maybe that he was some kind of earthquake-retrieval specialist. But every time we dug where he told us to dig, we found a child. We kept digging. There were two dead in that school, but we were able to save eleven. Eleven who would have probably died if left much longer to the elements. We had to bring three up to the top on stretchers. Cameron worked as hard as we did to get those kids up that trail. No, harder. His energy was amazing. But when we got near the top, he stopped and said for us to go ahead and that he’d go back down and check out the school for any more survivors. That was the last I saw of him. We worked at that earthquake site for another three days, and I never ran into him.” She fell silent. “But I already knew the kind of man he was. During that time, he was tireless and smart and gentle with the children. He was larger-than-life, and that’s what we needed at Qinghai.”

“You must have impressed him, too.” She paused. “Because he looked you up and came after you, didn’t he?”

She didn’t speak for a moment. “Yes.”

The answer was so brief that Catherine knew there would be no elaboration. She had told her story about Cameron because she wanted Catherine to stop condemning him. But what had transpired later was too private for her to divulge. “I worked very hard trying to put the puzzle together. Will you tell me if I came close?”

Another silence. “You’re very clever, Catherine.” She turned over on her side. “Good night.”

“Good night.”

It was answer enough. Erin wasn’t about to go any further. So at least the bare bones of the answers she’d drawn had come close to the truth.

Maybe.

But she thought Erin was done with deception. She’d done all she could to protect Cameron and the people he represented, but she wouldn’t lie to Catherine. Complete disclosure was something else. She was still stubbornly silent.

Because Erin had been caught up in a dream, a beautiful dream …

*   *   *

“I need to know where Jack Sen is, Catherine.”

Cameron, she realized drowsily.

Then she came wide-awake. “I thought you were only to come visiting by invitation only, Cameron. You woke me.”

“I’ll make sure you go back to sleep. And I’m suspending that promise for the duration. Things are going to get very edgy during the next few days. Where is Jack Sen?”

“At St. James Hospital. Why didn’t you link with Hu Chang as you did before? He could have told you.”

“Because I wanted to be with you. And I’ve decided that it’s time I did what I wanted to do. I tried to get through to Sen, but they must have drugged him. I just knew he was hurt.”

“And he’s in trouble. I don’t know when the police will transfer him to county facilities.”

“I’ll take care of him. I just had to know his location.”

“What are you going to do?”

“At the moment, nothing except make a few plans and preparations. I’m in a jet over the Pacific and won’t arrive in San Francisco for another six hours.”

“You took a jet? I’m surprised you just don’t don your Superman cape and zoom faster than a speeding bullet. And what will you do when you finally arrive here?”

“I won’t let Jack Sen be punished anymore for doing a service for me. He’s already suffered enough.”

“I was going to ask Venable to do—”

“That’s not the way I operate. Keep Venable out of it. I’ll handle it.”

She stiffened. “I’ll do what I think best.”

He was silent. “I know you will. But don’t start a chain of actions I’ll have to dodge around.”

“You mean don’t get in your way.”

“That’s another way of putting it.” He smiled. “Any other time, I’d be delighted to have you in my way. It would be pure pleasure having to deal with you.”

“Deal? In what way?”

“Mentally or physically or both.” His voice was soft, infinitely sensual. “I’ve had quite a few hours on this plane to think about all the things I want to do to you. Would you like to see a few?”

Heat.

Her stomach clenched, and she found it hard to breathe.

“No.”

“I believe I’ll show you just a glimpse. I owe you for that Superman crack.”

“You should be used to it. I’m sure other people resent the—”

He was over her, his hand parting her thighs, his lips on her nipple. Then, with one plunge, he was inside, huge in her tightness, hot, moving, lifting her with each thrust.

Madness. Frantic need. Every nerve and muscle in her body convulsing as he moved.

The scene changed.

He was still inside her, but her wrists were cuffed above her head. She couldn’t move, but the erotic need was now even more intense. He was moving slowly, his fingers plucking, teasing, doing things to her that were indescribable. The muscles of her stomach were tensing, convulsing. Her very helplessness made the acts even more arousing. She wanted to move, take him, all of him. Draw him into her make him—