other, and after we get it wrapped up, whatever additional cases I can take in with you as an assistant, I'll pay you for. Deal?'
'Deal,' he replied instantly. And with relief. This was something solid and settled. He'd needed 'solid' for a while; he just hadn't figured it out till now.
She grinned. 'You know, you're the one who's going to have to do all the paperwork on yourself. Quarterlies, 1099s, the whole bit!'
'Not a problem. Now go bake yourself,' he told her. 'We've both got early starts to make tomorrow.'
She wandered off down the hall; he closed up .the office and headed in the opposite direction, toward the kitchen. He got himself a quick snack; glanced into the darkened living room, and saw that Mooncrow had already retired to his room. The old man had been 'working' a lot; he probably needed a good night's rest more than Jennie did at this point. Medicine sure can take it out of you, he thought soberly, heading back toward his own room, after making certain of all the physical locks on doors and windows and turning off the lights. I never knew that, either. It's work, as hard as manual labor. Hell, no wonder the old man is in good shape. He has to be. Maybe that's why Jennie took Tai Chi way back when. Maybe I ought to think about some kind of martial arts class, or aerobics, or something. ...
As he turned off the hall lights, he saw that there was no light coming from either the sauna or from under Jennie's door. Good, he thought with satisfaction. She needs the rest. I'll just do a couple of chapters in that book about the Osage and-
But as he opened his own door and closed it again, he froze. Because he was not alone. His hand stuck to the light switch as he heard soft breathing; after a moment, he lowered it, carefully.
My .45 is tucked right on top of the Webster's. Whoever this is-
'Don't bother looking for your gun,' came a whisper from behind him, as he stealthily reached toward the top of the bookcase by the door, where he kept his automatic. 'I moved it.'
A pair of hands rested on his shoulders for a moment, and turned him carefully around. 'I figured your reflexes were as automatic as mine,' Jennie continued, with a chuckle, 'and I didn't want to get shot.'
She laughed softly, deep in her throat. It was the most incredibly sexy laugh he'd ever heard. He brought his hands up, slowly, and she fitted herself into his arms.
'Jennie, what are you doing here?' he said, finally. A stupid thing to say, but it was the only thing his stupefied brain could come up with.
'Sexual harassment,' she said. 'Trying to see if I can get my new secretary to go to bed with me.'
'Assistant,' he replied, firmly. 'I'm holding out for assistant. I may be easy, but I'm not cheap.'
Jennie chuckled again, and pulled him over to the bed, 'All right,' she agreed. 'Assistant it is.' She began unbuttoning his shirt, slowly, taking the initiative. 'So long as it's understood that I am the one seducing you.'
'Yes, boss-ma'am,' he replied obediently. His fingers touched the top button of her jeans, and stopped there. 'By the way, if you don't mind my asking-why now?'
'Because I don't like to be herded,' she said, fiercely, then pulled his face down to hers and kissed him, licking the corners of his mouth, nibbling his lower lip. 'I don't like conspiracies-especially when my own family is doing the conspiring.'
'I prefer cooperative efforts, myself, boss-ma'am,' he agreed, then returned the kiss with interest. Her skin tingled at the touch of his tongue; his technique had definitely improved. He pulled away just long enough to ask, 'Your safe-sex, or mine?'
'Mine,' she replied, rattling the little plastic packet she pulled out of the pocket of her jeans. 'I'm the boss, remember?' She took the upper hand again, pulling him down onto the bed and tumbling after, pulling his shirt off and starting on his jeans. He returned the favor, slipping his hands up under her T-shirt.
After that, things only got better.
She couldn't help making then-and-now comparisons-but they all came out in favor of 'now.' This was a double bed, not a bunk. They didn't have to worry about being caught by the R.A., or by his or her roommate. He was a better, more considerate lover. So, she hoped, was she ... at least she'd learned how to make putting on a condom a sensual experience.
And there was something more, now, that hadn't been there when they were in college. Something between them, a kind of energy. It wasn't passion-they'd had plenty of that, before. Probably too much. This was something that carried over into everything; made every touch of a fingertip seem doubly intense.
Whatever it was, it was wonderful.
Arid even when it was over, when they both collapsed in exhaustion, 'it' wasn't gone.
She listened to his heartbeat slow, with her ear against his chest, and fitted herself into the curve of his arm, trying to sort it all out.
'I suppose this means asking for a Christmas bonus is out of the question,' he said, conversationally.
She started to giggle; she couldn't help it. 'Where the hell did you get this sense of humor?' she demanded. 'All of a sudden, you can laugh at yourself-you never did that before!'
He took a deep breath, and let it out, slowly. 'I had it all along, I just didn't think that-hell, I just didn't think, period.' He ran a finger along the side of her face. 'I don't exactly know, Jennie. Kestrel. Maybe that's it. I stopped posing with you-or when I do pose, we both know it. Does that seem logical?'
'As logical as anything,' she replied, thoughtfully. 'Funny; all of a sudden I feel like I'm living with my skin off.'
He sighed. 'So do I,' he replied, slowly, sleepily. 'So do 'I. I-have to confess something though.'
'What, that your good behavior is temporary?'
He started to laugh, after a moment of silence. Quietly, but it was real laughter.
'How did you guess?' he asked. She snuggled a little closer.
'Because it happens to me, every time I have a profound Medicine experience,' she confessed in turn. 'I go on really good behavior for a while, then, well, I start to slip back to being a bitch. Not as big a bitch as I was before, but-still, there it is. I'm human; so are you. I guess humans can only be perfect for so long.'
Her confession left him quiet for a moment.
'I'll make a deal with you,' he said, finally, as she hoped he would. 'If you give me a little slack when I'm being a bastard, I'll cut you some when you're being a bitch.'
She smiled, into the darkness. 'It's a deal,' she replied softly.
Mooncrow seemed neither surprised nor displeased when they both came out of the same room in the morning. He simply greeted them both in a very preoccupied way; Jennie sobered completely, forgetting her own faint embarrassment, when she caught his mood. Whatever he expected to learn today, it was far more important than who had slept in whose bed last night, or any other night for that matter.
They all three piled into Mooncrow's car, although David was the one who drove, following the old man's brief instructions. Jennie perched in the back seat, leaning forward so she could listen to both of them. Mooncrow guided them out past the airport, following I-169 toward Catoosa, but on the local roads and not the highway. They seemed to be tracing the course of Mingo Creek. . . .
'Here-' Mooncrow said, suddenly. 'Take the next turnoff.'
That proved to be a graveled county road; in pretty good shape, actually, better than she had feared it might be when she saw the gravel. It looked as if the county had managed to get most of the roads graveled after the washouts of spring. Mooncrow sat tensely on the front seat beside David and peered ahead through the windshield. It was obvious now why he had wanted David to drive; he was looking for something. Or perhaps, he was watching for 'landmarks' not visible to the ordinary eye.
A crude, one-lane, timbered bridge crossed the creek ahead of them. Jennie's guess about the creek was borne out when the old man told David to stop at the bridge.
'We'll have to leave the car here, off to the side where it won't obstruct anyone,' Mooncrow said, finally. 'No one will be along to bother it.'
David simply nodded. Intuition had told both of them to dress for hiking, and now she was glad that they had, for Mooncrow led them right down to the creek bed, where they followed its path for at least a half mile. It was pretty rough hiking. None of the flood-control projects had gotten this far up the creek. It was full of downed trees, old tires, even a dead car. Rocks ranging from the size of a bowling ball to the size of that old car studded the bottom of the ravine, but above their heads Jennie winced at the thickets of wild plum and plenitude of blackberry vines; the going would be no easier up there.
