in fact E-Branch knew nothing at all about her: 'No, B.J., no one's out to get you,' he said. 'Like I told you, the people I worked for aren't police, and in fact they're not even remotely interested in you. Not any longer. Nor in me for that matter. And believe me, I really am sorry I caused you so much concern ... "
They finished the rest of the meal in an awkward silence, just mulling things over. But when Harry finally sat back, he sighed and said, 'You want to know something? I think this is the first time in - God, I don't know how long! - that I've felt relaxed. Your choice of food was just great. And you ... are just great, too. Wrong-headed, maybe, but great. And anyway, who am I to talk?'
'Who indeed?' she said, something like his Ma might, but with an entirely different feel to it. 'Was that a compliment?'
Harry laughed and rubbed his chin. 'I'm not sure,' he answered, 'but it felt like a whole series of them!'
'Your best line? Your idea of chatting me up? Seduction, even? To tel me that I'm great despite that I'm wrong-headed? Well, I have to say I've heard better!' The way she said 'Well,' it really did sound like his Ma.
The idea of red wine was now rapidly receding in the Necroscope's mind. B.J. had spoken several key words - words that had nothing to do with previous post-hypnotic commands - which Harry had picked up on. And now he realized what else he'd been missing in the last eighteen months, other than his own body.
Taking up the used plates and cutlery, and fumbling it a little, he said, 'Do you feel cold? Is it cold in here?' There had been a fire laid in his open fireplace ever since he moved in, but the Necroscope hadn't felt the need to light it. Normaly he didn't like it too warm, and perhaps surprisingly the house's oil-fired central-heating system was working very wel.
She had seen his eyes rove over the hearth and had perhaps read something of what was on his mind. 'A little chily, yes.'
'Then toss a match on the fire while I wash up.'
'Al right,' she said. 'And ... I'd like to wash up, too.'
'Ummm?'
The bathroom, is - ?'
'Off the landing, upstairs,' he answered. "The shower is ... very good."
'But I bet your bedroom's a mess, right?' The direct way was usualy the best and easiest. Even so, B.J. was surprised to find herself breathing a shade too fast.
'Actualy, no,' Harry answered, his voice a little husky. 'No, it's ... prety tidy. I, er, tidied it?' He paused in the doorway and looked back to where she was standing by the fireplace. Their eyes locked, and for a moment it was like it had been in her bar-room. There was this magnetism, which had nothing to do with the art of beguilement... or on the other hand, it was that entirely natural, mutual beguilement, the electric moment, when a man and woman know that it's going to happen.
'But now that the fire's lit,' she tore her eyes from his, struck a match and tossed it onto a base of crumpled newspaper and kindling, 'I think I would be just as comfortable ... down here?'
And beginning to burn as quickly as the fire, and just as hot, Harry husked, Then after you've showered, bring down the quilt and soft top blanket from my bed.'
Then he was off to the kitchen, and B.J. licked her lips. The dog-Lord was right: there were other ways, beter ways, to enthral a man. With the lights off and the curtains drawn, in the red glow of the fire, it would be just like a warm, secret cave in here.
Yes, it would be just like a lair ...
ONE OF THE OTHER WAYS.
V
ONE OF THE OTHER WAYS.
TRUTHS, HALF-TRUTHS, AND DAMNED
LIES
It was two a.m. before Harry fell asleep in her arms, but the night time was B.J.'s time and she didn't feel the need. She needed, oh yes, but not sleep. And as the time crept inexorably closer to the full of the moon, that need was ever more insistent. But she had long since learned to deny herself, so that Harry was never in any real danger. Especially Harry, who impressed her more and more as the Mysterious One, Radu's 'Man With Two Faces.'
Well, his ways weren't quite so mysterious now. One facet at least had revealed itself to