His smile broadened—everything and more. “I think we have a deal.”

With a playful smile, Claire teased, “Now, if you don’t make love to me right this minute, I’ll have you thrown off my property.”

That was exactly what Tony wanted to do—to make love. Jim had been right about some things. He didn’t just want to have sex: Tony wanted to show his wife exactly how much he loved her. “My, Mrs. Rawlings, will my lodging payments continue to be so extreme?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I have the rest of our lives to come up with new ideas. You know, I’m very creative and let me warn you, the payments will be daunting. I hope you’re up for it.”

His up-ness was extremely evident as the red of passion colored his world. For the first time in years, Tony welcomed it. The flames of desire weren’t meant to be dampened. They were meant to be fueled, and nothing fed his desire more than the sparks in the emerald eyes of the bold and cheeky woman in his arms. “I believe that you know that I am, and Mrs. Rawlings, I look forward to your challenges. Apparently, only you can decide whether I make the cut.”

“Don’t disappoint me. There will be consequences.”

“Mighty fine,” he whispered.

I am confident that, in the end, common sense and justice will prevail. I’m an optimist, brought up on the belief that if you wait to the end of the story, you get to see the good people live happily ever after.

—Cat Stevens

Eric’s sentence stalled with the sound of the opening door. All at once Tony and Claire’s home office was filled with the sound of running feet and giggles. Nichol ran around Eric and Phil to the other side of the desk and launched herself into Tony’s lap.

“Daddy, guess what? We’re going over to Aunt Em’s!”

Tony laughed and smiled up to Eric and Phil, before looking back to his beautiful daughter. “We are?”

“No! Silly. Just Mommy, Shannon, and I are going.” Nichol turned her attention to the other side of the desk and asked, “Are you going too, Mr. Phil?”

Just then, Claire walked in, smiling and shaking her head. “Nichol, your daddy has work to do with Mr. Eric and Mr. Phil. You shouldn’t interrupt him.”

Her little pig tails swung from side to side as she peered up at Tony. He marveled at the vision of his own eyes coming from Claire’s questioning expression. Bashfully, she asked, “I’m not in-ter-upping you, am I?”

He hugged her tight. “You could never interrupt me, princess. You can come tell me your exciting news any time you want.”

“You may regret that statement,” Claire teased.

“Claire,” Phil suggested, “perhaps I could drive you. The roads are very snowy.”

“No, thank you. I’ll take the SUV. We’re just going to Emily’s, and then we’ll be home.” She walked over to Tony and gave him a kiss on the cheek: Nichol followed her mommy’s lead. “We’ll be back before dinner.”

“Yep!” Nichol concurred.

“Well, all right,” Tony said as he lifted Nichol from his lap to the floor. “Nichol, where’s Shannon?”

“She’s waiting for Mommy and me.”

“Can you go tell her that your mommy will be right there?”

“I can,” she said with bright eyes, as she took off running toward the hallway.

Claire’s questioning gaze turned back to her husband and then to Eric and Phil, as Eric closed the office door and resumed his spot beside Phil. “What’s happening?” Claire asked. “By the look on your faces, I’d say we received another message.”

Tony reached for her hand. They’d promised one another to be honest, in everything. It wasn’t always easy, and Tony worried sometimes about how much Claire could handle. But each day she reminded him why he’d fallen in love with her. Her actions and responses reminded him that she was the strongest and bravest person he’d ever known. Even when he told her about Patricia, she handled it with grace. Perhaps if his actions had been different, she would have responded differently, but instead she was pleased. Honesty helped to make their world brighter. It cleared away the biggest threat they faced—the threat of the unknown.

“I would have told you later tonight, but since you’re here, I thought you could hear it directly from Eric and Phil. Phil was just telling me about the DNA test results on the last package,” he explained as he looked to Phil, imploring him to continue.

“It was definitely sealed with female saliva. Apparently, the woman’s not in the federal database of known offenders, which automatically rules out Ms. London.”

Claire’s brow furrowed. “A woman? Who do you think would do this? Who besides Catherine would know about the Rawls-Nichols link?”

“My family connection to Nathaniel was exposed to the media during Catherine’s trial,” Tony said. “Still, the vendetta was kept under wraps. I suppose anyone in the courtroom could be considered a possibility.”

“I’ll check into the list of names,” Phil offered.

“And Ma’am,” Eric added, “another note arrived today. It was addressed to you: Claire Nichols-Rawls.”

“Did you open it?” she asked.

“Not yet,” Phil answered. “The police recommend that we bag any suspicious mailings and take them in for analysis. After the whole anthrax scare, not even letters are to be considered safe until we know for sure. Ricin is another poison that’s been used in known cases. We’re not taking any chances.”