Catherine stirred and Britt shot out of the chair. He dug under the covers for her hand. Her hand glowed with warmth as it closed around his. Her lashes fluttered. Her eyes opened and scanned the room. Relief flowed through him and he smiled at her.

"How are you?" he whispered.

"Where am I?" she asked with a row of furrows crossing her brow.

"You’re in Rivershire Hospital. I carried you here," he answered.

Catherine started to struggle out of the blankets but Britt pushed her back down.

"What are you doing?" he frowned.

"Leaving! Get your hands off me."

Startled, Britt backed off.

"Of all the nerve." She yanked at the blankets. "Do you know what they charge for emergency room visits? Next time, just let me sleep it off. If you want to be helpful, get me a strong cup of coffee--milk, no sugar."

Britt balked at the order and wagged his index finger at her.

"Wait a minute. When I found you out there you were cold and your skin looked gray--you gave an awful shriek, scared the life out of me!" The memory gripped him and he steadied himself by clutching the gurney. "I thought you were dead," he added hoarsely.

She paused in unraveling herself from the twisted blankets. Turning her blue gaze on him, she stared, unblinking, for a full minute.

Damn. She was using that hypnosis trick again. Britt didn’t care. It felt good to lose himself in those sky blue eyes. He reached out to cup her chin in his hand. A small jolt went through him, similar to the flash of built-up static he’d gotten from shuffling across a rug. He chuckled. It isn’t magic--it’s static. Funny how gullible he could be sometimes. But then--finding her collapsed beside the river had been a shock.

The lids came down over Catherine’s eyes and Britt felt as if a cloud passed in front of the sun. She sighed, "It isn’t static."

Britt went rigid for a moment, but he didn’t feel like arguing, not now. He could humor her for the time being--until he had a diagnosis. He smiled. "Perhaps it’s a short in the wiring."

Catherine opened her eyes again and flashed a challenging grin at him. "Yours or mine?"

"I’m not sure." He let her chin go and slid his hand behind her neck, a perilous move and one he knew he should avoid, however, the risk paled in comparison to what her smile promised. He wasn’t a saint and never intended to be one. Tempted, he bent down closer.

"I think I’d better do a test." He came down softly on her lips, brushing them gently. The brief contact seared him. He drew back, stunned.

"What are the results?" she asked in a breathless whisper.

Britt watched her run her tongue over her lips. A hunger burst inside him, a craving that he could not deny. "I believe this requires further testing even though I’ll have to take some chances," he muttered against the sweet cascade of her hair.

"For the sake of science," her voice trembled.

"Research can be rewarding." He pulled her closer.

"Yes." Her hands reached up to curl around his shoulders.

Britt lifted her against him in a crushing embrace. As before, the kiss they shared could not be compared to any of Britt’s previous experiences. In fact, his mind went blank when he tried to summon up former encounters with other partners as a reference for this study. But a delicate tune played in Britt’s head on his journey to this new world, blocking out memories--bad and good, until it seemed he had only been born now. Everything else had happened on some other plane, in some other reality. His worries flew away like the downy seeds of a dandelion on a summer breeze.

There was only Catherine. The taste of her, the feel of her in his arms, and the promise of delights so wonderful he never gave a single thought to the consequences. Without yesterday or tomorrow to concern him, he joyously reveled in the moment, exploring, teasing, spurred on by shocks of pleasure sending shudders of delicious agony
along a river of heat.

Then a cold hand gripped his shoulder.

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