morning, they like females."

"You're serious, aren't you?" Sariana looked ruefully resigned.

"I'm afraid so." He waited, curious to see what she would do.

"Well, I can't leave it where it is. It will drive me crazy all night wondering if it's sneaking around my bed somewhere." She dropped to her knees and peered under the bed.

"Don't make any sudden moves. It's still quite wild. But it will be curious about you. Put out your hand very slowly."

"What if it bites me?" Sariana hissed. She went down on her stomach and slithered halfway under the bed. She disappeared from the waist up, leaving Gryph with a view of her charming rear.

"It won't bite." Gryph stayed where he was, enjoying the soft curves of her bu**ocks and thighs as they were revealed by the shirting folds of her robe. "Don't worry, Sariana. All it secretly wants to do is curl up in your palm and warm itself against your skin."

"I hope you know what I'm doing." She wriggled a little farther under the bed. Gryph fought the almost overpowering urge to shape his hand to the lush curve of her hips. "Just trust

me, Sariana. It doesn't want to hurt you. It wants to be held and touched and petted by you. At this point it just isn't quite certain how to approach you, that's all. You need to show it that you want it."

"I hate to break this to her, Gryph," her voice was muffled, "but I don't particularly want a lizard for a pet. I just didn't know how to tell Luri that."

"You can't really know how you feel about it until you've held it close," Gryph said softly, still studying the gentle mounds that were so close to his hand. "Don't make snap judgments."

"It's not a snap judgment. I've never been fond of lizards. I don't know many people who are." "The scarlet-toe seems strange and alien to you now. You're wary of it because it's unfamiliar to you.

Just as I am."

Her wriggling body went still. Then Sariana said tardy, "I hadn't thought of you and the scarlet-toe as having all that much in common."

"We're both from the west," Gryph noted in soft amusement.

"And you both have teeth."

Gryph blinked, unsure how to interpret that "Sari-ana…"

"Ah! Got 'em." Her body snapped forward quickly and an instant later she was sliding back out from beneath the bed. She sat up, triumphantly holding her captive. "Here it is. Get the cage."

Gryph studied the careful way she was clasping the small red lizard. "It's not necessary to keep a scarlet-toe in a cage. Not after it gets to know you."

"This one will very definitely stay in a cage." Sariana stated firmly. "I'm not taking any chances with something that has as many teeth as this thing does." She got to her feet and went quickly across the room to deposit the small lizard inside its gold filigree home. Then she latched the cage door shut. "There we are. Safe and sound. In the morning I'll try to convince Luri that his gift would much rather be free to romp along the riverbank."

Gryph rose slowly, watching Sariana as she bent over the gold cage. "I don't think it will want to be free in the morning, Sariana. I think the bonding has already started. Lucky won't want to leave you."

"Nonsense. Any wild creature would rather be free."

"There are exceptions to every rule."

Sariana grinned as she turned around to confront him. "Not in the eastern provinces, there aren't. We don't bend the rules very much where I come from, let alone make exceptions."

"You're not at home," Gryph reminded her. He went slowly forward, approaching her as she had approached the scarlet-toe. "Things are different here."

She didn't move, but some of her amusement faded. She seemed to realize finally that there was more going on in the room than the successful capture of a scarlet lizard. She searched his face, her eyes wide and questioning. "Gryph?"

"Don't be afraid of the differences between us." He moved a little closer, pleased that she still wasn't trying to dodge his slow, careful advance. In another step or two, he could touch her. He wanted that. Wanted it very badly.

"I'm not afraid of you, Gryph."

He smiled faintly, pleased by the words. "I think it would take a lot to frighten you. A nervous little coward would not have made the voyage to the western provinces when things went wrong at home."

Sariana shook her head slightly, her mouth trembling between a smile and uncertainty. "I didn't have much choice."

"You had a choice. You took the one that held the most promise, but also the one that held the most risk. With a temperament like that, you might be more at home here in Serendipity than you would be in Rendezvous. Have you ever thought of that?"

"No," she said flatly, "I haven't."

Gryph took a chance. He put out his hand and touched the fold of her robe where it fell just below her shoulder. The soft thrust of her br**sts was only a few centimeters from his palm. He sensed her catching her breath and he sought desperately for a way to calm her again.

"You're a woman who's not afraid to take risks," he whispered, his voice rough and husky with need. His fingers trembled on the fabric of her robe. "Will you take a risk with me?"

"I don't know what you mean. I'm already taking a tremendous risk just by hiring you." He brushed that aside, impatient with her small attempt to sidestep the issue. "I'm talking about another

kind of risk and I think you know it."

A frantic protest mingled with anger leaped into her wide eyes. "You ask too much, Shield!" "And I overstep myself, don't I?" he taunted gently. "I go too far, reach too high, dare too much,

demand more than I have any right to expect."

"I see you understand your situation perfectly," she muttered. Her lashes came down to veil her eyes. "Gryph, please, it's very late. You must leave. Don't embarrass both of us by going any farther with this."

"I can give you a little time, Sariana. Not much, but a littte. Would that help? I want to do this right." She trembled. He could feel the small shiver that went through her and he knew with absolute certainty

that it was caused by excitement as well as feminine wariness. He could make her want him. He was sure of it. He just had to give her time.

"Time?" she breathed. Her eyes were luminous pools. Emotions moved just beneath the surface of

those pools, sending tremors through her whole body.

"Would that make it easier for you?"