It was a warning and a declaration, but Sariana did not seem aware of either. For all her logic and her ability with words, his Shieldmate could be amazingly obtuse at times. Gryph was sure that obtuseness was deliberate. She used it when it served her purposes.

"As I said earlier, Gryph, it would be better if we don't discuss our personal situation until our mission is accomplished. I urge you to consider my offer of a working truce."

Gryph set down the mug, no longer able to resist putting his hands on her. He clasped her shoulders, wondering if she would flinch away from him and oddly pleased when she did not. "If I am to accept a truce, then it will be in all things, not just in the matter of retrieving the cutter."

She gazed up at him with dawning relief and satisfaction. "You'll accept my offer to work together as a team?"

"As usual, Sariana, you have heard only what you want to hear. "I accept your offer of a truce, if that's what you want to call it. If you'd rather we didn't discuss our marriage until we return to Serendipity, I'll

go along with that, too."

"Thank you, Gryph. This will all work out for the best. You'll see." "But that still leaves us with a problem."

"What problem?"

"The matter of that single bunk in the cabin." His hand flexed on her shoulders.

"Gryph, I'm not sure how we should handle that problem."

"You were willing enough to start an affair with me the other night," he reminded her. She touched the tip of her tongue to one corner of her lips. In the silvery moonlight her eyes were very

deep and filled with unanswered questions. "Yes," she said with a simple honesty that took away his breath. "I thought an affair with you might be very… well, very interesting."

"Ah, there you go again. You have such a delicate way with language. Well, I suppose I should be glad you at least find me interesting." Gryph slid his hands inside the hood of her cloak, finding the slender column of her throat. He held her lightly, stroking his thumbs along the line of her jaw. "You've said diat you can't bring yourself to admit you're married. Can you think of yourself as involved in an affair with me? For the duration of dlis truce of ours, can you have the affair you intended to start two nights ago?"

A tremor went dirough her. Gryph could reel the rising warmth in the silky skin of her throat. His fingers shook a little as he continued to stroke her skin.

"I don't know," she whispered. "I'm not sure what to do. Nothing worked out as I thought it would, including that." She looked up at him with an aching longing tinged with deep wariness. "I thought it would be so different."

"It will be this time," he promised her recklessly. "That first time I was a clumsy, blundering idiot. I apologize again. I will apologize for that fiasco for the rest of my life, if that's what you want."

"Well, you weren't that bad," she offered consolingly

He nearly choked on his laughter as he realized just how serious she was. "Thank you, Sariana. That's very generous of you." He urged her closer until the folds of her cloak brushed against him. Her unique fragrance filled his senses. Gryph forced himself to speak carefully. "I would like a second chance, Sariana. I want to show you how it should be. Spend the time of this truce having the affair you wanted to have with me. We'll let the future take care of itself."

She parted her lips to answer him. Gryph decided he didn't quite trust the response that hovered on the tip of her tongue. She was still poised on the brink, the passion in her at war with her practicality and reason. He needed to find a way for her to let the passion subdue her natural caution.

Carefully, lightly, restraining himself until his body throbbed with the effort, Gryph kissed her. He brushed his mouth against hers, demanding nothing, apologizing yet again for the way he had bungled their first time together, pleading for a second chance.

Intuitively he knew it was the humble plea that won the battle for him. Sariana, for all her strength, fortitude and will, was defenseless against his earnest, entreating approach. Gryph realized suddenly that she could not turn down his silent appeal any more than she had been able to refuse Luri's gift of the scarlet-toe. There was a deeply empathetic side to her nature. It was one of the things that made her a Shieldmate.

Sariana trembled again and then her arms emerged fromthe folds of the cloak and stole softly around his waist. Gryph's sense of relief and triumph was enough to make him shudder. Cautiously he deepened the kiss, tasting again the enticing warmth of her mouth. His hands slid farther into the cloak, seeking the small, delicate curves of her br**sts. He froze when he realized he could feel her ni**les very plainly beneath his palms.

"Hunter's hell, woman, you aren't dressed." He pulled back slightly, thoroughly outraged. "What do you mean by coming on deck wearing only your nightclothes? You haven't even got a robe on underneath your cloak."

She looked up at him, bemused by the passion that was just beginning to unfurl within her. She concentrated for a moment on his complaint and then smiled reassuringly. "No one can see how I'm dressed beneath my cloak."

"That's not the point. It's the principle of the thing. You're my - " He broke off just before calling her

his Shieldmate. "You can't parade around in public wearing only a sleeping chemise and a traveling cloak. What if the wind catches the cloak? Sariana, it isn't like you to be so unconcerned about such things."

She studied him from beneath her lashes. "You're right. It isn't like me. You have a strange effect on me at times, Gryph."

He heard the return of wariness in her voice and cursed himself for having come very close to ruining everything a second time. Like the trained hunter he was he moved quickly to recover his position. He could scold her later for such lapses. There would be plenty of time in the future to teach her that his sense of possessiveness did not permit such immodest behavior on her part.

It was odd, Gryph thought fleetingly as he pulled her back against him. He had never been particularly concerned about a woman's modesty or lack of it before in his life. He was learning quickly that a man felt differently about such things when the woman in question was his wife.

He kissed her again, silently apologizing for the outburst. He seemed to be always apologizing to this woman. But it was worth it when he felt her begin to relax once more. Gryph held the kiss for a long while, luxuriating in the sweet, hot flavor of her. When the tip of her tongue touched his and followed it back into his own mouth Gryph stifled a groan and broke the kiss reluctantly. When she looked up at him with a thousand questions in her eyes he wrapped his arm around her. Without a word he led her toward the stairs that would take them down to their cabin. Sariana made no protest.