§ § § -- June 29, 2006

Christian was still examining the computer, and Leslie had gone through three stacks of mail, when Roarke came in. "Ah, good, there you are, Leslie," he said and greeted Christian before turning to his daughter. "I'm glad I found you here. I have a little unexpected free time, and I think we should put it to good use. Come with me, we'll get some of the love-in-idleness blossoms."

"Right now?" Leslie asked, surprised.

"Yes. We'd better hurry, I have only a little time." Roarke took a key from the gold box on the desktop while Leslie stood up, casting a glance at Christian.

"Is that the actual flower from the Shakespeare play?" Christian asked, as if on cue.

"Indeed it is," Roarke confirmed. He smiled. "William Shakespeare was a much more open-minded man than most people realize. He was not just a linguistic genius, but he also knew of many things that are now dismissed as pure fiction." He extracted his gold pocket watch and checked it carefully. "Hurry, Leslie, there's little time to waste."

"I'd go with you; it sounds like fun," Christian observed, "but unfortunately this thing seems to be choosing this day to be a mechanical hypochondriac. I'll monitor things here if you like, Mr. Roarke."

"That will be fine, thank you, Christian. We should be gone no more than an hour or so," Roarke said. "Come, Leslie…" He paused when he realized Leslie was already standing in the inner foyer, lifted his brows in surprise for a moment, then dismissed it. Leslie waved to a grinning Christian on the way out the door.

"Well," Leslie remarked as she settled into the jeep's passenger seat, "this should be really interesting. Maybe I could even take a plant or two back with me and have Rogan add it to our home garden."

Roarke eyed her askance for a moment, starting the vehicle. "It's a warm day," he pointed out. "Are you prepared?"

"I'm just fine, Father," Leslie assured him, making herself comfortable in her seat. "It seems like a good day to go love-in-idleness hunting, doesn't it? Nice and bright, not too hot or humid."

She had a feeling she might have gone too far when suspicion flitted across Roarke's features. "That's quite the turnaround," he observed.

She contrived an innocent look. "How so?"

"For several weeks, ever since I first mentioned it, you've been less than enthusiastic about the venture. Now that we're actually embarking upon it, suddenly you appear to be looking forward to it. Don't think I don't appreciate the change in attitude, but I find myself somewhat confused as to the reason."

"Oh, well…I guess I've sort of gotten curious about it. I mean, I can still remember your telling Julie that it grows here, and I realized it's kind of weird that I never did get to see a specimen. Maybe you could say I'm considering it…uh…a new facet of my education."

Roarke's expression made her stomach do a slow somersault, but then he chuckled and remarked, "I'm surprised you do remember. At the time, you were under the influence of that sleeping potion Adam O'Cearlach mixed up, and literally falling asleep on your feet."

"I overheard that part before the potion overwhelmed my system again," Leslie said with a grin. "I still think of that as the lost period in my life. I mean, the whole time I was under that potion's influence, I never had a single dream."

"Very strange. Perhaps I'd better look into that sometime," Roarke mused. "But at the moment, we have other things to worry about."

Leslie couldn't deny the relief that spiraled through her when he let the conversation drop, and she watched the scenery flashing by as they traveled west along the northern arm of the Ring Road. After about twenty minutes Roarke slowed and piloted the jeep onto a lane that consisted of two dirt ruts, as far apart as the jeep's tires, separated by the ever-persistent greenery. "I've never seen this lane before," she said.

"That's because I keep it hidden from all other eyes," Roarke replied. "Even I myself access it only when necessary." He put his full concentration into coaxing the jeep along the jarring, pockmarked trail. Leslie, meantime, grew a little uneasy. The jungle had closed around them, a violently viridian soup that even turned the sunlight green; she shot a glance behind them and realized that in the fifteen seconds or so since they'd left the road, it had already been swallowed from their view. She was sure this had to be one of the places where the more dangerous wild animals took refuge, and found herself scanning the trees for the sinuous loops of snake bodies.

After some unfathomable distance, Roarke cranked the jeep hard to the right and stopped it. Now they faced what appeared to be a small sunlit meadow, filled with overgrown grasses that waved in the breeze. "This is it?" Leslie asked, staring across it.

"This is it," Roarke confirmed, cutting the engine. "Now, if you will, just follow me."

She slid out of her seat and trailed him obediently, though she frowned doubtfully when he waded directly into the grass, which seemed to part before him in the fabled manner of the Red Sea. She peered around her feet, but all she could see was grass, grass and more grass. "Are you really sure this is the right place?" she asked.

"Yes, this is the right place," Roarke assured her patiently. "One more moment." He continued to plow through the grass till they were in the center of the meadow; then he stopped, knelt and grasped a slender, pale-green stem, gently working it up from the ground till it broke off and left a microscopic green stump with the merest hint of a leaf attached to it. He then displayed the plant at Leslie. "This is what we are looking for."

She peered at it. It was an unprepossessing little flower, about the circumference of a dandelion bloom but adorned with exactly seven pale-pink petals, with cornflower-blue stripes, that radiated out from a deep-amethyst center. Each petal sprouted hair-thin from the middle and broadened the farther out it stretched; they all terminated in blunt, squared-off ends. "Well," she said with a grin, "maybe it won't be as hard to find as I thought. Never seen a flower quite like that one before."

Roarke smiled. "Good," he said. "Now, you saw how I removed it: I left part of the stem, with a budding leaf, behind." She nodded. "You must leave that behind, or the flower cannot regenerate and produce a new bloom. They are rare enough as it is, and we don't wish to completely remove the plant. I want you to collect one hundred of these." He gave her a basket.

"A hundred?" Leslie echoed, astonished. "Why do you need so many?"

"Because they're so small," said Roarke, which wasn't quite what she'd meant when she asked the question. On her mild exasperation, he turned and started for the jeep. "I have faith in you, Leslie. If you need help, just call."

She kept a surreptitious eye on him and was relieved, in the end, to see him climb into the jeep's driver's seat and unfold what looked like that day's Fantasy Island Chronicle. "Oh, how nice you have some time to read," she muttered under her breath and looked at the basket, where the flower Roarke had picked lay forlornly in the bottom. "One down, 99 to go. Come on, Leslie Susan, let's do it." She drew in a breath, scanned the meadow around her, then cleared her throat and (just for safety's sake) turned her back on Roarke and the jeep before squinting deliberately through the grass in front of her. Sure enough, the X-ray vision kicked in, and almost immediately she could see the hollow-looking little stems of what appeared to be dozens of the flowers she was searching for. "Bingo!" she breathed, thrilled, and knelt in the grass, busily harvesting and keeping careful count.

She was a bit thirsty when she finished and felt as if she'd exerted herself to some extent, but she knew it could have been much worse. She sauntered back to the jeep, lifting out one of her gathered flowers and taking an experimental sniff as she went; it had a soft, delicate floral scent not far removed from roses, though the aroma had a way of dissipating in the breeze once she pulled the blossom more than an inch from her nose. "Hmm," she remarked as she climbed into the passenger seat of the jeep, "these smell really pretty."

"Don't sniff too deeply, or their power will begin to affect you," Roarke absently warned her, before frowning and then turning to stare at her. "You aren't finished already!"

"Yep. Here they are, all one hundred," Leslie said, showing him the basket.

"Impossible! In only fifteen minutes?" her father demanded, clearly incredulous.

"That's all it took," she said, smiling. "I mean, once you know what to look for, they're not really that hard to find. It's not as if they look like any other flower on earth."

"No," Roarke conceded, frowning in amazement at the contents of the basket. He studied them for a few seconds, then looked up at Leslie and shook his head a little. "You did indeed gather a full hundred. Though how you found them so quickly…"

"What, was I supposed to take all afternoon? I suppose if you want me to, I can go back out in the field there and hunt down some more…"

"No, that won't be necessary," he said, still staring at her.

"It gives you a little extra time, you know," she pointed out. "In case there's other stuff you need to do. You might even get ahead of schedule."

"Yes…" he said, drawing the word out in perplexity and letting it fade into the wind. Slowly he folded the paper, his eyes full of questions, before shaking his head one last time and starting the engine. "Here." He handed her the paper. "Use this to cover the basket so that we don't lose any of the flowers."

She did as ordered, feeling rather pleased with herself. Christian was right; this really did come in handy. I wonder if Fernando will have any left over when his new machine gets in, so I can use it when I really need it, like I did today? She hummed softly to herself as they made their way back to the Ring Road; when Roarke shot her a bewildered look she stopped, suddenly worried she might be pushing her luck just a little too far, but unable to resist that feeling of smug accomplishment—even though she knew she was likely to pay for it later on.

§ § § -- June 30, 2006

"Mommy…Mommy, Mommy…" Leslie rolled over in bed on Friday morning and squinted blearily into her daughter Karina's anxious little face. The child lit up with hope when she saw Leslie awaken. "Mommy!"

"What's the matter, sweetie?" Leslie murmured, feeling the mattress undulating as Christian stirred behind her. "And how did you get out of your crib?"

"Aw gone, Mommy," Karina said earnestly. "No fine!"

"What's all gone?" Leslie prompted.

"Dowwy," Karina said. "Aw gone. Mommy fine it?"

Christian leaned over Leslie to stare at the little girl in amazement. "You little monkey," he said, "I'd love to know how you got out of that crib."

"Me too," Leslie remarked, peering up at him, and he grinned. "I guess we have to go hunt for her doll."

"Daddy fine too," Karina said, bobbing up and down.

Christian and Leslie dragged themselves out of bed and padded behind Karina to the triplets' room, yawning as they went. "I suppose that's one way to wake up," Christian mumbled sleepily. "I didn't happen to notice the time, did you?"

"I think it's going on seven," Leslie said, pausing in the hallway long enough to give her muscles a good stretch. "Well, young lady, let's see if we can figure out where your doll got off to."

"I hope we find it soon," Christian said. "I don't know how much help I'll be, without coffee in my system." Leslie laughed, and they followed Karina into the children's room and began to peer around in search of the missing doll. Tobias and Susanna, awakened by the movements, promptly answered Christian's earlier question by pushing in the buttons on their cribs that allowed them to lower the rail on one side, shoving the rails down and tumbling nimbly out onto the carpet. "Monkeys," he grumbled again.

"They might be ready for beds after this," Leslie mused, shaking her head. "As long as they're up, they can help. Okay, you two, find Karina's dolly."

It soon turned out the doll wasn't in the bedroom at all, and the search rapidly expanded to other parts of the house. In the living room, Leslie began to get frustrated and found herself scanning the sofa and matching chairs with deliberation—and shocking herself when she discovered she still had her X-ray vision! "Oh wow," she moaned softly to herself, then eyed the furniture again and shrugged. "Might as well make use of it."

By the time Christian arrived with the triplets right on his heels, she had assembled a small pile of odds and ends on the coffee table. Christian stopped short and gaped while the children ran to the kitchen to pester Ingrid, already making breakfast therein. "Where in fate's name did you find all that junk?" he exclaimed.

"In the sofa and chairs," Leslie said, glancing at the small pile. "If you're thinking of hunting for money, don't bother. I've already pocketed a dollar twenty-four in change."

"Herregud," he said, shaking his head. Suddenly he grinned and lowered his voice. "I suppose that means you're still affected by that potion."

"Seems so. That's how I found all this stuff. Of course," she added ironically, "X-ray vision or not, I still haven't found Karina's doll."

Christian laughed. "Some things never change, no matter what. Where else have you looked? I might try the guest suite."

"Good idea, no one's been in there yet," she said, and he headed off in that direction while she finished scavenging beneath the cushions. When he got back from a fruitless search, she had settled into the chair she'd just finished cleaning and was separating the uncovered items into several tiny heaps, her mind off on other tracks.

"What's wrong, my Rose?" he queried softly, squatting beside the chair to look into her face. "You seem preoccupied."

"I can't figure out why I still have the X-ray vision," she admitted through a sigh. "And I have no way of finding out. I mean, it's not as if I can ask Father."

Christian considered that. "Are you that afraid of getting into trouble?"

"I don't know," Leslie admitted, meeting his gaze. "I'm starting to feel sort of funny about it. I mean, I took advantage of it yesterday when we were picking those flowers, and I know he was wondering why it seemed so easy for me."

"Well, if you're feeling that guilty about it, can't you just explain it? After all, it was a complete accident, and he can hardly fault you for that."

"But he might be able to fault me for taking advantage of it. Look at me, I just did it again. All this stuff. Did you know you had that much crud in your pockets?"

Christian surveyed the things she had indicated as his and raised a startled eyebrow. "There's my pocketknife. I was never even aware it had fallen out. And I don't think I've ever seen the rest of that stuff before. Are you really sure it's mine?"

"Well, maybe the rest of it is Tobias's. It's just…if I knew how long I'm going to have this ability, I might be able to decide whether I should tell Father or not."

"Ach. I truly don't know, Leslie. I'm afraid it's up to you. But while we're here, you realize that the missing doll happens to be our daughter's favorite in all the world? She may be distracted right now by Ingrid's breakfast preparations, but you know full well she'll eventually remember it and start to drive us crazy about it. No matter what you think Mr. Roarke would say, my vote is for your taking all the advantage you can of this ability, even if you have to go through the entire house this way."

"Then in that case, make sure you and Ingrid and the kids stay out of my line of sight," Leslie warned ruefully. "If I see your walking skeletons, I'll probably have nightmares for months, and how would I ever explain that to Father?"

"Perish the thought." Christian rose gracefully to a standing position, laughing. "All right, then, we'll stay in the kitchen, and I'll have Ingrid keep a plate warm for you."

A few hours later, in the main house, with Roarke handling the usual errands that he always did on the day right before a weekend, Leslie had to admit she was relieved that her father had left her to hold down the fort. She had managed to successfully locate Karina's doll, and since reporting for her usual workday at the main house, she had found herself unable to resist using her X-ray vision in her old bedroom (where she had found a long-lost piece of jewelry that she remembered Tobias having hurled across the room as a ten-month-old and which she had till that point given up on for good) and around the study—which, not at all to her surprise, was immaculate. It would have been impossible for it to be anything else, she reflected with a little grin.

She had let down her guard too much by now and was scanning the credenza for any misplaced papers when the inner-foyer door opened, shocking her into bolting upright and gaping wide-eyed in that direction. She released a slow breath of immense relief when she recognized Tabitha, Camille and Lauren. "Oh, it's just you."

"Expecting somebody else?" Lauren asked curiously.

"I was just afraid it was Father," Leslie said without thinking.

"You were afraid it was?" Lauren echoed. She grinned as a light brightened her eyes. "Uh-oh, don't tell me, you're getting into Mr. Roarke's magical stuff again."

Leslie mock-glared at her. "Totally by accident," she said and explained, with some reluctance, what had happened the previous day. Her friends stared at each other in amazement; Camille's and Lauren's eyes began to light with what Leslie was sure must be a raft of ideas designed to take maximum advantage of her new ability, while Tabitha just stood there giggling madly behind one hand.

"This is the coolest thing on earth," Lauren exclaimed. "Leslie, could you do us a giant favor? There's so much missing stuff in our house…Kevin's a little thief, and we're still trying to break him of the habit. We'd be grateful forever if you could use your X-ray vision to help us find the stuff he's misplaced."

"Same in my house," Camille said, "except it's just the kids losing things. Harriet's no good for sniffing them out, so it's up to you."

Leslie snorted aloud and then eyed the still-giggling Tabitha. "Any requests from your corner of the island?"

"No," Tabitha chortled. "I just think it's funny. I mean, you mentioned telling Christian to keep himself and the kids out of sight while you were looking for Karina's doll. I'm starting to wish Fernando had a little of your squeamishness. I found out as soon as he got back home yesterday that I'm pregnant, thanks to his X-ray vision."

"Oh, you're not either!" Lauren squealed and hugged her. "That's fabulous!"

"Yeah, congratulations," offered Camille. "Want a boy or a girl?"

"It doesn't matter to us; we already have one of each, so we're not choosy this time," said Tabitha.

"When are you due?" Leslie asked.

"Fernando figures I'm about a month along at this point, so he's estimating around the middle of next February. You know, come to think of it, maybe you should come on down and help us look for stuff too." Tabitha's dark eyes sparkled with mischief. "Heaven knows I won't be able to in a few months."

Leslie rolled her eyes and retorted, "Tell Fernando to use his own X-ray vision, thanks anyway. And listen, you guys know I can't leave here."

"It's Friday, not Saturday, isn't it?" Camille asked. "Where's Mr. Roarke?"

"Doing the usual Friday errands. I'm keeping the place manned till he gets back." She considered it. "It's not as if I'm doing anything really important, actually. I could leave him a note and go ahead…" She stopped and stared through the window in disbelief at herself. "I can't believe I'm actually saying this. I must be losing my mind."

"I think we should take all possible advantage right now, before it goes away," Lauren hinted with raised eyebrows. "If you get my drift, Leslie."

She sighed and shrugged. "Okay." While her friends watched, she wrote Roarke a quick note, then followed them out and along the path that would eventually take them into Amberville. Lauren and Brian lived on the outskirts of town.

The airy beach-style house Leslie knew so well, but hadn't been inside for the better part of a year, turned out to be a shambles, thanks to Kevin. "Where's the culprit?" Camille asked her cousin. "Seems pretty quiet for the home of a kid in the thick of the Terrible Twos. Brian got him on the boat?"

"Oh, heck no," Lauren said emphatically. "My mother claims she doesn't see enough of her only grandchild, so she's putting up with his antics today. At least we can get something done around here without him thinking it's a game and losing everything we find as soon as we dig it up. You can start here in the living room, Leslie."

Within just a few minutes a small heap of lost objects rested on the coffee table, and Camille and Tabitha remained behind to straighten the room while Lauren led Leslie into hers and Brian's bedroom to continue scanning for things. This time Leslie helped retrieve things, which necessitated that she keep the X-ray vision "turned on"; she was so busy helping Lauren gather lost items that it wasn't till they finally completed cleaning the whole house an hour later that she realized how tired she was.

"Thanks, Leslie, you're the greatest," Lauren said gratefully. "Are you sure you're okay to do this at Camille's too?"

Leslie blinked at her, shading her eyes from the sun with one hand, and shrugged. "I seem to be fine so far. Maybe having this ability isn't as terrible as Father suggested it could be. Well, then, let's head for your place, Camille."

"Our house is bigger," Camille said, looking a little concerned.

"Sooner we start, the sooner we finish," Leslie said. "Come on."

She was looking forward to returning to the main house after finishing her task at the Omamara residence, but in the middle of their efforts, Myeko showed up and stared at them in amazement. "What the heck are you guys doing?"

"Major cleanup and retrieval," Camille said with a grin. "All thanks to Leslie."

"Yeah? How?" Myeko asked.

"Leslie's got X-ray vision," Lauren told her and went on to regale her with the story while the others continued the cleanup. Midway through, Lauren and Myeko pitched in as well, though Lauren continued talking and Myeko listened avidly.

"That's cool!" she remarked enviously. "Hey, Leslie…seeing as how you're already involved in doing all this stuff, do you think you could…"

"It's not as if I'm doing anything else today," Leslie said with a shrug, without taking her eyes off the areas she was scanning. "Jacks at four o'clock, Camille, right between the carpet and the baseboard. I suppose if I'm going to provide this, uh, service, you'd better take advantage of it right now. I don't know how long it'll last."

"Hey, I'm not missing this opportunity. Ten to one we'll find every last one of Dawn's ridiculous little Polly Pocket dolls," Myeko said with anticipation. "Can't wait—she screams bloody murder every time I try to get the vacuum cleaner out. The house is a disaster."

"She's going to kindergarten this fall, isn't she?" Tabitha asked.

"Yup. Thank heavens. They'll finally all be in school. Hey, Leslie, I'll bet you and Lauren can't wait till yours hit that age."

"Don't rub it in, Okada, or I won't help you out. Miniature video games behind the dresser there," Leslie reported as they entered the room David and Craig shared. "I gotta tell you guys, I'm surprised you haven't asked to just take the potion yourselves."

A resounding silence greeted this, and Leslie looked up and around at her friends—and wished she hadn't. She was surrounded by skeletons. "Oh, gaaaaaaaaacck," she choked out and slammed both hands over her mouth. "Get out of my line of sight, please."

"Huh?" she heard Lauren, Myeko and Camille mutter.

"She probably saw your bones," Tabitha responded through a laugh.

Lauren made a gagging noise. "Ewww. No wonder."

"That's why we didn't ask for the potion," Myeko announced deadpan, and they all laughed, even Leslie. "Not only that, but seriously, I'd bet a fortune Mr. Roarke would have a few mild objections."

"Just a few," Camille concurred dryly. "Hey, cousin, come on over here and help me move this thing so I can get Craig's DS games out from behind it."

It was approaching mid-afternoon when Leslie was finally allowed to return to the main house, having gone through the Okadas' farmhouse from cellar to attic and turned up not only a startling number of Dawn's Polly Pocket dolls, but marbles, dice, earrings, socks and die-cast toy cars, as well as a total of $6.23 in change that Myeko insisted on giving Leslie for her trouble. Leslie blinked again, peering cautiously around the Okadas' vast front yard, trying to readjust her vision. However, she found that she'd been using the X-ray ability for so long now that she could still see the innards of everything she looked at, and squeezed her eyes closed with a moan. "You okay?" Myeko asked.

"Could…could somebody drive me back to Father's?" Leslie pleaded, wrapping her arms around her abdomen and keeping her eyes firmly closed. "I think I've been looking through things for too long."

"Whaddayou mean?" Camille asked.

"I can't shut it off," Leslie groaned. "Somebody'll have to guide me. Pretend I'm blind or something. Oh, fate, I hope I'm not gonna be sick."

"You can't shut it off?!" Lauren's voice burst out. "You mean you're still seeing right through everything?"

"Yeah…it's like I can see normally and with X-rays at the same time." Leslie felt her stomach begin somersaulting in response to her own description. "It's awful. Oh, you guys don't even want to know, believe me. I just need to go home."

"I'll drive," Myeko promptly volunteered, her voice anxious. "Oh geez…it's probably all my fault for begging you to help me clean my house too. We shouldn't have pushed it."

"Maybe we shouldn't have come up with this stupid idea after all," Lauren said in a small, guilt-laden voice. "Wow, Leslie…I'm sorry, I never should've opened my big mouth."

"Me too," Camille said, blowing out her breath.

Tabitha asked, "When did this start?"

"I don't know," Leslie mumbled, letting Lauren and Myeko guide her across the yard to the car that waited in the driveway. "I was fine between Camille's house and Myeko's, but I guess it started backfiring on me sometime during the run through Myeko's house."

The five friends were silent for a few minutes, while they settled Leslie into the car, got in themselves, and got going along the Ring Road toward the main house. Then Camille said suddenly, "Hey…remember she said Mr. Roarke doesn't know she accidentally took some of the potion? What if he's there when we get to the main house? It'll all come out then, you know. Maybe we'd better take her home."

"I can't just go home," Leslie protested, still afraid to open her eyes. "Father'll wonder why I never came back."

"What about Christian's office?" Tabitha suggested. "He knows about it. It should be safe to take her there."

"Better idea," Leslie said and scrabbled in her purse till she came up with her cell phone. Blindly she thrust it at Lauren, who sat on one side of her. "Call him."

"Yeah, okay, I'll dial and you can talk." Leslie heard Lauren pressing buttons, then felt the phone being shoved back into her hand. She put it to her ear and felt strangely relieved when Christian answered, even though she knew he couldn't really do anything.

"Hi, my love," she said. "I'm with Camille, Lauren, Myeko and Tabitha…we're on our way to your office."

"Oh?" he responded. "Have all of you got computers for me to repair?" He chuckled.

"I wish it were that simple," Leslie admitted, dared to open her eyes a crack, and discovered to her nauseated horror that nothing had changed. "Oooooh. Hold on…Lauren…"

While Leslie struggled to keep the contents of her stomach where they belonged, she half listened to Lauren's side of the conversation with Christian, who she gathered eventually agreed that Leslie should come to his office. A few minutes later Myeko pulled up in front of the building, and again Leslie's friends guided her into the office.

"What in fate's name…" Christian began, half laughing. "I thought it was worse than that, the way Lauren described things to me. My Rose, come on, open your eyes."

"I don't dare," Leslie insisted. "I can't stand it. How…how many of your employees are here? I don't want this getting around."

"Beth and Julianne and Darius are here," Christian said. She felt him take over from Lauren and Myeko, guiding her to a chair and pushing her into it. "There, you just stay put for a few minutes. Now for fate's sake, will someone explain what's going on?"

"Things okay over there, Boss Prince?" Leslie heard Julianne ask.

"Yes, they're fine…Leslie's just having…a little dizzy spell," Christian hastily improvised. "She should be fine in a bit, and if not I'll take her home myself. Go on back to work, I'll be with you shortly." His voice dropped and became insistent. "Damn it, someone tell me what the hell's happening."

Leslie's friends rushed to do his bidding, tripping over one another in the attempt to give him the full story. Despite her roiling stomach, she had to smile to herself; Christian, in his increasing anxiety, had unconsciously issued a royal order again, and her friends had heard and responded accordingly. It took a few minutes for them all to get it straight, but Christian was quick to grasp the situation once he'd heard enough of the tale. "That," he pronounced incredulously, "is sheer madness."

"Yeah, well, we know that now," Camille said impatiently. "Question is, how do we get around Mr. Roarke?"