Chapter One

Haley tossed and turned in her bed, but she could not fall asleep. Try as she might, she could not shake off a sinking feeling in her stomach. The only deduction she could make was that something bad was going to happen at the art museum, and that worried her even more. Sighing, Haley switched on her bedside lamp and picked up her current book. Maybe if she read a few chapters she would grow tired and be able to fall asleep.

Soon Haley became engrossed by the novel, and had forgotten about her fears completely. They all came crashing back when she heard a thud downstairs. Haley clutched her book to her chest in fright, but she heard no other sound and tried to calm herself down, taking even breaths and deciding perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to read a Hitchcock novelization when she was alone in the house late at night. Haley put the book down, and started to pull the covers over her head, but was interrupted by a much louder, more distinct noise from downstairs. This time there was no mistaking it; someone was in her house.

Nathan Scott, the man in question, was currently hopping around on his left foot in the James' living room; not out of choice, but from the sheer agony that had erupted in his right ankle when it had collided with the settee. Stilling his movements, Nathan settled down in front on the picture he had chosen. Thankfully, the pain in his ankle was only temporary and although it still hurt him a little, he was able to set his right foot down. It wasn't nearly as bad as the pain he had from banging his forehead into a pillar a few moments before that.

Being careful not to touch anything other than the painting, Nathan placed his hands on either side of the fame. Slowly, but surely, he lifted it off the hook that kept it hanging on the wall. However, before he could make another movement the light switch turned on, illuminating the entire room.

Nathan turned around sharply, the painting still in his hands, covering his face, so that only his eyes were above the frame. Standing at the bottom of the main staircase was a young woman. She was wearing a black nightdress, and the sheer black robe she had loosely tied over it only accentuated her curvaceous figure. In fact, despite her bed head hair, Nathan would probably have thought her very attractive. If she wasn't currently pointing a gun in his face.

"What do you want?" Haley demanded. As soon as the words left her mouth she wondered why she said it; the painting in his hands was obviously the answer. Yet, she didn't know what else to say and as he was the intruder in her house she certainly wasn't going to apologize. Even though he had such piercing blue eyes.

"I was here for the painting," Nathan spoke slowly, "but I'll just put it back, and then I'll leave." He lowered the painting in his arms and faced the girl squarely, who was now on the floor with him. She looked about his age and was obviously Jimmy James' daughter, but Nathan couldn't remember having heard her first name.

Now that the painting wasn't covering his face Haley saw just how good-looking this stranger was. It was just her luck that she would end up getting robbed by a ruggedly handsome man, who kept staring straight into her eyes and didn't seem the slightest bit ashamed of what he had been caught doing. Haley took one of her hands off the pistol and placed it on the telephone next to her. "Don't move; I'm going to call the police."

"No-no-no, please don't do that!" Nathan said quickly.

'Did he just say "please"?' Haley thought.

"Look, I'm putting it back," He quickly did so and turned around to face her again, keeping his hands in the air. "There's no need to call them now, I'll just leave quietly." As he spoke he took a few steps forward, Haley got worried and put her other hand back on the gun, waving it in his face threateningly. Nathan stopped immediately. But then, he noticed something which caused him to smile. "You can't shoot me."

"What? What are you talking about? I know perfectly well to use a gun and I can certainly –" Haley stopped when she realized he was right. She wouldn't be able to shoot him. The safety catch was still on. Haley put her right index finger on the catch to try and unlock it, but this proved more difficult than she had anticipated. Haley then put her other index finger also on the catch, and after a few more moments struggle was finally successful. As soon as she had done this, she pointed it at the man again, who now looked a little worried.

"Please, Miss James, I mean you no harm; if you would just put the gun down I'll leave your house right now. And I'd really appreciate it if you didn't call the police."

However, Nathan had scared Haley by moving towards her again and as she moved back to keep the distance between them she collided with a stool behind her, which caused her to trip and accidentally set the gun off.

Nathan and Haley both yelled at the sound of the shot. Haley somehow managed to steady herself by putting a hand out on the pillar next to her. Nathan was not so lucky, as he felt the bullet slice through his suit jacket and shirt, and cut the skin on his upper right arm. He gripped the sideboard with his left hand, so he wouldn't fall down. Once he got over the shock, and felt he would be able to support himself, Nathan let go of the sideboard, and put his left hand inside his jacket to touch the wound. When he withdrew his hand there was a small puddle of blood in his palm. He looked up just in time to see the girl in front of him notice the blood, and faint.

Nathan let out a long breath before walking over to where her figure lay. Her legs were both straight on the ground, but, as she had fallen next to the pillar; the marble had kept her upper body leaning against it upright. He got on his knees and waved the hand now covered with blood in front of her face. When this didn't work, he called out, "Miss James?" repeatedly, to no avail. Nathan decided that she might wake up if he touched her cheek, but this posed a problem – which hand would he use? If he used his left hand, he'd put his blood on her face. However, his right arm hand been the one that had got shot, so to move his right hand to her face would be painful. Nathan instead tried nudging her with his left shoulder, but she still didn't respond. Deciding that he didn't want to put blood on her face – now that she wasn't holding the gun, Nathan could see that this woman was pretty hot – he inched his right arm towards her, grimacing all the while. When his right hand was close enough Nathan began to run his fingers up and down her cheek, finding that the feel of her smooth skin calmed him down a little. "Miss James?" he called again, wishing that he knew her first name.

Haley felt something touching her face. It felt warm and rough, but not scratchy or altogether unpleasant. As she heard her name being said her eyes fluttered open, and she saw a face that, despite a small bruise on his forehead, was the most gorgeous one she had ever seen. It took her another two seconds to realize that it was also the face of the man who had been about to rob her. Surprisingly, she did not pull away from him when she remembered and, even more surprisingly, he didn't stop touching her either.

He wasn't sure why. He'd seen her open her eyes and then…well, nothing after that. He'd just kept looking at her eyes, and how they looked brown, but also green, and he had completely forgotten that his hand was still on her cheek. Until the calm that had washed over Nathan while he'd been gazing at her was erased by a revival of the throbbing pain in his arm. Nathan dropped his right hand, and brought his left hand up for her to see. "I'm the one who's bleeding."

"Oh."