Author's Note: Okay, so once again, I'm using the gap between airdates to my advantage. This one was a little difficult when planning this out to find a spot to insert a love scene, but I decided to use the evening scene at Amanda's house when Dotty is grilling Amanda about her lunch with the princess and have Lee doing his typical lurking outside her house at the time. I hope you all enjoy.

Chapter 21-A Man Like That

"Waiting For Godorsky"

After their visit to the estate sale, Dotty and Amanda were wasting the dinner dishes while they theorized about what had led the lovely woman they'd met to sell her prized belongings, Dotty assuming that her husband had left her, while Amanda, being more optimistic guessed that she was a widow.

Another disturbing thought crossed Amanda's mind, "Mother, you think she gets enough to eat?"

"I wouldn't' count on it. I'm telling you, Amanda, whatever happened to that man of hers, whether he left her or whether he's dead, he still left her in quite the mess. I mean, if you looked at that portrait of him, you can just tell by that expression on his face that he's not the type of man to look after her needs."

"I don't know, Mother," Amanda said.

"Speaking of men..."Dotty said. Amanda sighed, knowing what was coming. "How are things going with your man? Is he still taking care of your...um...needs."

"Mother," Amanda said sighing again in exasperation.

"What? I'm just asking, I mean, after I caught a glimpse of him, leaving here a couple of weeks ago, I haven't heard you talking about him."

"Mother, I don't talk about him anyway, you know that," Amanda reminded her.

"I was just curious if the sizzle had turned into a fizzle," Dotty said.

"No, it hasn't," Amanda said though she had to wonder herself. Three weeks had passed since the weekend they'd posed as newlyweds and while they'd seen each other at work during the past week, they hadn't had any personal interaction since their frenzied coupling in the shower at the Cumberland. Being without him for that long had her climbing the walls and she'd found herself repeatedly looking out the kitchen window or the back door and she knew her mother had noticed.

"So, then why haven't I seen him around lately?" Dotty inquired.

"Mother, you've never even really seen him at all," Amanda pointed out.

"And that's just one of the many questions I have," Dotty said her voice rising. "I mean, he obviously knows where you live, but he never knocks on the front door to pick you up for a date..."

"That's because we're not dating," Amanda interjected.

"...he's never been to dinner..."

"He's never been invited to dinner," Amanda replied.

"...He's never met your children..." Dotty continued ignoring her daughter's insertions into her tirade.

"I don't want him to meet the boys," Amanda said.

"Why ever not?"Dotty asked thoroughly confused. "If you're in a serious enough relationship with this man that you've been sleeping with him for going on a year now, why shouldn't he meet your children?"

"I'm not in a serious relationship with him," Amanda protested. "We...we just work together...and once in a while...we..."

"...Play together," Dotty finished for her amusement dancing in her eyes.

"Exactly," Amanda said wondering when she and Lee would have time to "play together" again. Lee had been on an out-of-town assignment under zero contact for first two of the past three weeks and not hearing from him during that time and not having been alone with him since he'd been back was making her edgy.

"Come on, Amanda, I can tell something's been going on. You've been walking around here like a lovesick schoolgirl for at least two weeks now and don't think I haven't noticed how you keep peeking out the back door as if you're looking for him."

"Mother, that's ridiculous," Amanda protested, but she knew it was true. She had been looking for him.

"Is it? You've obviously been pining for him. What's the matter? Has he lost interest? You know, I did warn you that these burning passions don't usually last," Dotty said. "To be honest, I'm surprised that it lasted as long as it did."

"No, Mother, he hasn't lost interest," Amanda answered. "At least, I don't think he has. He was out of town on a job for two weeks and he's only been back for a week and..."

"He's left you feeling frisky?" Dotty suggested, amusement dancing in her eyes.

"Mother," Amanda said with a roll of her eyes.

"Okay, maybe you prefer the word horny?'

"Mother!'Amanda said louder this time shocked at her mother's bluntness.

"Hmm...Randy, perhaps?" Dotty teased.

"Stop," Amanda said.

"Lusty?" Dotty said thoroughly enjoying the embarrassed look on her daughter's face.

"Stop," Amanda repeated more forcefully.

"Okay, okay, how about a gentler word? Amorous, maybe?"

"Would you stop already," Amanda pleaded with her mother.

"Oh, alright, but you're not fooling me a bit, my darling daughter. Whether you want to admit it or not, you have been pining for this man. That tells me quite clearly that this little affair has become much more than that. You've very obviously in love with him."

"No, Mother, you're wrong," Amanda denied as she cast yet another glance to the back door.

"Uh-huh," Dotty said disbelievingly, her daughter's attention to the back door not escaping her notice. She sighed and decided to take a different tack, "So, if you won't invite him to dinner, couldn't you at least tell me his name?"

"No," Amanda said with a firm nod.

"For heaven's sake, why not? Would it be so wrong for me to know the name of the man that my daughter is having a wild, passionate love affair with?"

"Yes, it would be because I know you. The second you know his name, you'll start working up in your mind how my name would sound with his and mentally printing up wedding invitations." As the words were out of her mouth, a deep sense of sadness overtook her at the memory of the short time that she'd been Mrs. Lee Stetson for their cover assignment.

"Oh, Amanda, don't be ridiculous," Dotty argued. "If you say it's not serious, it's not serious."

"It's not," Amanda said. "So, why do you think that woman was selling off all those beautiful things," she asked in a desperate attempt to change the subject.

Dotty glanced at her daughter, a pang of sadness hitting her at the longing look in her daughter's eyes, hoping that this man that she was so taken with wasn't on the verge of breaking her heart.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After averting the assassination attempt at the luncheon with the princess, Lee once again found himself lurking in Amanda's back yard, looking for any excuse just to catch a glimpse of her again. He cautiously peered in through the French doors to see Amanda sitting across from her mother who was pumping her for information about what had happened at lunch. He chuckled and said, "Damn, she'd make a hell of an interrogator," as he watched and listened to Amanda expertly dodging her mother's inquiries. She was turning out to be quite the good spy, not that he'd ever give her the satisfaction of saying that to her. He lingered there long after the two women had gone upstairs, waiting patiently, knowing just by his habit of watching her house, that Amanda would eventually return to the lower level of the house as she hadn't turned out the lights.

He wandered through the yard, and then stopped to lean against the picnic table, reflecting on the time that Amanda had forcefully knocked him backward on top of it and had her way with him. That thought became a painful reminder that he'd been without her for three weeks and hadn't been alone with her until Billy had called her into the office to discuss her transcripts. Even that was strictly work-related. His mind wandered to her words to Billy, sometimes what people don't say is a lot more revealing that what they do say. Boy was that ever true of the two of them. They never said what they felt for each other, never put a label on what the nature of their relationship was, but yet there was still this unspoken communication between them that spoke volumes, revealing to him that, while she may not admit it, Amanda was just as drawn in by him as he was by her. He just wished he knew how deeply.

Lee was pulled out or his reverie by the sound of the back door clicking shut and looked up to find Amanda approaching him dressed for bed. "Hi," he said with a warm smile.

"Hi," she returned his greeting.

"How'd you know I was out here," Lee said.

"I didn't...I just..." her voice trailed off. She didn't want to reveal to him that she'd been looking for him every night since his mystery trip had begun three weeks ago. She walked past the picnic table her back to him, away from the back porch light and stepped into the darkness of the yard, knowing that if she didn't, her feelings would show on her face.

Lee didn't hesitate for a moment, quickly bolting from his perch on the table, he slipped his arms around her from behind, untied the belt on her robe then peeled it off her shoulders. Amanda turned to face him and wordlessly they moved into each other's arms, kissing feverishly, their hands roaming, as they moaned and ground against each other, their unspoken need for one another driving both of them.

Lee broke their heated kiss, tugged at the hem of her cotton gown, pulled it over her head, spread it out on the grass and began to kiss her again as he lowered her to lie atop it, hovering above her while she worked the buttons of his shirt loose. Still no words were spoken between them; none were needed as they lay locked together holding each other tightly as they kissed and caressed each other, taking their time to renew their acquaintance.

Lee sighed as Amanda pushed his shirt off his shoulders and began running her hands over his chest, finally resting with one thumb against each nipple, teasing them into hardness the same way her kisses were making the rest of him hard. He'd never imagined before meeting that just kissing a woman could create and instant hard-on like that. In fact, he'd never been that big on kissing anyway, except as a preamble to lead to other things. He found it too personal, too intimate for his normally casual encounters. With Amanda, everything was different, he found himself with an uncontrollable desire to kiss her as often as he could. There had been so many times over the last week at the office when he'd wanted to just grab her, pull her into an empty office and kiss her until they were both breathless.

Amanda shivered beneath Lee as his kisses and touches turned her to jelly the way that they always did, once again filling her with raw need for him. She'd never been with a man who could fill her with that much desire with just a simple touch or kiss. While she often protested her mother's insistence that she needed to be settled, needed to make this relationship a more permanent one, she found that she was just happy to take whatever Lee was willing to give her, whenever he was willing to give it to her. She'd rather have him for a fleeting moment than not have him at all.

She knew all too well that he guarded his heart more fiercely than he guarded national security, so the fact that he was here in her arms now and that it was obvious that he'd come here just to see her made her heart swell with overwhelming love for him. She was long past denying to herself that she was helplessly in love with him. The fact that she'd been drifting to the back door multiple times a day for the past three weeks, that her mind kept reliving their undercover weekend together as newlyweds and how he'd made her feel when he'd called her "Mrs. Stetson" even when they were alone, screamed to her that she could no longer tamp those feelings down. She knew it was foolish to fantasize about it because it would never happen, but she couldn't help thinking about what it might be like if she really was his wife. Her conversation with her mother about wedding invitations replayed briefly in her mind until those thoughts were abruptly halted by Lee's touch, filling her mind with only thoughts of him and how he made her feel.

Lee moaned as he felt Amanda running her hands down his bare back, her fingernails grazing his skin, shooting electric shocks through him. He pulled his mouth from hers and lowered his lips to her neck, nipping at the tender skin just below her ear while he cupped a breast in one hand, his other sliding down her torso to grasp her hip as he pushed against her with his hips, mimicking the action he so desperately craved. Not being able to contact her for two weeks while on assignment out of the country, seeing her again had made him nearly jump out of his skin with yearning for her.

He smiled internally at the memory of them arriving at the luncheon today, her arm linked with his, as if he were her date. They'd played it off that way so that the princess wouldn't know that he was there to protect her. He had rather liked the idea of being her date. He knew in reality that while it was obvious that she very much enjoyed their physical interactions, she'd never lower herself to be seen in public with him on a real date. Maybe someday if he could get her to trust him enough on a personal level to convince her that a lot of his bad reputation had been highly exaggerated by the rumor mill at the agency, he'd be able to have that with her. For now, though, he was content simply to take what she was willing to give him and boy, was she ever giving.

Amanda smiled up at Lee as he pulled back for a moment to look at her and she saw the fierce desire in his eyes even in the darkness of the back yard. Her senses heightened by the look in his eyes, the scent of his cologne above her combined with the scent of the freshly-mown grass beneath her, his weight on top of her, his hands on her bare skin, only increasing her deep ache for him. She slipped her hand between them to open his jeans, pushing on them to free him from the tight denim's constraints. Neither spoke as he lifted himself from her just long enough to toe off his shoes and finish the job she'd begun, dropping his jeans and boxers and kicking them aside, then reaching for her to slide her panties down her legs, leaving no more barriers between them as he lowered himself back down to her. Amanda gasped as he trailed kisses down her chest, her stomach, placing a kiss to each hip before moving even lower to capture her already swollen bud in his mouth, suckling at her firmly, his talented lips and tongue working her into a frenzy. "Lee,' she moaned, the first word to escape her lips since they'd begun as she cradled his head against her, her fingers sliding through his fine, silky hair while he consumed her.

Lee sighed in contentment at hearing his own name on her lips, knowing that she was thinking solely about fact that she hadn't protested when he'd removed her robe from her, flooded him with renewed love for her at her willingness to accept him as he was and not try to change him as other women had. He knew without a doubt that he was so besotted with her that there'd never be another woman who could satisfy him the way that she did, but he knew that things could never progress between them beyond what they already had. He didn't fit into her world of bake sales and PTA meetings. Therefore, he'd make himself be happy with occasionally bringing her into his world of spies and lies, just for a few moments in her presence. He continued his worship of her body with his mouth, inhaling her scent as he sucked and nipped at her, lapping at the wetness he'd created in her until he heard her cries of release, felt her tensing and wriggling under his onslaught, smugly satisfied that he was the cause of it. Before her violent trembling subsided, he slid his body up the length of hers and guided himself into her wetness, then clasped both of her hands, linking his fingers with hers, "Amanda,' he whispered softly as he gazed longingly into her eyes for a long beat before beginning the oldest dance of all time.

Amanda, still gasping for breath in the aftermath of her climax, moaned loudly at the feeling of Lee's hardness within her, his fingers tightly clasped with hers, his eyes locked with hers. She lifted her hips against his, raising her knees to open herself further to him, needing to take in all of him as deeply as she could and she was not disappointed when he took her hint and pushed into her again, filling her completely. "Oh, I missed this," she whispered in a throaty voice, barely able to get the words out through her heavy breathing.

"I missed it too," Lee replied in a harsh whisper, her raspy voice further driving him to complete their union as he increased the pace, pumping into her harder as she met him thrust for thrust, the rhythm never broken. While their lives may not fit together, this was one area in which they fit together perfectly, both knowing without saying a word what the other one needed.

"Lee," Amanda sighed again at the increased pace of their lovemaking. She knew their lives would never mesh, but this, their unspoken desire for each other, the way that they completed each other, this was where they meshed flawlessly. She clenched her fingers tighter with his as her second climax of the night overtook her and she hissed out his name, writhing beneath him as the waves of pleasure ripped through her.

"Amanda," Lee growled in response to feeling her once again shaking and gasping under him, her violent tremors bringing him to his own long-anticipated release as he continued ed to move within her, filling her with his warm seed, shaking above her every bit as much as she was shaking beneath him. Once spent, he collapsed wearily on top of her, pressing soft kisses against her temple, her face, her neck and shoulders. "I...missed...you," he whispered softly into her ear through his ragged breathing.

Amanda released her grip on his hands, cradled his head to her and replied, "I missed you, too." Happy tears stung her eyes at hearing him say the words she'd been longing to spit out, elated that he'd said it first, sated not only by their lovemaking but also by just having him here, his breath against her skin as he lavished her with kisses, his body pinning her to the ground with his reassuring weight. She knew the moment couldn't last, but she clasped him tightly all the same wanting to savor it for as long as possible. She returned his fervent kisses, pressing her lips to his face and neck and felt content just holding him.

The moment was not to last as they soon were interrupted by the sound of Dotty's voice from through the open kitchen window, calling her daughter's name. Lee abruptly rolled away from her, quickly scrambling for his discarded clothing, mentally cursing her mother for her bad timing.

"I'll be there in a minute, Mother!" Amanda called as she pulled her nightgown over her head then reached for her discarded underwear and her robe.

"Amanda, what on earth are you doing outside?" Dotty called, her voice closer than it had been.

"Shit," Lee growled, as he was still half-dressed. At seeing Amanda once again in her modest cotton gown, he couldn't resist teasing her. "Do you always wear those? What happened to the sexy nightgowns?"

"Go on, get outta' here before she sees you," Amanda said giving him a shove toward the back gate as she pulled her robe on.

"Amanda?"Dotty called as she opened the back door, just as Lee skittered through the gate, his shirt and shoes still in his hands, while Amanda hastily shoved her panties into the pocket of her robe and hurried to cut off her mother's path before she could catch sight of Lee's retreat.

"Yes, Mother?"Amanda replied as she met her on the patio.

"Amanda, what are you doing out here?" Without giving her a chance to answer, she added, "No, never mind, I know what you're doing out here. You're looking for him again."

"No, not at all," Amanda said with a smile, "Just catching a breath of fresh air before locking up for the night."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dotty's eyes widened as Amanda showed her the medal given to her by the princess. "Wow. Imagine, you being given a commendation by a princess," she gushed.

"I know and I...well, I just wanted to share it with you since I'd never have met her in the first place if you hadn't insisted that we go to her estate sale." She smiled brightly as she thought of the events of earlier in the day when Lee had held her hands and complemented her work and later how he'd linked his arm with hers as if it were natural to do so just before they'd accepted their awards.

"Well, as I always say, everything happens for a reason," Dotty said. "Oh, speaking of which, maybe you could explain something to me," she added as she made her way to the laundry room indicating for Amanda to follow her.

"What is it, Mother?" Amanda asked.

Dotty reached into the laundry basket sitting atop the dryer, pulled a garment from it and held it up for her to see. "Well, I was wondering just what the reason is that there are grass stains on the back of your nightgown," she said with a knowing grin. When Amanda blushed furiously, she said, "So, I'm guessing that you're not feeling...um...amorous...anymore."

"Oh, Mother, really," Amanda said as she snatched her nightgown from her mother's hands.

"Is that what you were doing in the back yard the other night? Is that why the flowerbeds are always destroyed and why you are obsessed by the back yard? Is that where you and your mysterious suitor...play together? If so, I have to say that I'm a little disappointed. A man like that who'd just take what he wants in the back yard of all places..."

"Here, Mother, I want you to have this," Amanda said handing her the medal in an attempt to change the subject.

Dotty took it from her, but was not mollified by it. "Oh, no you don't. You're not changing the subject, not this time. I asked you a question that I would like an answer to."

"Actually, you asked me several questions, Mother, which one would you like me to answer?"

"All of them," Dotty answered without missing a beat.

"Okay, yes, that's what we were doing in the back yard the other night, no, that's not why the flower beds are always destroyed, As for playing in the back yard, no, that's only happened twice and for the record, I don't have an obsession with the back yard."

"Hmmm, you're probably right about that one. Your obsession is not with the yard, but the man who likes to sneak into it."

"Mother..."

"Don't even try to deny it. The day that I caught that brief little peek at him, he was sneaking out the back door into the yard, you snuck out the back to meet him the other night and don't think that I haven't noticed how you're always stealing little looks at the back door. Besides that, I've heard from Mrs. Gilstrap that she's seen a tall man slipping in and out of our yard on several occasions."

"Oh, well, you know how Mrs. Gilstrap is, she's always looking for something to gossip about and you know she's not the most reliable witness."

"Yes, but in this case, I think she's right. I just wonder what it is about your relationship with this man, that you feel you have to hide it." A horrible thought struck her just then, "Oh, God, he's not married, is he?"

"No, Mother, he's single," Amanda said. As single as they come, she thought with a pang of sadness that it was very likely that he'd stay that way forever.

"Oh, Good, then maybe there's some hope for you future," Dotty said with a smile. "Of course, it's not really any of my business. I mean, it is your life, after all."

"Of course," Amanda replied sarcastically, knowing that her mother would never let it be just her life until she once again had a ring on her finger. She sighed at that thought as it stuck her that the one man she'd want that with would never want it himself, so she'd just continue what she was doing against her mother's advice. She'd settle for what she could get instead of worrying about what she couldn't.