A WHISPER OF ETERNIT

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They strolled hand in hand back the way they had come, pausing now and then to share a kiss when no one was looking.

When they reached her door, he kissed her yet again, a kiss of such passion and possession that it frightened her even as it left her aching and yearning for more.

Chapter 3

Dominic sent her red roses every day for the next two weeks, took her out every night. They went to the theater to seeThe Phantom of the Opera .Tracy cried unashamedly at the end, moved to tears by the sad plight of the Phantom, at the soul-deep note of despair in his voice as he bid farewell to Christine, and then watched her go away with Raoul to live a life of ease and luxury that he could never give her.

They went to the moviesagain, he took her dancing at a swanky nightclub in the city, to the opening of an art gallery. They walked along the beach a few times. A couple of nights they stayed at home and watched videos or played chess, a game she thought she played rather well until she played against Dominic. He beat her every time.

Tonight, because she had loved it so much the first time, he had taken her to seeThe Phantom again. She cried just as hard the second time, her heart aching for the Phantom's loneliness.

"Would you have stayed with him?" Dominic asked as they made their way to the parking lot.
She started to say yes, of course,then paused. "I don't know. I'd like to think so."

"And could you live with his ugliness and his foul moods?" he asked, his gaze intent upon her face. "Could you be happy living with a man who had committed murder?A man who could never share all of your life?"

She thought about it a moment. "I don't know. But I think I would have tried. He loved her so much, loved her in a way that that wimp, Raoul , never would.Loved her enough to give her up."

"Indeed," Dominic murmured. His life paralleled that of the Phantom in many ways, he thought. He dwelled in an underground lair and lived in the shadows. Those who saw him for what he was shrank from him in fear. He had killed to preserve his life. He had given up the woman he adored countless times. But she was here now, and he had another chance to win her love.

He thought about that as they drove home. Perhaps this time, he thought, perhaps this time she would be his.

And now they were standing in the entryway of Nightingale House and Dominic was holding her in his arms, his gaze burning into hers.

She closed her eyes as his mouth claimed her own in a searing kiss that seemed to last forever and end too soon.

Releasing her, he turned toward the door. "I should go."

"So soon?"She placed her hand on his back. His muscles were tense, his stance rigid.