Mountains of Dawn

"I don't want you to risk your life for me. I don't even know what almost happened back there on the road, but I don't think I like it." Brian's face was red and a vein in his temple throbbed. "I'm going to ask Malcolm to relieve you of your duties. I can't have you in danger because of me."

"You can't do that!" Judith shouted. "You have no complaint against me. I've done my job well."

"I won't have you, a young woman, taking risks for me."

"You asked for me," Judith said, her voice cold with anger, each word snapped with sharp fury.

"That's changed. Now, go upstairs and change."

"You have no business bossing me around. If you ask for my dismissal and Malcolm agrees, it will belittle me before my colleagues. I'll resent you for the rest of my life."

Brian touched her cheek, wiping the rain and tears away. "Please go and dry off, Judith. I prefer your resentment to your death."

An hour later, Malcolm informed Judith her assignment had been changed. She was to drive back to the Invicta in the morning for a new line of action. He refused to be more specific and didn't comment on her report of the day's activity. Judith slumped on the bed, wrapped in a short white terry cloth robe.

Brian tapped on the open door, then entered. He sat beside her, his expression sad. He looked at her.

"Are you happy? I leave in the morning," she said, refusing to meet his eyes.

"Judith, I'm sorry to have caused you so much pain. Don't you know I love you?"

She propped herself on one elbow and stared at him. "You always get everything you want, just as Malcolm said. You wanted a live-in bodyguard. You got it. You wanted a woman. Here I am. Not only that, you wanted an Indian woman, and I'm that, too. Now you want to be rid of me." She turned away from him. "You use people, make them do what you want by money or power or charm. There's no escape from you."

"Please, please, listen to me. I care for you." He stroked her wet hair, then her back. "I never thought I was in real danger. I thought it was amateur stuff, easy to spot, something Mike could handle on his own. And Malcolm's always been so overprotective of me, I thought most of his precautions weren't necessary." He paused, began to massage her shoulders. "This time, he made it clear he was going to 'impose' some sort of surveillance on me, and I decided to make it hard for him. When you came into his office…" Brian stopped speaking, his voice choked. "You looked like…my dream of all women combined into one perfect body. You looked happy just to be alive. I decided to try to make you love me, to become your boyfriend. In my environment-" Again, he stopped speaking.