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She looked at the face peering through the glass It was ancient and stupid and if the dirt in its folds were any indication, it hadn't seen a bar of soap in this decade

She put the n "Do I look like I want to buy a flower?"

"It's the last one" He grinned toothlessly and held up a pitiful, ragged blooood deal Five bucks for it"

"Five? Get a handful of reality" She started to brush hi in her pocket "I got four"

"Okay, good" He snatched the credit chips and pushed the flower at her before heading off in a sha run

"To the nearest liquor store," Eve muttered and pulled away froly foul

She drove home with the flower across her lap And saw, as she headed through the gates, the lights he'd left on for her

After all she'd seen and done that day, the si tears

She went in quietly, tossing her jacket over the newel post, cliant The wood polished, the floors glea

This, too, she thought, was hers

And so, she knehen she saw hi for her, was Roarke

He'd put on a robe and had the screen on low Nadine Furst was reporting, and looked pale and fierce on the scene of the explosion She could see he'd been working—checking stock reports, juggling deals, whatever he did—on the bedroom unit

Feeling foolish, she kept the flower behind her back "Did you sleep?"

"A bit" He didn't go to her She looked stretched thin, he decided, as if she htest touch Her eyes were bruised and fragile "You need to rest"

"Can't" She o back soon"