And sometimes I believe your relentless analysis of June leaves something out, which is your feeling for her beyond knowledge, or in spite of knowledge. I often see how you sob over what you destroy, how you want to stop and just worship; and you do stop, and then a moment later you are at it again with a knife, like a surgeon.What will you do after you have revealed all there is to know about June? Truth. What ferocity in your quest of it. You destroy and you suffer. In some strange way I am not with you, I am against you. We are destined to hold two truths. I love you and I fight you. And you, the same. We will be stronger for it, each of us, stronger with our love and our hate. When you caricature and nail down and tear apart, I hate you. I want to answer you, not with weak or stupid poetry but with a wonder as strong as your reality. I want to fight your surgical knife with all the occult and magical forces of the world.

I have a proposition for you,_ she said, trying for a businesslike tone. __ very sensible one. You see__ She paused to clear her throat. ____e been thinking about your problem._ __hat problem?_ Cam played lightly with the folds of her skirts, watching her face ale

One never knows what fate has in store._ Turning toward Rohan, Amelia discovered he was glancing over her in a slow inventory that spurred her heart into a faster beat. __ don__ believe in fate,_ she said. __eople are in control of their own destinies._ Rohan smiled. __veryone, even the gods, are helpless in the hands of fate._ Amelia regarded him skeptically. __urely you, being employed at a gaming club, know all about probability and odds. Which means you can__ rationally give credence to luck or fate or anything of the sort._ __ know all about probability and odds,_ Rohan agreed. __evertheless, I believe in luck._ He smiled with a quiet smolder in his eyes that caused her breath to catch. __ believe in magic and mystery, and dreams that reveal the future. And I believe some things are written in the stars _ or even in the palm of your hand._ Mesmerized, Amelia was unable to look away from him. He was an extraordinarily beautiful man, his skin as dark as clover honey, his black hair falling over his forehead in a way that made her fingers twitch with the urge to push it back. __o you believe in fate too?_ she asked Merripen. A long hesitation. ____ a Roma,_ he said. Which meant yes. __ood Lord, Merripen. I__e always thought of you as a sensible man._ Rohan laughed. __t__ only sensible to allow for the possibility, Miss Hathaway. Just because you can__ see or feel something doesn__ mean it can__ exist.

His eyes were above hers, and she saw that the golden-hazel irises were rimmed with black. __iss Hathaway _ you__e quite certain fate had no hand in our meeting tonight?_ She couldn__ seem to breathe properly. __u-quite certain._ His head bent low. __nd in all likelihood we__l never meet again?_ __ever._ He was too large, too close. Nervously Amelia tried to marshal her thoughts, but they scattered like spilled matchsticks _ and then he set fire to them as his breath touched her cheek. __ hope you__e right. God help me if I should ever have to face the consequences._ __f what?_ Her voice was faint. __his._ His hand slid to the back of her neck and his mouth covered hers.

You__l have me,_ Cam whispered. __ou__l have me, hummingbird. I__ your fate_ even if you won__ admit it yet.

But I must warn you, Miss Hathaway ... life has a way of fouling up our plans. I speak from experience.