roarke

He stepped to her again, laid his lips on her brow. "But I want children with you, my lovely Eve. One day.""One day being far, far in the future. Like, I don't know, say a decade when...Hold on. Children is plural."He eased back, grinned. "Why, so it is--nothing slips by my canny cop.""You really think if I ever actually let you plant something in me--they're like aliens in there, growing little hands and feet." She shuddered. "Creepy. If I ever did that, popped a kid out--which I think is probably as pleasant a process as having your eyeballs pierced by burning, poisonous sticks, I'd say, 'Whoopee, let's do this again?' Have you recently suffered head trauma?""Not to my knowledge.""Could be coming. Any second.

You're almost as good as Peabody."He stopped at the door, grabbed her up in a steaming kiss. "You can't get that from Peabody.""I could if I wanted." But it made her grin as he uncoded the locks. "But I like you better for sex.

People have been sleeping and/or marrying their way to the top since the first cavewoman said: __gh, that one__ the strongest and has the biggest club. I__l shake my mastodon-skin-covered ass at him.____gh?___r whatever cave people said. And it__ not just women who do it. Cave guy goes: __gh, that one catches the most fish, I__l be dragging her off to my cave now._ Ava sees Tommy and____ays ugh.___r today__ equivalent thereof._-Eve & Roarke. .

You__e all right, Blue Eyes._ She lifted her head to look into them. __ou__e all right, down the line. You ever want a free bang, you got one coming.___t would, no doubt be a memorable bang. But my wife is fiercely jealous and territorial._ He grinned over at a very cold-eyed Eve.__er? You? That__ a kick in the ass.___very damn day,_ Eve muttered, and strode out.She kept striding, out of the club, back into the comparatively fresh air of the city street. And fisted her hands on her hips as she spun to him. __id you have to do the __y wife_ crap?__is grin remained, and only widened. __ did, yes. I felt a desperate need for your protection. I believe that woman had designs on me._____l put a design on you that won__ come off in the shower.___ee, now I__ excited._ Reaching out, he toyed with the lapel of her coat."What have you got in mind ?

The man loves you with everything he has, everything he is. Eve, that means you can hurt him.

Roarke didn't quite make it to Eve's office. He found her down the corridor, in front of one of the vending machines. She and the machine appeared to be in the middle of a vicious argument."I put the proper credits in, you blood-sucking, money-grubbing son of a bitch." Eve punctuated this by slamming her fist where the machine's heart would be, if it had one.ANY ATTEMPT TO VANDALIZE, DEFACE, OR DAMAGE THIS UNIT IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE.The machine spoke in a prissy, singsong voice Roarke was certain was sending his wife's blood pressure through the roof.THIS UNIT IS EQUIPPED WITH SCANEYE, AND HAS RECORDED YOUR BADGE NUMBER. DALLAS, LIEUTENANT EVE. PLEASE INSERT PROPER CREDIT, IN COIN OR CREDIT CODE, FOR YOUR SELECTION. AND REFRAIN FROM ATTEMPTING TO VANDALIZE, DEFACE, OR DAMAGE THIS UNIT."Okay, I'll stop attempting to vandalize, deface, or damage you, you electronic street thief. I'll just do it."She swung back her right foot, which Roarke had cause to know could deliver a paralyzing kick from a standing position. But before she could follow through he stepped up and nudged her off balance."Please, allow me, Lieutenant.""Don't put any more credits in that thieving bastard," she began, then hissed when Roarke did just that."Candy bar, I assume. Did you have any lunch?""Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know it's just going to keep stealing if people like you pander to it.""Eve, darling, it's a machine. It does not think.""Ever hear of artificial intelligence, ace?""Not in a vending machine that dispenses chocolate bars.

Pull yourself together, Detective. You're embarrassing yourself, and more imprtant, you're embarrassing me.""They're going to do it outside. In public.""So the fuck what?""Public," Peabody said, head still between her

Far be in from me to dictate how you should assuage your guilt. Do you have a lot of it?"She bit his good shoulder. "You're about to find out."She toppled them both off the bench and onto the mat. "Well, ouch. I take it guilt doesn't bring out your gentler side.

I got you a present.""Did you?""It's a book of poetry--romancy stuff. I thought, 'How schmaltzy is that,' so it seemed like the thing. Then I screwed up and left it in my desk at work

You know, lieutenant, you wear your weapon the way other women wear pearls.""It's not a fashion accessory.

The security officer smiled and said, __ood afternoon, ma__m,_ to me before Igave him ID.___t__ a sick world, Eve._ He resisted taking her hand for another squeeze. __ sick,sad world.

And that, she thought as he left her, summed up the miracle of her life. She had a home with him, and he'd be there.

When I came in and you were sleeping, I thought: There__ my soldier, exhausted from her wars._ He lifted her hand, kissed her fingers. __ow, I look, and I think: There__ my woman, soft and lovely._ Her lips curved as he undressed her. __here do you get this stuff?_ __t just comes to me. I__e only to look at you, and the world comes to me. You__e my life.

Did she know, could she know what it meant to him when she turned to him, when she opened herself to him like this? In absolute trust. Her strength, her valor remained a constant wonder to him, as did her unrelenting determination to defend those who could no longer defend themselves. These moments, when she allowed her vulnerabilities, her doubts, her fears to tremble to the surface compelled him to take care. In these moments he could show her it wasn__ just the warrior he loved, he treasured, but the woman, the whole of her. The dark and the light.

Do you remember the first time we made love?" He touched his lips to hers as he said it. "We rode up in the elevator like this and couldn't keep our hands off each other, couldn't get to each other quick enough. I was mad for you. I wanted you more than I wanted to keep breathing. I still do." He deepened the kiss as the elevator doors opened. "It's never going to change.

What a woman you are,_ he murmured, and she heard the emotion in it, theway the Irish thickened just a bit in his voice. And saw it in those vivid eyes when he drew back. __hat you would think of this. That you would do this.__e shook his head, kissed her. Like the breath, long and quiet.__ can__ thank you enough. There isn__ enough thanks. I can__ say what this means to me, even to you. I don__ have the words for it._ He took her hands,. You stagger me.__e framed her face now, touched his lips to her brow. __ou__e the beat of my heart, the breath in my body, the light in my soul.