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“No I’ve heard little about the other side, this Doohting Mathias, who clai for equality Yet he raped a woman until she was little more than a broken shell But does his evil autouess, I’d say the soldiers were Mathias’s If he cares so little as to repeatedly rape a wo a feell-trained soldiers and using them in his army”

Chloe hesitated “Do you really think this is all true, not merely this terrorized woman’s hallucinations?”

“It’s possible, I suppose But there’s enough fact here tooff, and Sydney jotted down a few notes— which quickly grew frustrating She had another story to crank out this week on the ical war, and she wanted it to be about Chloe’s information, slanted accurately, but she had so rand scheical purposes? Hoere they persuaded or forced to fight and give their lives for this cause? Perhaps she could run with the facts as they were, but the pieces of the puzzle didn’t fit She needed to talk to her source again and see what else the witch ht know

Sydney placed a quick call to Aquarius When her assistant didn’t answer, she left a voice for the interruption of her holiday and asking for a ring back indicating whether Aquarius’s guest would talk again

Not long after she placed the phone back in the cradle, she felt a presence in the doorway

Caden

“Gooda businesslike tone “Did you need so? I’m off to a busy start, so spit it out”

He stepped in and shut the door behind hi closer “Sydney, I’ to reveal that the sight of hi If they talked about last night, she’d risk tears “I just have one question: Why did you coht? What ht and co else?”

He paused, scrubbing a hand over his face A weariness she’d never seen dragged down his eyes, mouth, shoulders For a moment, Sydney’s heart went out to him, until she reminded herself that she couldn’t feel for hi about Caden called to her, and she wasn’t certain he suffered the same affliction He’d risen from her bed, dressed, left, and as far as she could see, suffered no side effects other than lack of sleep It wasn’t as if she was looking for a down-on-one-knee proposal, just the truth

“Pure impulse I was attracted to you froether, ive you a toer stay away I tried to talkto your flat, but everylove to you”

Had that been thehim to come to my door? Sydney sed No It was just an old red book, right? This had to be about her story She believed inher

“Did you coical source?”

“No, but if you’d like to make me a full partner in this story, I’d love that”

“And what, you thought being et there faster?”

“Daerie you wore forit off, of the sweet taste of your breasts, of your body clutching roans you made when you came for me How the bloody hell was I supposed to stay away froulp “Would youum, say you felt co up everything” Caden stopped, leaned closer, peering at her as if trying to unravel a puzzle “Wait Did you write about ave you?”

She wanted to crawl under the desk and stay for a decade “Don’t be absurd”

How had he guessed so quickly? Had her words really brought hiet I asked about last night Let’s focus on work”

His eyes narrowed “What made you open the door and let me in?”

“It’s no secret I wanted you But as you said earlier, itch scratched Moving on”

“I said no such thing,” he growled

Hadn’t he, just hours ago? Hadn’t he said repeatedly they had no future? Of course He hadn’t been there of his own free will in the first place “Don’t play ga last night”

He was right; she had cheapened last night, most likely In a way she hoped he never discovered “Sorry”

She couldn’t expect an eical diary to break his natural reticence He’d coed her because that had been her wish, not because he felt any eternal devotion

“Forget I , and I’nashed his teeth and looked away “Is it going to start another fight if I ask if there’s anything I can do to help?”

“No” Because if he stayed with her in this s her ar for his affection

Before he could respond, Sydney’s phone rang The caller ID had her sighing in relief Aquarius

Sydney picked it up and answered, “Thank God you’ve called Can youto and, at theabout this situation rong, and he had no idea how to fix it And now Sydney was on the bloody phone with God kneho, discussing God knehat For all he knew, she was ht, he did care who she talked to; he needed to knoho to kill

Quickly, Sydney covered her earpiece, “Can you give ry jerk, he turned to leave But he couldn’t make hi him in her bed mere hours laterwell, he wasn’t ain him needed to know He couldn’t keep her, but he couldn’t stand the thought of losing her

With a distracted push, Sydney eased the door nearly shut Caden leaned closer to the slightly ajar door and listened

“I’reat Can you meet me at eleven-thirty at that umBlue whatever the name was?” She paused “Perfect I’ll see both of you then”

Both of the more than one man?