The emotions which drove him forward also pulled him back. He saw his behavior, stark and clear, where any step he took to the left or right would lead, and though couldn't stop from walking the path he'd chosen, he could, on the other hand, hold his passions in check. He wouldn't become "the other man." She was still, in many respects, living in a world made of sand, the castle she'd built for him and her subject to many outside elements, wind and rain and sun. ----- The day Marina Allenoy drove up to his artists' shop, Cristobel Wolfe knew something was wrong. If he's guessed correctly,...

She was, in everyday terms, a gold digger, but she liked to think she had a good heart. Maybe she didn't though. Maybe in latching onto the idea she could become more than stupid Parker Rousch, the thought she could be in the stories Martina had told about her brother, maybe at that moment she'd lost what heart she had. Because fairytales didn't happen in real life and girls that daydreamed about falling in love with Prince Charming via entertainment magazines were sure to be disappointed. ----- Twenty-two year old cartoonist Parker Rousch dropped out of college and moved to Florida to chase...

His hand extended, palm upturned, he wiggled his fingers, and she settled hers in it, rising at his tug. He didn't bother to close the car door, but walked her into the light of his headlamps and drew her into his arms. Swaying, he sang a tune from his younger years, but what had been done on a stage in a cloud of cigarette smoke in front of people who didn't care about the words held a new meaning spoken to her. She gazed at him briefly, then dropped her cheek to his chest, and something happened in his heart that he couldn't stop. She burnt a place there, a hollow shaped exactly like her,...