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mouth to hold her close. It was a soothing sort of
    gesture, made absent-mindedly, as all his attention was focused on what was happening
    on the other side of the door.
    'What is it?' she hissed.
    'Sh,' he replied, winding his arm around again to touch cautioningly the side of her
    cheek. 'I don't know. I thought it was you.'
    'I thought it was you!' To her amazement she found that she was clinging monkey-like to
    the solid strength of his waist. She cursed her stupid limbs as they started to shake again
    with reaction, and he pressed her head down to his shoulder, which smelled deliciously
    clean.
    Then he put his hands to her shoulders to gently ease her away. 'Stay here, all right?'
    At the cold touch of metal through the thin T-shirt, she reached out one hand to touch a
    smooth hard barrel and exclaimed, 'You've got the gun!'
    His head bent to hers. 'I don't want to panic you unduly, but what's out there could well
    be human and unfriendly.'
    The sense of their isolation hit her in the gut. 'But there aren't any bullets!'
    'They won't know that.' He rose to leave, until she grabbed the hard muscle of his arm.
    'You can't go out there! You could be hurt or killed!'
    Amazingly, his reaction was to press his lips against her forehead. 'It'll be all right,' he
    said. 'Just stay put.'
    She hadn't had any conscious desire to do otherwise, but when he eased her door open
    with torturing care, she found herself huddled up behind him and peering anxiously
    around the broad expanse of his powerful back. He jerked half around and gave her an
    ungentle push, gritting, 'Get back, you fool!'
    And stay here on her own? There wasn't a hope's chance in hell. She swallowed and
    retorted stoutly, 'I'm not letting you go out there by yourself!'
    'Then for God's sake stay behind me!'
    He made sure she did by clamping hard fingers around her wrist, one arm twisted, so
    that for every long, silent step he took she had to scuttle on after. Then he stopped and
    her nose connected with the spot between his shoulder-blades with a bump. They were at
    the end of the short hallway, and whatever was bumbling in the dark was still there.
    Francis silently pressured her down until she was in a crouch at the corner of the
    hallway. Then, with a quick squeeze of his fingers, he let go. For a horrible moment she
    was left alone in the dark, then with a tiny snick light flooded the living-room and at the
    same time Francis dived sideways across the hall opening in front of her, the gun up and
    held ready.
    He checked immediately and stood straight, looking very odd. At that curiosity
    overcame her fear, and she put one hand on the floor to lean forward and peer around the
    corner.
    And she looked, eye to eye and on the same level, into an astonished black mask.
    The sight was enough to weaken her bent legs so that they slid out from underneath her
    and she sat with a bump on the cold floor. In reply the fat, whiskered racoon leapt
    straight into the air, then began to scrabble backwards as fast as it could move.
    'Dearie me, our intruder is discombobulated,' Francis commented, with mild hilarity. He
    leaned back against the wall as his shoulders shook.
    'Oh, God!' she gasped. 'How did he get in?'
    'I almost hate to mention it. The real question is, how do we get him out?'
    'Oh, look at the poor thing! Quick—open all the doors and windows!' The creature
    cowered between the settee and the wall, its startlingly human paws clapped over its
    eyes. She hadn't known racoons could get so huge. She scrambled to her feet and darted
    to the front door to throw it wide, while Francis laid down the gun and began to unlatch
    the window.
    'Be careful,' he warned, looking over his shoulder as she crept around the furniture to get
    a better look at it. 'You don't want to risk the filthy little beast scratching or biting your
    legs.'
    'How can you call it a filthy little beast?' she said softly, her hands on her bare knees as
    she bent. 'It's absolutely gorgeous!'
    'And