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"My dad and his brothers had a place like this when I was a kid," Will said when she came back out.

Her ears perked up. Will had never spoken of his father before. And instinctively she had known not to ask about him.

"They built it themselves on some land their grandfather gave them in upstate Connecticut," he said, walking over to run his hand over the mantelpiece.

"They were young and single. They used it as a fishing lodge. Later, when they had families, they'd sneak off to" -He turned around, resting his arm on the mantel.

"I don't know, be a man or something, I guess."

"Did you go there with your father?" ;

"Once." The way he said this did not inspire Jessica:

to ask for details. Will absently touched his chin and then dropped his hand.

"I think I told you about my father being a pretty mean alcoholic."

"Actually, no," she said softly. ;

He hitched up one side of his mouth and squinted, as if glaring into the sun.

"Oh."

"You did tell me once," Jessica offered, "that some drunk guy broke your elbow."

"Oh, right. I knew I had said something," Will said, nodding, pushing off the mantel.

"That was Dad. I guess I just didn't mention which drunk guy it was." He laughed nervously.

"We've had quite a few in our family line."

"That's pretty rough."

He shrugged.

"It was worse for my younger brother. But then Mom finally threw my father out, so he got back on track." He toed the rug with the end of his Bean Brother boot.

"For whatever reasons, he left my sisters alone well, you know what I mean. So that was good."

She felt awkward standing there, but it didn't seem appropriate to sit.

"Is he still around? Your father?"

"Oh, he's still alive. Somewhere. He was sober for a while, but then he started drinking again, who knows why." He looked at her.

"Do you think I should go to Al-Anon or something? I mean, isn't that what people are supposed to do if they're interested in someone who's you know " "An alcoholic?"

He nodded.

"Well, it depends," Jessica told him.

"For someone who chooses to live with an active alcoholic, I should think definitely yes. And I think someone who's having problems with a sober alcoholic might want to, too. Need to. I mean, Al-Anon never hurts, and it really helps if a situation's out of whack."

"So what if you're with a recovering alcoholic and things are good?"

"I'm not sure I know anyone who's gone for that reason," she admitted.

"But you shouldn't have to wait for a crisis in the relationship to find out what it's about."

He came over to stand before her.

"I swore, since I was a little kid, that I'd never have anything to do with an alcoholic ever again."

She smiled slightly.

"Makes for a mighty small world to live in, doesn't it?"

"In TV news?" He laughed.

"Tell me about it!" After a moment, he reached to take her hands into his own.

"I couldn't believe it when you first came to West End. How attracted I was to you, how terrific I thought you were--even though you were--um, you know."

"An alcoholic."

"Yeah. And then you stopped drinking." He paused.

"And I've watched you, Jessica. And it's been incredible." The last was said somewhat breathlessly.

"You've changed so much, and you're so much stronger, and yet, you're also much softer." He seemed a little embarrassed and looked to the ground for a moment before continuing.

"I guess I just want to say that I would be more than happy to do anything, or go to any meetings, if you thought it was the right thing. For us."

She was moved beyond words.

He hesitated and then said, "What do you want, Jessica?"

She smiled slightly.

"To find out what love really is. Romantic love, I mean."

He nodded slowly.

"Me, too." He squeezed her hands.

"That's why I chose you."

She closed her eyes and moved forward into his arms.

"Hey, guys!" Georgiana's voice called from outside.

They separated, reluctant to let go of each other, and moved to the door. Georgiana was outside on horse back, looking ridiculously glamorous though she had no makeup on. She wore faded jeans and riding boots, and her long blond hair was blowing free.

"Good afternoon. Lady Hamilton-Ayres," Jessica called.

"It's about time you got up."

Georgiana reined in her horse as it tried to shy away.

"It's all right, boy," she murmured, patting it.

"You wouldn't believe the schedule they had us on this week. I only got away because I shoved my contract in the producer's face." She smiled.

"Hello, Will, congratulations on your new summer digs."

"Thank you," he said with a sweeping bow.

"You're looking very well, Jessica."

"Thank you. Lady Georgiana," she said, curtsying. Georgiana really did hold the title of Lady. Although her mother was a very famous if not notorious American screen siren of the 1950s and 1960s, her father was a genuine Scottish peer. There was even a family castle into which Georgiana had been pouring money on behalf of her aging, if not downright batty, father, for years.

"I came by to warn you that Alexandra's organizing a bridge game for tonight."

"Oh no," Jessica said, slapping a hand over her eyes.

"I've already recruited a replacement for me," the ac tress said.

"And if I were you, Jessica, I'd do the same."

"Wendy!" Jessica called.

After a moment, a deeply masculine voice said, "Wendy's not on. It's me." Sheepishly, Slim, the massive bodyguard, came around the side of the cabin.

"Hey," Jessica said, "you don't happen to play bridge, do you?"

"What good are bodyguards if they can't protect me from the likes of you?" Jessica asked Alexandra and Will after dinner at the bridge table.

Alexandra and Will were horribly competitive bridge players, due in large part to years of being out on assignment together, killing time by playing guys from other news organizations until something either happened or it was time to beam a report back home. They hadn't been out of the studio for a while, and thus on their last long trip to Hong Kong they had been beaten badly by a pair from CBS and the duo hadn't been the same since.

Georgiana had recruited a neighbor from down the road to take her place as Jessica's partner.

"Will plays bridge like a contact sport and Alexandra's smugness makes me simply want to smack her," Georgiana had said. Jacques, a transplanted Frenchman and week ender from New York whose wife was away, was eager to prove himself to Jessica.

"I am a superb player of cards," he told her.

"One club," Jessica announced to the superb player of cards, keeping her eyes purposely fixed on her hand. She had a fantastic hand and thought she'd throw Will and Alexandra off by bidding the lowest bid on the lowest suit. Unfortunately, old Alexandra Eyes seemed to catch on to this trick, for she was smiling sweetly at Jessica.

"Going to sock you. Waring, if you don't cut it out," Jessica growled.

Across the table Jacques had come to attention, raising one eyebrow in response to Jessica's bid. Jessica had met the antique dealer before in Manhattan. She had purchased a buffet table from him. She didn't know how, frankly, his very American wife an investment banker could stand being married to him. He was so laid-back, Jessica imagined the wife would have to burn down the house before getting a reaction out of Jacques. But maybe all French guys were like Jacques, she didn't know. They still took long lunches over there, didn't they? Naps in the afternoon and the summers off?

She herself preferred a man who ate quickly, rarely slept, worked hard and adored the ground she walked on. She smiled, sneaking a look at Will. Could it get any better than this? The closeness, the knowledge of how he felt about her, the anticipation of what was to come?

"Refreshments, ladies and gentlemen," Georgiana announced, swinging into the living room with a tray of drinks: a glass of wine for Jacques, Perrier for Alexandra a Coors' Light for Will, iced tea for Jessica.

"Jessica," Will said, passing her iced tea to her.

"Thank you." She put the glass down and glanced up. Will was openly looking at her, deliberately enticing her to do the same. It made her feel a little weak.

She caught her breath and tried to focus on the game the game in which she realized she had already badly mis-bid.

Jessica looked across the table to Jacques and arched her eyebrows, hoping that he would take the hint that he was to bid up, and bid big.

"One diamond," Will said, leaning forward as he did so, as if, as Georgiana claimed, bridge was a game requiring physical prowess.

"One heart," Jacques bid.

Hearts. Jacques had hearts. Jessica had none. Uh-oh.

"Two hearts," Alexandra bid.

Okay, so that's where the rest of the hearts were.

"Three clubs," Jessica insisted, letting Jacques know she had clubs and no diamonds, and opening the way for him to tell her what else he had.

Will slumped violently back in his chair.

"Pass."

"Three diamonds," Jacques said.

Three diamonds! What the heck was that about? Okay, think--she had clubs, Jacques had hearts and diamonds. Alexandra had hearts and Will had a little of everything.

"Pass," Alexandra said, smirking.

Jessica had two diamonds, but was still trying to figure out her partner's hand. She had made an obvious play for the clubs and indicated she had no hearts, so he had to be pretty confident of the diamonds in his hand. She should let him have it.

"Pass," Jessica said.

So he played it for three diamonds and they actually ended up getting a little slam.

"Ha!" Jessica cried triumphantly to Alexandra as they finished the hand.

Alexandra looked coolly across the table at Will.

"Sounds like one of those guys from CBS, doesn't she?"

"Oh, shove off. Waring. You were positively gloating when you thought I'd messed up."

"True," Alexandra said, smiling slightly. To Will, "Okay, Raff, now we play."

"Come on, Jacques! Vive la France!" Jessica cheered.

Jessica and Jacques did not win another hand and went down by over one thousand points.

"I'm really sorry, Jacques," Jessica said to her bridge partner, walking him to the front door when they were finished.

"I don't know what happened to my concentration j " These things happen," he sighed, " even to the most excellent player of cards. " I " Hey, is that the new Jag? " Jessica asked, looking ', past him to the circular driveway. " Last week, right off the line. "

"Nice car," Jessica said admiringly, following him outside. She went down the porch stairs with him to look at it. It was a black convertible.

"Where do you get to drive it around here? Doesn't it wreck the engine to never open it up?"

"Oh, I find places," he assured her.

As Jessica peered around at the back of the car, Jacques moved in behind her, slipping his arms around her waist and pressing his lower body into her derriere.

"You are a marvelous woman," he murmured, nuzzling her neck.

Shocked, Jessica straightened up and tried to turn around while simultaneously easing him off her.

"Thank you, Jacques, but " He was kissing her.

Jessica broke it off.

"Jacques, stop it."

"Come to my house," he urged. She could see his confident smile in the moonlight.

"You are a very sexual sensual woman. I know. I felt it.

And I want to make love with you, too. "

Evidently Jacques had picked up the signals Jessica had been exchanging with Will.

"No, Jacques," she said firmly, pushing him away trying to push him away, but he wasn't yet convinced of her refusal.

No matter, though, because Slim came crashing through the bushes a moment later to grab Jacques and slam him backward to the ground, while Wendy jumped out from somewhere and stood over the Frenchman with a small pistol pointed in his face.

"They've got this thing about married men cheating on their wives," Jessica explained.

After they sorted out the misunderstanding, Jacques was dusted off and escorted to his Jaguar by Slim. Jessica went up the porch stairs to find Alexandra standing in the doorway.

"I guess we'll have to find a new fourth for bridge," sighed her hostess.

They went back into the den where Alexandra, yawning, said she was going to turn in. Georgiana echoed the same. Jessica said she would be up soon.

"Anybody know where Steed and Mrs. Peel are?"

"Wendy's around here somewhere," Will said.

"I think Slim's going to the barn," Alexandra said leaving the room.

;:

"Sleep well, everybody," Georgiana said, waving good-night. ';

"Oh, Will," Alexandra said, backtracking around the;

corner.

"Remember to take the flashlight in the kitchen^ The trail to the cabin isn't the greatest." ,| "Okay, thanks. Good night." | Jessica and Will sat in quiet a while as the sounds of the women faded upstairs. Then Will reached to put hj|| arm around Jessica's shoulder, settling in closer. H| whispered, "I feel like we're being watched."

|| "We are," she whispered back, giggling, luxuriatia^ in his warmth, the coolness of the night, the farm smell| that were wafting in through the window. They sat like that for several minutes until a telltale snore let Jessie know that while she had been plotting romance an|| sexual intrigue for them this night. Will had fall^ asleep. :;^ She smiled. Well, that decided that.

"Will," she whispered.

He awakened with a start, at first not knowing whi@|g he was.

"Oh, sorry. I fell asleep, didn't I?" ||j "You're tired." || "Mmm, yeah, I guess." He turned to her, regripp her shoulder.

"Sleeping, frankly, is not what I hac mind." Before she could respond, he added, "But I think, under the circumstances, it's best if I go to the cabin."

"It's hard to let you go."