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brother is about your size, though, so you can wear one of his.”
    So her brother was full-grown. If he was an adult, though, why would he let his sister stand guard rather than do it himself? They had no way of knowing whether Jarvis was a good guy or a bad guy, and he’d give her brother an earful on the subject.
    He remained still until she finished untying him, not wanting to startle her with any sudden moves.When she stepped away from the bed with her two dogs flanking her, he slowly sat up. Other than a few sore spots, he was well on his way to mending.
    When he swung his legs over the side of the bed, she actually blushed and backed farther away. He grabbed the sheet to cover himself up. In the lab, he was used to waking up stark naked with a serious woody and thinking nothing of it. But from the way she kept her gaze strictly on his face, she wasn’t used to strange men walking around her house in their underwear, aroused or otherwise.
    â€œI, um, I’ll go get your things.” She beat a hasty retreat.
    Once she left the room, he picked up his cell phone from next to his wallet and called headquarters to check in. They sounded relieved to hear from him, but he didn’t fool himself that they really cared. His permanent death might even come as a relief to some of the Regents, considering how often he was in their face over how they treated the local Paladins.
    The good news was that the barrier had finally stabilized during the night. The mop-up campaign was nearly complete, and everyone had orders to stand down for the next couple of days.
    Jarvis hung up, then headed down the hallway to the bathroom. After a hot shower, he’d ask his hostess a few pointed questions of his own.

Chapter 2
    G wen heard the shower shut off. She flipped the pancakes on the griddle and decided she should make half a dozen more. Chase ate like a bottomless pit lately, and Jarvis Donahue was coming off a night of intense healing. Cooking three times the normal number of pancakes, scrambling a dozen eggs, and frying a pound of bacon should be enough. Maybe.
    If not, there was always cold cereal. The coffeepot stopped perking, and a pitcher of orange juice was already sitting on the table. She wiped her hands on a dish towel, then caught herself patting her hair to make sure it was tidy.
    What was she thinking? Granted, this guy was definitely good-looking, but he wasn’t the kind of man for a woman like her. Even if he did make her hormones sit up and take notice.
    It had been a long time since she’d enjoyed the company of a man, in bed or out of it. She’d been responsible for raising her brother ever since she was twenty and he was ten. Keeping a roof over their heads and meals on the table had taken most of her energy; she’d had very little leftover for something as frivolous as a boyfriend.
    Keeping the farm had been a wise choice; now it offered Chase a sanctuary from the outside world that sometimes felt too small and confining for him. He was becoming increasingly aggressive and short-tempered, especially around boys his own age. Keeping him buried under a stack of chores all summer had drastically reduced the number of complaints about his behavior, but she dreaded what would happen when school started up again.
    She listened to the sound of her unexpected guest moving around in the bathroom. For the first time, she might find some answers to the question of what made Chase that way. Since this stranger shared Chase’s ability to heal, maybe he shared some of the other characteristics, as well. If he’d found a way to master his volatile nature, then there was hope for her brother.
    The footsteps overhead meant Chase was up and moving, too. Good. It would be interesting to see how the two males reacted to each other.
    When the bathroom door opened, she quicklyadded the pancakes to the stack from the oven. Then she set the warm platter on the table.
    Jarvis walked into the kitchen