The ride back to the Castle seemed far too short. It seemed as if Grace had only blinked before they were already pulling up to the front gates. In hindsight, Grace wished that she had stayed in that day. So much for taking some time off to think things through.

As the gates opened, Vivian seemed strangely nervous as well. It was explained when she turned to Grace and said with a quick laugh.

"Duval does not know that I'm coming. He's not expecting me for another few days. I am coming early to surprise him."

"He'll probably be happy to see you here now." Grace told her truthfully. Why wouldn't he be happy to see his beautiful fiancee?

That seemed to calm the woman somewhat and so by the time Beth opened the doors for them to step out, Vivian looked as beautiful and serene as a princess. Grace on the other hand, felt dirty, sweaty and tired. She also didn't want to have to see the assuredly happy reunion that was going to take place between Duval and Vivian.

Getting out, she offered to help Beth and Jack carry the suitcases into the house where Vivian had already disappeared. They refused but she reached in and grabbed Vivian's smaller carry-on suitcase. But when she tried to lift it out, a large tanned hand stopped her. For a moment, her heart pounded and she grew dizzy thinking it was Duval but then she turned and realized that it was Adrian standing there.

"Let me help." He told her and lifted the suitcase out easily.

He also took the other two pieces of luggage from Beth and Jack and lugged it all into the house. Then he came to such an abrupt stop that Grace almost ran into him.

Wondering why he'd stopped, Grace peeked her head around his broad form.

She couldn't quite stop the small gasp that escaped her lips. Luckily, nobody heard her except for Adrian who didn't show any reaction other then a quick glance down at her.

Vivian and Duval were locked in a passionate embrace a few feet down the hall. Her slim hands were entwined in the silky locks of his hair as they kissed. His hands gently caressed her back with familiar sensuality. Oh God, of course. After all, that was his fiancée. His lover.

God she was such an idiot.

Grace blindly turned away. She hardly noticed that Adrian was quickly unloading Vivian's luggage onto the ground with a silent curse. All she was aware of was that it was as if time had been turned back ten years and once again, she was a foolish young woman who was jealous of her own sister when she once caught sight of them kissing.

She didn't know where she was going but somehow she ended back up on the beach. Her shoes were long gone, kicked off a few steps back.

Grace didn't cry as she slowly walked. She only thought about quietly packing up her things and leaving in the morning as early as possible. How much more closure did she need then this?

With the waves of the ocean crashing, she didn't hear the light sounds as Adrian's lanky form drew up next to her.

"Hey." He jogged in front of her and stopped, forcing her to do the same thing.

Grace knew that she wasn't showing any emotion on her face so she wasn't quite sure how Adrian was able to figure out what he did.

"You're in love with him." He said flatly.

"No." She lied. Perhaps she hadn't been as discreet in her feelings as she had thought she was.

"You are." He said. "Don't lie to me."

She fought back a sudden surge of pressure in her throat and was horrified to realize that she was about to start crying.

"Hey." Adrian murmured softly. "Hey, it's okay Grace. Don't cry." "I'm not crying." She swallowed and looked away.

"He's not worth it."

Taking a deep breath, Grace gave him a wry look. "That was a completely unbiased comment of course." "Of course." He said easily.

Grace sighed deeply, her throat clogging again. "It's been over ten years. Why can't I get over him?"

"You're going to be fine." He said softly. Somehow, she was suddenly in his arms sobbing uncontrollably.

One of his hands slowly stroked her hair as she cried. Grace knew that she should feel embarrassed to be so undone in front of Duval's brother and that it should feel wrong to be in his arms but at that moment, it just felt so good to be comforted that she selfishly absorbed the warmth of his embrace and didn't budge.

Adrian seemed okay with standing there and murmuring comforting nothing words so Grace shamelessly took advantage of it. It had been a long time since she'd had the luxury of crying in someone's arms. It had been even longer since she could remember ever having lost control over her emotions in front of someone. It was oddly liberating. Perhaps she should do it more often.

But of course even before that thought was completed, Grace was already beginning to feel embarrassed. Stiffening, she pulled away. Adrian released her easily, his eyes showing nothing but a reflection of her tear stained face.

"I'm sorry about that." She rasped.

He shook his head and a wry smile appeared on his face. "That's what friends are for."

Absurdly, she began to giggle. Grace couldn't help herself. It was so ironically funny in a sadistic kind of way. That was how the whole problem with Duval

had started. Because they were friends. Because she had absolutely no claim on him whatsoever except as a friend. That was why she was doomed to stand in the wings and watch as yet another woman took him away.

"I think being friends is highly overrated." She found herself confessing to Adrian.

Scrubbing her eyes she dropped down to the sand and sat back with a weary grunt. A part of her mind registered the fact that the sun was hidden by fast moving grey clouds and that her skin was chilled.

"Why is that?" He asked her conversationally as he reached down and pulled her back up to her feet. She stumbled only slightly then waved him away to stand on her own.

"Why is what?" She asked him inanely.

"Why do you think being friends is overrated?"

"Oh." Grace laughed with no humor. "Because it would have been so much simpler we had been lovers instead. Then there wouldn't have to be this huge obstacle of friendship that has blocked my way to happiness for so long."

"And by happiness you mean—sex?" He had the gall to give a tiny smile. "Maybe." Grace said shortly.

If she had hoped to shock him, she was disappointed because other then looking a bit amused by her confession, Adrian simply raised a brow.

They walked silently down the beach. Grace began to shiver. Adrian looked down at her, blue eyes dark and fathomless.

"Let's get you out of the storm." "What storm?"

A huge boom of thunder shook the ground. Grace shrank reflexively against Adrian and gave a small shriek as icy droplets began to pelt her.

"Come on!" He grabbed her hand and they began to run.

The cold sand beneath her feet was wet with rain and her heart was pounding. Grace had a secret fear of thunderstorms that usually had her huddling underneath a blanket when the weather was this bad.

"Here we are." Adrian pulled her inside of an opening that suddenly appeared along the cliff. Gasping for breath, she wiped her face with both hands and stared around.

"What do you think of the Waterfall Caves?" "Wow." She whispered in awe.

The interior of the caves were magnificent. About three times her height and seven feet wide, the dark rocks gleamed with moisture and reflected the light like a dark mirror. Smoothed by hundreds of years of wind and sea, the jutting rocks overhead looked as smooth as marble. There was a walkway about two feet across that lead into the caves and water washed in small rivulets up the sand into the entrance.

"Is this safe?" Grace cast a worried look outside. "Doesn't the water rise when it's raining?"

"Not here. It lies too far from the ocean to flood." He said firmly.

"I'll trust you." She decided out loud. They were about two thousand feet away from the closest reaching waves.

"This is where I used to come and think when I wanted to be alone." Adrian said quietly.

He had moved to stand next to her. Hair soaked to the scalp, he looked slightly wild and as beautiful as the stormy sky. She looked away, heart suddenly pounding for another reason apart from the thunderstorm.

"Hey." He said.

Grace looked back and saw that the familiar slightly cocky grin was on his lips. Adrian waved towards the cave.

"This is also where I took girls I wanted to impress because then they were more likely to let me—."

"I don't want to hear anymore." Grace interrupted quickly.

He nodded but his mouth twitched with laughter. He offered her his arm as dashingly as James Bond had ever done so for one of his women.

"You're so easy to rile." His voice was oddly gentle. "But truthfully, I never brought girls here. You, Grace Madison, are the first girl ever, to be allowed into the sacred Secret Agent Hide-out of Agent Wolf-Stalker and Agent Snake-Eyed Sam. Discovered by my brother and I when I was eight years old."

His light-hearted teasing worked to numb a bit of the pain Grace had felt at seeing Duval kissing Vivian. Unable to resist the charm that Adrian could obviously employ like a deadly missile, she took his arm and followed him into the cool interior of the huge cave. Grace shivered and sneezed as they walked.

Adrian gave her a critical look. "We need to get you warmed up."

She flung a strand of wet hair from her face. "Unless you have a secret Starbucks inside of here, I doubt that's going to happen.

"Duval and I used to explore these caves when we were kids." Adrian said. "Sometimes we camped out here in the summer. We should have some wood and matches somewhere in here."

They padded through the caves. She could still hear the sound of the storm but it was surprisingly quiet otherwise.

The caves felt mystical, almost magical. The ceiling vaulted high above her, like a canopy of the midnight sky. Water condensation sparkled on the dark rock, reflecting tiny bits of light so that everything seemed to shimmer with fairy dust.

Tall stalagmites rose from the ground resembling majestic pillars of black marble. There had to be an opening on top somewhere because the cave wasn't completely dark. Grace also heard rushing water but she wasn't sure if that was from the ocean or something else.

"We pretended to be everything from being the secret American CIA to pirates." Adrian moved towards the rushing sound that Grace had heard.

"You and your brother must have had so much fun." She said wistfully.

Although Elizabeth had always tried to be there for her, her older sister hadn't been able to be a sister but more of a mother. Constantly working to be able to support the both of them, time of idyllic childhood games of exploration and adventure hadn't been possible for Elizabeth and Grace.

"Duval was a good older brother." Adrian in reserved tones, but he added in a cooler voice, "When we were kids, in any case."

"What did happen between the two of you?" Grace asked curiously. By now she felt as if she had a little right to ask Adrian this question because he already knew her secret.

"Duval hadn't told you?" "He said it was an old fight."

Adrian gave a brief laugh that sounded tired. "It is."

Graced didn't push. She figured he'd tell her when he was ready. Looking down at the ground, she concentrated on not tripping on the uneven ground. The rushing sound she had noticed earlier had gotten louder.

"Here we are." Adrian suddenly said. "The inner sanctum." "Where?" Grace looked up. Her mouth dropped. "Oh!"

In front of her was a torrent of white sparkling water as it fell some thirty feet from the ceiling into a wide pool of crystal clear water.

Now she knew where the light had been coming from. The underground waterfall took every bit of limited light from the outside and spun it into millions of fragmented water droplets that sprayed out in a fine earthy mist. Grace turned to Adrian with a huge smile of delight.

"This is wonderful!" She sneezed again.

His teeth were very white as he laughed and began looking around. There looked to be an old fire pit of some sort next to the waterfall. He walked over and dug around, bringing out a tin box of something with a laugh.

"Here are the matches. You're in luck."

"Let me help." Grace hurried over, eager to get a fire going because her skin felt like ice and she couldn't stop shivering.

Adrian found some dry driftwood and piled it into the fire pit. After a few tries, he managed to light a match and got a tiny fire going. Grace quickly added small chunks of wood to the fire until it got larger.

With a sigh, she sat down on one of the rocks surrounding the fire pit and crowded close to the heat. It felt wonderful. Soon the fire was large enough that her damp clothes began to feel slightly less repulsive against her skin.

Adrian was staring at the waterfall contemplatively.

"Thank you for coming after me." Grace said awkwardly.

He looked up and she was given another one of those glamorous full-fledged grins. Grace remembered how the girl at the gas station had practically thrown herself at him and how in stride he had taken it. With looks like that he must be used to having women chasing him like crazy. Both of the Roussiard brothers were dangerous to the female population.

"Thinking about my brother again?" Adrian innocently asked. Grace flushed a dark red and looked away.

Then out of nowhere, he murmured, "Are you a virgin Grace?" She choked.

He tilted his head and gave her a scholarly look. "I think you are."

"It's none of your business!" Grace regained her voice enough to shout.

"As your friend, I think I should know." His smug grin was an incendiary one.

Temper flaring faster then she would have thought possible, Grace gave a low growl that had Adrian's brow shooting up in surprise. She stalked forward and so quickly that he didn't have time to evade her—she pushed him into the pool.

He hit the water with a loud splash and a shout that sounded suspiciously like laughter. Treading water easily, his dimples flashed as he grinned unrepentantly up at her. Gleaming water droplets hung from his wet hair and lashes as he lowered his brow in mock concentration.

"So are you?" He was like a dog after a bone.

Grace couldn't help it. She began laughing, it was so ludicrous the conversation they were having.

Swimming over he reached a rock ledge and pulled himself out without any apparent effort. He walked towards her with a wicked smile. The wetness of thin tee-shirt clung to his torso as if he were naked. The thick khaki material of his shorts were less revealing but—Grace tore her eyes away, appalled that she had been ogling Duval's brother.

Well, it wasn't actually ogling, more like admiring. Any woman would admire the arrogantly laughing god-like man who was presently soaked to the bones.

Eyes sparkling and feeling more lighthearted then he had in years, Adrian debated with himself but in the end, the more devilish side of his nature took over.

Taking the bottom of his tee-shirt in one hand, he casually pulled it off. A quickly stifle gasp proved that Grace hadn't really looked away. In fact she turned to glare at him with a face as red as a strawberry. But her eyes were narrowed.

"Put your clothes back on!" She ordered.

"You got them wet." He countered mildly. "It's uncomfortable and I don't want to get sick. I'll dry off by the fire."

"I'll leave then."

She turned to leave but he blocked her path. She looked up in confusion.

Adrian wondered at himself that he was teasing the little virgin this way. Maybe it was because he couldn't understand how she could be in love with such a prick like his older brother.

Or perhaps it was because Adrian was a man who had become a bit arrogant in his knowledge that he had never had to try very hard to get a woman. He had spent his entire life having to fend off women who chased him with avaricious tongues licking their lips. But to Grace, he was merely a man.

No--a friend. She was right. Friendship was highly overrated.

The truth was that he was teasing her because it was really fun. And hell, when was the last time that he'd had fun?

Grace was brave though. He had to give her that.

She didn't flinch as he loomed over her. He knew that with his height and breadth, he could be very intimidating when he wanted to be. Twin dimples pierced his cheeks as he gave her a winning smile.

She merely frowned at him. A huge flood of admiration for her flowed into his heart.

"Can you swim?" He asked innocently.

She instantly knew what he was talking about and spun around to run. But even before she could take a single step, Adrian grabbed her hand.

With a shout of laughter, still holding her hand, he jumped back into the pool, forcing Grace to shriek and jump in along with him.