Dia turned this way and then that, twisting around to see herself from all angles in the mirror.  "Are you sure this is alright?" she asked nervously.  "It's not too...I dunno...too whatever it is?"

Betty Jo laughed.  "It's perfect," she said, standing back to see the full effect of the simply cut watered silk sheath dyed every shade of blue, from the palest at the rounded neck to the deepest at the hem.  It fit Dia like she'd smoothed it on with her body lotion.  Lapis lazuli earrings and necklace reflected the richness of the color and matched her eyes.  She'd swept her hair back from her face leaving it hanging, demanding to be touched, thick and full down her back.  Sheer stockings, medium heels and the most haunting perfume Betty Jo had ever smelled finished the packaging.  "You look fabulous."

Dia wrinkled her brow.  "You're sure it's not to much?  Too...too..."

"Seductive?  Suggestive?  Tantalizing?  Tempting?  Sexy?"

"Yeah," Dia said seriously and then saw Betty Jo's face.  "Pig!  You're no help at all."

"You look lovely, honey.  So just relax, have a good time and tie him in  knots."

Dia gave her a puzzled look and then decided to just stop worrying.  She blotted her lipstick and picked up her bag and wrap and, Betty Jo following, went downstairs.  She paused at the top of the stairs, looking down, took a deep breath, resisted the urge to wipe her palms on the dress and then started down slowly. 

Lev, of course, being a guy, had to dress alone and calm his own nerves all by himself. He was waiting in the drawing room.  Ian, looking amused, was with him, drink in hand.  Lev wore a nice suit, one Ian had insisted on getting for him from his own tailor.

"Stop looking so nervous, Lev," Ian was saying as Dia came in with Betty Jo on her heels.

Lev turned and looked Dia over, from the top of her head to her toes and back again.  "Hullo. You look.."

She blushed.  "Thank you.  So do you."

"Do you two want a drink?" Ian asked.

"No, I think perhaps we should..." Lev replied looking at Dia.

"No, I don't think so," Dia said.  "But thank you."

"My driver's waiting then. Enjoy yourselves. We'll wait up," Ian added with a devilish grin.

Dia looked puzzled.  "There's no need..." she started and then broke off, blushing furiously again, glaring at Ian.

Ian laughed and Lev opened the door for her. The car was waiting at the front door.

Lev helped Dia in and said, "I wasn't sure what you might like. It's North African cuisine.  I hope that's all right."

She dimpled.  "It sounds lovely.  It's actually one of my favorites."

"Oh good. So, it's been much nicer without having people following us, isn't it?"

"Oh, no kidding," she said, angling towards him on the seat.  "I don't know how people deal with all the time.  In fact, I can' imagine how you deal wiht doing it all the time."

"Yes, well, I confess I'm not used to it, either. I haven't done much actual protective work. At least not lately. I'm still not certain how Ian picked me for the job in the first place. You know what he's like. Trying to get a straight forward answer is sometimes hopeless."

"I thought maybe you were referred or something, like an agency," she said.

"No, not at all. I was happily retired. I'm still trying to remember why I said yes," he confessed. "I suppose I was ... bored."

"Ah.  Bored.  But how did you end up happily retired?  You don't strike me as the sort," she said.  "I mean you're much too...too vital, I guess."

"Well, I don't have many expensive habits, so my needs weren't that great. I was living on my sailboat and just relaxing.  I'm not a very exciting guy."

She tilted her head, considering him from a new angle.  "Not exciting?  I don't see how you can possibly think that," she said critically and then blushed.  "I'm sorry, that was..."

"That was what?" he asked.

"I forget not everyone is...that I'm sometimes too direct," she said. 

"I don't mind direct. I prefer it really," he replied.

"Oh," she said and then brightened.  "That makes it easier," she confided.  "I don't have to worry then."

"Were you worried?" he asked frowning. "About what? About me?"

She shook her head.  "No, me.  I haven't actually done this before, not really.  And it's always seemed to me like there's some secret set of directions that everyone but me has read."

"For going out to dinner?" he asked, a bit astonished.

"No.  Well, yes sort of...I mean for dating and social sorts of things," she said.

"You didn't go out with friends when you were younger?" he asked. "Tel Aviv is quite modern, as I recall."

"A few times, but I was already studying with Elihu and Miryam said there were more important things I should be doing,"  she said. 

"Ah.  And it was important to keep you pure," he added.

"I suppose," she said.  "It's just the way it was, and because it was so important to her...she kept saying I had this destiny and I had to be ready for it."  She met his eyes for a moment and then looked past him, out the window.  "By the time I knew enough to ask questions..." She shrugged and looked back at him.  "It doesn't make much sense now, I guess."

"If something is all you know.." he replied, his own gaze going inward. "We make choices in the dark sometimes. Only afterwards discovering we knew very little...  Ah, here we are," he added, as the car glided up to a pleasant looking restaurant.

He handed her out and the driver said to call him when they were ready to leave as parking was always problematic in the area.  Lev put an arm round Dia's waist and guided her into the place.

She looked around, her eyes sparkling.  "Oh this is wonderful," she said.  "However did you find this place?"

"Dumb luck, I assure you." They were shown past a marble fountain and across the mosaic floor to a small table set quite privately. There were an abundance of embroidered pillows adding to the ambiance of a Northern African setting. Morrocan music played softly to add to the mood the decor had set.

"So where's your boat," she asked, after they'd been seated.  

"In Greece, in a tiny village the tourists haven't found. Yet. A friend of mine is looking after it."

"You like being alone?"

He ordered them a bottle of wine and then answered, "Do you think I do?"

"I think you like the silence.  I think the peace that solitude brings once you're made friends with yourself is important to you.  So for you being alone is preferable unless you're with someone important to you."

"I do like the silence, although I'm not entirely sure I've made friends with myself, more like learned to live with myself. And you? I think you like company but need alone time in which to think."

She smiled.  "It's so tempting to lose the balance, to let the day to day world of other people slip away like Smitty does because there's so much still waiting, still unknown and none of it confusing or painful like people can be.  So I'm grateful that there are people who love me that I love who keep me aware of the need for both."

"It's the same on my boat. Far too tempting to just, I don't know. Hide away. You're fortunate you have family to keep you from that."

"You have none?" she asked.

"Not any more.  Do you regret leaving your mother in that cavern forever?"

"I don't know," she said finally.  "I was so angry at her, at both of them and it...there wasn't any other way I knew of that would get you out of there."  She met his eyes.  "It's funny, because if we hadn't, if there's been a way to get you out of there that left me there...then I could have done that, and been content.  Now I couldn't have been.  And yet what changed was such a simple thing."

"Was it a simple thing for you?"

"In some ways, yes.  In others no, how could it be?  Was it a simple thing for you?"

"No. I was quite certain you would hate me afterwards."

"But why?" she asked.  "You were so caring, so full of care for me...even given what it was, why it was happening, you didn't have to do any of that.  Why would I hate you?"

"I thought you were thinking to save yourself for the man you would marry.  Whereas I.. the situation was not one of choice."

"But even had that been true, even then you were as much a victim as I, if not more so.   You had fewer choices than I had.  And it must have been so hard for you, to have such a thing forced on you," she said.  "So why don't you hate me?"

"It wasn't hard at all," he replied and then turned to order dinner.

She sipped her wine, waiting until the server left.  "So why don't you hate me?"

He sipped his own wine and leaned back looking at her quite frankly. "It seems odd to me that you think I would. I went on the expedition knowing I might die. As alternatives to that go living forever in a primitive paradise didn't seem all that bad."

"No I suppose not."

"So what are your plans once you've finished your research in England?"

"Depends on the next project," she said.  "Maybe back to Tel Aviv.  I've a couple of offers to teach in the fall.  I don't really know yet.  Will you be staying with Betty Jo?"

He toyed with his wine glass. "I don't think they need me any more."

"I think you'd be surprised," Dia said. 

He looked up at her, his eyebrows scrunched up. "She's stopped being afraid.  Ian can teach her what she needs. He's taught her most of it. I'm redundant, or soon will be."

"You were never there because she was afraid.  You're there because he is."

"True. Still..."

"Still?"

"It doesn't pay to get too involved with people."

"Are you lonely?  Or is that an acceptable cost?"

"Why are you trying to talk me into staying with them?"

"I'm not.  I'm trying to talk to you about you because I'd like to know you," she said.

"Ah. I'm unused to people wanting to know me.  Generally speaking, people are far more happy talking about themselves."

She leaned back in her chair, studying him.  "And generally speaking that works to your advantage.  So if you left you'd go back to your boat?"

"Yes, probably. Want to come for a visit?"

"I'd like that," she said.  "I've never been sailing or lived on a boat."

"It's very freeing. Just you and the water. Who is waiting for you in Tel Aviv?"

"No one really, not now anyway.  I'm formally employed by the university but that just means they handle my stipends and let me teach if I want to," she said.

"No special someone?"

"No.  Have you a special someone waiting for you?"

"Not any more. Ah, dinner."  The servers came with dinner and it was wonderful. Conversation eased of necessity, until they'd eaten and then were having coffee.

"How long will you stay with Betty Jo and Ian?" Lev asked.

"I don't know.  How long would you like me to stay?" she asked.

"As long as you like."

She laughed.  "Thank you."

"For what?" he asked.

"For being yourself," she said. 

"And what does that mean?" he asked, frowning.

"It means what I said."  She sipped her coffee, her eyes speculative.  "It means that I like you and you're worth the effort."

"Worth the effort?" he asked.

"To know, to get past the dust cover and actually read the book."

He laughed and shook his head, as he called for the check. "Ready to go home and face the grilling?"

"Sure, if we must."

"I'm open to alternate suggestions," he replied, grinning.

"I wish I had a clever one close at hand but I don't," she said, grinning back.  "You're the one with the experience."

"Such as it is. I think we should take you home.  I think you're worth getting to know as well."

Her dimples flashed.  "Thank you," she said. 

He called for the car and it was waiting for them. When they got in he pulled her into his arms. And kissed her.  She kissed him back without any hesitation, her arms going around his neck.

"You are so beautiful," he said, his breathing getting ragged. "And it is killing me keeping my hands off you."

"Then why are you trying?" she asked.  "I don't want you to."

He stopped kissing her then and just held her close. Finally, once his heart slowed down he replied, "Because sex does things to you. It's easy to think lust is love, and to imagine things are more than they are. Especially for you, never having experienced it before. I don't want you to... I don't want to use that with you."

She leaned her head back to see his face.   "Then don't.  Just tell me the truth and trust me to do the same."

"It has been a very long time since I've cared about anyone, Dia. It's rather frightening for me."

"Then we can be frightened together," she said. 

He shook his head and kissed her again.  

When he pulled back this time her breathing was as ragged as his.  "I care about you and I want you.  I don't want you thinking you're responsible for my choices.  You aren't."

"I know," he replied kissing her neck.

She shivered.  "Then what?" she finally got out.

"Then spend the night with me."

"Only if I get to wash you this time."

He chuckled. "It's a deal."