In "High Flying Steele" Laura boldly states that any question of romance will be decided between the two of them! Did Steele feel the same confidence?

"Guy never believed Turk was dead," Laura reflected, rubbing her aching ribs and wrists, her head settled comfortably in Steele's lap. In a rare non-working office moment the detectives of Remington Steele
Investigations were ensconced on the sofa in Steele's office."He believed somebody at the circus was working with Turk."

Moments later Mildred strode briskly into Steele's office. "Oh, I just wanted to remind you, I'll be gone for a couple of hours, okay?"

"Have a nice lunch," Steele responded pleasantly.

"Lunch? Oh ho," she chuckled. "A friend of mine's told me about this new palm reader."

"Mildred!" Laura exclaimed with disbelief.

"Well, you never can tell," Mildred offered defensively. "There may be romance in my future yet."

Steele stood. "She's right, Laura. Perhaps we should give it a try. Come on."

Laura reached out swiftly to tuck a restraining hand under Steele's arm. "Mr. Steele -"

"Yes?" Steele turned, his expression quizzical as he looked back at Laura.

"We'll settle that question between the two of us."

Mildred winked at the pair and slipped quickly out of the room.

"Won't we…" Laura declared as she grabbed Steele's lapels and pulled him down for a kiss.

Aching ribs and groaning shoulder muscles were forgotten in the pressing connection of lips. Laura's kiss possessed an urgency matching her white knuckled grasp of Steele's suit coat. Her eyes drifted shut as he reached to bury his fingers in her hair. The terror both had felt in her fall from far above the circus ring was replaced with the exhilarating free fall of lovers losing themselves in one another.

He finally broke the contact and pulled back to gaze at her with bemusement. "Not only am I, professionally speaking, surrounded by freaks, it seems I am also surrounded by women with uncontrollable urges."

Her shoulders tensed, her chin dropped and her lowered eyes focused on the knot of his tie. "And are you complaining, Mr. Steele?"

"No, no, of course not, but several days ago the damage to my skull was of far less importance to you than was the intruder who ransacked the office. Just commenting that today you appear more interested in romance than detective work."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Laura began softly, her voice rising defensively as she continued. "I'm always a detective, even when we're..."

Silence followed her half-finished sentence; her chin rose as she turned her face to stare defiantly across the office.

"When we're what, Laura? Kissing? Lovers?" He placed two gentle fingers under her chin to pull her face back toward his own. He leaned in to place light kisses on her cheeks and forehead as he continued. "Why did you suggest we pose as siblings on this case? I don't believe I actually have a sister but if I did, I seriously doubt I'd feel like doing anything like this with her."

Laura twisted away from Steele, slipping lithely away to stand at the window overlooking the fountain in front of the Twin Towers for a moment before turning briskly back to him.

"For exactly that reason." she shook her head slightly. "I'm sorry. You're absolutely right. This is hardly the place for a romantic interlude. That was very unprofessional of me."

"Laauura!" He bumped the carousel as he stood to walk toward her, sending its tinkling music once more floating across the room.

She glanced at the glittering ornament. Before he could say more she charged nervously on.

"We can't keep that, you know. Even if Christy can't afford to pay us for finding out why there were so many accidents at the carnival, we couldn't possibly keep something that means so much to her."

"Perhaps not," he agreed. "We'll find a way to return it to her collection. Besides, we gained something far more valuable than a mere fee from our time with Miss Cordaro."

"Oh?" Laura's eyebrows rose inquisitively as Steele drew close to her.

"The thrill of watching you soar through the air toward me in that fetching costume; holding you tightly in my arms as we flew together…" Steele tentatively offered his most beguiling smile. "Discovering that our timing is perfect. Priceless, Laura, absolutely priceless."

A deep dimple betrayed her even as she fought to return to business as usual. She needlessly smoothed her pale pink jacket. Raking him severely with a lingering look, she remarked dryly, "Do you really want to revisit the wearing of tights, Mr. Steele?"

He straightened his tie, grinning boldly. "Well, if that's what it takes, Laura."

"I need to get the paperwork wrapped up on the Crockett case and I'd like you to look over my preliminary work for the Pils Gallery before our three o'clock meeting," she intoned in her best no-nonsense voice. "Oh - and do you think you could help me take down the trapeze rigging in my loft this evening?"

A triumphant smile lit his face as he watched her walk away from him to enter her office. He called out in a barker's voice. "Come one, come all! Visit the place where dreams come true. See the Great Savini as he breathes fire, flies through the air, and looks into the future! "

Her face appeared at the edge of the door. "The future, Mr. Steele? Isn't that a bit bold for you?"

He kissed his fingertips and threw that kiss toward his partner, grinning as he settled into his chair and picked up the paper on his desk. "Not if you're in it, Miss Holt. Not if you're in it."

@-@-@-@-@

"Laura, I must admit. Trapeze equipment was one possibility I would have never imagined for this loft."

They were sitting at the small wicker table in her loft's circular dining alcove. The remains of a meal from the deli around the corner were pushed to the side, and the two were relaxing over the last of the wine in their glasses. Laura's musical laugh bubbled out.

"Neither had I, Mr. Steele, though if you had asked me when I was ten to design my perfect room, I might have come up with something like this, along with a stall for a horse off to one side."

"Circuses and horses? What else fascinated a young Laura Holt?" Steele's blue eyes softly invited Laura to continue her disclosures.

She smiled as she glanced around at the loft, a space that had taken on her character in a way her little bungalow never had. The piano with which he had replaced her grandmother's gift gleamed softly in the dim light. "Other than music?"

Nero jumped into Laura's lap and raised his nose inquisitively toward the table. Steele looked on indulgently as Laura stroked the inky feline firmly from his swiveling ears to his twitching tail.
"Lucky fellow, that one."

Laura laughed again. "What do you envy most, the fact that he gets to sleep all day, or that he eats whenever he feels like it?"

"I think it's more his intimate proximity to the woman in his life; along with the fact that he can lick his fingers and not be thought rude." As if to disdain the reality of such restrictions, Steele used his fingers to lift a morsel of chicken off the serving dish and after taking a bite himself, reached across to offer the rest to Nero.

"Mr. Steele!" Laura scolded, setting a now purring Nero down on the floor and giving his tail a gentle tug."You're spoiling him! In spite of his begging, I never feed him from the table."

"Well, perhaps I have an advantage over Nero after all. At least you let me eat at the table." Laura smacked his hand as he reached across to snatch an abandoned mushroom off her plate.

"You're pushing your luck, Mr. Steele," she said with mock severity as she picked up the plates to carry them to the sink. "Let's get to that rigging now. I'd like to put my sofa back where it belongs, and I suppose the Fabulous Funtime Circus would like their equipment back."

"Shall we try one more pass before we take the bars down?" He contemplated first his partner and then the swings swaying slightly above their heads.

"Sorry. It was too much of a struggle to get the mattress back on my bed to contemplate moving it again, and I don't think I trust us without something soft to land on." The disappointment on his face was so palpable she found it difficult not to indulge him. "A final simple swing, Mr. Steele, without transfers?"

Steele and Laura both lengthened the ropes to allow access to the bars and she once more did a hand stand that gracefully placed her on the swing. He grabbed her legs and set her in motion before pulling himself up to sit on the opposing bar and leaning back to begin his own swing.

The Bach concerto playing on the stereo provided the perfect background to their sweeping movements toward and then away from one another; neither spoke. As the music ended he jumped from his perch, and catching her trapeze with a hand on either side of her, stopped her in mid-swing. He lifted his face toward hers, asking without words for her lips to meet his.

"Are you sure you don't want to keep this little bit of the circus part of your loft, Laura?" he whispered as their kiss ended.

"I, too, have memories of our Fabulous Funtime Circus experience, Mr. Steele… Nigel Woolsey reaching out to catch me, the exhilaration of flying through the air secure in his grasp. I think that will be enough to hold this circus freak for awhile," she murmured softly, smiling as she slid down into Steele's embrace.

A crash from the kitchen startled both, and they looked up to see Nero walking nonchalantly away from the still rattling dishes on the counter. Steele and Laura erupted in laughter.

"Mildred may not be here to interrupt, but Nero seems to have similar timing. All right, Miss Holt. Let's get these ropes down." He moved the ladder he'd used to manage the rigging ropes.

She reached through the ladder to catch him by the front of his shirt. Smiling sweetly she leaned between the rungs for a final kiss before climbing nimbly up the ladder.
"Timing, Mr. Steele. It's all about timing."

The End