VPN and wireless network

[debian@ausipos.com]

Hi,

wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction here.

I am running a wireless network between 2 laptops. one of the laptops 
acts as a router. mainly for my own peace of mind I would like to secure 
the wireless connection a little more than just encryption and have been 
thinking about VPN's.

all of the stuff i have read about VPNs talks about using them to make 
secure connections across multiple computers ie PC1 connects via VPN to 
PC4 but goes through PC2 & PC3. I want to connect PC1 to PC2 via VPN and 
then out to net (or wherever) PC2 is running a firewall which _should_ 
be adequate to stop attacks from the net (working ok at the moment at 
least!) but I am concerned about someone else trying to either a) sniff 
my network and grab passwords etc, b) attack my router or laptop from 
inside the network or c) connect to the net via my router, masquerading 
as me.

Am I heading in the right direction by looking at VPNs? my router 
currently firewalls anything coming from inside the network that doesn't 
come from my laptops IP (haven't set up mac filtering yet) and my laptop 
also has a firewall that stops any incoming connection unless it is 
state RELATED,ESTABLISHED so I guess really it is just the data flowing 
between the 2 computers that I am worried about.

of course,I would be interested in VPNs that can be installed the debian 
way..

cheers,

Ben.