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away from her warm touch. Piously folding his
hands on the table, he steeled himself against the instant craving
to feel her touch him again.
    "Don't confuse me with one of your friends,"
he said. "You father is my ticket to freedom. That's the only thing
I'm interested in. Got it?"
    She jerked out of her introspection, her eyes
wide with fear again. He picked up his coffee cup, realized it was
empty and slammed it back down on the table.
    He looked at Sarah huddled into her corner of
the booth, then over his shoulder toward the kitchen. Where was
Cindy with their supper? Not that he could eat with this tight
feeling in his gut.
    "I'll go see what's taking our supper so
long." He stood and escaped down the aisle to the kitchen.

    Sarah stared at the red table top and
concentrated on getting her breath back. Chance's cruel words had
sliced straight through her, piercing the improbable glow that had
lingered since their kiss.
    She should thank him for that, she thought,
pushing the small metal pot of tea to one side. She'd needed some
sense knocked into her. She sighed and rubbed a fingertip against
each of her throbbing temples. How could she possibly be attracted
to the man whose sole aim in life was to put her father in
prison?
    Her fingers stilled. Maybe she wasn't
attracted to him. Maybe the way she'd instantly melted into that
kiss had nothing to do with Chance as a man. Didn't kidnap victims
often delude themselves into thinking they were in love with their
abductor? She'd freely followed Chance, but....
    Her mind cautiously poked at an unnerving
thought. In New York, Chance hadn't pushed very hard to find out if
she knew her father's whereabouts. Almost as if...she looked up,
suddenly wanting something to use her fists on.
    He'd set her up, the sneak. He'd told her
just enough to get her up here, probably hoping her presence would
draw her father out of hiding.
    Well . She straightened out of her
slouch. If that was true, it changed things considerably. She
didn't like being engineered, no more than she liked manipulating
other people. But that may be the only avenue open to her at the
moment. She'd never get to her father first if Chance continued to
control the situation. Which meant, she had to control him.
    She knew exactly how to do that--if she had
the courage. Chance was attracted to her. She'd seen the way his
eyes had glazed over after their kiss. Heat spurted through her.
She crossed her legs and swung her heavily booted foot up and down
to release the tension.
    She didn't want to dwell on that kiss or how
she fell into his clean, crisp smell, how his mouth mated hotly
with hers. What had come over her? The minute he'd touched her
mouth with his, any restraint she might have called upon
disappeared in a blaze of heat.
    Her foot jerked faster. She planted it firmly
on the floor. Okay, the attraction was mutual. She'd use that.
She'd have Chance twisting in such tight circles, he wouldn't
remember why he came to Ashley Cove.
    She jumped when he shoved their dinner plates
on the table in front of her. "They've got some kind of emergency
in the kitchen. Cindy says sorry."
    "I like Cindy." She picked up her fork and
started eating, hoping the normal activity would mask her
excitement. "This is good." She looked up at Chance still standing
in the aisle beside their table.
    He stared at their plates of food. "I'm sorry
if I was a little rough. I know you're worried about your
father."
    She stabbed another scallop with her fork. He
wasn't playing fair. If he started being nice to her, she'd never
be able to pull off her plan.
    "We're both on edge." She patted the seat
beside her, deciding to ease into her new role. "Why don't you sit
down and eat? Maybe it will improve your mood."
    His gaze narrowed in a way that made her want
to squirm, but she calmly continued eating her supper.
    "Yeah. Maybe it will." He watched her another
minute as if to gauge her mood, then sat and turned his attention
to his own supper.
    She