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too shockedby Jenny’s surprising and successful arrival to be creative.)
    At any rate, Teddy had a solid line of slightly offbeat, definitely determined, prudent ladies at her back, and she had no intention of shaming them by meekly accepting rejection.
    Zach Steele didn’t have a chance.
    She smiled to herself, then suddenly exclaimed as a memory prodded her. She leaned forward to look down at the floor. It was there as she’d thought, looking deceptively innocent and unthreatening in its holster.
    What had he said? He’d forgotten he wore a gun because he’d become used to it? A man like Zach, she thought, would be aware that his gun was not in its accustomed place. He’d feel the lack of it automatically.
    But Zach had been upset when he’d left, she realized. Upset enough to walk out of the cabin and leave his gun lying on the floor. And that told her two things. He did indeed trust her enough to leave her, awake and aware, in thecabin with weapons another “hostage” would have turned on him. And he had had to fight himself—as well as her—to reject her.
    Teddy leaned back against the wall, smiling.
    It was a start.

T HREE
    W HEN Z ACH RETURNED to the cabin, the appetizing scents of bacon and pancakes filled the small room, coffee was bubbling on the stove, and Teddy was whistling cheerfully as she set the small table with paper plates and plastic utensils. He closed the door behind him and just stood there for a moment, watching her. She had put her hair up in a ponytail, which made her look ridiculously sweet and innocent, and about sixteen. Zach had automaticallychecked the dates on her driver’s license and knew she was ten years older.
    He glanced toward the bed, seeing that she had hung his shoulder harness over one of the posts and getting the point of that: She hadn’t forgotten it, she knew it was there, and she had no intention of using the gun.
    Zach couldn’t figure her out. Other than during the first hour or so of her captivity, she hadn’t reacted in any expectable way to the situation, and God knew she looked calm enough for a woman who had so nearly taken her first lover half an hour ago.
    As for himself, Zach was more than a little grim. The icy water of the stream had done little to cool his desire, and even with a mind hell-bent on avoiding sex, he knew just how precarious his control with her really was.
    He wanted her. In fact, he couldn’t recall a time when he’d wanted a woman more. Her soft, delightfully feminine body had fit into his arms with utter perfection, and the fire caged in that slim, delicate form had ignited his senses ina way he’d never known before. He didn’t doubt she was a virgin, and yet her innate capacity for passion was staggering and intriguing, tantalizing his mind with its promise.
    She looked across the room at him just then, and Zach knew without a shadow of doubt that she had read his mind. He could literally feel something inside him turn over with a thud but had no idea what it was, or what it meant.
    “Breakfast is ready.” Her voice was light and casual. “You’d better taste the coffee with care, though.”
    Welcoming the distraction, Zach moved to the table and lifted the cup she indicated. The first sip of hot liquid nearly choked him, and he looked at her in disbelief. “I thought I’d tasted the worst coffee ever made, but this … What the hell
is
this?”
    Unoffended, Teddy sat down at the table and shrugged. “My father says that making good coffee is an inborn talent. Unfortunately, it isn’t one of mine. Sorry.” She began buttering the stack of pancakes on her plate, adding,“You really did come prepared to stay awhile, didn’t you? Even butter and syrup. Who made out the shopping list?”
    “I did.” He carried his cup to the sink, calmly emptied it, dumped the rest, then made a fresh pot. When it was ready, he carried his refilled cup back to the table and lifted a questioning brow at her.
    “I’m used to it,”