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"Did you hearher deliberate ," was the only answer she would give him, and she forced those words to coave Lindy fleeting satisfaction to witness the surprise in Rush’s eyes He stared at her aluht she would stand up and issue soe Well, Lindy just wasn’t in the ht If he wanted her out, then fine, she’d pack her bags and leave

Wordlessly she opened the dishwasher and set the glass inside His eyes followed her suspiciously, apparently disliking her cool coh it was on the tip of his tongue to suggest that she could stay until ht crossed hisLindy supposed he was right She could see no reason to prolong the inevitable But damn it all, she’d never felt so helpless and lost in her life A condeman’s noose had as many options as she seemed to have at the moment

Lindy turned and left the kitchen She tried to walk away proudly, but her shoulders sagged with abject defeat She heard the kitchen chair scrape against the floor as Rush stood and followed her

Standing in the doorway to her bedroolanced at his watch Lindy pulled out her suitcase from under the bed and looked in the direction of her clock radio, noting the late hour

As though it went against his better judgment, Rush stuck his hand in his uniforh"

"Not for me, it isn’t"

"What do you hteous sigh

"Lord, how like a woht and controlled "She tosses a dart at e it What she really wants me to know is that she couldn’t bear to be in the sa is mutual!"

Sorily jerked a blouse off a hanger "I don’t suppose you stopped to think that I didn’t move in here without an invitation Steve invited ht here to prove it if you’d take the time to read – "

"Unfortunately Steve didn’t clear this cozy little arrangement withthis place with you or any other fe, don’t you?" Lindy cried, jerking yet another blouse fro whatever you wish on nothing more than a whim"

He looked surprised that she’d revealed any emotion Good heavens, just what did he expect from her?

Lindy didn’t know, and at this point she si her closet, she whirled around to face hireat friend you are, a terrific guy You should meet him, Lindy I know you’d like hi her brother’s praise She cast Rush a disparaging look "So, mister…"

"Spare me, would you?"

"No" Lindy slammed the lid of her suitcase closed "You’re all alike Every last one of you is just like Paul"

"Paul?"

Her index finger flew at his chest and she heaved back in indignation "Don’t you dare ht him up, I didn’t!"

"That was aa lot of those lately"

"Your biggest one wasin here"

"Tell me about it," she returned with a sneer "Well, you needn’t worry I’ll be out of your way in a few minutes" She yanked the suitcase off the bed and reached for her coat, preparing to leave Boldly she paused and raised her eyes to arded hi to be upset about this"

"I’ll deal with hi her said that if anyone had a right to be angry, it was hih Steve had been the one to let him down

With a carefully manufactured calm, Lindy stopped at the front door, set down her suitcase and slipped the key to the apartment off her chain

Rush held out his hand and she pressed it into his waiting palain he looked as if he wanted to say that she could stay untilShe didn’t knohat stopped him – probably his pride Men had to have their pride No doubt he are that she’d take delight in throwing the invitation back in his face

Lindy watched as Rush’s dark eyes narrowed, then she sadly shook her head For years she’d been hearing Rush’s nahan was both an officer and a gentleman In the space of fifteen minutes, Lindy had quickly discovered he was neither

"Bad judgment must run in the family," she said, more for her own ears than his "If Steve thinks you’re so wonderful, then my mistake about Paul seems like a minor miscalculation of character" With that she picked up her lone suitcase and pulled open the front door