"You told me about the extent of your cooking, remember ?" He placed the ca.s.serole on the counter and mentally cleared off s.p.a.ce for the rest of the things he had brought with him that were still in the car.

Sara was going to have to move the blender and the toaster, but that was about all. "I figured your father must be starving right about now."

Pompous a.s.s, they were doing just great without him. Who did he think he was, barging into her house-her father's house, she amended quickly, realizing her slip and -and Raymond walked into the room behind them.

"Sara, who was " He stopped as he realized that Sara had company. He looked at Nik's face. Recognition was immediate, but the name lagged a minute behind. "Nik, isn't it?"

Crossing to him, Nik took Raymond's hand, shaking it. The older man looked a great deal healthier now than he had the last time Nik had seen him. Maybe Sara wasn't as bad a cook as she claimed.

"Yes. How are you?" Nik asked.

Sara couldn't get over the fact that the two men were acting as if they were old friends instead of practically strangers What gave Nik the right to just waltz into her private life like this?

"Fine." Raymond's leathery cheeks spread in a warm smile as he glanced at his daughter. "Sara's been taking good care of me."

Sara shifted in place, uncomfortable with the compliment They'd made headway since last Sunday, but there were still some things between her father and her that had to be worked through. It took time to mend breaches, even under the best of circ.u.mstances and intentions. It didn't help to have matters announced to the whole world. Or to Nik.

"Nik thinks I'm starving you to death." Sara gestured at the ca.s.serole dish. "He's obviously brought you a care package."

The tolerant smile on Nik's face fanned her temper. Just as he knew it would. He liked her better when she was angry She tended to act on impulse then. And he could work with that.

"She told me that the extent of her cooking abilities was to burn things. I figured she was keeping you alive on those little frozen food packages you boil and serve." He nodded toward the refrigerator.

Defensive, Sara moved over and leaned against the refrigerator

Any minute, the man would start taking inventory She didn't feel like being subjected to any criticism.

d.a.m.n, it was bad enough having to deal with her own edginess when she was around him at the restaurant. Why did he have to bring that tension here? Wasn't she going to have any peace from him?

Sara raised her chin, her eyes narrowing. She was spoiling for a fight. "And if I was?"

Nik viewed frozen food in the same light that he thought of fast food.

Unfit for human consumption. "It's a good way to become malnutritioned."

Raymond knew a fight in the making when he saw one. He quickly crossed to the counter. "Let's see what Nik brought us, Sara."

"His nose, which he's sticking into things again." Sara folded her arms in front of her chest as she turned away from both of them.

Raymond flushed slightly as he looked at Nik, then took care to tread very cautiously. This was harder than maneuvering through a b.o.o.by-trapped minefield.

"You'll have to forgive my daughter, Nik. I'm afraid that being cooped up all day with me is making her a little testy."

Sara gave her father a sharp look. "I can make my own apologies, Dad .".

Nik's expression was agreeable as he waited. Sara remained silent.

"Well?" he prodded her expectantly.

She gave him a saccharine smile. "When I think an apology is necessary, you'll hear one."

Raymond sighed as he moved toward Nik. "She always did have a stubborn streak, " he confided.

Any minute now he was going to pull out baby pictures of her, Sara thought, her fuse dangerously low.

Nik nodded. "I kind of suspected that." He moved toward the doorway.

Confronted with Sara and her micro shorts , he'd forgotten all about the rest of the food in the trunk.

Sara raised her hand like a student in cla.s.s and waved it before both men. "I'm standing in the same room with you, gentlemen. There's no reason to talk about me as if I were dead."

"Dead people are docile," Nik pointed out. "No one can ever accuse you of being that." He nodded toward the front door. "Want to help me?"

" Leave? " she suggested, bringing a touch of eagerness to her voice.

"No." His voice was mild, patient. It had an inverse effect on her temper. "I've got more food in the car."

He glanced over his shoulder to see that Raymond had let curiosity get the better of him and was lifting the lid on the serving dish. The older man looked as if he had suddenly fallen in love. " " Cannelloni, "Raymond whispered with a reverence that was usually reserved for the interior of churches.

Kane had been right, Nik thought.

He grinned, pleased. "I always enjoy cooking for an appreciative audience." Nik turned to Sara and took her arm , ushering her out. "I have eggplant parmesan, manicotti and cannolis in the trunk of my car, plus an a.s.sortment of vegetables"

"Cannolis?" Raymond's eyes shone as he replaced the lid on the dish.

"Two dozen, freshly made," Nik promised as he walked out of the kitchen. He discovered that he didn't have to drag Sara with him. She was bearing down on him of her own volition.

Her hand on his shoulder, she pulled him around to look at her once they were outside the house. Her eyes were like two dark arrows, aimed straight for his heart. There was no mistaking them for Cupid's arrows, he thought. They were more along the lines of poison-tipped darts.

"Are you out of your mind?"

"Possibly," he conceded. A sane man would have retreated by now.

She didn't have the patience for word play today. He was crowding her, and she lashed out.

"Why are you trying to kill my father?" she demanded. "The man just had an angioplasty. In case you don't know what that is, that's a procedure intended to rectify a heart blockage caused by too much fat buildup. Fat, as in what you'in offering to feed him."

He unlocked the trunk. It popped open, giving Sara a clear view of the interior. There was enough in there to feed three people for a week.

The man was moving in!

"I know what an angioplasty is," he said mildly. They were going to need to make two trips, he decided. He didn't want to drop anything.

Nik was obviously two tacos short of a combination plate. Sara gestured at the trunk, anger seeping from her very fingertips She hadn't traveled all this way and gone through emotional h.e.l.l just to indulge her father and see him back in the hospital in six months or less.

"If you know what an angioplasty is, how can you bring him all this in good conscience?" He was using her father to get to her, that's why.

"Or don't you have one?"

His smile hardened around the edges. " " My conscience is alive and well, Sara. " He moved several things aside, arranging them to facilitate removal. " I'm not a short-order cook, Sara. I'm someone who's studied the art of preparing meals. The key word here," he emphasized, " is art. "

She was far from convinced. "The key word here is annoying "

He didn't have time to stand and argue with her all day. Though it was the tail end of the afternoon, it was still hot and the food would spoil if he didn't get it into the house. "I know how to prepare Italian food using low-fat products"