"Recipes won't do me much good," Raymond confessed ruefully. "I'm not very handy in the kitchen. And Sara " He glanced toward his daughter and his smile was reminiscent of the ones she had once been so used to.

Approving and loving. "Well, Sara has other attributes."

Nik raised his gla.s.s to his lips, his eyes on hers. "Yes, I know."

Sara looked down at her cannoli, debating whether to eat it or throw it. He had no right to do this to her, to invade her life and make her feel as if everything was being turned upside down.

The suggestion in his voice had her muscles contracting. In the past week she'd worked so hard at severing the tie that had been formed that one night. She'd almost deluded herself into thinking she could do it.

Now here he was, reigniting the bonfire within her even as he was stoking her anger.

Raymond pushed himself away from the table. His chair sc.r.a.ped along the vinyl floor. " " Well, all this good food has made me feel really sleepy. I'm afraid a tired old man is going to have to withdraw. "

He began to rise, but Sara reached over and caught his hand.

"No." d.a.m.n, did that sound as panicky as she suddenly felt?

Leaning, Nik picked up Raymond's plate and set it on top of his own.

"Sara," he reproved mildly, "your father knows what's best for him."

Sara saw traces of the smile Nik was struggling not to let show. She bit her lip to refrain from saying something in front of her father she might regret. She'd have to wait until they were alone to give Nik Sinclair the dressing down he deserved.

Raymond rose to his feet and shook Nik's hand. "I can't tell you how wonderful all this was for me. Really wonderful , " he echoed.

"You can stop by the restaurant any time," Nik told him.

Raymond had approached each new dish with almost equal gusto. But Nik had paid close attention and noted that the man had favored one slightly above the others, taking seconds of the small portions he had allowed himself.

"I'll whip up another plate of tetrazzini for you," Nik promised as he stood. "On the house."

"Thanks, I might just take you up on that." Raymond stretched, then crossed to the doorway. Nik was gathering silverware together. " "

Don't worry about making too much noise-washing the dishes, I mean," he added with a transparent grin Sara could have killed him for. Sold out by her own father. " I sleep like a rock once I'm in my bed. "

Sara, still seated, shut her eyes. She felt as if her father had just placed a For Sale sign on her body and waved it at

Nik. At least he hadn't offered a dowry, she thought cynically

Raymond looked from Nik to his daughter. He could only hope. "Well, good night." He withdrew. i "Night," she muttered darkly without looking in his direction.

"You know," Nik mused out loud, stacking plates on top ; of one another, "this might be a whole new way to go at the restaurant." He rolled the idea over in his head seriously.

"We could have a separate menu for people who have to watch their fat intake." He looked at Sara. "As my accountant , what do you think?"

Sara grabbed the plates and all but sent them crashing as she set them in the sink with a thud. "As your temporary accountant, I think that you're overextending yourself by a h.e.l.l of a margin."

He was actually considering doing it. Her meaning eluded him. Do you think so? Seems to me that the restaurant "

She swung around to look at him. " " Here, " she said fiercely. She enunciated every word, in case he somehow still missed her meaning. "

I think you're overextending yourself by being here like this. "

The h.e.l.l with cleaning up the kitchen. He could do it later. Right now there were other things that needed cleaning up a lot more.

Something in his eyes when he looked at her told Sara she should be running for higher ground. The floodwaters were definitely coming.

She stood nailed to the floor.

Throwing the dish towel down, he pulled her to him so suddenly the air whooshed out of her lungs as their bodies made sizzling contact.

"You think that's overextension?" The look in his eyes was half amused and half threatening in the promise they held. "You ain t seen nothing yet. '

Sara tried to push him away. d.a.m.n, she wasn't a weakling Why did her arms feel like useless rubber bands now? " " The last time you said that " she began and then got no further.

He sure as h.e.l.l hoped that old man slept as soundly as he claimed, because he knew that there was no turning back from this point.

"Yes?"

Words were sticking to her mouth again. And she couldn't force herself to look away from his eyes. It was as if they held her very soul captive.

"You took me to bed."

He cupped her cheek with his hand and gently brushed his fingers along the skin. "There's something about familiarity that breeds a feeling of security."

Panic, cold and hard, seized her. Panic that he would make love to her here and now. Panic that he wouldn't. "But not for me."

"Then we won't make it all that familiar," he told Sara.

Each time they made love, Nik promised himself, it would be different.

An exploration to find something new in territory that was well-known and well loved.

What was she doing? How could she just capitulate this way? Sara scrambled to regain ground.

"But-"

Whatever else she was going to say melted away like snowflakes on a hot stove as he put his hands on her. Nothing more, just that. His hands on her shoulders and his eyes on hers.

And she was his.

She knew it was weak and that she would live to regret it. But she had already made up her mind to leave within a week. Her father's doctor's appointment was on Friday. He was recovering rapidly. She could see it. There was no excuse to remain any longer after that.

This one last time, she let herself give in to what she'd been yearning for all week. This madness of the blood that was no good for her.

He pressed a kiss to her neck. Shards of pleasure slashed recklessly all through her.

"Where's your room?" he whispered against her throat.

"In the back." He felt her words vibrate along his mouth , exciting him.

Her father's room was off the living room and faced the front of the house. "Then we won't be disturbing your father" It wasn't a question.

She could only shake her head mutely. The only one he would be disturbing, ultimately, was her.