'What am I doing?' she moaned under her breath. 'What have I done?'

She had told herself not to trust Luc. She had warned herself not to jump out of the frying pan into the fire, but on a crazy impulse she had done just that.

She had run away from the threat of Chris's possession and now she was in the power of a man she barely knew, a man who had lied to her and was as ruthless in pursuit of what he wanted as ever Chris would be.

Dandy was laughing. 'A stockbroker,’ he muttered, slapping his own knee. 'God damn him-a stockbroker! What will he pull next?'

Lissa was sick with shame and self-disgust. She looked back over her shoulder at the fast disappearing coastline. The lights of the hotel blazed like wildfire in the darkness. The moon had gone behind a bank of thin cloud and the ocean was very dark and silent. The cliffs and trees carved heavy shadows on the sky around the lighted hotel.

'Take me back,' she said huskily, and Dandy stopped laughing to look at her in silence.

'Don't be a dumb bunny,' he said, continuing to row.

'Take me back!'

'Even if I was going to, I couldn't,' Dandy added. 'I haven't got the energy. I'll just about make it to the Queen.'

'The Queen?' She moistened dry lips to ask that.

'The yacht,' Dandy explained. 'The Queen of Spades, that's what Luc named her. Daring his luck again. That boy loves to fly in the face of all reason.'

'Boy!' Lissa flung back angrily. 'Boy?'

Dandy chuckled. 'Man, then. Yeah, he's no boy, I guess,'

She settled back in a grim silence and Dandy rowed with slow, effortless strokes. It took so long to reach the yacht that Lissa was half asleep when they finally slipped into the dark shadow of the boat, A voice softly hailed them. A ladder swung from the deck and Dandy hoisted her, his large hands gripping her waist, supporting her as she slipped slightly.

Someone's hand dragged her over the side and she stood there, shivering, the dog under her arm growling with raised hair.

'What's that?' The man who had pulled her aboard stared at Fortune. 'Where did that come from?'

Dandy appeared, puffing. 'She wouldn't leave the little rat,' he grunted.

'Damn!' the man muttered.

Dandy put an arm around Lissa as she swayed., cold and sick. 'Hey, the little lady is dead on her feet.'

Lissa felt his arms round her and then she was swung up against his chest and carried down a narrow gangway.

She closed her eyes and just gave up. Dandy carried her into a cabin and laid her on a bunk. A moment later she woke up with a cry when she felt him stripping off her sweater. Her hands flailed and she yelled, 'Let me alone!'

'Hey, hey,' Dandy grumbled. 'That sweater's wringing wet. Think I'd meddle with one of Luc's possessions? Come on, now, be a good little girl and let Dandy get you undressed and into bed.'

She opened her eyes wide to search his face and see him clearly for the first time. She saw a broad, grizzled man in his fifties with a head which looked as ft if had been carved out of concrete and then weathered by wind and sun. His skin was mahogany, lined and wrinkled, his eyes a light grey. His hair was grey and sparse. His mouth was wide and strong. His ears stuck out at angles from his head. Lissa saw humour, calm self-confidence, kindness in his face.

She relaxed in his hands and Dandy went on taking off her clothes. He might have been a child's nurse. He didn't seem to see her body and he talked reassuringly as he worked.

'You get some sleep now and in the morning we'll be away on the tide. Joe's bringing you some nice hot cocoa-made with tinned milk, I'm afraid, but you won't mind that, will you? That'll help you sleep.'

'I couldn't sleep,' she said drily. 'Not with Luc ashore and in danger.'

'Now just you let us worry over Luc. I told you, the devil looks after his own. Luc will be fine.'

'You don't know,' she cried miserably.

Dandy was folding her like a baby into a warm cocoon of quilt. 'Dandy knows everything,' he told her, grinning down at her. 'All you have to do is remember that and you'll fall asleep like a baby.'

Someone moved behind him and her glance flicked to the newcomer. He grinned at her, winking. 'That's right, miss. Dandy is as close to omniscience as you're likely to meet this side of the pearly gates.'

Dandy offered to cuff him. 'This is Joe,' he told Lissa, removing the mug of cocoa from the young man's hands and handing it to her.

She smiled weakly at Joe and got a grin back. Joe went out and Dandy patted her head, his huge hand light on her hair. 'Drink your cocoa and get some sleep,' he said, going out.

She leant up on one elbow, the folds of the quilt draped around her, and sipped the steaming chocolate drink. There was a thick skin on the top of it, but she was so cold she did not care.

Fortune had nestled down on the bunk beside her feet, snuggling under the quilt. He was asleep, giving whining little snorts from time to time, his nose pushed against her bare feet.

The yacht swayed on the water and a bell somewhere chimed softly. Lissa looked up at the porthole. Luc would still be playing poker. How long would it be before Chris knew she had gone? Would Luc have time to get away before it was discovered?

He hadn't told her what he meant to do. He hadn't told her anything very much, and what he had told her was lies, she thought. Stockbroker… Dandy had roared at the very idea, amused by Luc's lie.

Lissa wasn't amused. Why had Luc told her that? To soothe her and reassure her?

She felt a cold shiver of dismay as she faced her own future. She had voluntarily given herself into the hands of a man who had lied to her, a man with a background as troubled and murky as Chris. Luc was just as dangerous, just as unscrupulous, just as amoral. He was a pirate, a professional gambler, and she had been crazy to trust him.

Finishing her cocoa she put down her mug and lay back in the bunk. She watched the swaying lamp above her, her eyes following that slow pendulum intently.

How could she sleep? She was torn between fear for Luc and anger with him.

Her eyes were heavy and her brain moved slowly, trying to sort out what she could do, unable to think clearly about anything.

She was growing warm at last and she felt her tense muscles beginning to relax as heat crept over her body. There wasn't a sound from anywhere on the yacht. Were all the men asleep? How could they even consider sleep when Luc was in danger? She turned on the pillow, yawning. She couldn't possibly sleep. She couldn't, possibly.

Lissa stirred, still fathoms deep in sleep, but disturbed by several things which had only just begun to penetrate her drowsy mind. The scent of bacon drifted around her, the delicious odour of coffee. She moved under the warm quilt, her nose wrinkling.

Someone laughed and her lids flew open. Sunlight struck across her unguarded eyes. She blinked, shifting in the bunk, and became aware of a difference in the movements of the yacht.

She sat up, giving a stifled cry, and then stared in disbelief as she saw the tall figure lounging on the end of her bunk.

'Luc!' The sight of him sent a wave of sick relief through her. His lean dark face was expressionless as he watched her and her smile vanished as she realised something else.

She was naked, the quilt having dropped back from her body as she sat up. Colour flared into her face. She grabbed the quilt and wound it around herself with a shaking hand.

'Slept well, did you?' Luc enquired silkily, watching her with open amusement,

'I think there was something in that cocoa,' she accused, and saw his mouth twitch at the edges.

'Dandy thought you'd be better off asleep,' he said in half admission.