When she emerged on deck she found Fortune being dragged to and fro on the end of a long thin rope. Dandy grinned at her. 'Seasick,' he told her. 'He doesn't like the sea much, does he?'.

Fortune was whining, trying to get back to her.

'Take him below,' said a voice behind her, and she stiffened, swinging to face Luc.

Dandy picked the little dog up and marched off with him. Luc met her eyes coolly. 'He'll feel better below. He won't notice the motion so much.'

She moved to the rail and leaned on it, watching the flying white wake streaking behind them. Luc moved to stand beside her. She looked at his long, brown hands on the iron rail and her throat filled with dry tension.

How did you manage to get away?' she asked huskily.

'How could he stop me?' Luc asked with a grim smile. 'I had a car waiting at the hotel and a boat waiting in the town. He thought I was making a getaway with the money I'd won.' He laughed. 'He didn't realise precisely what stakes we were playing for.'

Lissa shivered. 'He won't come after us, will he?'

Luc glanced over his shoulder at the empty blue water. 'Even if he did he wouldn't catch us. The Queen has too much of a headway.'

'I shan't feel safe until I'm in England,' said Lissa, and Luc gave her a long, sardonic smile.

'I'm sure you won't,' he drawled, and there was a threat in the softness of his voice.

She shifted uneasily at the sound of it. Luc turned to lean his back on the rail, glancing up at the burning, untiring sun. 'Why don't you take a lounger and sunbathe for an hour? I've got some work to do.'

He went below and Lissa stretched out on the padded lounger which Dandy put up for her on the deck. Occasionally one of the crew came up and moved around, but although they always gave her a polite nod they did not speak to her. She counted four of them and wondered how many more there were on the yacht.

Dandy called her down to lunch just as she was falling asleep under the spell of wind and sun. Flushed and drowsy, she went down to wash and followed Dandy to the cabin two doors down from her own. She found herself eating alone with Luc at a polished rosewood table guarded at the edges with low rims of silver which stopped things sliding off the table.

They ate well-cooked and elegantly served food of which Lissa barely tasted a morsel. She ate it but she only vaguely realised what she was eating. Luc was quiet and when their eyes met she could not see a flicker of expression in the dark blue ones opposite her.

After lunch Luc suggested a tour of the yacht. Lissa followed him from cabin to cabin, surprised by the luxury of the surroundings, puzzled by the size of it.

'What do you do with the yacht while you're in London?' she asked.

He shrugged. 'She either lies up or I lend her to friends. Dandy sails her for them. I keep the crew on throughout the year. I know them all and I don't want to lose them. If you're going to spend time cooped up with someone on a yacht you need to be sure you're going to like and trust them.'

Lissa stood by the porthole in his cabin staring out at the sunlit water. 'You're very rich, aren't you?' Her voice came thin and dry like smoke.

Luc didn't answer for a moment, then he said in a flat voice, 'Yes. Very.'

'You lied to me about your job, didn't you? You don't deal in stocks and shares.'

'Yes, I do,' he said. -

She swung then, her face angry. 'Dandy laughed when I asked him if you were a stockbroker.'

Luc's mouth flicked sideways in grim amusement. 'Did he, damn him?'

'What do you do? Who are you?' she insisted.

'I am myself,' Luc said calmly. 'That's all you need to know.'

'Are you a criminal? Are you a gangster like Chris?' she asked feverishly. 'I've let you talk me into leaving Chris, but what do I know about you?'

Luc surveyed her without speaking, his face taut and set. 'You don't know anything,' he agreed. 'You're going to have to take me on trust, Lissa. You've little choice.'

'Why won't you tell me anything about yourself?' she demanded in rising tones.

'Why should I?' Luc asked drily. 'If you can't bring yourself to accept me without some sort of affidavit for my character, you're going to have to grin and bear it.'

'I don't trust you,' she muttered hoarsely.

'So I see,' Luc drawled.

'You can't find that surprising!'

'You trusted Brandon until I made you see him as he really was,' Luc came back tightly.

'I've known Chris all my life. He's looked after me and cared for me.'

'And wanted you,' Luc said in a low harsh voice.

Lissa bit her lip and looked at the floor.

'You were ready to give yourself to him without knowing a damned thing about him. You can do the same for me,' said Luc, and her throat hurt as she swallowed.

She couldn't look up or answer. Luc waited, watching her,

'No comment?' he asked coolly. 'Very wise.'

'What comment do you expect me to make? A remark like that doesn't deserve an answer.'

His face was hard, his eyes narrowed. 'You came with me-you knew what that would mean.'

Lissa felt a shiver run down her spine. 'You offered to help me get away from Chris. I didn't realise you were putting a price tag on your help,' she said contemptuously.

Luc laughed grimly. 'Oh, you knew all right. You may be a little naive, but you aren't totally stupid. I made no secret of what I would expect, and you understood the situation, however much you may deny it now.'

'I might have known you were every bit as much a ruthless swine as Chris!'

'You might, indeed,' he drawled. 'Poor Lissa-what, a predicament!'

The unhidden mockery stiffened her spine. She glared at him, her eyes alive with anger. 'I'm glad you think it's so funny!'

He leaned against the cabin wall, his arms folded. 'You can always swim back to him. It isn't very far-around seventy miles, I suppose. But you're a good swimmer, aren't you? If the sharks don't get you, it won't take more than a few days.'

'Given a choice between you and the sharks, I might well prefer the sharks,' Lissa muttered through her teeth.

His blue eyes hardened. 'Ah, but I'm afraid you won't be given the choice. I've got you and I'm keeping you.'

Very flushed, she said furiously: 'You have not got me!'

'It's only a matter of time,' Luc pointed out silkily. He moved and she leapt back towards the door, her nerves jangling. Luc laughed, giving her a wry look. 'Don't get uptight just yet. I'm in no hurry. Love in the afternoon is a taste I've never acquired.' He opened the door and gave her a derisory little bow. 'After you.'

Lissa shot through the door like a scalded cat, Luc came after her and said lightly: 'I've got some work to do. Why don't you relax on the deck again? I'll see you later.'

She stayed on the deck, as he had suggested, but there was no relaxation involved. She was tense and disturbed as she watched the water creaming along in their wake. Once Dandy wandered up to talk to her, but most of the time she spent alone with her thoughts, and she did not enjoy them very much.

The sun went down with that abrupt and startling rush which always signalled nightfall. Dandy smiled at her as she came down into the cabin to eat the light, evening meal. 'Enjoying your cruise?'

She pretended to laugh. 'Very much.'

Dandy went out and Luc eyed her sardonically. He knew she was lying and the blue eyes told her as much.

When they had eaten and Dandy had vanished, Luc put a record on the turntable fitted into the wall of the cabin. Lissa nervously sat on the leather couch which, like the rest of the furniture, was stabilised so that it did not shift with the motion of the yacht.

'I'm rather tired,' she said huskily. 'The sea air, I suppose, I think I'll go to bed early.'

Luc sank down beside her, his arm sliding along the back of the couch behind her. 'That sounds promising.'