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By Root 331 0

picked up speed. What the hell did she think she was doing in there? What the hell did he think he was doing in there? Linc shook his head. The woman was a menace. Still, she didn’t deserve the way that jerk had treated her. Whatever else Daisy Flattery did, he was sure she didn’t ask for anything she didn’t deserve. And Howard had been kicking her around just because he could. Linc hated bullies, having run across quite a few of them in his youth, people who thought because you were poor it was all right to push you around. It wasn’t, and telling Howard that it wasn’t had felt great. Making Howard’s sneer disappear like dirty snow in the rain hadn’t been the intelligent, mature, responsible thing to do, but it had been satisfying. And fun—

No, it hadn’t. He stopped for a red light and glared at Daisy again. “Don’t ever do that again.”

She rolled her eyes, exasperated. “All right.”

Linc made a sound between a groan and a snarl and stepped on the gas as the light turned green.

“You know,” she said a few minutes later as he pulled into the driveway at their house, “I don’t think you appreciate me.”

“You’re an acquired taste.” He got out and held the car door open for her. “And unfortunately, we’re not going to be together long enough for me to acquire that taste.”

“That’s not unfortunate.” Daisy took his hand as he levered her out of the low-slung car seat. “Just because you acquired a taste for me doesn’t mean I’d let you indulge it. You’ve just saved yourself a lot of frustration.”

Linc looked down at her, fed up. “Trust me. If I acquired a taste, you’d let me indulge. I’m irresistible.” He met her eyes, ready for battle, and she smiled at him, that bone-melting smile. Combined with the surge of adrenaline he’d gotten from rescuing her from Howard and the surge of lust he got every time he looked down her dress, her smile wiped all thought temporarily from his mind and breathing was suddenly difficult.

“Don’t do that,” Linc said.

“Don’t underestimate me,” Daisy said.

“That would be a mistake,” Linc agreed, and got in the car without looking at her again.

On the plane the next day, Linc was relieved to see that Daisy was a different woman. She sat quietly in her white dress with her ankles crossed and her chin down, and she didn’t say a word. During the takeoff, she’d held his hand, and he’d though that it was a nice touch until he noticed her hands were like ice and her knuckles were white. She was cutting off the circulation to his fingers.

“Are you scared?”

Her voice was only one notch above a whisper. “I hate flying.”

“Why didn’t you say so?”

“One thousand dollars.”

“Flying is statistically safer than driving, so you can relax.” Linc pried her fingers loose. “Concentrate on the money. Your rent is paid, by the way. I sent it directly to Guthrie so he wouldn’t evict you while we were gone.”

Daisy clenched her hands in her lap. “I know you paid it. He called.”

Linc winced. “I should have thought of that. I suppose he thinks I’m keeping you. Did he threaten to evict you for immoral behavior?”

Daisy shook her head a little. “No. I’m not sure, but I think he offered to take over for you if things didn’t work out between us.”

“What?”

“I think he propositioned me. I’m not sure. He hems and haws a lot.”

“The creep.” Linc took her hand again and thought about what louses men could be to defenseless women like Daisy. “Would you like me to break his fingers?”

Daisy rolled her eyes at him. “Linc, he knows you’re not my brother from New Jersey.”

“I’ll break his fingers anyway, the old goat.” Linc was outraged. Poor Daisy. She was such a nice kid.

He stopped. The story was working. Daisy wasn’t a nice kid; she was a hippie from hell. But she had even him thinking she was a sweet little thing. He looked down at her. She did look sort of gormless, sitting there with one hand curled in her lap, the other crushing his again whenever they hit an air pocket.

“Did he upset you?”

“Guthrie?” Daisy shook her head and loosened her grip. “Oh, no. I just don’t like flying.” After a couple of minutes during which no air