He snuggled against her as gently as a kitten.

"No more swats. No nasty bathroom tricks."

He let out a soft puff of air, and she surrendered. "You silly baby."

As Daisy lost her heart, Alex stood by the back door of the big top and watched it all happening. He saw the elephant curl his trunk over her arm and smiled to himself. Whether Daisy knew it or not, she'd just made a friend for life. He chuckled and headed toward the red wagon.

Heather had never been so miserable. She sat at the kitchen table of their Airstream and stared down at her day's schoolwork, but the print on the page wouldn't come into focus. Like the other circus kids, she was doing her schoolwork by correspondence through the Calvert School in Baltimore, a place that specialized in teaching children who couldn't go to regular school. Every few weeks a fat envelope arrived full of books, papers, and tests.

Sheba had gotten into the habit of supervising Heather's schoolwork, but Sheba's own formal education hadn't been terrific, and she was pretty lame at anything except monitoring the tests. Heather was having trouble with geometry, and she'd gotten a D on her last English composition.

Now she pushed her book aside and stared down at the piece of notebook paper in front of her that she'd been doodling on. Mrs. Alex Markov. Heather Markov. Heather Pepper Markov. Mrs. Alex Markov. Heather Markov. Heather Pepper Markov.

Shit. Why had he let her do it? Why had Alex let Daisy kiss him like that right out there in front of everyone? Heather had wanted to die when she saw that kiss. She hated Daisy's guts, and the best thing about these past few weeks had been seeing her all dirty and nasty from hauling shit. She deserved to haul shit. Why had he let her do it? Why had Alex let Daisy kiss him like that right out there in front of everyone? Heather had wanted to die when she saw that kiss. She hated Daisy's guts, and the best thing about these past few weeks had been seeing her all dirty and nasty from hauling shit. She deserved to haul shit.

Over and over Heather tried to ease her guilt about what she'd done to Daisy by telling herself that Daisy deserved what had happened to her. She didn't belong here. She didn't fit in. And she should never have married Alex. Alex had been Heather's.

She'd fallen in love with him six weeks ago when she'd first set eyes on him. Unlike her father, he always had time to talk to her. He didn't mind having her follow him around, and before Daisy had come along, he'd even taken her with him sometimes when he'd gone to run errands. Once when they were in Jacksonville, they'd gone into this art gallery together and he'd explained stuff to her about the pictures. He also encouraged her, to talk about her mother and had said couple of things about why her dad was so stubborn.

But as much as she loved him, she knew he still thought of her as a kid. Lately she'd been thinking that maybe if he'd realized she was a woman, he'd have looked at her differently and not married Daisy.

Once again, guilt stabbed at her. She hadn't planned to take that money and hide it in Daisy's suitcase, but she'd gone into the red wagon, and Daisy had taken that phone call, and the cash drawer had been open, and it had just happened.

It was wrong, but she kept telling herself it wasn't too wrong. Alex didn't want Daisy-Sheba said the same thing. Daisy was going to make him miserable, and because of what Heather had done, he could find it out right now instead of later on.

But the kiss she'd witnessed this morning told her Daisy wasn't going to let him go that easy. Heather still couldn't believe the way she'd thrown herself at him. Alex didn't need her! He didn't need Daisy when he could have Heather.

But how was he supposed to know the way she felt about him when she'd never told him? She pushed aside her books and jumped up. She couldn't stand it any longer. She had to make him see that she wasn't a kid. She had to make him understand that he didn't need Daisy.

Without giving herself time for second thoughts, she rushed from the trailer and headed toward the red wagon.

Alex looked up from the desk as Heather walked in. She'd tucked her thumbs into the pockets of her plaid shorts, which were almost entirely covered by an oversize white T-shirt. She looked pale and unhappy, like a fairy-sprite with clipped wings. His heart went out to her. She had it rough, but she kept fighting, and he liked that about her.

"What's up, honey?"

She didn't reply at first. Instead, she began to wander aimlessly around the trailer, touching the arm of the couch, the handle on a file cabinet. He saw a faint orange mark on her cheekbone where she'd tried to camouflage a pimple, and he felt a rush of tenderness. Someday soon, she was going to be a real beauty.

"Troubles?"

Her head snapped up. "Not me."

"That's good."

Her throat worked as she swallowed. "I just thought you might want to know..." She ducked her head and began to poke at the cuticle around one chewed fingernail.

"Know what?"

"I saw what Daisy did to you today," she said hurridly, "and just want you to know that I know you couldn't help it and everything."

"What did Daisy do to me?"

"The way she-you know."

"I'm afraid I don't."

"You know." She gazed at a spot on the carpet. "Kissed you like that out where everybody could see and everything. Embarrassed you."

The way he remembered it, he'd been the one who'd instigated the kiss. He hadn't liked knowing that everyone in the circus was staring at her waist and counting months on their fingers. He also didn't like the way people ridiculed her behind her back, especially when he knew he was partially to blame.

"I don't understand what this has to do with you, Heather."

She clutched her hands at her sides and let it all come out in a rush. "Everybody knows how you feel about her and everything. How you don't like her. And when my dad told me she wasn't pregnant or anything, I couldn't figure out why you married her. Then I remembered that guys get kind of crazy if a girl's real pretty and maybe they want to-you know-have relations with her, but she might say she won't unless they get married. And so I figured out that's why you married her. But what I want to tell you is-I mean, if you want to make her leave and everything..."

For the first time since her tirade had begun, she looked him directly in the eye, and he saw desperation there. She screwed up her face and let the words tumble out. "I know you think I'm a kid, but I'm not. I'm sixteen. I might not be pretty like Daisy, but I'm still a woman, and I could-I could let you have sex with me and everything, so you wouldn't have to have it with her."

Alex felt as if he'd been poleaxed, and he couldn't think of a thing to say. Her cheeks had turned bright red-probably the same color as his-and she was once again staring a hole through the floor.

He rose slowly to his feet. He'd faced down nasty drunks and knife-wielding truck drivers, but he'd never faced anything like this. She'd mistaken his friendship for something more, and he had to set her straight right away.

"Heather..." He cleared his throat and walked around the end of the desk. As he came to a stop, Daisy appeared in the doorway behind Heather, but the teenager was so wrapped up in what she'd done that she didn't notice. Daisy must have sensed that something important was going on because she immediately went still and waited.

"Heather, when a young girl gets a crush..."

"It's not a crush!" Heather lifted her head, and her eyes were moist with entreaty. "I fell in love with you at first sight, and I thought maybe you liked me, too, but because I was so young and everything, you might be afraid to say anything about it. That's why I decided I had to tell you."

He wished Daisy would help him out, but she stood quietly, taking it all in. For Heather's own good, he had to make her see the reality of the situation. "You don't love me, Heather."

"I do!"

"You think you do. But you're young, and it's only a silly crush. You'll get over it. Believe me, in a couple of months we'll both laugh about this."

Heather looked as if he'd just slapped her, and he realized he'd said the wrong thing. She drew in her breath, and her eyes filled with tears. Appalled, he tried to think how to repair the damage.

"I like you, Heather, I do. But you're only sixteen. I'm a grown man, and you're still a child." He saw by her face that he was making it worse. He'd never felt so helpless, and he shot Daisy a look of entreaty.

To his annoyance, she rolled her eyes at him, as if he were the stupidest person on earth. Then she came stalking forward advancing on poor Heather with guns blazing.

"I knew I'd find you here, you hussy! You think just because you're young and incredibly lovely that you can steal my husband, but I'm going to fight you for him!"

Heather's mouth gaped, and she' took an automatic step backward. Alex stared at Daisy in disbelief. Of all the lame-brained, idiotic things she'd done, this one took the cake. Even a moron could see through her histrionics.

"I don't care how youthful and beautiful you are!" she exclaimed. "I won't let you ruin my marriage!" With a dramatic sweep of her hand, she pointed her finger toward the door. "Now I suggest you get out of here right now before I do something I regret."

Heather slammed her mouth shut. At the same time, she stumbled toward the door and fled.

Several long seconds ticked by before Alex slumped down on the couch. "I blew it, didn't I?"

Daisy regarded him with something like pity. "For a smart man, you certainly don't have much sense."

12.

Alex stared at the door through which Heather had just disappeared, then looked back at his wife. "That was the lousiest performance I've ever seen. Did you really say, 'I'm going to fight you for him'?"

"She believed me, and that's all that counted. After what you said, she needed to have someone treat her like an adult."

"I didn't mean to hurt her, but what was I supposed to do? She's not an adult; she's a kid."

"She gave you her heart, Alex, and you told her it didn't mean anything."

"It wasn't only her heart she was offering. Just before you came in, she let me know that her body was part of the package."

"She's feeling desperate. If you'd taken her up on it, she'd have been scared to death."

He shuddered. "Sixteen-year-olds aren't on my list of favorite perversions."

"What is?" She immediately bit her lip. When was she going to start thinking before she spoke?

He gave her a maddening smile that made goose bumps break out on her skin. "It'll be more fun for you to find that out for yourself."

"Why don't you just tell me?"

"Why don't you just wait and see."

She studied him. "Does it have anything to do with-no, of course not."

"Are you worrying about those whips again?"

"Not really," she lied.

"Good. Because you don't have anything to be concerned about." He paused. "If I do it exactly right, it hardly hurts at all."

Her eyes widened. "Will you stop it!"

"What?"

His innocent expression didn't fool her one bit "Stop planting all these seeds of suspicion in my mind."

"I haven't done a thing. You've put the suspicions there all by yourself."

"Only because you keep playing games with me. You've baited me about this from the beginning, and I don't like it. Just answer one simple question. Yes or no? Have you ever whipped a woman?"

"Yes or no?"

"That's what I'm asking."

"No qualifiers?"

"None."

"All right, then. Yes, I have definitely whipped a woman."

She swallowed and said weakly, "I take that back about the qualifiers."

"Sorry, sweetheart, but you lost your chance." With a grin, he sat down behind his desk. "I have work to do, so maybe you'd better tell me what you wanted to see me about."

Several seconds passed before she could gather her wits enough to remember what had brought her here in the first place. "It's Glenna."

"What about her?"

"She's a large animal and that cage is too small for her. We need a new one."

"Just like that? You want us to buy a new gorilla cage?"

"It's inhumane keeping her so closely confined. She's really sad, Alex. She has these wonderful soft fingers and she pushes them out through the bars as if she's starved for contact with another living being. And that's not the only problem. All the cages are so old that I'm not even sure they're safe. The lock on the leopard cage is being held together with wire."

He picked up a pencil and absentmindedly tapped the eraser on the battered desktop. "I agree with you. I hate that damned menagerie-it's barbaric-but cages are expensive, and Sheba's still thinking about selling off the animals. You'll just have to do your best." He spotted something out the window, and his chair creaked as he leaned back to get a better view. "Well, will you look at that. It seems you have a visitor."

She looked outside and saw a baby elephant standing untethered in front of the red wagon. "It's Tater."

As she watched, he lifted his trunk and bellowed, looking for all the world like a tragic hero calling out for his lost love. "What's he doing over here?"

"Trying to find you, I imagine." He smiled. "Elephants form strong family ties, and Tater seems to have bonded with you."

"He's a little large to be a pet."

"I'm glad you feel that way because he's not sleeping in our bed, Daisy, no matter how much you beg me."

She laughed. At the same time she refrained from telling him that she wasn't certain she'd be sleeping there, either. Too much still needed to be settled between them.

As Sheba approached Alex, she was having the grandmother of bad days. Just that morning Brady had told her that Daisy wasn't pregnant. The idea of that woman bearing Markov babies was so abhorrent she should have been relieved, but instead, something ugly had pooled in the pit of her stomach. If Alex hadn't married Daisy because she was pregnant, then he must have done it out of choice. He must have done it because he loved her.

Acid burned inside her. How could he love that no-talent little rich girl when he hadn't loved her? Couldn't he see how unworthy Daisy was? Had he lost all his pride?

Now she intended to put into action a plan that had been taking shape in her mind for days. It made business sense-she never did anything that wasn't for the good of the show, regardless of her personal feelings-but this idea also might finally pull the blinders away from Alex's eyes regarding his new bride.