She shook her head. 'Not until you hear me out.'

A resigned look crossed his face. 'Dammit, Robyn, I just want some sleep. Can't this wait until morning or are you planning on raping me again?'

'I didn't rape you!'

'Sure felt like it.'

She stared at him, all her anger disappearing in a rush along with her self-confidence. His image blurred as tears filled her eyes. 'I'm sorry,' she whispered.

He shifted his feet but kept his gaze fixed on her. She waited for him to speak but he didn't.

'I'm sorry for coming on to you.'

'OK.'

She stared at him. 'Aren't you going to shout at me?'

'What's the point? You apologized. I accept your apology.' His expression sharpened. 'Now tell me what's going on or I'll walk out of here and never come back.'

She stared at him, measured the strength in his eyes and his purposeful demeanor. G.o.d, she was so tired of lying. 'I need a ride out of here.'

'I guessed that.'

'And I thought the best way to get it was to appeal to your baser nature.'

'By using s.e.x, right?'

She shrugged, tried to smile. 'It's all I have to offer at the moment.'

'I was going to give you a ride anyway.'

'You were?'

'Of course I was.' He frowned. 'Did you think I'd leave you stuck here alone?'

Unable to bear the outrage and honesty in his gaze, she stared down at her clasped hands. 'I don't know where I'm going.'

He sighed. 'I guessed that as well.'

'I don't know anything anymore.'

'Who does?'

She risked another glance at him, saw the understanding on his face and took a deep breath. 'Would you let me tag along with you for a while? I promise to behave myself.'

He stared at her for so long that she started to shiver. He held out his hand. 'OK, but no funny business, right? And you'll have to help out.'

She grasped his hand and shook it, felt a curious desire to throw herself at his broad chest and weep. She restricted herself to a grateful smile as he took off his Stetson and his boots.

'Now I'm going to sleep. See you in the morning,' he said.

She retreated to her own bed, lay down fully clothed and curled up in a tight ball. Within minutes, Dakota started to snore. She listened to the gentle buzz and found her eyes closing.

After all her years in show business, she'd forgotten that there were people who were straightforward and honorable, who meant what they said and genuinely tried to help their fellow man without some kickback. She smiled into the darkness. Who would have thought that telling the truth would work so well? Perhaps she'd try it again in the future.

Chapter Four.

'Get up, lazy bones.'

Robyn groaned and tried to pull the covers back over her head. 'f.u.c.k off, Dakota.'

'Lady, it's already midday and I have stuffto do.'

'Then go do it.'

'But I need your help.'

He sank down on the side of the bed and his weight rolled her toward him.

'I'm sick.'

He peered into her face, his breath warm and laced with coffee. She kept still as he laid his palm against her forehead. 'You're fine. Now get up, have some coffee and come help me.'

Robyn struggled to sit, pushing strands of tangled hair away from her face. 'You're one of those morning people, aren't you?'

He smiled. 'It's midday.'

'You're also incredibly annoying.'

'So I've been told.' He stood up and gestured at the door. 'Coffee's waiting and, if you're nice, I'll even buy you breakfast.'

Robyn grabbed the quilt and shuffled toward the bathroom. She didn't feel hungry, rarely did anymore, but the coffee smelt good. Even while she showered, she could hear Dakota whistling something cheery through the thin walls. Part of her longed to slap his face, to tell him that life sucked and then got worse.

She emerged wrapped in one of the threadbare orange towels to find him gone. With a curse, she slid back into her bra and underwear, grabbed her coat and quickly braided her wet hair. A paper cup full of coffee sat beside her purse. She picked up both items and headed for the door. A knot of anxiety formed in her gut. Had he gone? Would he be that cruel?

She blinked at the sunlight and then stopped as a shadow fell over her. Dakota leant up against the motel wall, hat low on his head, booted feet crossed at the ankle. He smiled down at her.

'You ready?' he asked.

She flipped her braid over her shoulder and fiddled with the end. 'Why are you always so frickin' cheerful? We're stuck in this G.o.d-awful place. There's nothing to do, nothing to see and probably nothing to eat either.'

He pushed off the wall. 'You're wrong about that. I promised you breakfast, didn't I?'

She followed him, admiring his long elegant stride and the confidence with which he moved through the quiet sun-drenched streets. She grimaced at his back. How in h.e.l.l could she still find him attractive after he'd rejected her? But that had always been her problem, hadn't it? The worse a guy treated her, the more she liked it.

'You know, Dakota's a girl's name.'

He stopped walking and turned back. Robyn instinctively crossed her arms over her chest as he loomed over her. At least he'd stopped smiling.

'It's a perfectly good traditional name for a guy, so shut up.'

She opened her eyes wide. 'Ooh, have I hit a nerve? Did you get beat up a lot in the school yard for being a big pansy?'

His smile returned, although this time it wasn't pleasant. 'A lot of guys tried, but they stopped after I beat the c.r.a.p out of them.'

'Wow, what a hero. Am I supposed to be impressed?'

'Nope, you're supposed to shut up, change the subject and come get something to eat.'

Robyn licked her lips and considered him. How far could she push him? How far before he lost his temper and revealed his true colors?

'So it doesn't bother you then, having a girl's name?'

A muscle twitched in his cheek. 'Nope, not at all.'

'Are you sure about that?'

She resumed walking, deliberately brushed against him as she sashayed past. His hand fastened around her elbow and drew her close into his side.

'Robyn's not exactly a girl's name either, is it?'

She sniffed. 'It is so, especially when spelled with a "y". You're just saying that because you're mad.'

'I'm not mad. I never get mad. Life's too short.'

She squinted up at him, wished she'd remembered to put on her sungla.s.ses. 'You are so full of c.r.a.p.'

'Because I try to be positive?'

'Because you say all this stupid stuffas if it's true, as if life really doesn't suck and that people really can love you for what you are.' Horrified, she jammed her lips shut before she said anything else.

He gazed down at her, his mouth a hard line. 'So just because you're a negative person, I'm not allowed to be happy, right?'

She gritted her teeth. 'You can be as happy as you like, just keep it to yourself, OK?'

He released her arm and stepped back; his annoying smile reappeared. 'Man, you're crabby in the mornings.'

'I'm crabby, period. Now show me where the food is or I'll scream.'

He pointed down Main Street to a small shopfront with tables set outside. 'Olly's Diner, ma'am, be my guest.'

She stomped across the road inhaling the heavenly scent of fresh-roasted coffee, pancakes and maple syrup. For the first time in weeks, she actually felt hungry. She'd spent so many years trying different combinations of diets and pills to keep her thin and relaxed and energetic and s.e.xy and . . . somewhere along the way, she'd lost her appet.i.te for real food.

She squeezed into the cracked red leatherette seat and slid along until she reached the window. Dakota sat opposite her and reached for the menu, obscuring his face from view. She studied the lines of text but she already knew what she was going to have.

'How're you folks doing today?'

The plump middle-aged waitress wore a pink nylon check dress and lace ap.r.o.n. Her grey hair was pulled back into an untidy bun at the base of her neck.

'Just fine, ma'am. How about yourself?'

Robyn smirked behind her menu. Trust the cowboy to come up with the correct response. She wasn't used to talking to wait staff. In her more bratty days she'd had it written into her contract that no one apart from her family and the director was allowed to speak to her, let alone make eye contact.

'I'm doing just fine. Now what can I get you?'

Dakota turned to Robyn and she hastily concealed her amus.e.m.e.nt. Somehow she sensed that he wouldn't take kindly to her laughing at the older woman. She cleared her throat.

'I'll have decaf coffee and pancakes with maple syrup.' Dakota raised his eyebrows and she found herself muttering, 'Please.'

'And I'll have coffee and the big breakfast, please, ma'am.'

The waitress scribbled the order down on her pad and beamed at Dakota. 'And how do you like your eggs, honey?'

'Over easy, please.'

'Not like your women, then,' Robyn said as the waitress turned away.

Dakota studied her intently. 'You sure know how to hold a grudge, don't you?'

'You turned me down. You deserve everything you get.' She looked out of the window to avoid his gaze.

'I lost my taste for over easy on the rodeo circuit.'

His flat tone roused her interest but she refused to turn around and look at him. Instead she traced patterns with her fingertip in the condensation on the gla.s.s.

'Women were all over you? You poor, poor man.' Her sarcasm earned her nothing more than a quiet chuckle.

'Actually, you're right. It did become a pain in the a.s.s. They didn't really want me, just the thrill of hanging on the arm of a professional cowboy.'

She blinked slowly allowing the glare from outside to distort her vision. Yeah, she knew how that felt. To have people wanting to be seen with you for what you were rather than for who you were. She shrugged those painful memories away.

'I've never heard a guy worry about getting too much before. What's the problem? Can't you keep it up?'

Stony silence greeted her comment and she tensed. Would he finally lose it? The waitress brought the coffee and food. Robyn pretended to fuss over her pancakes and find her cutlery. Eventually she had to look up and found herself staring straight into Dakota's hazel eyes.

'I can keep it up just fine, thank you.'

'As I'm unlikely to ever need to know that information, thanks for nothing.'

He winked. 'You've given up on me already?'