"I can't take the preventative," Ivy replied. "I have a heart defect, and the medication causes abnormal heart rhythms in me. I have to treat the symptoms instead of the disease."

"I hope you brought your medicine."

Ivy looked at the chocolate cookie and ruefully put the remainder down on her plate. "I forgot to get it refilled." Translated, that meant that she couldn't afford it anymore. There was one remedy that was sold over the counter. She took it in desperation, although it wasn't as effective as the prescription medicines were.

"Stuart has pain medicine as well as the preventative," Merrie said solemnly. "If you wake up in the night screaming in pain because of that cookie, we can handle it. Maybe when your father's estate is settled, Rachel will leave you alone."

Ivy shook her head. "Rachel won't rest until she gets every penny. She convinced Dad that I was wilder than a white-tailed deer. He cut me out of his will."

"He knew better," Merrie said indignantly.

She laughed. "No, he didn't." Nor had he tried to find out. He drank to excess. Rachel encouraged him to do it. When he was drunk, she fed him lies about Ivy. The lies had terrible repercussions. That amused Rachel, who hated her prim younger sister. It made Ivy afraid every day of her life.

She pulled her mind from the past and forced a smile. "If having the estate will keep Rachel in NewYork, and out of my life, it will be worth it. I still have Aunt Hettie's little dab of money. That, and my part-time job, will see me through school."

"It's so unfair," her friend lamented. "It's never been like that here. Stuart split everything right down the middle between us. He said we were both Dad's kids and one shouldn't be favored over the other."

Ivy frowned. "That sounds as if one was."

She nodded. "In Dad's will, Stuart got seventy-five percent. He couldn't break the will, because Dad was always in his right mind. So he did the split himself, after the will was probated." She smiled. "I know you don't like him, but he's a great brother."

It wasn't dislike. It was fear. Stuart in a temper was frightening to a woman whose whole young life had been spent trying to escape male violence. Well, it was a little more than fear, she had to admit. Stuart made her feel funny when she was around him. He made her nervous.

"He's good to you," Ivy conceded.

"He likes you," she replied. "No, really, he does. He admires the way you work for your education. He was furious when Rachel jerked the house out from under you and left you homeless. He talked to the attorney. It was no use, of course. It takes a lot to break a will."

It was surprising that Stuart would do anything for her. He always seemed to resent her presence in his house. He tolerated her because she was Merrie's best friend, but he was never friendly. In fact, he stayed away from home when he knew Ivy was visiting.

"He's probably afraid of my fatal charm," Ivy murmured absently. "You know, fearful that he might succ.u.mb to my wiles." She frowned. "What, exactly, are wiles anyway?"

"If I knew that, I'd probably have a boyfriend," Merrie chuckled. "So it's just as well I don't. I'm going to get my nursing certificate before I get involved with any one man. Meanwhile, I'm playing the field like crazy. There's a resident in our hospital that I adore. He takes me out once in a while, but it's all very low-key." She eyed Ivy curiously. "Any secret suitors in your life?"

Ivy shook her head. "I don't ever want to get married," she said quietly.

Merrie frowned. "Why not?"

"n.o.body could live with me," she said. "I snore."

Merrie laughed. "You do not."

"Anyway, I'm like you. I just want to graduate and get a real job." She considered that. "I've dreamed of having my own money, of supporting myself. In a lot of ways, I led a sheltered life. Dad didn't want to lose me, so he discouraged boys from coming around. I was valuable, free hired help. After all, Rachel couldn't cook and she'd never have washed clothes or mopped floors."

Merrie didn't smile. She knew that was the truth. Ivy had been used her whole young life by the people who should have cherished her. She'd never pried, but she noticed that Ivy hardly ever talked about her father, except in a general way.

"You really do keep secrets, don't you?" Merrie asked gently. She held up a hand when Ivy protested. "I won't pry. But if you ever need to talk, I'm right here."

"I know that." She smiled back. "Thanks."

"Now. How about a good movie on the pay channels? I was thinking about that fantasy film everyone's raving about." She named it.

Ivy beamed. "I really wanted to see that one, but it's no fun going to the movies alone."

"I'll ask Mrs. Rhodes for some popcorn to go with it. In fact, she might like to watch it with us. She doesn't have a social life."

"She's married, isn't she?" Ivy probed gently.

"She was," came the reply. "He was an engineer in the Army and he went overseas with his unit. He didn't come back. They had no kids; it was just the two of them for almost twenty years." She grimaced. "She came to us just after it happened, looking for a live-in job. She'd lost everything. He got a good salary and was career Army, so she hadn't worked except as a temporary secretary all that time. When he was gone, she had to go through channels to apply for widow's benefits, and the job market locally was flat. She came to work for us as a temporary thing, and just stayed. We all suited each other."

"She's very sweet."

"She's a nurturing person," Merrie agreed. "She even gets away with nurturing Stuart. n.o.body else would dare even try."

Ivy wouldn't have touched that line with a pole. She just nodded.

She was looking through the program guide on the wide-screen television when Merrie came in with a small, plump, smiling woman with short silver hair.

"Hi, Mrs. Rhodes," Ivy said with a smile.

"Good to see you, Ivy. I'm making popcorn. What's the movie?"

"We wanted to see the fantasy one," Merrie explained.

"It's wonderful," came the surprising reply. "Yes, I went to the theater to see it, all by myself," Mrs. Rhodes chuckled. "But I'd love to see it again, if you wouldn't mind the company."

"We'd love it," Ivy said, and meant it.

"Then I'll just run and get the popcorn out of the microwave," the older woman told them.

"I'll buy the movie," Merrie replied, taking the remote from Ivy. "This is the one mechanical thing I'm really good at--pushing b.u.t.tons!"

The movie was wonderful, but long before it was over, Ivy was seeing dancing colored lights before her eyes. Soon afterward, she lost the vision in one eye; in the center of it was only a ragged gray static like when a television channel went off the air temporarily. It was the unmistakable aura that came before the sick headaches.

She didn't say a word about it to Merrie. She'd just go to bed and tough it out. She'd done that before. If she could get to sleep before the pain got bad, she could sleep it off most of the time.

She toughed it out until the movie ended, then she yawned and stood up. "Sorry, I've got to get to bed. I'm so sleepy!"

Merrie got up, too. "I could do with an early night myself. Mrs. Rhodes, will you close up?"

"Certainly, dear. Need anything else from the kitchen?"

"Could I have a bottle of water?" Ivy asked. "I always keep one by my bed at home."

"I'll bring it up to you," Mrs. Rhodes promised. "Merrie?"

Merrie shook her head. "No, thanks, I keep diet sodas in my little fridge. I drink enough bottled water at school to float a boat!"

"You said you could lend me a nightgown?" Ivy asked when they were at the top of the staircase.

"Can and will. Come on."

Merrie pulled a beautiful nightgown and robe out of her closet and presented it to Ivy. It was sheer, lacy, palest lemon and absolutely the most beautiful thing Ivy had ever seen. Her nightgowns were cheap cotton ones in whichever colors were on sale. She caught her breath just looking at it.

"It's too expensive," she protested.

"It isn't. It was a gift and I hate it," Merrie said honestly. "You know I never wear yellow. One of my roommates drew my name at Christmas and bought it for me. I didn't have the heart to tell her it wasn't my color, I hugged her and said thank you. Then I hung it in the closet."

"I would have done the same," Ivy had to admit. "Well, it's beautiful."

"It will look beautiful on you. Go on to bed. Sleep late. We won't need to get up before noon if we don't want to."

"I never sleep past seven, even when I try," Ivy said, smiling. "I always got up to make breakfast for Dad and Rachel, and then just for Dad after she left home."

"Mrs. Rhodes will make you breakfast, whenever you want it," Merrie said. "Sleep well."

"You, too."

Ivy went into the bedroom that adjoined Merrie's. There was a bathroom between the guest room and Stuart's room, but Ivy wasn't worried about that. Stuart was out of town and she'd have the bathroom all to herself if she needed it. She probably would, if she couldn't sleep off the headache. They made her violently ill.

She put on the nightgown and looked at herself in the full-length mirror. She was surprised at how she looked in it. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were small, but high and firm, and the gown emphasized their perfection. It flowed down her narrow waist to her full hips and long, elegant legs. She'd never worn anything so flattering.

With her long blond hair and dark green eyes and silky, soft complexion, she looked like a fairy. She wasn't pretty, but she wasn't plain, either. She was slender and medium height, with a nice mouth and big eyes. Only one of the big eyes was seeing right now, though, and she needed sleep.

There was a soft knock at the door. She opened it, and there was Mrs. Rhodes with the water. "Dear, you're very pale," the older woman said, concerned. "Are you all right?"

Ivy sighed. "It was the chocolate. I've got a headache. I don't want Merrie to know. She worries. I'll just go to sleep, and I'll be fine."

Mrs. Rhodes wasn't convinced. She'd seen Ivy have these headaches, and she'd seen Stuart suffer through them. "Have you got something to take?"

"In my purse," Ivy lied. "I've got aspirin."

"Well, if you need something stronger, you come wake me up, okay?" she asked gently. "Stuart keeps medicine for them. I know where to look."

She smiled. "Thanks, Mrs. Rhodes. I really mean it."

"You just get some sleep. Call if you need me. I'm just across the hall from Merrie."

"I will. Thanks again."

She dropped down on the queen-size bed and pulled the silken covers up over her. The room was a palace compared to her one-room apartment. Even the bathroom was larger than the room she lived in. Merrie took such wealth and luxury for granted, but Ivy didn't. It was fascinating to her.

The pain was vicious. The headaches always settled in one eye, and they felt as if a knife were being pushed right through the pupil. Some people called them "head-bangers" because sufferers had been known to knock their heads against walls in an effort to cope with the pain. Ivy groaned quietly and pushed her fist against the eye that had gone blind. The sight had returned to it, and the pain came with it.

Volumes had been written on the vicious attacks. Comparing them to mild tension headaches was like comparing a hurricane to a spring breeze. Some people lost days of work every year to them. Others didn't realize what sort of headaches they were and never consulted a doctor about them. Still others wound up in emergency rooms pleading for something to ease the pain. Hardly anything sold over the counter would even faze them. It usually took a prescription medicine to make them bearable. Ivy had never found anything that would stop the pain, regardless of its strength. The best she could hope for was that the pain would ease enough that she could endure it until it finally stopped.

Around midnight, the pain sp.a.w.ned nausea and she was violently sick. By that time, the pain was a throbbing, stabbing wave of agony.

She dabbed her mouth and eyes with a wet cloth and laid back down, trying again to sleep. But even though the nausea eased a little, the pain increased.

She would have to go and find Mrs. Rhodes. On the way, she'd stop in the bathroom long enough to wet the cloth again.

She opened the door, half out of her mind with pain, and walked right into a tall, muscular man wearing nothing except a pair of black silk pajama bottoms. Blue eyes bit into her green ones as she looked up, a long way up, into them.

"What the h.e.l.l are you doing here?" Stuart York demanded with a scowl.

CHAPTER THREE.

IVY hadn't seen him in months. They didn't travel in the same circles, and he was never at home when she was visiting Merrie. The sight of him so unexpectedly caused an odd breathlessness, an ache in the pit of her stomach.

He was watching her intently, and there was an odd glint in his pale blue eyes, as if she'd disappointed him. He rarely smiled. He certainly wasn't doing it now. His wide, s.e.xy mouth was thin with impatience. She couldn't take her eyes off him. His chest was broad and muscular and thick with black, curling hair that narrowed on its way down his belly. The silk pajama bottoms clung lovingly to the hard muscles of his thighs. He was as s.e.xy as any television hero. Even with his thick, straight black hair slightly tousled and his eyes red from lack of sleep, he was every woman's dream.

"I was...looking for something," she faltered.

"Me?" he drawled sarcastically, and he reached for her. "Rachel told me all about you before she left town. I didn't believe her at first." His eyes slid down her exquisite body in the revealing gown. "But it looks as though she was right about you all along."

The feel of all that warm strength so close made her legs wobbly. There was the faint scent of soap and cologne that clung to his skin, and the way he was looking at her made it even worse. Over the years, she'd tried very hard not to notice Stuart. But close like this, her heart ran away with her. She felt sensations that made her uneasy, alien sensations that made her want things she didn't understand. She couldn't take her eyes off him, but he was misty in her vision. Her head was throbbing so madly that she couldn't think. Which was unfortunate, because he misinterpreted her lack of protest.

A split second later, she was standing with her back against the cold wall with Stuart's hard body pressing down against hers. His hands propped against the wall, pinning her, while his eyes took in the visible slope of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s in the wispy gown. He couldn't seem to stop looking at her.

"I need..." she began weakly, trying to focus enough to ask for some aspirin, for anything that might make the headache ease.

"...me?" he taunted. His voice was deep and velvety soft, husky with emotion as his head bent. His pale eyes went to her parted lips. "Show me, honey."

While she was working out that odd comment, his mouth was suddenly hard and insistent on her own. She stiffened with apprehension. She'd never been so close, so intimately close, to a man before. His mouth was demanding, twisting on hers as though he wanted more than he was getting.

She really should protest the way he was holding her, so that she felt every inch of muscle that pressed against her. But his mouth was erotic, masterful. She'd only been kissed a few times, mostly at parties, and never by a boy who knew much about intimacy. It had been her good fortune that she'd never felt violent attraction to a man who wouldn't accept limits. But her luck had just run out, with Stuart. He knew what he was doing. His mouth eased and became coaxing, caressing. His teeth nipped tenderly at her lower lip, teasing it to move down so that he had access to the whole of her soft, warm mouth.

She shivered a little as pa.s.sion grew inside her. She felt his bare chest under her hands, and she loved the warmth and strength of him so close. Her fingers burrowed through the thick hair that covered the hard muscle, making them tingle even as she felt the urgent response of his body to the soft caress. She let her lips part as he pressed harder against them and she moved, involuntarily, closer to the source of the sudden pleasure she was feeling.

It was like an invitation, and he took it. His hips ground into hers and she felt the sudden hardness of him against her with real fear. He groaned harshly. His body became even more insistent. He didn't seem capable, at that moment, of stopping.

The throbbing delight she felt turned quickly to fear as his hands dropped to her hips and dragged them against the changing contours of his body with intent enough that even a virgin could feel his rising desire. Frightened by his headlong ardor, she pushed at his chest frantically, trying to drag her lips away from the hard, slow drugging pressure of his mouth.

He was reluctant to stop. He could feel his own body betraying his hunger for her. He couldn't help it. She was exquisite to touch, and she tasted like sweet heaven. He couldn't think past her body under him in the bed behind them. But finally the violence of her resistance got through to his foggy brain. He managed to lift his head just long enough to meet her eyes.

When he saw the fear, he began to doubt for the first time what Rachel had said about her little sister. If this was the permissive behavior that had been described to him, it was unlikely that she'd had many boyfriends. On the contrary, she looked as if she was scared to death of what came next.

"No," she choked huskily, her eyes bright with feeling, pleading with his. "Please don't."

For just an instant, his hands tightened on her waist. But her gasp and stiffening posture told its own story. Promiscuous? This little icicle? Just on the strength of her response, he would have bet his life on her innocence.