She found a small zipper bag, but except for a condom whose worn and dented foil packet looked as though it had been rattling around the bottom of the bag for a while, his toiletries were pretty boring. Just a toothbrush and toothpaste, floss, a razor, nail clippers, aspirin, and a small tube of triple antibiotic cream. Oh, and wait. A small pocket knife. She pried open the lat-ter's various blades and implements.

As she was checking out the tiny corkscrew and wondering where a good bottle of wine was when you really needed it, she grew aware that her finally warm bodv had released Zach's scent from the clothes she'd donned. Heat that didn't originate from wearing sufficient clothing crawled through her veins, and she scowled, her momentary pleasure dissipating. Great. Just what she needed to make her day complete—sexual awareness of Gunga Din. She'd never understood women who were drawn to good-looking men who treated them like dirt, so darned if she was cheered by the thought of joining their ranks.

It was late; that was her problem. She needed to call it a day. Grabbing the fleece blanket, she folded the empty duffel to use as a pillow, turned off the overhead light, then wrapped up and stretched out on the backseat.

She couldn't relax, though. The longer she lay there, the spookier the sounds she heard outside the car. She thought woods were supposed to be quiet . Then, as if the situation wasn't already about as lousy as it could get, nature called. Well, she wasn't answering. She'd let her bladder explode before she'd venture into the trees surrounding this small camping spot. Nervous, stiff, and miserable, she tried to talk herself out of jumping at every unexplained noise.

But it was only by thinking of the various ways she could make Zach pay that she eventually lulled herself to sleep.

Chapter 6

ZACH WOKE UP TO SNOW. SWEARING, HE SAT UP and threw back his sleeping bag, which was weighed down with half an inch of the sloppy, wet stuff. He reached beneath the Jeep for his shoes. This frigging trip was cursed.

At least he'd had the foresight to throw his Marine-issue poncho over his bag before going to sleep last night. Being spared the scent of wet sleeping bag was a small blessing to be sure, but he'd take his boons where he could get them.

Not that he'd gone right to sleep. He'd twisted and turned in that damn narrow bag for a good forty-five minutes after Lily had finally quit messing around and turned off the light in the Jeep. Twisted, and turned, and relived, over and over again, that brief moment he'd held her. Burned everywhere her soft weight had touched him. And didn't that just take the fucking cake?

Cold, clammy, and pissed off, he donned his shoes, then snapped out the poncho wet-side down over the spot where he'd lain, using it as protection against the soggy ground while he rolled up his bag. Tucking the roll beneath his arm, he strode to the Jeep, shivering when a wet flake found its way down his neck just as he reached for the cargo hatch handle.

The hatch was locked, and he slapped his pants' pockets for the keys before remembering he'd left them in the ignition. Rounding the vehicle, he tried the driver's door handle, but it didn't budge either. He swore under his breath and peered in the windows just as dawn broke through the trees, marginally brightening the ash-gray sky. Well, great. All the doors were locked up tight, and Lily was asleep in the backseat, covered from stem to stern by the purple fleece blanket. Wisps of blonde hair were the only part of her he could see.

He rapped on the window, and felt an unworthy sense of satisfaction when she startled beneath the blanket. She raised her head, then slowly pushed up on one elbow, glancing around as if wondering where she was. Their gazes met through the window, and she blinked and gave him a sleepy smile.

It was a friendly smile, a sweet smile, and something jerked in his gut. Something else clamored for attention in his brain. Gritting his teeth, he ignored them both. "Unlock the door."

He saw the exact moment her mind engaged enough to remind her he wasn't her friend. She was in the midst of stretching for the mechanism to comply with his command when she suddenly stilled. Her hand dropped to her side and she struggled upright, wrapping the fleece blanket tightly around her. What the hell—was that his Northface she was wearing? "Will you move it?" he growled. "Let me in."

"No," she said.

"Dammit, Lily, open the door! It's snowing out here."

"I can see.that. Are you cold?"

"Yes!" And that was his jacket. The giveaway was the fact that it was about ten sizes too big for her.

"Well, gee, that's a crying shame. Although as I recall it, you didn't care that I was cold last night."

"Hey, I offered to share my bag." Big mistake. Not only did her upper lip curl in disdain, but his dick had a deja vu moment of the instant just after he'd proposed the option, when the ramifications of a possible acceptance had left him in a half erect state. He rattled the door. "Lemmein!"

"There are some things we need to discuss first."

He regarded her warily. "Like what?"

"I want a few concessions."

"Shit." But he knew he probably wouldn't get in without them—not without a lot of bother on his part. Mentally calculating how far he was willing to go, he demanded, "What do you want?"

"Bathroom stops I don't have to fight for, for starters."

"Oh." It caught him by surprise… then left him feeling guilty. Denying her those yesterday had been petty of him. "Okay, sure."

"And your word that you'll behave civilly from now on."

Now, that was a tougher one, especially considering his less-than-cheerful frame of mind lately. Still, he nodded. "You've got it." He watched through the window as she pulled her heels up on the seat next to her round little butt, pinched the toes of her socks—no, his socks, by God—and pulled them off her feet, trading them for her sandals. It was a sad day when a woman's naked feet got him itching. He raked his fingers through his hair. "What else?"

Dropping her feet to the floor, she straightened and fixed him with a stern glare. "I want water so I can wash up. Hot water."

"I'll get right on that—the minute I have access to the camp stove."

"Okay, then." She stretched over the front seat to flip the mechanism that opened all the locks.That was easier—not to mention a whole lot cheaper—than he'd expected. He went around to the cargo hatch and popped it open just as Lily tumbled out of the jeep and trotted awkwardly toward the stand of trees, a wad of tissues clenched in one fist. The sight brought a sardonic smile to Zach's lips, and he reached for the camp stove to heat her water. Damned if he hadn't been out-bluffed.

His amusement fled when he saw his belongings scattered all over the cargo area, and it suffered a further .downturn when he went looking for a dry shirt to put on and discovered his two long-sleeved thermal T's were gone. It was all he could do not to glare at Lily when she returned a short while later. "Give me back my shirts."

"Excuse me?" She cocked an expectant eyebrow at him.

Words he forced himself to swallow went down like ground glass. "Please."

To his surprise she immediately removed his North-face, laying the jacket inside the hatch. Then she reached for the hem of his burgundy T and peeled it off over her head. When she removed the silver one beneath it, her own top came partway with it, hitching up to expose a golden slice of skin just above her jeans waistband.

"Here, you wear this one," she said amiably, handing him the silver, waffle-weave shirt. "It does the most for your eyes. But I get to keep the burgundy one—at least until I warm up." She put it back on, then had to reroll the sleeves several times to prevent them from flopping over her fingertips.

Without her usual sky-high heels, the top of her head barely reached his chest, and his shirt wasn't simply long in the sleeves on her; it hung clear down to her knees. "You look like a damn kid playing dress-up," he muttered insincerely. No way in hell would anyone ever mistake her for a child. Not with those round hips or the sweet curve of her breasts pushing against his T.

He hated it that he was so physically aware of her. But when she pressed a hot wash cloth to her face a moment later and moaned in pure pleasure, he immediately thought of sex, down-and-dirty sex, in one position after another, each one of which flashed raunchier than the last across the screen of his mind. Disgusted, he stomped away and went to stand with his face lifted to the sluggishly falling snow.

Shit. Being rude to women might not be the way he was raised, but it had sure been a dandy cushion between him and the pull of Lily's sexuality. Now, because a deal was a deal, and he always kept his word, that cushion was gone.

Busy dealing with the nasty suspicion that this civility business just might be the death of him, he failed to notice the old Ford LTD parked behind the big wooden site map when he drove past it soon after.

Hours later Zach conceded that sometimes a man would just as soon not be right. His jaw ached from gritting his teeth as he drove through the sweeping ranch land of southernOregon. Dammit, did I call this or what? A guy honors his word to be polite and just look where it gets him — ass-deep in sexual frustration .

It was the very thing he'd feared, and observing Lily's feminine rituals sure as hell hadn't helped. At the campsite earlier she'd accommodated his need to hit the road by merely washing her face and brushing her teeth, then immediately restoring order to his trashed duffel bag without him saying a word. As soon as they'd gotten underway, though, she'd balanced her train case in her lap and started doing the girly thing.