Chapter 20

"You wouldn't have to take your pictures down. They look very nice on my walls. And you look even better in my house."

"What would I tell my parents?" She asked logically. "They are very old-fashioned."

"Tell them...Tell them you have an unusually friendly apartment mate, I want you stay with me."

She shook her head. "It's only propinquity. If you saw me under ordinary circumstances, you'd look right past me."

"No." He was sure.

"I'm not beautiful."

He could not control a blurting laugh of disbelief, but he straightened his face as well as he could. He learned away and looked at her lying there in the sunlight. shiny with oil, her body soft and lax and well loved. "You're not bad." He grinned. Then he teased,

"And that one hundred thousand you're getting from us is something to consider."

"When will you know about the Molly Q? When will I be free?"

He frowned. "Do you want to leave?"

" To ask me to stay, now, is meaningless. I am your prisoner. I have to stay."

Later, while