The Pirate & The Adventurer & The Cowboy

retreated to wait near the door as Rafe paid for the book. A moment later, his package in one hand, Rafe ambled out into the air-conditioned mall. "Okay, let's get the coffee."

    Margaret marched determinedly toward a small cafe near a fountain and sat down. "Are you really going to read that?"

    "Uh-huh. Why don't you have your coffee and go shop for a while? I'll just sit here and read."

    "Why this sudden interest in my writing?"

    "Maggie, love, I want to know everything there is to know about you. Besides, I'm curious to see whether or not I save Seaco Industries."

    "Whether or not
you
save it," she gasped in outrage. "Rafe, don't get any ideas about my having used you as a model for the hero in my book."

    Rafe paid no attention to that as he dug
Ruthless
out of the sack and put it down on the table in front of him. "Come on, Maggie, love. Light brown eyes, dark brown hair and a Western drawl? Who do you think you're kidding?"

    "I have news for you, Rafe. There are millions of men around who fit that description."

    "Yeah, but I'm the one you know," he said complacently as he ordered two cups of coffee from a hovering waitress.

    Margaret gave him an exasperated glare. "You want to know something? Most of my heroes look like Roarke Cody. And I wrote at least three of them long before I ever met you."

    "Is that right? No wonder you fell straight into my hands the day I met you. I was your favorite hero come to life. The man of your dreams."

    "Why you arrogant cowboy. Of all the…"

    "Give me a hint," Rafe said, interrupting her casually. "Does the heroine sleep with this Roarke guy in the hope that she can persuade him not to fire her and her staff?"

    "Of course not." Margaret was obviously scandalized at the suggestion. "That would be highly unethical. None of my heroines would do such a thing."

    "Hmm. But he tries to get her to do that, right?"

    Margaret lifted her chin. "Roarke Cody is quite ruthless in the beginning. He tries all sorts of underhanded, sneaky maneuvers to get the heroine."

    "And?"

    "And what?"

    "Do any of those underhanded, sneaky maneuvers work as well as the underhanded, sneaky maneuver I used to get you down here to Tucson?"

    Margaret folded her arms on the table and leaned forward with a belligerent glare. "I am not going to tell you the plot."

    "Go shopping, Maggie, love. I'll wait right here for you." Rafe propped one booted heel on a convenient empty chair, leaned back and picked up
Ruthless
.

    M argaret spent over an hour in the colorful, Southwestern-style shops. The air-conditioned shopping mall was crowded with people seeking to escape the midday heat.

    The clothes featured in the windows tended to be brighter and more casual in style than what she was accustomed to seeing in Seattle. It made for an interesting shopping experience that she deliberately lengthened in the hope of causing Rafe to grow bored and restless.

    But when she returned to the indoor sidewalk café, several packages in hand, she saw to her dismay that he was still deep into
Ruthless
.

    She told herself she ought to find his interest in her book gratifying or at the very least somewhat amusing. But the fact was, it made her uncomfortable. He had guessed the truth immediately. He was the hero of
Ruthless
and of every book she had ever written.

    Margaret had been in the middle of writing Roarke and Anne's story when she had met Rafe. She had finished it shortly after Rafe had turned on her and accused her of betraying him. It had not been easy to write a happy ending when her own lovelife was in shambles.

    But a part of her had sought to work out in
Ruthless
the ending that had been denied to her in real life. Her own relationship might have gone on the rocks but she'd still had her dreams of what a good relationship could be. A woman had to have faith in the future.

    "Not finished yet?" Margaret came to a halt in front of Rafe.

    He looked up slowly. "Gettin' there. Ready to go?"

    She nodded. "I could use a swim."

    "Good idea." Rafe got to his feet and dropped
Ruthless
back into the paper bag. "You know this Roarke guy started out okay in the beginning. He had the right idea about how to save Seaco. You've got to cut a lot of dead wood when you go into a situation like that. But I get the feeling he's being set up for a fall."

    "He's being set up for a happy ending," Margaret muttered.

    Rafe shook his head, looking surprisingly serious. "The problem is, he's starting to let his hormones