““Will you honor your note, Mr. Powell?” she asked, ignoring his nonsense. He leaned back, his hands curling around the edge of the counter, and smiled cheerfully. “I say, has it occurred to you that your ‘request’ is remarkably like extortion?” “A bit,” she admitted. “I’d hoped to be spared this—” “You’d hoped to be spared?” She contrived to look wounded. “You gave me no choice. You should have been gallant when you had the opportunity.” “Forgive me.” “Besides,” she said, “if I were you, I’d have expected something like this. I mean, a woman who would break into your house is likely at the end of her options, isn’t she?” She shook her head woefully. “Just look at what I’ve been forced to because of you.” He laughed, surprising a grin out of her.””
