It should not have felt as good as it did. Rett prayed that Angel was unaware of it.

"So we decided it was high time for ladies' night out. I'm so glad we came," Bunny said. "Cinny saw the notice in the paper."

"My agent sort of pulled it out of the hat. A friend of a friend knows the owner. The place is packed, so I guess it's worth his while."

Rett was suddenly acutely aware that the zipper on the front of the jumpsuit had slipped down a bit lower somewhere along the way. Cleavage is not a crime, she told herself, though you might want to escape before you expose your belly button. With a sigh of relief she heard the sax player tuning up and she made her excuses.

"We're going to see you at the picnic on Sunday, right?" Bunny shouted over the sudden twang of the guitar. "There's going to be a pajama party at my house Friday night. No boys."

"Sounds fun," Rett lied. Right, a sleepover. Sure, why not just have her roll a sleeping bag out between Cinny and Angel. That would be conducive to sleep.

"Oh, it will be. I'll be making some of my world-famous rum punch. The kids are staying at my mom's all weekend and I'm going to par-tay."

Rett went into the next set feeling as if she'd landed on another planet. Her thigh was hot where it had been up against Cinny's, and Angel's fiery topaz gaze had left her breathless. Cool, calm, professional Rett Jamison was long gone. She wasn't the Rett

Jamison she'd been in high school — oh no — this was a new Rett Jamison who couldn't think past her libido.

The mood in the second half was definitely lighter as they moved away from blues toward jazzy, contem¬porary numbers. Most were songs she could sing in her sleep, and she was able to put her turmoil aside and enjoy the music. Well, almost. When the per¬formance was over and she had escaped to the back room she wondered how she'd avoid going out front again.

Angel was already there.

Rett found herself so tongue-tied she couldn't even say hello.

"I'm sorry." Angel looked more approachable now. "I should have called. A few days after we saw each other I left for summer vacation, but I could have called first."

"I really did lose your number."

Angel's lips twitched. "I believe you. I was being childish, and sometimes I can't help myself. Anyway, I had the feeling I'd be seeing you here."

"How did you know I was going to come?"

"Cinny told me she had you just about persuaded. We talked because she wanted me to do a guest lecture while I was here."

"So you didn't call me, but you did check up on me because you knew who I was."

Angel colored slightly. "I know it sounds a little homeroom, but Cinny offered the information. I didn't ask."

"Oh, I feel so much better." Rett didn't know quite what to feel aside from the pulsing ache in several increasingly influential parts of her body.

"I hadn't forgotten how good she was at persuading you to do things." Angel waved a hand. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that."

Rett liked Angel's forthrightness, but the remark stung. "Yes, you did."

"You're right. I did." Angel looked at her steadily. "I didn't call because I knew there was a chance she would be in the way again. I don't know who you've become over the years, and I didn't know if she would still —" Angel hesitated. "I just didn't want to go down that road again. What happened over twenty years ago seems like it shouldn't have anything to do with right now, you and me. But it does."

"It does," Rett admitted. "I've been looking forward to and dreading this."

Angel bit her lip. "Then don't talk to me until she's out of your system, one way or another."

"Who says she's in my system—"

"I'm serious, Rett. It took me a long time to stop looking for you in every woman I met, but I did it." She rubbed her face with her hands and then ran her fingers through her hair. "I think it's pretty obvious that you could become very important to me all over again. I'm not going to let that happen if there's no chance of my being happy."

Rett wanted to pounce on Angel and it made following the conversation very hard. "So we're play¬ing by your rules."

"I'm sorry if it seems that way. I just don't want to play by her rules." Angel half-smiled, then stared at the floor. "The funny thing is, I'm finding that I like this Cinny a lot. She deserves her own chance."

"I feel like some sort of door prize."

Angel looked up at her then. "Do you really not

know? I think half the girls in our class were half in love with you. There was something about you, there still is—"

"I remember the name-calling, I remember the fights. I don't remember much in the way of love, half or whole."

"That's because you were only looking at her for it. Why do you think some of the boys had it in for you? The finely honed teenage male intuition for competition made you dangerous. But there wasn't a girls' club you couldn't join."