"You're sleepy," he said.

She turned to look at him, and he felt another pang of sympathy as he saw that her eyes were huge and stricken, like those of a fawn caught before a hunter's gun. "I-I'm fine," she stammered.

"It's all right. We won't be in California for hours. Go ahead and take a nap."

Susannah stared helplessly at the magic, golden prince who had rescued her. It would be unthinkable to disobey him, yet if she slept, the fox-eyed monster was certain to find her. Even in this great silver airplane, he would find her and make her wet herself, and then her prince would know how bad she was.

Joel caught her hand and gave it a soft squeeze. "Just shut your eyes."

His voice was so gentle that she could barely control her tears. "I-I am unable," she said.

He gave her all his attention, as if she were an important adult instead of only a child. "Why is that?"

"Because it's unwise. Sir." She added the courteous form of address belatedly and hoped he wouldn't notice her extraordinary lapse of manners.

"I don't know very much about six-year-old little girls. I'm afraid you'll have to explain it to me."

Those blue eyes speared through her, sympathetic but demanding. He had a dent in the center of his chin, and she wished she could push the tip of her finger into it to see what it felt like. Her mind raced as she tried to find a polite way to explain. Bathroom talk was vulgar and unacceptable. There was never an excuse for it. "I rather suspect-" she said. "It's quite possible-"

He chuckled.

Alarmed, she looked at him. He gave her hand another squeeze. "What a queer little bird you are."

"Yes, sir."

"I don't think you can keep calling me 'sir.'"