Frank had told her Vince Rivers was coming, nothing more. The moment she'd seen the white Continental swerve into the drive and the too-handsome, sleek-looking, well-dressed young man alight with an athletic flourish of movement, something unpleasant had happened in her sex-starved belly. There hadn't been time to analyze it then and in the three days he had been with them, Lisa's belligerent attitude had kept Shirley so on edge that she could concern herself with nothing else. The vivacious young teenager despised her stepmother – there was no denying that, anymore than she could question the fact that Frank Douglas' resentful daughter was using every means she could devise to drive her from under their roof.

And Vincent Rivers gave her a distinct feeling of sexual uneasiness, made her blush and squirm beneath the steady gaze of his lewdly undressing dark eyes. She guessed him to be between thirty-two and thirty-six, an unscrupulous bastard with women and as shady as an elm tree. Yet he had Nomad, a magnificently lovable speciman of animal, and their association confused her. The beautiful dog was not in keeping with Rivers' obvious rakish character. Nomad was gentle and love beamed radiantly from his big brown eyes, not exactly the emotion a man like Vince Rivers would inspire, nor be able to instill in such a noble beast. Where or how Frank had met this man, Shirley had no idea, but the basis of his being there had to do with his buying a half-interest in Douglas Electronics, a very disheartening thought!

Perhaps it was that questionable gift called woman's intuition which had made her cringe at Frank's revelation, or maybe it was the fact that she'd been associated with the business herself that long. Anyway, she'd tried to talk to her half-drunken husband, not necessary to discourage the affiliation with Rivers as much as to make Frank realize what he was doing! After all was said and done, Douglas Electronics was his baby!