In McGillivray's Bed by Anne McAllister

spinsterhood.”
    She sputtered into her coffee, then visibly pulled herself together and informed him haughtily, “Spinsterhood has a great deal to recommend it. More and more every minute,” she told him, breasts heaving beneath the soft cotton of the T-shirt she wore.
    Hugh cleared his throat again. “Glad to hear you think so,” he said. “But just to make sure you remember it,” he went on, refusing to be distracted, “I think a few rules would make things easier during the short time you’re here.” He came down hard on the word short.
    Sydney shrugged negligently. “Frankly I’m pretty sick of rules,” she told him. “I’ve followed the rules all my life, and look where it’s got me.”
    He didn’t want to look at where it had got her. He just wanted her gone. “Rule number one,” he persisted. “You get your own clothes tomorrow.”
    The sooner she stopped wearing his, the saner and more sensible he would feel.
    â€œIf someone will extend me some credit,” she said. “I don’t want to give out my credit card number for a few days, or Roland will be able to find out where I am.”
    â€œI’ll lend you some cash,” Hugh promised. “Rule number two—”
    â€œYou don’t look like a man who likes rules.”
    â€œI don’t,” Hugh said before he thought.
    â€œThen why do we need them?” Syd asked.
    Because I’d like to jump your bones, didn’t seem like the best response. “I thought it would make you more comfortable,” he said somewhat stiffly.
    â€œWell, I’m not,” she said, and set down her coffee with a thump. “I’m finished with rules. I’ve made up my mind. I’m done with doing what I’m supposed to do.” The Captain Ahab chin tilted again.
    Seeing it actually made a corner of Hugh’s mouth lift. She had guts, did Syd St. John, he’d give her that.
    â€œGood for you,” he said, nodding and thinking Roland Carruthers deserved a little payback.
    Syd beamed at him. “You think so? Great!” She leaned intently toward him across the table, her blue eyes alight. “I thought about it all the time I was taking a shower—about how I’d got into this mess. I thought about what happened tonight on the yacht and everything that led up to it. I thought about Roland and about my father. About his expectations—and mine. About where I’ve been and where I’m going.” She straightened up and gave a firm little jerk of her head. “And I’ve decided it’s going to be different from here on out. Completely different.”
    Hugh saw the way she was looking at him for approval, and nodded his head “Right. You show ’em.”
    â€œI will! I’ve spent twenty-seven years living by rules. My father’s rules. My father’s expectations. My fault, not his,” she said quickly. “I know that. But the point is, following them didn’t do any good. I tried to be the sweet malleable daughter he wanted, and I tried to be the takeover-the-business son he never had. And I was just a cog in the machine. I was never a person who mattered. So I’m done with it! From now on, I’m going to be me.”
    Hugh gave her a grin and a thumbs-up. “Good for you.”
    â€œFirst, though, I have to figure out who me is.” She beamed at him.
    â€œGood idea.” He understood the concept. He’d discovered it himself when he’d come up against the Navy’s rules and regs. There were things he’d loved about the Navy, but in the end, it wasn’t him. “So, what are you going to do?” he asked her.
    â€œI’m going to live a little!”
    The way she said it, it didn’t sound like a little. It sounded as if she intended to live a whole hell of a lot.
    Hugh tipped back in his chair. “Which means what? Besides your not