The Bachelor's Dare. Shirley Jump

all heart.” Mark flashed his best smile. It worked its usual magic, a trick Claire had seen a thousand times in the years she’d known Mark. He smiled and grown women swooned. Even hard-nosed Nancy melted—she returned his smile with a little giggle.

      “Thank you.” Claire shook Nancy’s hand but the other woman barely noticed. Her gaze was entirely on Mark, until she was interrupted by a question from Don Nash and turned away with clear reluctance. “Let’s get in there, Mark.”

      “Ladies first,” he said, gesturing before him.

      Claire shook her head. “I know how you are. You just want to watch my butt. Get in there and I’ll watch yours instead.”

      He arched an eyebrow. “I didn’t know you liked me. Or my rear, Claire.” Mark wasted a smile on her. Claire felt a flutter in her stomach that surely had to come from the three donuts she’d gobbled on her way out the door. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a pencil. “Here.” He handed it to her.

      “What’s this for?”

      “In case you want to capture the view.” Then he climbed the steps and entered the RV. Claire sighted her target and launched. Perfect aim. The pencil beaned his left temple.

      “Hey!” Mark said.

      Claire grinned. “I told you I don’t play fair.”

      He leaned toward her. “Makes it all that much more interesting, doesn’t it?” There were a hundred other implications in his voice. She chose to ignore them all.

      Once inside, Claire understood why the claustrophobic girl had run screaming from the motor home. Twenty people, with luggage, did not fit easily in a forty-five-foot trailer, no matter how nicely decorated the interior. Already, the air was stifling, filled with the odor of humans and the sickly-sweet stench of perfume. If Claire hadn’t had so much at stake herself, she would have left, too. The crowd was overwhelming.

      Nancy entered the RV and grimaced. “Now that we’re all here, let’s start the competition.” She flicked a switch at the front of the vehicle and blessed cool air began to pump through the vents. “First, a few rules. The newspaper will be delivered daily and you can get local channels on the TVs, so you’ll stay current. There’s a full kitchen, with a stocked refrigerator and food cabinet. I’ll be bringing by fresh groceries, as often as they’re needed with a crowd this big. Just give me a list and I’ll do my best. A couple of area restaurants have graciously agreed to donate dinners for the next few nights. In exchange for a mention in the media coverage, of course.”

      “Media coverage?” someone asked from the back.

      “Oh yeah, didn’t I tell you? A crew from Ten-Spot News in Lawford will be out later today to film you. Sort of “The Real World/Survivor” in an RV. It was part of what convinced Deluxe to donate the RV. Anyway, Ten-Spot will be poking their heads in here from time to time. They’re on their way over right now. There was an accident on the interstate and they got delayed. So they missed the big boarding.” Nancy tapped a finger against her lips. “Maybe we could re-stage that, for the cameras.” She shook her head. “Anyway, back to the rules. You’ll all be in here with each other for a while, so be nice. No profanity, no lewd gestures,” she shot a glance at Mark that seemed to say she wouldn’t mind a lewd gesture from him later, “and no fighting. Sleeping will be a first-come, first-served kind of thing. There’s a queen bed in back, a double in the fold-out couch, another double on top of the cab and a recliner. The captain’s chairs up front are pretty comfortable, too. And then there’s the floor.” She tapped her foot against it. “Carpeted at least.”

      Nancy went on to say that if they left the RV, they’d be disqualified. Stepping outside the vehicle for any reason was considered quitting. The competition would go on as long as there was more than one person inside. “Last to go takes the RV home,” she said, sweeping her hand around the room like Vanna White. “That’s it. Any questions?”

      “How many hours do you think this will take?” Adele asked.

      Nancy shrugged. “I don’t know. In the contest at Mall of America, there were two guys who lasted three months.”

      A gasp went up from the crowd. Adele glanced at her watch. “I have to be at work by noon or use up a vacation day.”

      Nancy gave her an indulgent smile, as if Adele were slow-witted. “I think you’ll be here past noon.”

      Adele glanced around the crowded room, then sat on one of the kitchenette chairs. “I’ll have to call my boss.”

      “There’s no phone in the RV. If you have a cell phone, you can use that. Otherwise, the only contact with the outside world will be through me.” She smiled graciously at them all. “I’d be glad to let your family know how you’re doing, or they could come by and visit while they shop, and talk to you through the window. Be sure to tell them that Joe’s Camping Store is having a big sale this week on camping gear, to go along with our promotion.” When no one else asked a question, Nancy gave them a little wave, wished them luck and got off the RV.

      Claire saw clear relief in Nancy’s face when she took in a deep breath of canned mall air. When the door shut, Claire felt a twinge of panic. Nineteen other people. One RV. For days on end. What had she just gotten herself into? And what if it didn’t work out?

      Mark’s gaze caught hers. “You okay?”

      She drew herself up and took a breath. “Of course.”

      “Of course,” he repeated with a smile that said he knew she was lying.

      “I think everyone should stow their luggage in the bedroom,” Millie, the knitting grandma, said. “Lester, take our things back there.”

      “Who made you boss?” said Roger, who’d just gotten married on Friday. He was only twenty-one, too young to be married, Claire thought. She’d cut his hair last week. Flat top, shaved sides, à la the marines. She couldn’t believe he’d talked his new wife, Jessica, into spending their honeymoon on the RV. She supposed it was better than spending the weekend at Jessica’s mom’s house, probably the only other option they could afford. Not exactly an auspicious beginning for married life, but Claire understood being blind to everything but love. Blind to a lack of money, blind to a lack of a job. Blind as a stupid bat, flying face-first into a wall of denial.

      Millie pursed her lips. “Do you have a better idea, son?”

      “Well, no.” Roger looked flustered by her challenge. “I think we should decide things by committee, though.”

      Millie let out a sigh. “There is very little room in here, in case you didn’t notice. If we stow our bags in the bedroom, we have a private place to change our clothes.”

      “Okay,” Roger said. For the next few minutes, there was nothing but the sounds of grunts and “excuse me’s” as each of them made their way to the bedroom and deposited their luggage.

      “Well,” Millie said when they were done. “Anyone up for a game of canasta?”

      The silence that greeted her made it clear how the crowd felt about card games. Somebody started a pot of coffee in the tiny kitchen. One of the men—Danny, the one who didn’t seem to have a job, Claire remembered—flopped into the driver’s seat, grabbed the satellite remote and turned on the TV. Typical.

      “Awesome! I can watch every game in the country.” Danny immediately put the remote to use. A half second on each station until he knew exactly where ESPN and Fox Sports were located. Then he settled back in the chair and propped his feet on the dash to watch football.

      “Glad you got on the bus to nowhere now?” Mark asked, coming up beside her in the corner she’d ducked into to stay out of the crush of people.

      Lord, he was awfully close. Claire stiffened, trying to take up less space. “Of course.”

      “Seems like it will be close quarters for a while. Think you can stand that?”

      “Can