He blinked in disbelief. The shirt was over the back of a chair near Gregory, who was trying to keep his ongoing telephone conversation as quiet as possible. She gave Chino a pretty-please smile, laying it on so he could see the joke in it. He bowed to her, his expression seeming to compliment her on her moxie and style, not quite the I’ll-get-you-for-this admission of defeat so many men used to intimidate women who were smarter than them. Gregory put his hand over the telephone again when he realized Chino was headed his way. “They have two armed men headed up to the apartment.”

“Let’s see how good they are,” Chino answered as he scooped up the shirt. Amy waited for him to come back to the bar. “You don’t seem to have much confidence in Gregory’s men.”

“Gregory’s men? The only men he has — “Chino stopped. “They’re my men. Your husband is proving to be a more formidable adversary than anybody thought. Now that I am getting to know you, I realize that he must be a real hombre. What are those pills?”

“Ibuprofen.”

“Let me see them.”

She dropped the tablets into his hand. “They’re the standard shape and color. Check them out, if you have a Physician’s Desk Reference.”

“I do, but in fact I recognize them as the type I take myself. You aren’t going to tell me you have a headache, are you?”

She swallowed the pills and sipped the champagne. She blew that wisp of hair out of her eyes. “Well, I got beaned.”

Chino was smiling. He had never seen anyone blow the hair out of her eyes before. Under it all he was a schmuck like everyone else. “Beaned? No se beaned.”

“Hit on the head.”

“By whom?” Chino glanced toward Gregory. “Why don’t I know about this?”

Suddenly he seemed so confused, she had to stifle her laughter. “It happened on the plane. Someone beaned me. Obviously Gregory already took care of him.”

“Why did someone bean you?”

“I was biting him.”

“Ah!” He looked entertained. “Are you going to bite me?”

“Are you thinking of putting something in my mouth?”

“Chino!” Gregory called. “He escaped again!”

Chino was silent a moment. “This man is beginning to annoy me.” As he headed toward Gregory, Amy laughed out loud. Over his shoulder, Chino said, “I prefer a woman to handle her champagne.”

She wanted to reach out for one of his chips, but her hand was shaking again. “I can drink you under the table anytime.”

“Another night.”

“Is that a promise?”

He wanted eye contact. He wanted to look her over again. He wanted her to see who really held the power between them. “Perhaps,” he said before turning away again and seeming to dismiss her from his thoughts. “All right, Gregory, confess: how did he do it this time?”