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do?"
    She fingered her cutlery, her eyes meeting his faintly
mocking expression. "It's a living," she told him lightly.
    He gazed at her from beneath thick black lashes. "Only a
living? I'm sure you don't have to sing for your supper, Susan. An
attractive, intelligent young woman like you could find a job in any
number of other areas."
    "As a matter of fact, my college major was business. I
wanted to be able to work in an office if worse came to worst. Singing
is a highly precarious business. I've managed to work fairly steadily
at it but, goodness knows, I'm not setting the world on fire."
    "You're a talented singer, but you sound as if you're
rather disillusioned by it all."
    She leaned forward slightly and gave in to the urge to
unburden herself that Travis Sennett's calmness and strength seemed to
elicit in her. "I'm no longer as naive and starry-eyed about the
profession as I was five years ago when I left college. I know that I'm
passably good as a singer, but good singers are a dime a dozen. If I've
learned anything these past five years, it's that it takes a lot more
than being able to sing to get to the top."
    Travis smiled wryly. "A willingness to be…
friendly to the likes of Dirk Cantino?"
    The creamy tan of her skin grew flushed, but she returned
his smile. "Dirk couldn't help my career, even if I encouraged him. But
it's no secret that one of the ways for a female performer to get that
all-important big chance is by cultivating a man who can give it to
her. But there's more to it than that." She spoke seriously. "You have
to be relentless. Singing has to be at the top of your list of
priorities. And you have to be in the right place at the right time. If
I were absolutely driven to succeed, for example, I'd probably be in
Nashville or Hollywood now, using all my free time to make the rounds
of agents' and producers' offices." Abruptly realizing the absurdity of
telling all of this to a stranger, she sat back and concluded on an
off-hand note. "Let's just say that the glittering world of show
business is looking rather tarnished to me at the moment."
    "It appears," he observed thoughtfully, "that you're not
prepared to let your career dominate you."
    "There are too many other things in life."
    Their first course arrived and neither of them spoke while
the waiter placed salads and a tray of breads and crackers before them.
Susan took a bite of the salad, discovering that the savory house
dressing was delicious. "Tell me, Travis," she said after several
moments, "do you always eat dinner this late?"
    "Not usually," he told her readily. "I didn't eat earlier
at the Top Hat because I hoped you would join me later." She looked up
quickly and caught his satisfied expression, realizing that he had had
little doubt of her acceptance. He really was a confident man, almost
irritatingly so.
    "Have you lived in Miami long?" he continued smoothly.
    "Only four months. I moved here from New Orleans."
    "Where you worked as a singer?"
    She nodded, and he regarded her meditatively. "I sense
that there was more behind the move than a desire to change jobs. Was
there a club manager in New Orleans you wanted to escape from?"
    Susan responded to the teasing note in the question with a
self-conscious smile. "I was engaged and I—
we
decided to call it off. It seemed better all around for me to put some
distance between us. And I didn't mean to give you the impression
earlier that I don't like Miami. I do, although I wish my job situation
wasn't quite as touchy as it is. It's reached the point where I almost
expect, every night when I come to work, for Dirk to give me notice. He
might have done it tonight if you hadn't interrupted." She lifted her
head. "But there are other hotels and supper clubs in town, dozens of
them. Anyway, I think Dirk finally knows where I stand, so I shouldn't
have anymore trouble with him."
    Travis laughed softly. "You don't really believe that, do
you? Surely you've seen operators like Cantino before. He