"I hadn't noticed it," Larry Wolfe snapped.
Ann sat up wearily, brushed stray hair back from her ear. "Oh, now, Larry," she reproved him. "Are you going to start acting like a high-school boy the minute we start?"
The young ship officer's jaw had set like cement. "What'd you do all day? Talk, I suppose?"
"Yes, we talked! For eight hours! I don't know where the time went, but I do know I've never had a better time in my life!"
She said it defiantly, and in the wake of the angry words grew a high wall of pride between them. Ann made one final effort at conciliation.
"Larry, do you have to be like this?" she pleaded. "I'm wearing your ring, isn't that enough?"
Larry stood up. "That's exactly it," he snapped. "You're wearing my ring and the men are going to be watching pretty damn closely when they see you hobnobbing constantly with Carlyle. Oh, don't get me wrong; he's a fine fellow and I think the world of him. But I'm going to ask you not to be with him any more than your work requires!"
Ann's fingers tugged at the diamond ring, and suddenly she was handing it to him. "Then here's something for you to mull over, Mr. Larry Wolfe," she said frigidly. "While we're on the trip you can just pretend that you've never met me before. I won't have your jealousy preventing me from doing a good job."
Larry let the tiny platinum band drop into his broad palm. His eyes showed the pain that twisted through him, but all he said was: "All right, Ann. But when you want the ring back, you'll have to ask for it."