“I know,” she admitted, “but it usually works.”

“I’m immune.”

“That’s what you think.” Eloise’s eyes were frankly appraising. “I think I could become interested in you.”

“I have a job here. I don’t think I would have time to give you the attention you’d demand.”

“I get bored easily. It probably wouldn’t be long before I would be tired of you.”

“Perhaps—and perhaps not, I can’t afford to take the chance.”

“You seem confident.”

“You forget. I was a sailor.”

“And spacemen have a reputation, eh?” Eloise chuckled.

“At that, you might be right. I remember the first officer of—” she let the thought die. “But I became tired of him,” she finished.