A week's isolation on a spit of land off the New Hampshire coast was a sure-fire cover story for Mark Elliot's magazine - if he lived to tell it. Before he'd even left the dock, though, the Meyer girls, who were most of his crew, had already knocked supplies overboard and nearly collapsed at the thought of leaving their hair dryers behind. And Jessie Meyer, who'd been promised a bonus and a credit for her photographs of the experience, behaved as though he were about to shanghai her and her three daughters.

Mark was certain he'd triumph over the wilderness, but he seriously doubted he'd survive a week with the Meyer girls, especially when their mother looked so young and invitin