The Adventurer Page 5

  "Fine."

  Her fingers clenched around her fork. "I can't believe I was so wrong about you. Can't we at least talk about this some more?"

  "Not right now. I said I'd give you my answer later and I will. Let's talk about something else."

  "Like what?"

  He shrugged. "Pick a topic."

  She paused. "All right. What kind of academic background do you have?"

  "Does it matter?"

  "I was just curious. You said to pick a topic. I picked a topic. If you don't like it, you're free to choose another."

  "School of hard knocks. I graduated with honors." When she said nothing in response, Gideon began to feel guilty. He had only himself to blame for sabotaging her buoyant spirits. "What about you?"

  "Does it matter?"

  He winced. "No. Just trying to make conversation."

  "I've got a better idea. Let's not try. I think it would be best if we both shut up for a while."

  This time the silence that hung over the table stretched until Bernice arrived with the check.

  Well, Trace, you've managed to dazzle her with your usual devastating charm, haven't you? You're hell on wheels with the female of the species, all right. You had to work real hard this time, didn't you? She didn't get discouraged easily. You had to really push. But now you've done it. You've managed to turn her off completely. Nice going. Even Machu had the sense not to screw up this badly when Ellora turned up on the doorstop.

  Gideon was startled at the unexpected sense of loss he felt.

  THE MAN MUST HAVE BEEN MAULED rather thoroughly at some point in the past, Sarah decided some time later. She sat quietly in the passenger seat of Gideon's car as he drove back to her motel. She no longer knew what to say. She couldn't believe she had been so wrong about him, but there was no doubt he didn't seem to want to have much to do with her. Had she misjudged him completely?

  It was possible. She had managed to fool herself once before.

  Another curtain of fog was closing in from the sea as Gideon parked his car in front of Sarah's room. A yellow lamp illuminated the number on her door. She started to dig out her keys without much enthusiasm.

  "Good night," Sarah made herself say without any emotion. "Sorry I took up so much of your time. Good luck with your magazine. Maybe I'll contact you again some day if I ever decide to do another treasure hunt story."

  Gideon didn't move from behind the wheel. He just sat there, large and forbidding in the deep shadows. "Is the offer still open?"

  Sarah's hand froze on the door handle. "Yes."

  "I'll take the job."

  "Gideon." All the doubts of a moment before dissolved in a second. Without a moment's hesitation she threw herself across the seat and into his arms.

  3

  « ^ »

  IT CAME AS A DISTINCT SHOCK to Sarah when Gideon's arms abruptly tightened around her in a crushing grip. His mouth came down over hers with devastating swiftness as he pinned her against the back of the seat.

  Belatedly she tried to pull away from the overwhelming embrace as she realized what she had initiated. She had been intending only a quick, impulsive, friendly hug. She should have known better than to let herself get this close to him. She was too vulnerable.

  It had finally dawned on her over dinner that Gideon had not fallen for her during the past four months the way she had fallen for him. Her letters had meant nothing to him. He had not been thinking about her as anything more important than just another Cache subscriber asking for assistance. He was nowhere near ready for a relationship.

  But now she found herself trapped in an embrace that was more shatteringly intimate than any she had ever known. It was only a kiss, her mind cried out. But she had never been kissed like this. It was, after all, her first kiss from Gideon. Gideon with whom she had slowly, surely fallen in love during the past few months.

  Gideon, her own personal dream hero come to life.

  Except that he didn't see himself in quite the same light. What's more, he saw her as a nuisance.

  "Gideon?" She could barely speak his name. She gripped his shoulders with feverish intensity as four months of gathering desire welled up inside and threatened to swamp her.

  "You're so delicate and fragile," Gideon muttered against her mouth. His hands moved over her with incredible sensitivity, learning the shape and feel of her. "I could crush you."

  "You won't." She could not think clearly now that he had finally touched her. She clung to him even more tightly, her arms curving around his neck, her head tipped back against the seat. He was so wonderfully solid and substantial—so real. She'd known all along she couldn't have been wrong about him. Perhaps he was finally beginning to realize it, too.

  His mouth moved against hers again. The kiss was far more satisfying than she had dared to dream it would be. There was an exciting, intoxicating hunger in him that she responded to instantly. She felt the edge of his teeth nibbling on her lower lip and she trembled.

  He held her in a grip of iron, as if he was afraid she would evaporate. One of his hands slid down to her hip, squeezing gently. She splayed her fingers over his broad shoulders, savoring the strong, smoothly muscled contours. The masculine power in him drew her like a magnet. She moved beneath his crushing weight.

  "Sarah?" His voice was ragged.

  She murmured softly, a small, choked cry of delight and need.

  "It's okay, Sarah," Gideon said harshly. "You don't have to fake it."

  Sarah froze as if someone had just poured ice water over her. Frantically she tried to pull her scattered senses back into a coherent pattern of thought.

  "Fake it?" she gasped. "What do you mean, fake it?"

  "I've already said I'll help you look for the earrings. You don't have to pay me off with sex."

  She struggled frantically to wriggle out of his arms. When he didn't release her, she managed to get one hand free. She swung wildly, aiming for the side of his face.

  The blow never landed. Gideon caught her wrist when her palm was less than two inches from the target. "There are limits, lady. I'll be damned if I'll let you slap me."

  "Let me go." She was frightened now, thoroughly aware for the first time of just how vulnerable she was.

  "You started this, remember?"

  "Get away from me, Gideon. Go back to your big, cold house and your cats. I don't need you to help me find those earrings. I'll do just fine on my own."

  He looked down at her as she lay trapped and helpless in his arms. His eyes glittered with dangerous, unreadable emotions. Sarah held her breath.

  Then, very slowly, he released her.

  Sarah didn't hesitate. She scooted rapidly across the seat and yanked at the door handle.

  "Wait." Gideon leaned across the seat and snagged her wrist, effectively chaining her when she tried to get out of the car.

  "Let go of me."

  His hard face tightened. "You're a temperamental little thing, aren't you? Simmer down. I've said I'll help you and I will. What did you expect me to think was going on a few minutes ago when you threw yourself into my arms?"

  "You weren't supposed to think anything sordid or cheap or tacky about me, that's for sure." Sarah stared stonily ahead at the yellow light over her motel door. "I tend to be impulsive when it comes to things like affectionate little hugs."

  "That was no affectionate little hug we had going there."

  "You're the one who tried to turn it into something more. And then you had the nerve to throw it in my face when I… when I… Never mind."

  He swore softly. "Would it help if I said I'm sorry?"

  She slid a sidelong glance at him. "Are you?"

  "Yeah."

  "For kissing me or for what you said afterward?"

  He was silent for a heartbeat. "Not for kissing you."

  "How about for calling me an opportunist and a gold digger earlier?"

  His mouth kicked up wryly at the corner. "I didn't call you those things."

  "You implied t
hem. Are you sorry for that, too?"

  "I guess."

  She wrinkled her nose. "You sound like a five-year-old. I guess I'm sorry for that, too. But you aren't. Not really. Because deep down you still wonder if I am just a cheap, hustling bimbo looking for a fast buck. You have sadly disappointed me, Gideon."

  "I can see that," he said dryly. "Obviously I'm not turning out to be heroic material. Let's forget about the personal side of this for a minute. Do we still have a deal?"

  She tried to tug her wrist out of his grasp and got nowhere. "I don't know. Now I'm the one who will have to think about it. Your attitude is changing everything. I'll give you my answer in the morning."

  "You do that. And one other thing. If I go with you on this treasure hunt, it won't be as your employee. I don't work for anyone. We'll be partners. I won't be taking salary from you."

  "What do you want?"

  "I'll want a share of whatever treasure we find."

  She scowled at him. "But you've already said we probably won't find anything."

  "I'll take my chances. Are you willing to split the profits?"

  "Well, I don't know. I hadn't actually planned to sell the earrings. I was going to keep them."

  "Fine. You keep four pairs. I'll take the fifth. My choice of the lot."

  "I'm not sure that's fair. What if one pair turns out to be far more valuable than the others in today's market? The diamond pair, for instance?"

  "That's the risk you take."

  "I don't have to take any risk at all, Gideon. I'm the one with the map, remember?"

  "Expert advice doesn't come cheap."

  "You've already told me you're not a professional treasure hunter. You just write about treasure hunting."

  "I'm a lot more professional than you are."

  Her resentment flared. "Too bad I can't get hold of the famous Jake Savage, isn't it? Then I wouldn't need you."

  His mouth thinned. "You said you thought I'd do just fine, remember?"

  She wrenched her wrist free of his grasp at last and shoved open the car door. "I'll make my decision in the morning."

  He didn't try to stop her as she stalked toward her room, flexing her hand to see if her wrist still functioned. It did. He hadn't really hurt her. He was a powerful man but one who was very much in control of his own strength.

  Just like one of her heroes.

  She refused to give Gideon the satisfaction of glancing back over her shoulder as she opened the door of her room. He didn't start the car until she was safely inside. Hurrying over to the window, she peeked through a small opening in the curtains to watch as he drove off into the night.

  When the parking lot was silent again she switched on a light and sank down on the edge of the bed to think.

  No doubt about it. Her impulsiveness and blind faith in her own intuition had gotten her in trouble again. She had moved too fast without taking the time to analyze just what she was dealing with.

  Just because she had started to fall in love with Gideon Trace from the moment she had opened his first letter did not mean that she understood him. The man was turning out to be much more of an enigma than she had anticipated. The fact that he could even begin to suspect her motives was proof of that. She did not see how he could possibly doubt her.

  Sarah twisted her hands in her lap, aware of a chilled feeling in the room that was not entirely a result of the gathering fog outside. She did not want to face the obvious, but she had to force herself to do so.

  She had to wonder if she was making the same kind of mistake she'd made with Richard. She had to wonder if she was turning a blind eye to the obvious warnings.

  Margaret was right. Impulsiveness was a dangerous quality.

  With a wretched sigh, Sarah got to her feet and went about the business of getting ready for bed. There was nothing she could do tonight. She would wait and see if dawn brought a clearer notion of how to handle the situation.

  GO BACK TO YOUR BIG, cold house and your cats.

  Hours later it occurred to Gideon that he had been sitting for a long time in the darkened living room. There was a half-empty glass of brandy on the table in front of him. Ellora was curled up against his thigh, purring contentedly. Machu Picchu was stretched full length across the back of the sofa.

  Gideon hadn't bothered to turn on any lights. It was almost midnight. And the house was cold. He wondered if it was worth building a fire.

  "The place was just fine until she arrived. It didn't seem cold at all until after she'd been in it and left," he told the cats.

  Machu flicked his ears, not bothering to open his eyes. Ellora slithered around a bit until she was more comfortable.

  "No offense, but you two aren't the world's greatest conversationalists."

  Gideon got up off the sofa. He picked up the brandy glass and walked over to the table where the chess pieces had been set out. Idly he fingered the wooden figures for a moment and then he set them out in a slightly different pattern.

  Machu rumbled inquiringly.

  "Think she'd have made the deal with Jake Savage if the bastard was still around, Machu? Savage always had a way with women. He sure wouldn't have screwed up the way I did tonight. He'd have charmed her straight into bed."

  Machu didn't answer but his gem-hard eyes watched Gideon intently.

  "You and me, we're not exactly loaded with charm, are we, pal?" Gideon studied the new positions of the wooden figures. The balance of power had now shifted to his side of the board. "But Savage isn't here. I am. And she wants the Flowers. I can lead her to them. The question is, do I really want to get mixed up with her? We've been doing pretty well here on our own."

  Ellora lifted her head and meowed silently.

  "So why does the house seem cold, damn it? It's almost summer."

  GIDEON TRACE was at Sarah's door before she had even finished dressing for the day in a pair of white jeans and a lemon-yellow shirt. Deliberately she made him wait while she anchored her hair in an off-center twist over one ear. Then she went to open the door.

  "Hi." She offered nothing further. He looked larger than ever standing there in the cold, gray light of a new day.

  "Good morning." Gideon braced himself with one hand against the doorjamb. "Make up your mind, yet?"

  "I had no idea you were waiting on pins and needles."

  He gave her his faint, twisted smile. "I know I'm early. I was afraid if I left it too long, you'd sneak off to go after the Flowers without me."

  "I was only going to sneak as far as the coffee shop." She turned to pick up her windbreaker, aware that he was scanning her room from the doorway. She was suddenly very conscious of her nightgown lying in a heap on the bed, the open suitcase with a sock trailing out of it and the collection of toilet articles littering the dresser. She closed the door very quickly.

  "I'll join you for breakfast," Gideon said. "I didn't get a chance to eat before I left the house this morning."

  "Your own fault." She locked the door behind her and started across the street to the small coffee shop. The lights were just coming on inside. To the right, the narrow, two-lane road vanished around a bend into the fog-shrouded trees.

  "You hold a mean grudge, don't you?" Gideon paced beside her. His hands were thrust into the pockets of a sheepskin jacket.

  Sarah said nothing more until they were seated in a booth in the corner of the coffee shop. She studied Gideon for a long moment, remembering all the fleeting thoughts, hopes and dreams that had come to her in the night. She fought back the sense of longing that threatened to overwhelm her and tried to make herself speak coolly and logically. There would be no more impulsiveness on her part, she vowed silently.

  "Let me get this straight," she said. "You think I'm an opportunist who uses sex to get what she wants, but you're willing to help me search for the earrings if you get to keep one pair for yourself, right?"

  His big hands folded around the mug in front of him and his eyes met hers in a level gaze. "I'll help you search for the e
arrings. Let's leave it at that."

  "All right. I guess that makes us both opportunists, doesn't it? At last we have something in common."

  He stared at her unblinkingly, the way Machu Picchu would stare at a mouse. "We're in this together? We've got a deal?"

  "Sure. Why not? I came to you in the first place because I don't know anything about treasure hunting. You do. That makes you very useful to me and I'm willing to bargain with you for your talents. Since you claim it's unlikely we'll ever find the earrings, I'm getting a heck of a deal, aren't I? If there aren't any profits in this, I won't have to split anything with you."

  "I see you've decided on the role of tough little cookie this morning. Just for the record, it doesn't suit you." Gideon took a swallow of his coffee.

  "You like me better as a scheming little seductress?"

  He grinned reluctantly. "I really ruffled your feathers, didn't I?"

  She glared at him. "I made a serious mistake in dealing with you the way I did yesterday. I can see that now. I should have been restrained and businesslike right from the start. Unfortunately that's not my normal nature."

  "I gathered that much."

  "That does not mean, however, that I can't behave in a restrained and businesslike manner when I put my mind to it."

  He looked frankly disbelieving. "Think so?"

  "Of course. And a restrained, adult, businesslike manner is precisely what I will project from now on. No nonsense. I shall just think of you as a business partner and deal with you as I would with one." She put her hand across the table. "Very well, Mr. Trace, we have a deal."

  He stared down at her extended palm and then slowly reached out to solemnly shake her hand. She allowed him to crush her fingers for about two seconds and then she quickly withdrew her hand to safety. "What about your cats?"

  He shrugged. "They'll be fine for a week or so. I've left them on their own before. My neighbor will check their food and water."

  "How long will you need to pack?"

  "I packed last night."

  "You're suddenly very eager for the hunt."

  "When do you want to leave?"