Gideon wondered if he'd lost his only shot at playing hero.
The door of the bathroom opened.
Sarah stood there enveloped in a green velour robe that she'd belted around her small waist. Her hair was loose around her shoulders and her face was freshly scrubbed. She looked touchingly vulnerable and at the same time incredibly sexy.
"It's all yours," she said as she headed toward the bedroom.
He figured she meant the bathroom, not the body in the velour robe. "Thanks." He knew he was staring. The bedroom door closed firmly.
Gideon sighed, picked up his shaving kit and headed for the bath. The small room was still warm and moist. He felt big and awkward standing in the middle of the tiny place, as if he had accidentally invaded a medieval maiden's private bower. A bright yellow toothbrush stood at attention in a glass on the sink and a hairbrush lay on the counter next to the toothpaste tube.
The top had been left off the toothpaste. Automatically Gideon replaced it.
Ten minutes later he went back out into the main room. No crack of light showed under the bedroom door. He stood for a moment, trying to think of something clever to do next. The only action that came readily to mind was to open the bedroom door and that was out of the question.
Business partners.
"Damn." So much for sweeping her off her feet. He wondered if she'd brought along any of her books that featured his doppelganger as a hero. Maybe he could figure out how to proceed if he saw himself in action.
His mouth quirked ruefully as he undressed and slid into the cold, uncomfortable bed. It was disconcerting to think of himself as a hero in a novel of romantic suspense. Be interesting to read the sex scenes.
Half an hour later he was still awake, his hands folded behind his head, his mind playing with the image of Sarah wearing nothing but a pair of. antique earrings, when the bedroom door opened softly. He went very still.
"Gideon?" Sarah's voice was low and hesitant.
"Yeah?"
"Are you asleep?"
"Not any more."
"Good. Because I've been thinking."
She came farther into the room. Gideon turned his head and looked at her in the shadows. He could just barely make out the fact that her feet were bare on the hardwood floor. Her hands were thrust into the sleeves of her robe.
"Something wrong?" he asked, wondering if she'd already seen through his flimsy excuse for sharing a cabin and had decided to complain.
"Yes." Her chin came up determinedly. "Yes, there is something wrong. Very wrong."
So much for his cleverness. "What is it, Sarah?"
"I have to know something." She started pacing the length of the room, looking more medieval than ever in the darkness as the robe floated around her small, bare ankles. "I realize that I should probably just let it go, but I can't. I have to find out what went wrong. I can't believe I was this mistaken a second time."
"Sarah…"
She stopped him with a raised hand. "Just tell me the truth and I promise I won't ask anything personal again." She went as far as she could in the small space available, swung around and started back in the other direction. "Why don't you trust me?"
That caught him off guard. "It's not a matter of trusting you," Gideon said cautiously.
"Yes, it is. You don't. Why?" She was still pacing. "I mean, is your inability to trust me based on some significant event in your past? Do you distrust all women? Did your marriage sour you on the female of the species? Or is it something about me, personally. Did I just come on too strong? Was that it? I know I'm not always subtle."
Gideon groaned. "Look, I'm not real good at conversations like this."
"Talk, Gideon. I've been your friend for four months. The least you can do is tell me why you still don't trust me."
"Damn it, why do you have to take it personally?"
"Because it is personal."
He began to get annoyed. "You're a demanding little thing, aren't you? Demanding and arrogant."
'"Arrogant."
"Yeah, arrogant. Who do you think you are, Sarah Fleetwood? You just explode in my life like a firecracker. You tell me you think we're meant for each other on the basis of a handful of letters as if you're my mail-order bride or something and, oh, by the way, would I help you recover a fortune in lost jewels. And you wonder why I've got a few questions about your motives?"
She paused at the far end of the room again. He could see she was nibbling on her lower lip. "Put like that, it does sound a little strange, doesn't it?"
"Strange is right."
"I still think there's more to it than that." She resumed her pacing. "Are you sure there isn't something in your past that's making you extra cautious about trusting me?"
"Sarah, I'm forty years old. I'm not exactly a naive, trusting innocent. And if you had any sense, you wouldn't be, either. The world does not reward naïveté. I would have thought getting left at the altar would have taught you that much."
"I am not naive, damn it. And leave Richard out of this. You're evading the point."
"What do you want? A complete history of my life to date so you can psychoanalyze my reasons for being cautious about you? Don't hold your breath."
"What was your wife like?"
"Good Lord, you don't let go of something once you've glommed onto it, do you?"
"No. Was she pretty?"
"Yeah."
"Was she kind?"
That made Gideon flounder for a split second. He had never thought of Leanna as kind. She had been too wrapped up in her career and her own emotional problems to be kind to others. She had needed kindness, but she hadn't dispensed much of it. On the other hand she certainly hadn't been vicious, he reminded himself. Just a little mixed up about what she wanted.
"You think kindness is important in a beautiful, sexy woman?" he asked derisively.
"Of course, it is. It's important in anyone."
"What cloud have you been living on? Look, everyone liked Leanna and, as I recall, she was fond of small animals so she certainly couldn't have been unkind, right? She was also very intelligent, very attractive and very sophisticated."
"Oh."
Gideon smiled grimly in the darkness. Sarah sounded woefully disappointed. Obviously she'd been hoping to hear that Leanna was a bitch. But Leanna had not been a bitch, just an unhappy, confused young woman who'd turned to Gideon at a low point in her life and then realized her mistake.
"She was also published," he added, not knowing why he felt compelled to twist the knife. It was as though he had to find a way to rip through the iridescent veil of Sarah's bright-eyed optimism and discover what lay underneath.
"She wrote?" Sarah sounded more wretched than ever. "Like me?"
"No, not like you. She was an assistant professor at a small college in Oregon when I met her. She wrote articles on archaeology for academic journals."
"I see. Important, scholarly stuff." Sarah was obviously getting more depressed by the minute.
Gideon suddenly felt as if he'd been pulling wings off a fly. "The only problem Leanna and I had was that she wasn't in love with me. She just thought she was for a while. She tried, I'll give her credit for that."
"What happened, Gideon?"
"We split when she realized she loved someone else."
"Someone with flash, you said?"
"Did I?" Gideon frowned, remembering the brief conversation on previous marriages he'd had with Sarah yesterday. "I did say that, didn't I? Yeah. She found someone with flash and she went for it the way a trout goes for a bright, shiny lure."
"Did you try to stop her?"
"I tried to tell her she was making a mistake. The guy she fell for didn't have it in him to be faithful to any woman for long. I warned her she wasn't going to be happy with him. But she thought she could change him."
"She married him?"
"No. They got engaged as soon as our divorce was final, but he was killed before the marriage could take place."
"How sad.
For all of you. But maybe that way Leanna never had a chance to find out what a louse he really was."
Gideon shrugged. "Maybe. I never saw her again after the divorce. I heard she remarried a couple of years ago. A college professor. With any luck she picked the right man this time."
"That's very generous of you," Sarah said with obvious admiration. Her voice glowed with approval.
"It is, isn't it?" He grinned briefly and was surprised by his own amusement. It was certainly the first time he'd ever found anything at all humorous about his divorce. Something about Sarah seeing him as benevolent, kind and generous was very entertaining, however.
"Does this mean you're not carrying a torch for her?" The hope in Sarah's voice was unmistakable.
"Carrying torches is a waste of time."
"Well, that's certainly true. Unless, of course, you're thinking of someday trying to fan the flames?"
"I'm not. I learned a long time ago never to look back."
There was silence from the far end of the room. Gideon could feel Sarah mulling over the information he had given her. Her head was bent in concentration.
"This man your ex-wife married," Sarah said at last, "the one with flash, was he a friend of yours, by any chance?"
Gideon didn't move. His momentary flare of amusement evaporated. "I knew him."
"Ah. So he was a friend of yours. A close friend?"
He didn't like the sound of that. "It's not what you think, Sarah."
"Sure it is." She obviously felt she had hold of something important now. She started pacing the floor again. "Your wife betrayed you with your best friend. Very simple. Tragic, but simple. It explains everything, especially your inability to trust me."
"What the hell are you talking about? Do you always leap to conclusions like this?"
"Sometimes. Gideon, having your wife betray you with your best friend is not a minor event. Wars have been fought over less."
"I'm not planning on starting any wars. Besides, I told you, the guy's dead and Leanna's remarried. There's nothing left to fight over even if I was so inclined."
"Which you're not. A very hopeful sign. Okay, now I think I've finally got a handle on our relationship. This is the curse from your past that needs lifting, isn't it? Just like in the story of 'Beauty and the Beast.' "
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Relax, Gideon. I was just using a familiar metaphor from the old fairy tale. Put in modern terms, the fact is, I was missing some of this information from the beginning. That's why I botched up our initial meeting. It was all my fault. I rushed things."
Gideon was beginning to get that uneasy sense of being left behind in her dust again. "Sarah, don't go flying off on some new tangent, okay?"
She ignored him as she paced faster and faster. A fresh sense of anticipation was radiating from her in waves of energy Gideon could almost feel.
"I realize now you need plenty of time to get to know me so that you'll be able to see how totally different I am from both your best friend and your ex-wife," Sarah said.
"You've never even met either of them."
"That doesn't mean I can't figure out what their problems were."
"What is this? Instant psychoanalysis?"
"Common sense and a touch of intuition. I know a lot about you now, so I can make some good guesses about the other two people who were involved in this mess." Sarah spun around at the far end of the room and buzzed past Gideon, robe flying. "Let's take Leanna first: neurotic with problems of her own that she was trying to use a husband to resolve."
Gideon blinked owlishly, taken back by the accuracy of that comment. "Of all the idiotic conclusions," he growled. "You don't know what you're talking about. You don't know any of the people involved, except me."
"Knowing you is enough. Any woman who couldn't see what a terrific husband you'd make is immature, neurotic and probably trapped in her own emotional problems. I'm sorry to have to tell you that, Gideon, but I'm afraid it's the truth. How old was Leanna when you married her?"
He propped himself up on one elbow, scowling at her as she went whizzing past the bed again. "Twenty-five, I think, why?"
Sarah was nodding to herself. "Twenty-five going on seventeen. Some people, male and female, are still awfully immature at twenty-five. They often don't know what they really want. Some people go through their whole lives never knowing what they really want. Add to that immaturity a certain lack of brainpower or a lot of personal problems and you've got a powder keg of a marriage."
"I've already told you my ex was not exactly a dummy."
"I'm talking about common sense, not academic ability. There's a world of difference. It's common sense that makes people act intelligently, not education. All education does is give you a wider frame of reference to utilize when you're using your common sense to go over your options. A lot of people with Ph.D.'s make stupid decisions because they lack common sense. Now, then. Give me a minute to think this through."
"Take your time." Gideon was exasperated. He wondered how he'd ever gotten involved in this crazy discussion.
"Don't be sarcastic. This is important. Critical to our whole future together, in fact."
He shook his head, watching her in disbelief as she went to stand at the window. He was suddenly out of patience. If she came waltzing by the sofa one more time he was going to grab her and pull her down beside him. "Sarah, I don't know what's going through that weird brain of yours, but I think it would be best if you went back to bed."
She turned to face him. "Yes, you're probably right. I can finish thinking about this in my own room. No need to keep you awake while I go over all this information in detail. Good night, Gideon."
Anger surged through him. How dared she presume to analyze and dissect him like this? He made a grab for her as she glided past him on her way back to the bedroom.
He heard her soft gasp of surprise as his fingers locked around her wrist. "You think you know it all, don't you?" he muttered. He drew her inexorably toward him, playing seriously with the idea of dragging her down onto the bed. It would be so easy. She was so small and delicate.
"Gideon?" Her eyes were very wide now.
"Somebody ought to give you the lesson you need."
"You may be right," she agreed tremulously. "But, please, not tonight. I'm not sure I could handle it." She leaned down and gave him a quick, fleeting kiss on his cheek.
Gideon jerked back as if he'd been burned. Unthinkingly he released her. Sarah instantly sailed on past him into the safety of her bedroom. Gideon rubbed his cheek and scowled into the darkness as her door closed softly behind her.
Intent on inducing a little healthy fear in her, he had been expecting a struggle, not the small, gentle caress he had received. Her reaction had startled him and he'd let her go before he'd realized quite what he was doing, he told himself, thoroughly irritated.
He lay there for a moment, aware that he was breathing a little heavily and feeling baffled. Then he rolled onto his back and stared at the shadows on the ceiling. This must have been how poor old Machu Picchu had felt in the first days after Ellora's arrival.
SARAH ROSE AT DAWN the next morning, feeling very much her normal cheerful, optimistic self again. After several intense hours of close thought during the night, her mind was clear and serene once more. She was back on track at last and she knew what had to be done. Hurrying over to the wooden chair in the corner, she grabbed her robe, slipped into it and opened the bedroom door.
Gideon was still asleep, sprawled on the sofa bed, the sheets and blankets bunched at his waist. He was lying on his stomach and the sleek expanse of his well-muscled back was a riveting sight in the early light. Sarah longed to stroke him, the way she would have stroked one of his cats.
But she knew that would be a mistake. He would only assume she was still trying to seduce him for her own nefarious purposes. Which she was, of course, she thought with a grin. She was determined to make him fall in love with her. But the seductio
n was going to take a slightly different form than originally planned. This was not the time to be obvious.
She hurried through her morning routine in the bathroom, trying not to use up all the hot water. Gideon would not appreciate a cold shower. On the way back to her own room, she saw that he had not moved. She took one last, wistful look at his powerfully built shoulders and went to finish dressing.
A few minutes later, wearing jeans and a shirt, her hair tied up out of the way at the back of her head, she made her way into the kitchen. It didn't take long to locate the pans she needed. She opened the refrigerator.
Within minutes she had filled the cabin with the inviting aroma of fresh-brewed coffee. The counters were cluttered with utensils, plates and a frying pan she had set out.
She was humming to herself as she whisked pancake batter in a large bowl when she realized she was no longer alone in the kitchen. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Gideon standing in the doorway. He had put on his jeans and nothing else. He scanned the kitchen, rubbing absently at the dark shadow of his beard.
"Do you always make this much of a racket in the morning?" he asked.
"Uh-huh. Are you always this grouchy?" She put a pan of syrup on the stove to heat.
"One of the things about cats is that they don't complain about my mood in the mornings. What are you making? Pancakes?"
"Yep. With real maple syrup. None of that caramel-colored sugar water for us. Run along and take your shower. Everything will be ready as soon as you get out of the bathroom."
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why the fancy breakfast?"
She debated briefly how much to tell him and then decided he might as well know what he was facing. "Because it's the first step in the courtship, if you must know the truth."
"Courtship." He looked dumbfounded. "What the devil are you talking about now?"
She stopped whisking the pancake batter and turned around to face him. "I figure your problem is that I went too fast."
"My problem, huh?"
"Right. Thanks to our conversation last night and all the thinking I did afterward, I have a much better idea of how to handle you now."