The Adventurer

by Jayne Ann Krentz

  There was a long silence from the driver's side of the car. Gideon concentrated on the narrow, twisting road that was taking them down out of the rugged terrain to where the main freeway sliced through the mountain pass.

  "Does it occur to you that you might be overreacting a bit?" Gideon said eventually.

  Sarah gritted her teeth. "Overreacting to what, pray tell? Do you think it's possible I've gone a bit overboard in my response to your insults? Perhaps I should have just laughed off the accusation that I slept with you in order to get you to help me find my treasure. Maybe I overreacted to being accused of trying to use sex to stiff you out of your cut of the action."

  "Sarah…"

  "Or perhaps I'm being just a tad irrational now that I've come to my senses and realized I've been deluding myself about you right from the start. The famous Fleetwood intuition screws up again. I can't say I wasn't warned. Hell, you warned me, yourself."

  "Sarah…"

  "Then again, maybe I'm being a bit petty and overly defensive now that I've discovered I've got to protect the Fleetwood Flowers from not one, but two professional opportunists. Yes, I can see where I might be overreacting. I'll have to watch that, won't I?"

  "Do you get worked up like this a lot?"

  "What do you care? I won't be around you long enough for it to be of any great concern to you." Sarah continued to scowl out the window for a minute. "I wonder if I should just turn around and drive straight back up here this afternoon instead of going back to Seattle for the night. I know you don't think Savage can find the jewels on his own, but my intuition tells me he can and will. And now there's you to worry about, too, of course. Yes, I think I'd better get right back up here today."

  "Forget it, Sarah. You're not coming back into these mountains to dig up the Flowers on your own."

  "Who's going to stop me?"

  "Me."

  "I knew it, you are kidnapping me. Well, you won't get away with it. If you think you can just lock me away in your cellar or something and have no one notice I'm missing, you're crazy. My best friends in the whole world know I went to find you and if I turn up missing, Margaret and Kate won't rest until they've found out what you did to me. And Kate's husband will probably help them look."

  "I'm beginning to see why you're successful at writing novels of romantic suspense. You have a very unique imagination, don't you?"

  "And that's another thing. Better not forget what I do for a living. I've got an outstanding contract to complete. If I don't finish the last book on it, my publisher and my agent will come looking for you, too."

  His mouth flickered suspiciously, but all Gideon said was, "I'll keep that in mind before I do anything rash."

  Satisfied she'd made all the threats she could for the moment, Sarah lapsed back into a brooding silence. She needed her anger. At the moment it was all that was keeping her from tears.

  "Sarah, I know you're in no mood to listen to explanations."

  "You're right."

  "But I'd like to point out that it's not entirely fair to blame me for wondering about your motives. You landed on my doorstep like a small tornado and I feel as though I've been swept up and carried along in a high wind ever since. From the first day you acted as though we were long-lost lovers—as if we'd known each other for ages. You practically begged me to make love to you every time I kissed you. You told me you were going to court me, which is another way of saying seduce me. You went wild when I did finally make love to you, as if I was some irresistible, private fantasy of yours that had come to life. It was crazy, Sarah."

  "So I made a teensy little mistake."

  "That was one explanation," Gideon said dryly. "But the other, more likely one is that you had a few private motives for wanting to ensure you had me tied up in knots. I don't blame you. You figured you needed some expert help finding the Flowers."

  "Shut up, Gideon."

  "I'm not saying you were faking your response in bed. I don't think any woman could give that convincing a performance, although that may just reflect my own lack of experience. I haven't been involved with that many women and none of them ever had sufficient reason to want to—"

  "I said shut up and meant it," Sarah hissed. "If you dig that hole any deeper, you may never be able to crawl out of it."

  "I'm just trying to point out my side of this."

  "You've made your point. Damn. When I think of all the excuses I made for you based on the trauma you'd been through with your ex-wife and Jake Savage, I could just spit. You don't need any excuses for the way you've been acting, do you? You come by it naturally. Let's change the subject."

  "To what?"

  Sarah chewed thoughtfully on her lower lip. "Why didn't you want us to dig up the Flowers before we left this morning? Jake was gone. If we'd hurried, we could have gotten them without him ever knowing. Are you planning to come back on your own and take all of them for yourself?"

  He didn't rise to the bait. "I didn't want to start digging for them knowing Savage was still in the neighborhood."

  She caught her breath. "You mean you think he might wait until we've dug them up and then try to steal them from us? I never thought of that."

  "I know."

  "But he was your partner."

  "I'm aware of that."

  "Of course, he did steal your wife. I can see where you might wonder a bit about his trustworthiness in other matters."

  "It's not because of what happened with Leanna that I'm worried."

  "It's because of what happened on that last trip you two made into the jungle, isn't it?"

  Gideon concentrated on the slow-moving truck ahead of them. "I can't help but wonder bow he survived."

  "You survived."

  "I'm better at it than Savage." There was no arrogance or ego in his voice. It was just a simple statement of fact.

  "So you're wondering how he got out of that jungle?"

  "I'm wondering how he managed to get out of that cave alive, let alone find his way out of the jungle."

  "How do you think he managed?" Sarah asked slowly,

  "I think it's possible he had help."

  "But the only help around from what you've said would have been the smugglers and they were the ones who staged the ambush."

  "You've got it."

  Sarah was shaken by the implications. "You think it was a conspiracy? That Jake was part of it?"

  "I think it's a possibility."

  "That would mean he deliberately set you up that day. That he intended to get you killed. But the plan failed because you sensed trouble."

  "Savage was never very good at the planning side of things. Believe me, it would be totally in character for him to have screwed up the timing on the ambush."

  "I don't get it. Why would he want to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs?"

  "A goose, hmm? I never thought of myself that way, but I guess that's one point of view. To answer your question, all I can say is, there was a lot of cash involved."

  "How much of it did you get out of the country?"

  "All of it except what I spent bribing the captain of the fishing boat. I used the remainder to set myself up in business with Cache."

  "Good heavens. You did lead an adventurous life, didn't you? I see what you mean about adrenaline. So what this all boils down to is you're afraid we'll be standing there plucking the Fleetwood Flowers from the ground and your old buddy Jake might show up to take them away from us at gunpoint."

  "I'd just as soon not take any risks."

  "I can understand that. You've got a lot to lose. Just one pair of those earrings will be worth a lot of money. I've got an even bigger problem, though, don't I? I have to figure out a way to protect the Flowers from you and Savage."

  "Sarah, if you continued to make not-so-veiled accusations about my trustworthiness, I'm eventually going to lose my temper."

  "The way I lost mine when you started making nasty cracks about my reasons for sleeping with you?"

  Gideon shook his
head ruefully. "Something like that. For the record, and not that you've bothered to ask, I give you my word I'll abide by our original bargain."

  "We don't have a bargain. I fired you, remember?"

  "I warned you that I don't fire that easily."

  "Which, translated, means you're not going to give up your claim to the jewels."

  "I don't suppose it's occurred to you that I'm more worried about you than I am the Flowers?"

  "No."

  "Sarah, be reasonable. As long as Savage is hanging around, it's dangerous for you to even think about digging up the earrings. Leave them where they are until he gets bored and leaves the vicinity."

  "What makes you think he'll get bored?"

  "I know him. If he believes I've really given up on the Flowers, myself, he'll give up on them, too. He got used to trusting my instincts. And he never hangs around too long if there's no percentage in it. One of these days he'll disappear and leave us in peace. When he does, we'll go back and get the Flowers."

  "It might interest you to know," Sarah said slowly, "that Jake doesn't trust you any farther than you trust him."

  "What the hell does that mean?"

  "We had quite an interesting conversation this morning while you were in the shower. Jake tells a slightly different version of what happened that day in the jungle. According to him, you more or less abandoned him to his fate."

  Gideon's head snapped around, his eyes blazing. "He said I cut out on him?"

  "Yup."

  "And you believed him?"

  Sarah was feeling resentful enough not to respond immediately to that.

  "Sarah. Of all the… You didn't believe him, did you?"

  "What is this? I'm supposed to have complete, unswerving faith in you even though you can have serious doubts about my integrity?"

  "For God's sake, just tell me if you actually believed him."

  Sarah blinked, startled at the intensity of Gideon's reaction. "Calm down. I didn't believe him. Although I have to say I think it's entirely possible that in the stress of the moment each of you could have misinterpreted the other's actions."

  "Thanks for that much, at any rate."

  "You're welcome. How long do I have to wait for my apology this time?"

  "Until hell freezes over."

  "Never mind. I can see your heart's not in it. Getting back to how we deal with Jake Savage. I'm supposed to just twiddle my thumbs until the coast is clear?"

  "Patience is a virtue."

  "I was patient for four long months until I decided it was time to look you up. It turned out to be a futile exercise in virtue from every viewpoint."

  "Give me some credit. I found your white rock for you, didn't I?"

  "After seducing me on top of it."

  He smiled briefly. "It was kind of symbolic, wasn't it?"

  "Of what?" She felt goaded now.

  He shrugged. "Making love to you was a lot like finding buried treasure."

  She shot him a suspicious glance, trying to see if he was making fun of her. But he looked perfectly serious. Sarah couldn't help it. She tried to ignore what he'd said, but she wound up hugging his incredibly romantic words to herself even though she tried not to read too much into them.

  MACHU PICCHU and Ellora were waiting on the front porch when Gideon pulled into the drive. Machu stayed posed regally on the top step, waiting for Gideon to get out of the car and come over to be recognized. But Ellora glided happily down the steps and trotted over to greet Sarah.

  "Hello, sweetheart," Sarah murmured as she bent to pick up the cat. "Did you miss us? Did that big, old Machu bully you while we were gone the way Gideon bullied me?"

  Ellora purred and butted her head against Sarah's chin. Then she wriggled free, leaped onto the roof of the car and padded over to welcome Gideon. He gave her an affectionate pat on the head and went back to unloading the luggage.

  "Hold it," Sarah called out as she saw him start toward the front steps with her bags. "You can put those right into my car."

  Gideon was already on the top step. He put down one suitcase and bent to scratch Machu behind the ears. "I think it would be better if you stayed here with me for a few more days, Sarah."

  "No."

  "We already went over this in the car. I don't trust Savage and I don't want you having to deal with him on your own. You told me, yourself, you've got two weeks to play with. You'll stay here where I know you're safe and when the time is right, we'll go dig up the Flowers together."

  "I didn't agree to anything in the car. I'm leaving. I'll be perfectly safe in Seattle."

  "Savage knows where you live," Gideon said patiently. "He's liable to come calling on the old divide-and-conquer theory. If he decides you can lead him to the earrings on your own, he won't hesitate to try to talk you into doing just that."

  "Don't worry, he can't talk me into doing anything I don't want to do. Furthermore, I'm not about to cut you out of the deal and then turn around and let him in, instead."

  "Savage can be very convincing. Especially with women," Gideon said. "I've seen him in action."

  Especially with women. Sarah opened her mouth to protest the idiotic assumption that she could be swayed by someone like Jake Savage, but something stopped her. She was getting a familiar, faint tingling sense of awareness. Her intuition was kicking in again. She stood there, hands on her hips and contemplated Gideon and his big cat.

  All this emphasis on Jake Savage's untrustworthiness was beginning to sound like overkill. Obviously Gideon was not physically afraid of the man. She couldn't imagine Gideon being afraid of anyone. Furthermore, she wasn't at all sure there was anything to Gideon's vague, farfetched theories about Jake having somehow set his partner up with the smugglers.

  But the one thing about Jake Savage that Gideon had genuine reason to worry about was the man's effect on women.

  It was true Gideon had said some terrible, hurtful things back there in the mountains, but for the first time Sarah was calm enough to realize he might have been lashing out from the depths of his own uncertainty. She remembered the look on his face when he'd walked into the kitchen that morning and seen Jake's flowers sitting in the pan of water.

  And Jake's hand covering her own on the table.

  And Jake looking intently into her eyes, telling her they'd make a great team.

  Maybe what Gideon had really seen in his mind's eye was his ex-wife, Leanna, falling so easily for Jake's good looks and easy charm. Gideon should know by now that she, Sarah, was not at all the same sort of woman Leanna had been. But men could be awfully thickheaded about things, especially men like him who had been savaged in the past by people they had trusted.

  "You have nothing to worry about," she told him finally.

  "Nevertheless, I will worry. You're staying here, Sarah."

  "Stop telling me what to do, damn you." Sarah whirled around and raced toward her car, fumbling in her bag for the keys.

  She wasn't even halfway there when Gideon's arm caught her around the waist and jerked her to an abrupt stop. The breath was driven out of her lungs.

  "I said, you're staying."

  Sarah gasped for air as he turned and hauled her back toward the porch. "Gideon, you can't do this."

  "Watch me." He took the keys from her hand and dropped them into his pocket. "We can do this hard or we can do it easy, Sarah, but one way or another, you're staying."

  He meant it. Sarah slanted him a speculative glance out of the corner of her eye and read the implacable determination in Gideon's face. In that moment he looked more than ever like one of her dangerous heroes.

  "If I do decide to stay," she said in her most imperious tones, just as if she had a choice, "it will be for only a few more days and it has to be understood that we're not going back to our old relationship. Is that very clear?"

  Gideon's brows rose as he cautiously released her. "Old relationship? It seems like a fairly new relationship to me. We've barely gotten started."

  "You know damn
well what I mean." Sarah started toward the steps. "No sex."

  "You said that once before but you changed your mind."

  "That was different. This time I won't be changing my mind." Her chin was high as she swept past him into the gloomy old house. "I'll pick out my bedroom right now. You can leave my luggage in it."

  Gideon muttered something under his breath. Then he looked down at Machu Picchu. "How the mighty are fallen, huh, pal? Yesterday I was a legendary lover. This afternoon I've been demoted to bellhop."

  "I heard that," Sarah yelled from inside the house. "And you're absolutely right. Furthermore, if I were you, I wouldn't expect much of a tip. Where's the thermostat in this place? It's freezing in here."

  Gideon hoisted the luggage again and followed her into the living room. He glanced around at the familiar bleak, faded, excessively neat interior. It didn't seem all that chilly to him. But he knew that was because Sarah was already running around inside, opening the old drapes to let in the light, putting hot water on the stove for tea and generally warming things up with her effortless, effervescent vitality.

  SEVERAL HOURS LATER Gideon sat alone on the sofa, Machu draped in his usual position along the back. Ellora was nowhere in sight and Gideon suspected she had accompanied Sarah to bed.

  "Just us guys left out here," Gideon muttered to the big cat. "But at least she stayed without too much of a fight."

  He was damned lucky she had given in as easily as she had and he knew it. He'd thought for a while there that he'd ruined all his chances when he'd asked her if she'd played sensual games with him in an effort to get him to give up any claim on the Flowers.

  Nearly done in again by his own mouth.

  One of these days Gideon hoped he would learn not to fire from the hip. He was getting too good at shooting himself in the foot.

  But the sight of Savage's flowers sitting in that pan in the cabin's kitchen had rendered him cold with rage. He'd been furious, not only with Jake who was, after all, only acting in character, but with Sarah who'd accepted the flowers. Furthermore, she'd let the bastard put his hand over hers. He'd touched her.