Dawn in Eclipse Bay

herself up on her elbows and surveyed herself. “But the dress is dead meat.”
    “I’m sure there are plenty more where it came from.”
    “Probably. Department stores are full of little black dresses.” She noticed the tie around her neck and frowned. “How did that get there?”
    He eased himself off the table, stood and stretched. “Some questions are better left unanswered.”
    He studied a canvas propped against the wall directly across from him as he zipped his trousers and buckled his belt. It was another one of her unique, riveting creations, all hot, intense light and dark, disturbing shadows. He felt it reaching out to pull him into that world, just as her other works did. He had to force himself to look away from it.
    He turned his head and saw that the sensual, teasing laughter that had gleamed in her eyes a moment ago had evaporated. She was watching him in the same way that he had looked at the painting, as if she were wary of being sucked into his universe.
    “Does this mean we’re having an affair?” she asked.
    Curious. Polite. Very cool. Just asking.
    Her deliberately casual air wiped out a lot of the satisfaction that he had been enjoying. Whatever was going on here was a long way from settled.
    “Yes,” he said. I think we’d better call this an affair. I don’t see that we have any real choice.”
    She sat up slowly and dangled her legs off the edge of the worktable. “Why is that?”
    She had small, delicate ankles and beautifully arched feet, he noticed. Her toenails were painted scarlet. And here he’d never considered himself a foot man.
    He walked back to the table, fitted his hands to her waist, lifted her and set her on her feet. He did not release her. “Be sort of awkward to have to admit that we’re into one- and two-night stands, wouldn’t it?”
    “Might make us both look extremely shallow and superficial.”
    “Can’t have that,” he said easily. “Come on, let’s go back to your apartment. We need some sleep. Got a long drive back to Eclipse Bay tomorrow morning.”

chapter 12
    A deceptively bright sun supplied light but very little heat to Eclipse Bay. Small whitecaps snapped and sparkled on the water. The brisk breeze promised another storm soon. They drove through the community’s small business district on the way back to the cottage. Lillian noticed that the handful of men standing around a truck at the town’s only gas station were huddled into goose-down vests and heavy windbreakers.
    Sandy Hickson, the owner of the station, spotted Gabe’s car and waved a casual greeting. His companions turned to glance at the vehicle. Even from where she sat, Lillian thought she could see the open speculation in their eyes.
    A Harte and a Madison could not even drive through Eclipse Bay together without drawing interested gazes.
    “Small town,” Gabe said. He sounded completely unruffled by the attention.
    “Very.”
    “Not like there’s a heck of a lot to do around here in the middle of winter. It’s almost like we’ve got a social obligation to bring a little excitement to town.”
    “Since when did Madisons worry about their social obligations?”
    “Since we started hanging out more with you Hartes. You’re a bad influence on us.”
    She noticed the illuminated message indicator on the answering machine when she walked into the Harte family cottage a short time later.
    Gabe saw it too. “Got a hunch Mitchell ratted us out.”
    “Looks that way. Probably my mother. Great.” She put down the carton of painting supplies she had carried in from the car. “I’ll deal with it later.”
    “Thought you said your folks were on a business trip in San Diego.”
    “They are. But you know as well as I do that gossip travels fast among the Hartes and the Madisons, especially since the wedding.”
    “Well, we both knew we wouldn’t be able to keep this a secret. And it’s not as if we’re not all adults here.”
    He sounded a little too philosophical, she thought. Downright upbeat, in fact. As if the prospect of explaining away a red-hot affair between a Harte and a Madison was no big deal. Just a walk in the park.
    “Yeah, right,” she said. “We’re all adults here.”
    He set her suitcase in the hall and looked at her, brows raised in polite inquiry. “Need backup?”
    “From a Madison? That would be like pouring oil on a burning fire.”
    “We Madisons are good at that.”
    “I’ll remember that the next time I’m trying to start a blaze