The Adventurer

he started toward the office to inquire about Sarah's room number.
    "Hi, Gideon," Sarah called out across the parking lot. "I'm ready."
    He turned at the sound of Sarah's voice and saw her furiously locking the door behind herself. She must have been watching for him from the window. Gideon couldn't remember the last time a woman had waited impatiently for him at a window. Leanna had always been much too poised or preoccupied with her work for that sort of thing, at least when it came to waiting for him.
    Of course, he should bear in mind that Sarah Fleetwood was not just waiting for a dinner date. She was after five pairs of jeweled earrings known as the Fleetwood Flowers. That was bound to make any woman eager.
    "You're late," Sarah informed him as she hurried across the parking lot. Her high heels clicked on the pavement in a way Gideon found surprisingly sexy. The sound made him think of soft feminine sighs and sudden passion in the middle of the night.
    Annoyed with himself, he took his mind off sex and glanced at his watch. "Five minutes. You going to fire me for a lousy five minutes?"
    She gave a gurgle of delighted laughter as she hopped into the car without waiting for him to get the door. "Does that mean you've decided to let me hire you in the first place?"
    He slid behind the wheel and turned the key in the ignition. "I'm thinking about it."
    "Then it's all set." Sarah sat back, clearly bubbling over with satisfaction.
    "Not quite." He spun the wheel and drove out of the small lot. "I said I'm thinking about it. I'll let you know my answer when I'm ready."
    "Okay, okay. Be that way. In the meantime, I'm hungry. Does this place called the Wild Water Inn have pasta?"
    "I've never noticed. Whenever I go there, I order fish. That's the house specialty."
    "Maybe they have some pasta and fish dishes. Linguine with clams or something."
    He slanted her an appraising glance. "I wouldn't be surprised. Even if it's not on the menu, I'll bet the chef will bend over backward to make a special."
    Sarah's eyes widened in surprise. "Do you really think so? He must be a very accommodating chef. What's his name?"
    "Mort."
    "Mort. I'll remember that. What a nice man."
    "You've never even met him and you don't know for sure yet if he'll go to the trouble of preparing something special for you." But Mort probably would do it, Gideon conceded. There was something about Sarah Fleetwood that made a man want to please her just to see the delight reflected in her face.
    Any man or just him
? he wondered with a sudden sense of foreboding.
    Gideon studied her out of the corner of his eye as she watched the rugged coastline sweep past. He knew he was checking to see if his first impression had been wrong. But his earlier reactions this afternoon did not undergo any drastic revision now.
    He guessed her age at around thirty, give or take a couple of years, although she might have been younger. Those clear, deep hazel eyes were just as unsettling now as they had been when he'd first opened his door to her, her small, elfin features just as piquant.
    The red silk sheath she wore played lightly over a slender, surprisingly sensuous body. There were veins of gold running through her light brown hair. She had brushed the heavy mass straight back from her forehead and tied it in a cascading ponytail that somehow managed to look chic instead of youthful. There was a sleek delicacy about her that would make anything she wore look stylish.
    All in all, she still reminded him of Ellora. Gideon briefly regretted that he hadn't put on a tie. He suddenly felt vaguely underdressed in his jeans and white shirt.
    "This scenery is magnificent, isn't it?" Sarah said, turning away from the window reluctantly. "I'm going to have to set a book here. It's the perfect backdrop for a romance with intrigue and suspense. Lots of drama and impending danger. Where did you live before you moved to Washington, Gideon?"
    "Here and there."
    "Ah-ha. A world-weary wanderer who's finally decided to settle down. I knew it. What did you do before you started publishing
Cache
?"
    "This and that."
    "Real-life treasure hunting, I'll bet."
    He gave her an irritated glance. "What makes you say that?"
    "Well, we already know you're not a mass murderer and I don't see you as a sales rep. So what else would give you a background in this and that?"
    "The inability to hold a good job for any length of time?"
    "Nah. You could do just about anything you wanted to do. If you wanted