The Adventurer

you, Gideon, that your sudden enthusiasm for this venture is making me nervous. What changed your mind? Did you decide the map and the legend are real, after all?"
    "I figure it's worth a shot." He swung the car out onto the narrow highway. He was silent for a minute or two before he said, "Couple of things you ought to know about treasure hunting, Sarah."
    "And you're going to tell me what I should know, right?"
    "Right."
    "I've told you, I don't like being lectured."
    "You came to me for advice. I intend to earn my share of the loot."
    "
If
we find it."
    "I thought you were already sure we would." He gave her a fleeting, mildly derisive glance.
    She ignored that. The truth was, she was almost certain they would find the Flowers. The problem now was what might happen when they did. "All right, expert. Tell me the couple of things I ought to know about the treasure-hunting business."
    "The most important thing is that we don't make a public production out of it. The less attention we attract, the better, especially if we do get lucky."
    "Why?"
    "Use your head, Sarah. If we do find the Flowers, we're talking about a tidy little fortune in gemstones. People have killed for less, believe me."
    That shocked her. "Good grief, I never thought of that."
    "Somehow that doesn't surprise me."
    "I can't believe we'd attract the attention of a killer."
    "That's the worst possible case. It's far more likely we'd attract the interest of other treasure hunters, curious tourists and little kids who would want to follow us around and watch while we dig. There might also be legal complications. Do you know who owns the old Fleetwood property now?"
    She smiled, vastly pleased with herself. "Yeah. Me."
    "You do?" That obviously startled him.
    "I bought it two months ago. It was incredibly cheap because it has no real value. It's lousy farmland by today's standards and it's not a good building site for a modern home. I'll sell it right after we find the Flowers."
    Gideon whistled softly. "I'm impressed."
    "About time."
    "All right, you've taken care of the major complication, the legal ownership of the land. But I still recommend we keep our plans quiet. Nothing pulls attention like a hunt for real treasure and attention usually means trouble for small operations like ours. If this were a major salvage operation to find a sunken ship, that would be one thing. We'd want investment money and plenty of media hype. But the two of us operating alone are highly vulnerable. We go in and we get out without making waves."
    Sarah debated briefly the wisdom of confiding that she'd mentioned the Flowers to one Jim Slaughter of Slaughter Enterprises and then decided not to say anything to Gideon. After all, she'd definitely told Slaughter she wasn't interested in either hiring him to help her find the earrings or in financing his downed-airplane-full-of-gold project. He was definitely out of the picture and if she mentioned him to her new consultant, Gideon might get nervous. Things were tricky enough at best right now.
    "Okay," Sarah said easily. "Very low profile. I understand. I figure we'll just check into a couple of rooms at a motel in the little mountain town that's near the property. We'll make the motel our home base. Who's going to notice our coming and going?"
    "Probably everyone in town," Gideon said.
    Sarah thought about that. "You really think so?"
    "Yes."
    "Well, what do you suggest we do?" she asked, irritated. "Camp out? I warn you, I'm not big on roughing it."
    "We don't need to go as far as setting up a tent."
    "Thank heavens." Sarah shuddered.
    "My suggestion is that we act like a couple of city folks on vacation in the mountains. You know, tourists who've come to take photographs of the spring wildflowers."
    "I didn't bring my camera."
    "I brought one."
    "That was very clever of you," she said with genuine admiration.
    His brows rose. "Thanks. Wait until you hear the rest of the cover story."
    "Cover story." Sarah tasted the words, her excitement reawakening rapidly. "I've always wanted to have a cover story. What's ours?"
    "As I said, a couple of people on vacation." He shot her a cool, assessing glance. "But it's going to look strange if we don't act like a real couple. A man and a woman traveling together are either lovers or business associates. Since we don't want anyone to know we're business associates, we have to look like lovers."
    Sarah turned her head to stare at him in amazement. "What on earth are you trying to say,