The Adventurer

but that doesn't mean I'm still holding a grudge."
    "You've got every right to hold one. No wonder you never wanted to see Jake Savage again."
    "If you say so. Look, could we change the subject?"
    "To what?" Sarah asked.
    "How about we discuss the little matter of Emelina Fleetwood's earrings? We've got some decisions to make now that we've located that white rock."
    Sarah scowled and got up to go back to peeling carrots. "Good point. What are we going to do about Jake? I don't want him hanging around the Flowers."
    "I agree. He's got his eye on those earrings, all right. And on you."
    "You mean because he thinks he can use me for publicity purposes? You may be right. In any event, he's definitely the type who will step in at the last minute to claim all the credit. I can see him having a photographer and a couple of reporters waiting in the bushes to cover his big discovery of the Fleetwood Flowers."
    "Yeah, that's Savage, all right. He always liked to have a photographer or a reporter around."
    "So what should we do?"
    "Leave."
    "Leave? After finding the white rock? We can't just walk away and let Jake Savage dig up my earrings. It's not fair."
    "I've told you, he won't find them on his own. They're as safe now as they've been for the past few years."
    "You really think so?" Sarah asked doubtfully.
    Gideon watched her, his legs stretched out in front of him. "Trust me on this. I know Jake Savage."
    "I'm not so sure he's as incompetent as you say he is."
    "Those earrings are getting more important again, aren't they?" Gideon asked softly. "This afternoon you said you weren't very concerned about them at all, but now you're getting downright agitated on the subject."
    "It's the principle of the thing. This afternoon I didn't know Jake Savage was going to pop up. He has no right to get his hands on those earrings."
    "He won't"
    "You sound awfully confident," Sarah said resentfully. "But I have a funny feeling about him. I know he's going to try to claim the Flowers, Gideon." She shivered as her intuition conjured up an image of Jake Savage reaching for the earrings. "I just know it. He has no right."
    "I was his partner for a long time," Gideon said. "I know his limitations."
    "One of his limitations is that he has no scruples. A man with scruples does not steal his best friend's wife."
    "He didn't steal her. She fell in love with him. It wasn't anyone's fault."
    "The heck it wasn't. Neither one of them had any scruples if you ask me. How did you get mixed up with a couple of bozos like those two, Gideon?"
    "The same way you got mixed up with Richard Whatshisface and managed to get yourself left at the altar. These things happen."
    She sighed. "I guess."
    There was silence for a moment as the vegetables cooked on the stove. Sarah drummed her fingers on the countertop and stared at the cloud of steam that drifted up from the pot.
    "Sarah?"
    "Yes, Gideon?"
    "About what happened this afternoon… "
    She glanced over her shoulder and met Gideon's intent eyes. "What about it?"
    "I know I sort of pushed you into it."
    "You didn't push me into it."
    "Yes, I did. You'd been trying to resist for the past few days."
    She smiled. "Not very successfully."
    "Are you sure you don't have any regrets?"
    "I'm sure. What about you?"
    He looked surprised at the question. "Hell, no. Why would I have any regrets?"
    "Why, indeed?" she muttered as she dished up the vegetables.
    Three hours later Gideon won another hand of gin rummy. He had been winning steadily since they'd begun the game shortly after dinner. "You're not concentrating," he accused.
    "I know." Sarah propped her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her folded hands.
    "Thinking about the earrings again?"
    "No."
    "Savage?"
    "No."
    Gideon leaned back in his chair. "Then what were you thinking about?"
    "Us."
    His eyes narrowed. "What about us?"
    "I'm wondering what to do next, if you must know. Nothing has gone quite the way I thought it would since I met you."
    "I knew it," Gideon said swiftly, "you are having regrets."
    "I am not having regrets," she snapped. "I'm just feeling confused about a few things."
    "Such as?" he challenged roughly.
    "Such as what to do with this courtship."
    "The courtship's over," Gideon announced, getting to his feet.
    Sarah looked up in astonishment. "It is?"
    "That's right. We're no longer involved in a courtship. It ended this afternoon when I seduced you on that white rock. We are now involved in an affair."
    He came around the table, bent