The Adventurer

to her thighs. Gently he parted her legs and made a place for himself near her warmth.
    This was what he wanted out of life, Gideon realized; it was all he asked for of the Fates. He had been cold for far too long. Now he knew he would be content if he could spend the rest of his days warming himself at Sarah's hearth.
     
    S ARAH AWOKE SHORTLY after four o'clock when Ellora shifted slightly against her leg. Automatically she turned to find Gideon on the other side of the bed.
    He was gone.
    Sarah listened to the silence of the big old house for a moment or two and then she pushed back the covers and got to her feet. Her robe was on the back of a chair. She put it on, tied the sash and went very quietly out the door. Ellora followed at her heels.
    Sarah crept down the stairs, avoiding the ones that creaked. At the foot of the staircase she hesitated and then turned down the hall toward Gideon's study. There was a thin wedge of light showing through the opening in the doorway.
    Sarah tiptoed to the door and peered through the crack. Gideon was sitting at his desk dressed in only his jeans. Emelina Fleetwood's strongbox was open in front of him. Nearby sat five of the carved wooden chess pieces.
    As Sarah watched, fascinated, Gideon picked up one of the chess pieces, removed the base and pulled out a small object wrapped in black velvet. He put the object into the strongbox and reached for the next chess piece.
    Machu rumbled from somewhere inside the study and Ellora brushed past Sarah's bare feet. The little cat pushed through the crack of the doorway and trotted into the room. Gideon glanced up. He saw Ellora first and then he saw Sarah standing in the shadows of the hall.
    A curious stillness gripped him. He sat as if made of stone, his green eyes glittering with an unreadable expression.
    "Well, well, well," Sarah murmured. She pushed the door open wider, crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe. She wanted to shout her happiness to the world.
    "Couldn't sleep?" Gideon asked.
    "Something woke me up."
    "Probably your world-famous intuition."
    "Probably." Sarah couldn't stop the smile that she knew was starting to light up her whole face.
    Gideon sighed wearily and leaned back in his chair. "I guess you want an explanation."
    She shook her head violently. "Not necessary."
    "It's not?"
    "No. Gideon, this is the most romantic thing that has ever happened to me in my entire life."
    He glanced at the open strongbox. "It is?"
    "Definitely. It proves you love me. Proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt."
    "It does?"
    "Oh, yes." She walked into the room and came to a halt on the other side of the desk. She planted both hands on its polished wooden surface.
    "Sarah…"
    "Admit it," Sarah said, wanting to laugh out loud at his wary expression. "Go on, admit it. Tell me you love me. Tell me that you're doing this—" she waved a hand to include the array of chess pieces and the open strongbox "—because you're wildly, madly, passionately, head-over-heels in love with me."
    "Well…"
    "Gideon, this is the sweetest, most romantic gift I've ever had. You knew how much I was enjoying my treasure hunt. You know how excited I was about opening that strongbox. And you couldn't bear for me to find it empty, could you? You wanted to give me a gift and letting me find the Fleetwood Flowers at the end of my big adventure was your present to me. Gideon, I am so thrilled, so incredibly touched.
You love me
."
    Gideon gazed down at the knight still in his hand. "You're amazing, you know that? Some women would look at a scene like this and assume right off the bat that they had been or were about to be robbed, cheated or otherwise swindled out of a fortune. You look at it and assume it's evidence that I'm in love with you."
    Sarah grinned. "It is and you are. Aren't you?"
    Gideon's answering smile was slow. His eyes lost their wariness. A deep, aching tenderness took its place. His hard face seemed to gentle in the lamplight. "I must be to have gotten myself into a situation like this."
    Sarah laughed, her delight bubbling up inside like champagne. She darted around the edge of the desk and threw herself into Gideon's lap. "Tell me," she demanded. "Say the words."
    He touched the side of her face wonderingly. "I love you, Sarah."
    "Since when?" she pressed.
    "I don't know. Does it matter?"
    "No." She put her fingertips on his lips. "It doesn't really matter. The only thing that matters is that you're sure now."
    "I'm sure."
    She put