The Pirate & The Adventurer & The Cowboy

edge of a jungle cliff. The man had apparently forgotten to button his rakish, khaki shirt that morning, Gideon noted. It hung open, revealing a lot of chest.

    In addition to his unbuttoned shirt the guy in the picture was wearing boots and a wide leather belt. There was a knife strapped to his leg. In one hand he held a large revolver aimed at some unseen menace and with the other he embraced a beautiful woman.

    Gideon wondered idly why the heroine had worn a sleek, sophisticated designer gown and high heels into the jungle. The glittering dress was already badly ripped and was probably going to get even more severely torn in the near future. Both characters looked far more concerned with how they were going to make love on the edge of a cliff than they were with whatever threatened them.

    Gideon shook his head in mild amazement and then spotted an open box with a publisher's return address on it. Inside the box were several copies of
Dangerous Talent
. Unable to resist, Gideon lifted one paperback out of the box, opened it and turned to the first page.

    Hilary sat frozen behind the wheel of the broken-down Jeep and watched helplessly as the man with the gun sauntered toward her. Around her the jungle was alive with brooding menace. But nothing it offered seemed even as remotely threatening at that moment as the cold, deadly expression in the eyes of the human predator in front of her.

    Green, Hilary thought fleetingly as she stared, mesmerized through the windshield. She could see that his eyes were emerald-green like those of a jungle cat and just as chilling.

    Her friends had told her Jed Mclntyre was dangerous—a man who made his own rules out here in the wilds of Rio Pasqual. But Hilary, as usual, had refused to listen to good advice.

    She had insisted on setting out to find Mclntyre and now she was very much afraid that she had done exactly that. The man coming toward her with such casual, graceful menace certainly fit the description Kathy had given her.

    Dangerous.

    Jed Mclntyre was perhaps ten paces away from the Jeep when Hilary came to her senses and remembered the pistol she had stuck in the glove box. Jerking herself out of her momentary trance, she lunged across the seat for it.

    She never made it.

    Gideon closed the book and put it back in the stack as he heard Sarah's light footsteps behind him.

    "See what I mean?" Sarah asked as she went on into the kitchen. "All my heroes are like you."

    "Other than the color of Jed Mclntyre's eyes, I didn't see much resemblance."

    "Then you didn't read far enough." Sarah switched on the coffee maker and put a kettle of water on the stove.

    Gideon shrugged. If she wanted to see him as dark, dangerous and sexy, who was he to complain? "Just tell me one thing. Do I have to start carrying a gun and wear a knife strapped to my leg?"

    "Good heavens, no. You don't need one. In that sense, you're a lot more interesting than Jed. Jed, I'm afraid, tended to rely a bit too much on brawn instead of brain. But brawn works nicely in a romance novel."

    Gideon smiled at that. "Well, that's a relief. I've never liked guns or knives. Or khaki, for that matter. Stuff wrinkles like crazy." He went down the hall to the bathroom, which smelled of lemon-scented soap. Automatically he plucked the used towel that was hanging askew off the rack and tossed it into the hamper. He located a fresh one in a small closet.

    A few minutes later when he got back to the kitchen he found Sarah pouring freshly brewed coffee. The stuff really was a lot better than instant, he decided. He was getting used to it. He sat down in a high-backed stool at the counter and picked up the red mug.

    In front of him on the counter lay an assortment of odds and ends including a couple of large yellow notepads, a glass jar holding a dozen pens and a stack of romance novels.

    "All right," Sarah said as she plunked herself down on the seat beside Gideon. "What are we going to do about your pal, Jake?"

    "As I said, I'll have a talk with him." Gideon sipped his coffee thoughtfully.

    "But how will you convince him to stop pestering us about the earrings? This little matter of going through my files is more than I can tolerate, Gideon."

    "I agree and I'll deal with it."

    She looked skeptical. "If you say so."

    "Don't tell me you're losing faith now?"

    "No, it's not that." She broke off, her thoughts clearly taking her in other directions. "But I can't help worrying about those earrings. I don't