Deep Waters (12 page)

“One more word,” Elias said softly, “and you won't be in any condition to ask for more samples from any female.”

Arlene flung back her head. “You're lying, Rick Swinton. I've been preparing myself for the Journey, just like Gwendolyn told us to do. We're all supposed
to be getting ready to move to a higher plane where sex will be a pure, nonphysical experience.”

“Give me a break,” Swinton muttered.

“And what's more,” Arlene shot back, “if I was going to fool around, it wouldn't be with you. I've got me a fine boyfriend, and I'm going to make sure he comes with me when it's time to go aboard the ships. And I'll tell you something else, if Gwendolyn knew how you acted when her back was turned, she'd send you packing.”

“Goddamned little bitch.” Rick backed up hurriedly when Elias moved in the shadows. “Keep your hands off me, Winters.”

“Oh, let him be,” Arlene said with acute disgust. “I'm all right, and you can bet I won't let him get me alone again. He's perverted, if you ask me. You should see what he's got inside his motor home. And he thinks it's sexy. Well, I can tell you none of it will matter after next Monday night.”

“You can say that again.” Rick swung around and stalked off down a dark corridor formed by several campers and some motor homes.

Charity gave Arlene a small hug. “Are you sure you're okay?”

“I'm fine.” Arlene heaved a deep sigh. “Rick's a sneaky little twerp who uses his position as Gwendolyn's assistant to try to get it on with every female Voyager in sight. First time he's ever tried anything with me, though.”

Elias stirred. “You said that if Gwendolyn knew about his behavior, she'd get rid of him. If that's the case, why don't you tell her?”

“The thing is, she's got so much on her mind right now.” Arlene looked uneasy. “Most of us only see her at the evening sundown chant. She spends the rest of her time in her motor home preparing for Monday
night. Rick's the only one who's allowed to interrupt her when she's meditating or pursuing her studies.”

“I could get her attention for you,” Elias offered. “No problem.”

“I don't want to cause her any trouble,” Arlene said quickly. “Rick Swinton isn't important. He's such a turkey, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets left behind when the aliens come.”

“Don't worry,” Elias said. “Something tells me that Swinton won't be going on board any starship at midnight on the fifteenth. And neither will anyone else.”

Arlene straightened her shoulders with grave dignity. “I can see that you're a nonbeliever. But you and all the others will learn the truth for yourselves. I just wish I could get Newlin to understand. I can't bear the thought of leaving him behind.”

Charity patted her shoulder. “Newlin cares about you, Arlene. If things don't work out, remember that he'll be here waiting for you.”

Tears glistened in Arlene's eyes. She wiped them away with the back of her hand. “But I want him to come with me to see the galaxy. If he stays behind, he'll be dead and turned to dust by the time I get back.”

Elias looked at her. “Sometimes the surface of the water is so distorted by a passing storm that you can't see any truth in it.”

Arlene blinked away a few more tears and stared at him uncomprehendingly. “Huh?”

Charity gave her another little hug. “Don't worry about it, Arlene. Elias can be a little obscure. It's not his fault. He was raised that way. Come on, we'll walk you back to your trailer.”

“You don't have to do that. I'm okay, honest.” Arlene gave Charity an anxious glance. “You won't tell Newlin about what just happened, will you?”

Charity hesitated. “If that's what you want.”

“What I really want is for Newlin to come with me on the spaceship.” Arlene turned and trailed off into the shadows.

“I hope she's not going to be too depressed on Monday night when nothing happens,” Charity said a short while later as she and Elias walked home.

“She'll have Newlin to comfort her.”

Startled by the brusque tone of his voice, Charity gave him a searching look. It was impossible to see his expression in the darkness.

“Elias?”

“Yes?”

“You're sure you're okay? Rick didn't get a punch in, did he?”

“I'm okay.”

Charity relaxed slightly. “That was very kind of you to go to Arlene's assistance.”

Elias did not respond. He was obviously lost in his own churning thoughts.

Charity knew a no-trespassing sign when she saw one. She stopped talking and allowed the sounds of the night and the cove to fill the tense silence.

When they reached her cottage, she took out her key and walked up the porch steps to her front door. Elias made no attempt to follow her. He stood waiting at the bottom of the steps as she fitted her key into the lock.

She looked back at him as she opened the door, wondering what he would say if she invited him inside. The porch light etched his face in sharp, contrasting planes of light and shadow. He looked very remote, very distant. Back in control. She decided that in this mood he would refuse an offer of tea or a nightcap.

“Thanks for asking me to join you on your evening
walk.” Deliberately she infused her voice with as much forced brightness as possible. “It was interesting, to say the least.”

“Charity?”

She froze warily in the doorway. “Yes?”

“Did I scare you?”

Of all the things she might have expected him to say at that moment, his question was one she would never have imagined. “Scare me? You mean, with the way you tackled Rick Swinton? Don't be silly. Of course you didn't scare me. I was glad you tossed him out of the motor home. He deserved to land on his rear in the dirt. Arlene's right. He's a little twerp.”

“I'm not talking about Swinton.”

“Oh.”

“I'm talking about us,” Elias said very softly.

Her mouth went dry. She knew now that he was referring to the devastating intensity of the kiss they had shared. A kiss that had left him as shaken as it had her, she thought with rising satisfaction. Not that he would ever admit it.

Suddenly she felt incredibly cheerful. Incredibly sexy. Downright flirtatious. She folded her arms beneath her breasts and propped one shoulder against the doorjamb, trying for an air of unruffled, sophisticated aplomb.

“Do I look scared?” she asked.

“No.”

She smiled. “What are you up to, Elias Winters?”

“Don't you know?”

“Enlighten me.”

He held her eyes with unwavering intensity. There was no humor in that gaze. None at all. For Elias this was deadly serious, Charity realized. She felt a little sorry for him.

“I'm trying to start an affair with you,” Elias said.

It took a determined effort, but she managed to get her mouth closed after a few stunned seconds. “I thought you were the subtle type.”

“Is that an affirmative or a negative response?”

Charity struggled to maintain a few shreds of her composure. Damn if she would let him turn her into a babbling idiot. She took refuge in her old executive style.

“It's an I'll-get-back-to-you-on-that response,” she said.

He nodded, accepting her words without comment. “Good night, Charity.”

“Good night.” Charity stepped back into the safety of her tiny hallway and very carefully closed and locked the door. Then she sagged weakly against it.

After a moment, she recovered sufficiently to go to the window and peek through the blinds. But she was too late to see Elias leave. He had already vanished into the night.

5
 
 

Volcanoes simmer beneath the deepest seas.

—“On the Way of Water,” from the journal of Hayden Stone

He had not scared Charity, but he had certainly done a hell of a job scaring himself.

Two days later Elias still could not stop brooding over the kiss on the bluff.

He had just wanted to test the waters. Wade in the shallows. Check to see if the attraction was mutual. He had not expected to get caught by a riptide and swept out to sea before he knew what hit him.

Years of daily exercise, both physical and mental, designed to cultivate maximum internal balance and self-discipline, all gone in an instant. So much for playing it cool.

It had taken an hour of contemplation beside the garden pool, a cold shower, and a shot of whiskey to
control the hungry need that had set his senses on edge Wednesday night. The temptation to walk back to Charity's cottage, knock on the door, and ask her to take him into her bed had nearly unhinged him.

Scary. Very scary.

But he was back in control now, he assured himself. Two days of intense Tal Kek Chara workouts had reestablished the balance of his inner flow.

Sort of.

Elias stood behind his counter with Crazy Otis stationed beside him on the fake tree limb. Together they watched as Charity moved up and down the crowded aisles of Charms & Virtues, clipboard in hand.

With a woman like this, you had to be careful what you asked for, Elias reflected. This morning he had foolishly asked for some business marketing advice.

At the time he had been pleased with the subtle maneuver. He had thought to use the request as an excuse to spend more time with her. He had envisioned giving her tea in the intimate privacy of the tiny office behind the cash register counter.

But she had taken his request far too seriously. She was attacking the job of whipping his business into shape with gusto.

If she had experienced any serious aftereffects from that out-of-control kiss two days ago, they certainly didn't show, he thought morosely. “I'll get back to you on that,” she had said when he'd told her that he wanted to have an affair. It was as if she had sensed the weakness in him and knew herself to be in the driver's seat.

Dangerous. But a challenge he could not resist.

“We'll have to find Hayden's supplier files and order info.” Charity paused to pick up a pen off a stack marked
Spy Pens—Write Your Secret Messages
in Invisible Ink.
“I have no idea where he got most of this stuff.”

“There's a big stack of order catalogs in the office,” Elias offered.

He studied the graceful, vulnerable curve of the nape of her neck. He was sorely tempted to come out from behind the barricade of the sales counter and see what would happen if he touched that sexy place beneath her hair. He resisted the urge. He had the raw fire of unrequited lust tamped down now, but the force of it was undiminished. Unfortunately the flames burned all the hotter for being banked.

Control was everything in Tal Kek Chara.

“Check the business records in his old filing cabinet. There should be invoices from the companies he used on a regular basis.” Charity put aside the invisible ink pen and blew dust off a collection of tiny, carved wooden boxes. “I'll have Newlin bring over one of our extra feather dusters. A clean shop has eye appeal.”

“I don't know.” Elias surveyed the layer of grime on top of the fortune-teller's booth. “I think the dust adds atmosphere.”

“That's ridiculous.” Charity brushed her hands together. “It makes the place look untended. Also, you really should do something to improve the lighting in here. It looks like the inside of a cave.”

“A couple of kids wandered in yesterday afternoon. I think they liked the spooky effect.”

“Anything that makes it hard for your customers to see what you have to sell doesn't help business.” Charity picked up a small box and probed curiously at the latch.

“Uh, Charity, be careful with that. Those little chests are filled with—”

“Don't get me wrong. I agree that it's a good idea to maintain an air of mystery in a shop like Charms &
Virtues, but you don't want to overdo it. Maybe some old-fashioned lamps, especially in the back section, would be the—aaaah!”

A large, furry spider leaped out of the box.

“Oh-my-god!” Charity shrieked again and hurled box and spider into the air.

“Heh-heh-heh.” Crazy Otis sidled along his perch, shiny eyes glittering evilly.

“I tried to tell you.” Elias came around from behind the counter and started down the aisle. “Those are gag boxes. They've all got fake spiders on springs stuffed inside.”

Charity recovered quickly. “I should have known better than to fool around with any of this stuff.” She shoved the spider back into the box and firmly closed the lid. “As long as I live, I will never understand the appeal of this type of merchandise.”

“I think it's a kid thing.”

“Well, as I was saying, I recommend that you get some attractive lighting fixtures in here as soon as possible. But first things first. You've got to dust.” She broke off on a delicate sneeze.

“I'll see what I can do.” He watched her yank a tissue out of her skirt pocket. “Charity, would you have dinner at my place with me tonight?”