JAKrentz - The Pirate, The Adventurer, & The Cowboy (33 page)

Margaret was right. Impulsiveness was a dangerous quality.

With a wretched sigh, Sarah got to her feet and went about the business of getting ready for bed. There was nothing she could do tonight. She would wait and see if dawn brought a clearer notion of how to handle the situation.

G
O BACK TO YOUR BIG
, cold house and your cats.

Hours later it occurred to Gideon that he had been sitting for a long time in the darkened living room. There was a half-empty glass of brandy on the table in front of him. Ellora was curled up against his thigh, purring contentedly.
Machu Picchu was stretched full length across the back of the sofa.

Gideon hadn't bothered to turn on any lights. It was almost midnight. And the house was cold. He wondered if it was worth building a fire.

"The place was just fine until she arrived. It didn't seem cold at all until after she'd been in it and left," he told the cats.

Machu flicked his ears, not bothering to open his eyes. Ellora slithered around a bit until she was more comfortable.

"No offense, but you two aren't the world's greatest conversationalists."

Gideon got up off the sofa. He picked up the brandy glass and walked over to the table where the chess pieces had been set out. Idly he fingered the wooden figures for a moment and then he set them out in a slightly different pattern.

Machu rumbled inquiringly.

"Think she'd have made the deal with Jake Savage if the bastard was still around, Machu? Savage always had a way with women. He sure wouldn't have screwed up the way I did tonight. He'd have charmed her straight into bed."

Machu didn't answer but his gem-hard eyes watched Gideon intently.

"You and me, we're not exactly loaded with charm, are we, pal?" Gideon studied the new positions of the wooden figures. The balance of power had now shifted to his side of the board. "But Savage isn't here. I am. And she wants the Flowers. I can lead her to them. The question is, do I really want to get mixed up with her? We've been doing pretty well here on our own."

Ellora lifted her head and meowed silently.

"So why does the house seem cold, damn it? It's almost summer."

G
IDEON
T
RACE
was at Sarah's door before she had even finished dressing for the day in a pair of white jeans and a lemon-yellow shirt. Deliberately she made him wait while she anchored her hair in an off-center twist over one ear. Then she went to open the door.

"Hi." She offered nothing further. He looked larger than ever standing there in the cold, gray light of a new day.

"Good morning." Gideon braced himself with one hand against the doorjamb. "Make up your mind, yet?"

"I had no idea you were waiting on pins and needles."

He gave her his faint, twisted smile. "I know I'm early. I was afraid if I left it too long, you'd sneak off to go after the Flowers without me."

"I was only going to sneak as far as the coffee shop." She turned to pick up her windbreaker, aware that he was scanning her room from the doorway. She was suddenly very conscious of her nightgown lying in a heap on the bed, the open suitcase with a sock trailing out of it and the collection of toilet articles littering the dresser. She closed the door very quickly.

"I'll join you for breakfast," Gideon said. "I didn't get a chance to eat before I left the house this morning."

"Your own fault." She locked the door behind her and started across the street to the small coffee shop. The lights were just coming on inside. To the right, the narrow, two-lane road vanished around a bend into the fog-shrouded trees.

"You hold a mean grudge, don't you?" Gideon paced beside her. His hands were thrust into the pockets of a sheepskin jacket.

Sarah said nothing more until they were seated in a booth in the corner of the coffee shop. She studied Gideon for a long moment, remembering all the fleeting thoughts, hopes and dreams that had come to her in the night. She fought back the sense of longing that threatened to overwhelm her and tried to make herself speak coolly and logically. There would be no more impulsiveness on her part, she vowed silently.

"Let me get this straight," she said. "You think I'm an opportunist who uses sex to get what she wants, but you're willing to help me search for the earrings if you get to keep one pair for yourself, right?"

His big hands folded around the mug in front of him and his eyes met hers in a level gaze. "I'll help you search for the earrings. Let's leave it at that."

"All right. I guess that makes us both opportunists, doesn't it? At last we have something in common."

He stared at her unblinkingly, the way
Machu Picchu would stare at a mouse. "We're in this together? We've got a deal?"

"Sure. Why not? I came to you in the first place because I don't know anything about treasure hunting. You do. That makes you very useful to me and I'm willing to bargain with you for your talents. Since you claim it's unlikely we'll ever find the earrings, I'm getting a heck of a deal, aren't I? If there aren't any profits in this, I won't have to split anything with you."

"I see you've decided on the role of tough little cookie this morning. Just for the record, it doesn't suit you." Gideon took a swallow of his coffee.

"You like me better as a scheming little seductress?"

He grinned reluctantly. "I really ruffled your feathers, didn't I?"

She glared at him. "I made a serious mistake in dealing with you the way I did yesterday. I can see that now. I should have been restrained and businesslike right from the start. Unfortunately that's not my normal nature."

"I gathered that much."

"That does not mean, however, that I can't behave in a restrained and businesslike manner when I put my mind to it."

He looked frankly disbelieving. "Think so?"

"Of course. And a restrained, adult, businesslike manner is precisely what I will project from now on. No nonsense. I shall just think of you as a business partner and deal with you as I would with one." She put her hand across the table. "Very well, Mr. Trace, we have a deal."

He stared down at her extended palm and then slowly reached out to solemnly shake her hand. She allowed him to crush her fingers for about two seconds and then she quickly withdrew her hand to safety. "What about your cats?"

He shrugged. "They'll be fine for a week or so. I've left them on their own before. My neighbor will check their food and water."

"How long will you need to pack?"

"I packed last night."

"You're suddenly very eager for the hunt."

"When do you want to leave?"

She took a breath. "I'll be ready as soon as I settle the motel bill."

"Fine. We'll take my car. You can leave yours at my place."

Sarah looked at him and wondered if she was really intuitive or just plain crazy.

Half an hour later she signed the credit card slip in the motel office while Gideon waited out in the parking lot, leaning against the fender of his car.

"You a close friend of Trace's?" The inquisitive-eyed little clerk glanced out the window and back at Sarah. He was a thin, balding man in his sixties, dressed in brown polyester pants and an aging polo shirt. He had been pleasant enough, but it was clear he had a keen interest in local gossip.

"We're business associates," Sarah said crisply. She finished her scrawling signature with her usual flourish.

"Business associates, huh? Didn't know Gideon had any business associates. Thought he worked on that treasure-hunting magazine of his all by himself."

Sarah smiled loftily. "He's acting as a consultant for me. I'm doing some research on treasure hunting for a book."

"That right? Interestin'. Never met a real-life writer before. Except for Gideon, of course. And he don't exactly write books, just articles for that magazine of his. The two of you goin' somewhere together?"

"A business trip."

"Right. A business trip." The clerk chuckled knowingly. "Wished we d had business trips like that in my day. Well, at least this time Trace won't be goin' off alone on one of his business trips."

That stopped Sarah just as she started to turn away toward the door. "He's gone off on trips before?"

"Well, sure. 'Bout once a year he just ups and disappears for a while. Sometimes as long as a month." The clerk winked. "I asked him once where he went and he said on vacation. You the one he's been vacationin' with all these years?"

"I don't really think that's any of your business." Sarah closed the door behind her on the sound of the desk clerk's cackling laughter.

Gideon straightened away from the fender and unfolded his arms. He scowled. "Old Jess give you a hard time?"

"Not really."

"Why's he falling all over himself laughing in there?"

"He thinks he's a stand-up comedian."

They drove both cars back to the big old house on the bluff.
Machu Picchu sat placidly on the top step watching as Gideon transferred Sarah's luggage from her car to his. Ellora flitted about with an air of delicate concern. The silver-gray cat hung around Sarah, tangling herself up between Sarah's feet and asking to be picked up and held.

When Sarah obligingly lifted Ellora into her arms, the cat purred.

"I think she wants to come along," Sarah announced.

"That's all we'd need. A couple of cats to keep track of while we're traipsing around the Cascades. Forget it. The cats are just fine staying here by themselves."

Sarah held the cat up so she could look Ellora straight in the eye. "Hear that? You have to stay behind. But we'll miss you."

There was a low, grumbling cat roar from the top step. Sarah glanced over and saw Machu looking more cold-eyed than ever. "You, too, Machu. You take good care of Ellora while we're gone."

Machu Picchu
looked away, his ears low on his broad head, tail moving in a slow, restless arc.

"He hasn't got the most charismatic personality in the world," Gideon said, "but you can count on old Machu. He'll do a good job of taking care of Ellora and watching over the place, won't you, pal?" Gideon scratched the oversized cat briefly behind the ears. Machu tolerated the caress in stony silence.

"When you're that big, you don't have to be charming, I suppose," Sarah said with a small smile.

"Does that logic apply to human males or just to cats?" Gideon asked.

"Just to cats." Sarah made a production out of checking the back seat of her car. "I guess that's everything," she said a little uneasily as she realized she was about to be cooped up with Gideon for several hours.

"Don't lose your nerve now." Gideon calmly locked his front door.

"I wasn't losing my nerve."

"Having second thoughts?"

"A few."

"Don't worry. Something tells me you're going to like the treasure-hunting business. It's tailor-made for bright-eyed, gullible types like you."

Sarah paid him no attention as she patted Ellora one last time. "Goodbye, Ellora. Don't let that beast push you around too much."

Ellora purred more loudly, looking not the least bit concerned about being bullied by
Machu Picchu. When Sarah put her down she trotted over to the steps and bounded up to station herself beside the big cat. Machu unbent so far as to touch noses with her in greeting. Then his big tail curved around her neat hindquarters. Ellora looked shamelessly smug.

"Are you sure they'll be all right?"

"They'll be fine. Stop looking for an excuse to delay things. We've got a long drive ahead of us."

Sarah slid into the front seat and adjusted her seat belt. "I have to tell 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."