JAKrentz - The Pirate, The Adventurer, & The Cowboy (51 page)

"I don't know if that was my initial plan," Gideon said. "I wasn't thinking that clearly in the beginning. I just knew I had to keep you around for a while and hiring on as your consultant and partner was a way to do that."

"And naturally you stipulated that you'd get to keep at least one pair of the earrings. After all, you'd already found the whole bunch. You had some rights in the matter."

"That's very understanding of you. It's also exactly what I told myself at the start."

Sarah giggled. "When I think of how you let me tramp all over the Fleetwood property and struggle with that darned map…Oh, Gideon, it's too much. You must have been laughing yourself silly."

"Treasure hunting is fun. I wanted you to have the thrill." Gideon's eyes turned serious. "And I didn't want the adventure to end too soon. I wanted time with you. I couldn't figure out what was going on between us, but I didn't want to let you go out of my life too quickly. The treasure hunt was a way of stalling you for a while."

"What about arranging for us to have to share that cabin? That was a deliberate ploy to try to get me into bed, wasn't it?"

"I guess it could be viewed in that light," Gideon said modestly.

"And virtually kidnapping me and forcing me to come back here instead of going home to Seattle? That was a ploy to try to keep me around, too, right? Protecting me from Jake Savage was just a convenient excuse."

"For all the good it did me."

"They were all terribly romantic gestures, Gideon, worthy of any true romance hero, but I would have to say that seducing me right on top of the white rock was the pièce de résistance."

"I was rather proud of that move myself."

She kissed him. "You were going to have great fun watching me discover the earrings in the strongbox in the morning, weren't you? And now I've gone and spoiled your surprise. Sorry about that." She kissed him again. "Gideon, you are so wonderful."

His eyes held hers. "So are you. What did I ever do without you?"

"We were bound to connect eventually. After all, you're the man of my dreams. How many times do I have to tell you?"

Gideon's fingers tightened in her hair was sudden fierceness as he held her still for his kiss. "You can keep on telling me that for the rest of my life. I like being your hero. I like it very, very much."

"Good. And you won't mind if I continue to use you in my books? After all, I've built a whole career based on you."

Gideon looked down into her warm, loving eyes. And for the first time since Sarah had known him, he laughed out loud. The cats, sitting side by side on the couch, flicked their ears at the unusual sound.

"Just so long as you change my name," Gideon said.

"No problem. I always change your name in each new book."

Gideon caught hold of her hand and kissed her fingers. "Now, about the wedding…"

"Yes," said Sarah. "I was thinking of a quick trip to Reno or Las Vegas. What do you think?"

"I was thinking of something a little different."

M
ARGARET
L
ARK
received the telegram at ten in the morning. Without stopping to calculate the time difference between Seattle and Amethyst Island, she dialed the phone. Kate Inskip Hawthorne answered at once.

"You got one, too, I take it?" Margaret asked without preamble.

"Reminds me of the one I sent," Kate said cheerfully. "Looks like we've got a tradition going here. I guess Sarah's intuition was right again, as usual."

"She was sure of him from the first letter, wasn't she? A Beast waiting to be saved with Beauty's love." Margaret smiled to herself. "The poor man didn't stand a chance."

"Neither did Sarah, if you ask me. That treasure hunter of hers must be very extraordinary."

"Why do you say that?"

"Are you kidding? I would have bet good money that there wasn't a man left on the face of the earth who could have convinced Sarah to go for a big wedding. Not after what happened the last time."

"Good point. That settles it. It must be love on both sides. Will you be flying to Seattle for the festivities?" Margaret asked.

"I wouldn't miss this wedding for the world."

Margaret laughed. "We'll get to be bridal attendants. That should be fun. I've never been one." She hung up the phone a few minutes later and picked up the telegram on the kitchen counter. She reread it with a gathering sense of happiness for her friend, Sarah.

Pleased to report that my adventurer is even better in real life than he is in my books. He's got everything, including a couple of cats. Wedding set for one month from today. Will need lots of help as Gideon insists on the works. Will return to
Seattle on Monday to start interviewing caterers and shop for gown. Wait until you see the earrings I'm going to wear.

Love,

Sarah

 
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v2.0

July 2006

"Tell me you missed me, Maggie. Just a little."

She shook her head mutely.

"Admit it," Rafe urged, moving a little closer in the water. "Give me that much, honey."

"No." The single word was a soft gasp of dismay. He was only inches from her now. His hands were on either side of her, trapping her.

"You remember how good it was, don't you, love?" He kissed her fleetingly again, closing the distance between them until there wasn't any at all. "I didn't go looking for anyone else because I knew it would be useless. You knew there wasn't anyone else for you, either, didn't you?"

"Oh, Rafe." She muttered his name in a soft cry that was part protest, part acceptance of a truth that could not be denied.

"Yeah, Maggie, love. You do remember, don't you?"

Rafe was the only man who had ever been able to do this to her. Nothing had changed.

CONTENTS

Prologue

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"M
argaret, promise me you'll be careful." Sarah Fleetwood Trace, struggling to get out of her frothy wedding gown with the help of her two best friends, paused and frowned. For an instant the joyous glow that had infused her all day vanished. She looked at Margaret Lark, her fey hazel eyes clouded with sudden concern.

Margaret smiled reassuringly as she carefully lifted Sarah's veil and set it aside. "Don't worry about me, Sarah, I'll be fine. I promise to look both ways before crossing the street, count calories and not talk to strange men."

Katherine Inskip Hawthorne, concentrating on the row of tiny buttons that followed Sarah's spine, flashed a brief grin. "Don't get carried away, Margaret. You're allowed to talk to a few strange men. Just exercise some discretion."

Sarah groaned, her golden-brown hair moving in a heavy wave. Diamonds set in an old-fashioned gold design glittered in her ears. "This isn't a joke, you two. Margaret, I have a feeling…" She nibbled her lip in concentration. "I just want you to be careful for a while, all right?"

"Careful?" Margaret arched her brows in amusement. "Sarah, you know I'm always careful. What could possibly happen to me while you're on your honeymoon?"

"I don't know, that's the whole problem," Sarah said in exasperation. "I told you, I just have this feeling."

"Forget your feeling. This is your wedding day." Kate undid the last of the buttons, green eyes sparkling with laughter. "Your famous intuition probably isn't functioning normally at the moment. All the excitement, champagne and rampaging hormones have undoubtedly gotten it temporarily off track."

Margaret grinned as she hung up the wedding gown. "I don't know about Sarah's hormones, but I think it's a good bet Gideon's are rampaging. The last time I saw him, he was looking very impatient. We'd better get you changed and on your way, Sarah, before your husband comes looking for you. He's very good at finding things."

Sarah hesitated, her worried gaze still on Margaret, and then she relaxed back into the glorious smile she had worn for the past few hours. "Having a big wedding was Gideon's idea. He'll just have to put up with the necessary delays."

"Gideon doesn't strike me as the type to put up with anything he doesn't want to put up with." Margaret handed a quince-colored shirt to Sarah along with a pair of jeans.

Kate chuckled as she reached for a brush. "I had the same impression. He's a lot like Jared in that respect. Are you really going to spend your honeymoon on a treasure hunt, Sarah? I can think of better things to do."

"I can't," Sarah said blithely as she slipped into the jeans. She leaned toward the mirror to touch up her lipstick.

Margaret met her eyes in the mirror, warmed by her friend's evident happiness. "Hoping to find another treasure like the Fleetwood Flowers?"

Sarah touched the diamond earrings she was still wearing. "There will never be another treasure like the Flowers. After all, when I went looking for them, I found Gideon."

"What did you do with the other four sets of earrings?" Kate asked.

"Gideon has them safely hidden. He chose this pair for me to wear today." Sarah turned away from the mirror and buttoned the bright-colored shirt. "Okay, I'm ready." She hugged Kate and then Margaret. "Thank you both so much. I don't know what I would do without either of you. You're more important to me than I can ever say."

Margaret felt herself grow a little misty. She quickly blinked away the moisture. "You don't have to say it. We all understand."

Kate smiled tremulously. "That's right. You don't have to say it. Friends for life, right?"

"Right. Nothing will ever change that." Sarah pulled back, her expressive face full of emotion. "There's something very special about a woman's friends, isn't there?"

"Very special," Margaret agreed. She picked up Sarah's shoulder bag and handed it to her. "Something very special about a husband like Gideon Trace, too. Don't keep him waiting any longer."

Sarah's eyes danced. "Don't worry, I won't."

Margaret followed her friends into the elevator and across the hotel lobby to the large room where the wedding reception was still in full swing. A crowd composed chiefly of other writers, bookstore people and their families milled about inside, sipping champagne and dancing to the music of a small band.

As the three women stepped through the open doorway, two big, lean men moved into their path. One of them reached for Sarah's hand, a look of proud satisfaction on his face. The other flashed a wicked pirate's grin and took Kate's arm.

Margaret stood quietly to the side, studying the two males who had claimed her best friends as brides. On the surface there was no great similarity between Gideon Trace and Jared Hawthorne, other than the fact that they were both large and both moved with the kind of fluid grace that came from strength.

But although they looked nothing alike there was something about them that stamped them both as being of the same mold. They were men in the old-fashioned sense of the word—men with an inner core of steel, a bit arrogant, perhaps, a bit larger than life, but the kind of men who could be relied upon when the chips were down. They were men who lived by their own codes.

Margaret had met only one other man who was in the same league. That momentous event had occurred last year and the fallout from the explosive encounter had destroyed her career in the business world and left her bruised emotionally for a very long while. A part of her would never completely recover.