Her Secret Treasure

“What am I supposed to think when I was fine before you showed up for dinner and ever since I’ve been…” Her voice trailed off and she looked away.

“You’ve been what?”

“Not myself.”

That was one way to put it. “You were acting oddly when I left you last night,” he said. “I thought maybe you’d had too much to drink.”

“I’d only had two glasses of wine. The wine you brought.”

“I had that wine, too, and I’m fine.”

“What exactly was I doing when you left last night?”

“You don’t remember?”

She shook her head. “I don’t really remember anything after eating the strawberries.”

“You called me Frederick.”

She frowned. “I don’t know anyone named Frederick.”

“Are you sure? No old boyfriend?”

“I’m sure. I don’t even know anyone named Fred.”

“That’s definitely the name you used.”

“That’s all that happened? I called you Frederick?”

He tried to keep back the smile but couldn’t. The memory of her writhing on that red satin comforter and begging for him was too pleasant. “You tried very hard to get me to come to bed with you.”

She wet her lips, her eyes searching his. “Did I succeed?”

“The offer was tempting, but I decided not to take advantage of a woman who was obviously out of her head.”

She turned and began pacing, agitation evident in every movement. “I had a very vivid dream last night. I was with a man whose face I couldn’t see. And then this afternoon, here in the top room of the tower…”

“What happened?”

She stopped with her back to him, her head bent. “I had a hallucination. One moment the room was bare, the next it was furnished, with a bed and red draperies and carpets. It all seemed so real.”

He frowned. “Do you think it was something you ate? Some hallucinogenic toxin in food?”

“You ate the same food—except the oysters. Have you been hallucinating?”

“No.” He’d been fantasizing about her, but that wasn’t the same. “Has anything like this happened to you before?” he asked.

“Never.” She whirled to face him. “And if you tell a soul, I’ll insist it’s because you drugged me.”

“I won’t tell anyone.” It stung that she’d think him that low. “You don’t seem to have a very high opinion of me,” he said. “First you think I’d drug you, now you think I’ll go telling your private business to the world.”

She bowed her head and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. You don’t deserve this. I really don’t know what to think about any of this.”

“Maybe you should go back to the States and have a doctor check you out.”

“Why? Because you think I’m cracking up? Or because you’d love not having me and my film crew in your way?”

Again she made him sound like a jerk. Though maybe he had been a little bit of a hard-ass about her filming him. The truth was, he’d agreed to the documentary and accepted her station’s money, so he had no right to complain. “When you know me better, you’ll learn to ignore anything I say when I’m focused on a job,” he said. “I really don’t mind having you here. And my intern, Tessa, probably appreciates having another woman around.”

“I haven’t met Tessa yet. In fact, I haven’t met any of your interns or crew.”

“I guess we should have some kind of get-together where we all can meet.” He scratched his head. “I’m not used to having to think about these things.”

She tilted her head, studying him. “There has to be more in your life than work,” she said, relaxing. “Tell me about what you do when you’re not teaching or sailing.”

“I read and do research. For the past two years I’ve been searching for the Eve and planning this trip.”

“But what do you do for fun?”

He’d known she wouldn’t understand; few people did. “I enjoy my research,” he said, trying not to sound defensive.

“But don’t you have a social life? Friends. Women?”

“Of course I have all those things.” He went out with other professors at the university, and people like his long-time friend, Nicole, though she was in England with her new boyfriend, Ian, now.

“So you have a girlfriend waiting back home?”

“No. I’m not seeing anyone in particular right now.” His last serious relationship had been with one of the secretaries in the dean’s office, a single mother who took night classes with the intent of earning a degree in accounting. It had been a low-key affair. He never spent the night at her house because of her children, but he’d sometimes show up early on Saturdays and fix things around the house or they’d all spend the day at a ballpark. He’d been comfortable with her until she’d started hinting at wanting to make their situation more permanent. He couldn’t see himself in that role, and they’d broken things off. Since then he’d been too busy to date. “Most women don’t like to compete with my work,” he said.

She looked at him intently, as if she could see past his outer self to his very thoughts. He began to feel nervous and had to fight the urge to step away. “So you don’t believe there’s any woman who could distract you from your work,” she said.

“I didn’t say that.” She’d been distracting him plenty lately.

She moved closer, her voice low. Seductive. “You said you were tempted to take me up on my invitation to come to bed with me last night.”

“Yes. You’re a very tempting woman.”

She laid her hand on his chest, her palm flat over his heart. “Then why are you so set against us enjoying ourselves while we’re on the island?” She laughed. “I’m not expecting you to marry me, for goodness’ sake.”

“I told you. I have a lot of work to do. I don’t like to be distracted.”

“I’d think being horny all the time would be far more distracting than knowing you had a good time waiting at the end of the day.” She moved her index finger up and down, stroking him. “We had a good time together last fall, didn’t we?”

He couldn’t think straight when she was so near. Her argument sounded so logical, his so lame. His first instinct was to tell her he hadn’t come to the island to have fun, but that made him sound like the worst sort of dork—someone he’d never hang out with and certainly not someone he intended to be. Besides, if they both accepted that they’d be together only for the duration of this project, they could avoid messy complications.

She moved her hand up higher, caressing his neck. “You can’t deny there’s a certain chemistry between us. A connection. I can’t explain it, but then, I don’t see any need to. Why not just enjoy ourselves?”

Why not, indeed? Away from her, he’d probably be able to think of a dozen reasons, but here alone with her, the rain walling them off from the rest of the world, his body had overwhelmed all attempt at reason. He wanted Sandra more than he’d ever wanted any woman.