Yours Forever

Yesterday’s jeans and black T-shirt had been the stuff of carefully choreographed fantasies, but this morning’s charcoal-gray suit, Tiffany-blue shirt and striped tie were fantasy-worthy in their own right.

“Good morning to you, too, Mr. Gauthier,” Tamryn said. She strode over to the desk that occupied the center of the vast office, stopping a couple of feet in front of him.

“Good morning,” he said with a note of apology, as if he’d been reprimanded for forgetting his manners. “You’re Tamryn West?” he asked again.

She nodded and extended her hand out to him. “Dr. Tamryn West, professor of African-American and women’s studies at Brimley College.”

He accepted her handshake, disappointment and disbelief clouding his face.

The office manager, who had introduced herself as Carmen, cleared her throat. “It looks as if my employer has misplaced his manners,” she said. “Can I offer you a seat, Dr. West?”

“Thank you,” Tamryn said.

“Yes, I’m...I’m sorry,” Matt said. He shook his head as if to clear it and gestured to one of the high-backed leather chairs. “Carmen, is there coffee?” He looked to her. “Would you like coffee?”

“I’m fine.” She waved off the offer.

“Well, I’ll leave you two,” Carmen said as she backed out of the office.

Matt’s brow dipped as he studied Tamryn for several moments before rounding the desk and settling into the chair behind it. The brown leather gleamed, but it was obvious from the many cracks and faded spots that it was well used. He picked up a pen, tapped it twice on a thick file folder and then tossed it onto the desk.

“I never put two and two together,” he said with a bemused shake of his head. “Even after you told me your name yesterday, I still didn’t make the connection.”

“I must admit that I didn’t recognize you right away, either,” Tamryn said. “In the few pictures I found of you online, you were always in a suit and tie, never on a Harley.”

“Ducati.”

“Excuse me?”

“My bike is a Ducati, not a Harley.” He waved it off. “Never mind.”

“Well, whatever the brand of motorcycle, I never pictured you on one. Coupled with the fact that I was beyond exhausted and frustrated, it isn’t all that surprising that I didn’t recognize you right off the bat.”

And in those few online pictures she had found, never once had he been smiling. If he had been, those dimples would have been a dead giveaway.

“But you did recognize me after a while?” Matt asked.

She nodded.

“Well, if you recognized me, why didn’t you say anything yesterday?”

Tamryn couldn’t contain her wry smile. She crossed her legs and folded her hands over her knee.

“You’ve spent the past six months avoiding me. I was afraid you would leave me out on the side of the road if you knew I was the professor you’ve been thwarting at every turn.”

An offended frown tugged down the corners of his mouth. “I never would have left you out there.”

Tamryn held her hands up. “Forgive me. That was a poor attempt at humor. I know you wouldn’t have left me stranded. Thank you again for coming to my rescue yesterday.” She tipped her head to the side. “You must admit it’s rather funny that the only person I have any knowledge of in Gauthier just so happened to be the one who found me. Either this town really is that small, or it’s an amazing coincidence.”

A hint of amusement flashed in his light brown eyes. “Maybe a little of both,” he said. “Believe it or not, I almost didn’t go for a ride yesterday. I decided at the last minute that I needed to clear my head and just hopped on the bike almost without thinking.” His penetrating gaze eased its way along her body. “It’s as if I was meant to find you.”

His voice resonated with meaning, evoking a shimmer of interest that cascaded along her exposed skin. Tamryn surreptitiously sucked in a breath as she straightened in her chair and damned her tingling spine to hell.

The laugh that escaped her throat was much huskier than she’d intended. “Interesting how that turned out, isn’t it?”

He nodded slowly, reclining in his chair. “Very.”

His stare was probing and filled with enough heat to sear her skin. Usually, being on the receiving end of such intense scrutiny would creep her out. This time it did the exact opposite.

Tamryn cleared her throat and twisted yet again in her seat.

“So, what brings you here?” Matt asked, folding his hands over those abs that her fingers already had intimate knowledge of. “I doubt you came all this way simply because I’ve been avoiding your calls.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “You’re important to my research, but not that important.”

His brows lifted. “So you’re here doing research?”

“For the entire summer,” she answered.

He groaned and ran a hand down his face.

“How quickly that charm disappears when you put on a suit and tie. Maybe you should come to the office in a T-shirt and jeans.”

“Forgive me,” he said, straightening once again and running a smoothing hand down his tie. “If my old nanny were still alive, she would have plucked me on the ear for being so rude.”

“Happy to know I bring out the worst in you,” Tamryn teased.

“You just took me by surprise showing up here at my office,” he said. “Although, now that I think about it, I shouldn’t be surprised at all to see you in Gauthier. To say that you are persistent, Dr. West, is an understatement.”

“I can deal with being called persistent. I’ve been called worse.”

“I’m not sure I believe that. Now that I’ve met you, I can think of a dozen more appropriate adjectives that would apply.”

The lazy grin that traveled across his lips caused all manner of naughty things to stir within her belly.

This was so not what she had predicted when she’d imagined her first face-to-face meeting with Matthew Gauthier. Based on his evasiveness these past few months, she’d prepared herself for adversarial at best, but had been expecting downright caustic.

What she had not expected were those killer dimples or that smooth-as-butter voice. She surely had not anticipated having to practice keeping her heart rate at a reasonable level while in close proximity to him.

“What is it that led you to Gauthier?”

“I’m researching the Underground Railroad,” Tamryn answered.

“I know that from your many, many, many phone calls and emails,” he said, softening the veiled reprimand with another infectious grin. “But why make the trip all the way down here? There’s a professor at Tulane University who is working on this already. He’s put much of what he’s found online. You could have just connected with him and saved yourself a lot of time and money.”

“Actually, I’ve been in contact with Professor Lawrence since the discovery was made. I find the work he’s doing with his students fascinating, but this is something I need to see with my own eyes. My research is in a different vein from that of Professor Lawrence’s. I have a lot of my own questions.”

“I’ve hardly ventured to that side of the building since they started digging around over there,” he said. “I’m sorry to break this to you, but I won’t be much help.”