Chapter Two—Moving into Position #4
She felt her face grow warm and tugged at the spaghetti straps of her top, not that it helped.
Goddess! What was happening to her? With her uncanny ability to have picked not one but three loser relationships in her adult life, she thought she’d become immune to men.
Or at least good-looking ones who made promises with their eyes.
She lifted her head. She was an adult and she owned her own business.
And, she had just traveled to Europe on her own.
In spite of the incident with the car and the pickpocket, she had successfully returned with the document.
Surely she could handle sitting on the same piece of furniture with this man. She plopped down unceremoniously.
“That’s better,” Lucas said in that husky voice that made her think of warm cognac. She wished she had a whole decanter full.
He picked a paper off the coffee table and handed it to her. “My credentials.”
His fingers brushed hers as she took the report and the same electric tingle shot through her, but he appeared not to notice. Fine. Maybe it’s just me. It’s been more than a year… Stop it!! The words on the sheet finally swam into focus.
“Everything seems to be quite in order,” she said and was surprised that her voice didn’t shake. “It will be interesting what your interpretation of the manuscript will be.”
She turned to Mr. Smith. “Professor MacDonald said he probably wouldn’t need more than two days.”
Beside her, she felt Lucas tense and his face changed subtly, its angles sharpening. She blinked. It must have been a trick of the fading sunlight for when she looked again, he looked normal.
“There’s someone else who knows about this?” His voice was curiously flat as though tightly controlled.
“Well, yes. An old college professor of mine who’s a medieval historian.”
“Does anyone else know you’ve given him a copy?”
“No. Why?” She thought briefly of Robert. The copy had been lying on the desk, but he hadn’t really come into the room far enough to see it.
Lucas looked over to Mr. Smith. “It’s very important that no one, besides us, is even aware that this work exists.”
“The professor isn’t going to tell anyone!” Sara insisted. Poor man is in a wheelchair and lives alone. Who would he tell?
He turned to her. “If this document says what I think it will, letting the information get into the wrong hands could mean the destruction of civilization.”
“So you implied before.” Sara was beginning to wonder if the man really was an actor in addition to his other lines of work. “You needn’t make it sound so melo-dramatic.”
Lucas’ eyes darkened and again she had the perception that his face angles sharpened. “I wish ’twas what I was being. But I am quite serious, lass. Ye dinna ken what ye are getting into.”
There was the brogue again, thicker this time. She wondered about his ability to fall in and out of it. Looking into his eyes, there was no sign of mirth. They were a pale gold, and steady, almost as if he were an animal weighing whether to attack.
Attack? Her imagination was really getting away on her. He was just setting the scene to make this translation thing more intriguing. Still, the fine hair on her arms began to rise.
“Fine, then. Why don’t you start reading the document so we can all find out when the world will collapse?”
“Sarcasm,” he said quietly. “Perhaps I deserved that.” He turned to Mr. Smith. “I’d like to get started reading this evening, if I may.”
A troubled look swept across Mr. Smith’s face. “I put it in my most secure safe,” he said. “It has a twenty-four-hour timer. It won’t be able to be opened until tomorrow morning.”
“Very well.” Lucas stood to leave. “What time should I return?”
“Nine o’clock,” Mr. Smith answered, “and check out of the hotel room. I’ve plenty of guestrooms. If this is as important as you say it is, I’d rather have you here around the clock.”
Lucas considered and then nodded. “That might be a wise choice. Thank you. I doubt I’ve been followed, but right now, I can’t be too careful.” He glanced at Sara and his tone lightened. “Do you live here too?”
“No!” Sara said startled. “I have an apartment.”
“Perhaps it would be wise of you to stay, too, Sara,” Mr. Smith said.
She saw the little smirk on his face. Her boss loved to play matchmaker. Her latest fiasco had been someone he thought was perfect for her. If one didn’t mind finding out that the bastard was already married but had conveniently forgotten to mention it.
“No, thanks. I have…my plants to look after.”
“Plants?” Lucas arched an eyebrow.
“Yes. Orchids. They take a lot of care.” Too bad her apartment wouldn’t allow pets. That would have sounded a whole lot more convincing.
“I see,” he said gravely. “Plants can be demanding.”
So now he was being sarcastic. Well, better that than sleeping just down the hall from him. As if she’d sleep, thinking about him lying naked, draped with only a thin sheet over what was probably a shaft of memorable size. How would it feel, opening her legs to him, having him stretch her…
Stop this. Haven’t you learned your lesson?
Putting space and distance between her and Lucas Ramsey was the best thing she could do. By the Goddess, she needed time to think.