All in all, her tutoring and the subsequent workouts had changed how she looked at men. When she’d entered college, she’d imagined that someday she’d have an academic family. She’d be married to a college professor, with two intellectually oriented children. She’d have the same type of relationship with them that she’d had with her father. They’d constantly visit museums, and history books would be their main pleasure.
But the truth was that Gemma’d had more fun with the boys she taught than she’d ever before had in her life. And also, based on her months with one of the assistant coaches, she’d found that sex with an athlete was a great deal better than with a page-turner.
And now, this Colin Frazier seemed to be all that she liked in men in one beautiful package. He was smart, educated, resourceful, and an athlete. In the short time she’d been with him, the sight of his muscles under his shirt had come close to making her break into a sweat.
She remembered climbing on him this morning, standing on his broad shoulders, then later, being held in his arms. She didn’t know when she’d ever felt such desire.
But Colin wasn’t available. He belonged to Jean Caldwell.
Gemma wanted to think that she was above interfering with what seemed to be a very happy union, but she wondered what she’d do if Colin ever looked at her as something other than a friend.
“Probably make a fool of myself,” she murmured.
“What was that?” Colin asked as he stood beside her.
“I was just thinking about Tristan and hoping that I don’t make a fool of myself over him on our date. He’s very nice-looking and a doctor too.” She watched Colin’s face closely. She didn’t know what she was hoping for, a hint of jealousy, maybe? But there was none.
“He’s a great guy,” Colin said. “Hey! You should get him to tell you about his family. They’ve been doctors for generations, and he has a couple of scandals in his past that would probably interest you.”
“Like what?” In front of them, at the end of the driveway, was a black utility vehicle, and Colin motioned for her to get in. “Until your side heals, you’re to take it easy, understand?”
“Yes, Sheriff Frazier,” she said, smiling.
“Good attitude.” He held her hand as she stepped into the small truck. When Colin got in beside her, her side was pressed against his, and she felt her heart begin to flutter. What are you? she silently asked herself. Fourteen?
“Unmarried mothers,” Colin said.
She had no idea what he was talking about and her face said so.
“You asked about Tris’s family scandals. I don’t know much about them except that a long time ago two Aldredge girls came home to Edilean pregnant but they weren’t married.”
“Sisters?”
“No. If I remember correctly, they were about fifty years apart.”
“Single mothers are common in any family tree.” She paused. “One of the people in the letter I read was named Winnie. I assume that’s Winifred. Know anyone by that name?”
“No.”
“How about a woman named Tamsen?”
“Not that I remember,” Colin said. “You should talk to Luke’s wife, Jocelyn. She’s done a lot on the genealogy of people in Edilean.”
“Luke the writer? The man who had sense enough to get out of your way?”
“Sorry about that,” Colin said. “When there’s an emergency—”
“You get there as quickly as you can so you can help people,” Gemma finished for him.
“Yeah, I do.” They had reached the guesthouse, and at the sight of it, Gemma gave a sigh.
“Looks like home to you?”
“More or less.”
Colin unlocked the door. “It’s a bit isolated back here, so I want you to keep the doors locked. Okay?”
“Sure.” She stepped inside the living room. Off the kitchen was a small, round table that was set up with service for two.
“I guess Rachel thought . . .” He didn’t continue.
She didn’t want him to leave, and from the way he was hesitating, maybe he wanted to stay. “Hungry? We can eat and I’ll ask you about the Stone that grants wishes.”
“A Stone? Wishes?” Colin looked at her in surprise. “You didn’t mention wishes before, or a Stone.”
“I guess not. Do you know anything about them?”
“Actually, I think I do. I may know what you read about, but I have to go get something. I’ll be right back and—” He glanced at the table.
“I’ll have everything ready.”
“Great. I missed lunch too.”
“Think Rachel made enough?”
Colin looked serious. “A salad is all I need,” he said, then hurried out the door.
Smiling at his jest, she watched out the window as he tore across the property in the little truck. She wasn’t sure, but she didn’t think the manufacturer meant for the vehicle to go that fast. When he was out of sight, she went to the refrigerator and began pulling out glass containers filled with the delicious-looking food Rachel had prepared. Gemma hurriedly put dishes in the microwave and emptied bowls onto plates. By the time Colin returned, everything was ready.
He looked at the many dishes spread on the counter and grinned. “I guess Rachel knew a Frazier would be staying to eat.”
As he picked up a plate, he handed her an old spiral notebook. On the battered cover was written in big block letters PRIVATE PROPERTY OF COLIN FRAZIER. SNEAKS WILL BE PUNISHED. THIS MEANS YOU LANNY. “I’m about to see all your secrets?”
Colin had his mouth full of deviled eggs and olives. “All of them in the year I was thirteen.” He wiped his hands on a napkin and took the notebook from her. “My grandfather—Dad’s father—used to tell us kids stories about our ancestors. I think half of them were a pack of lies, but I still wrote them down.”
“What kind of lies?” Gemma was filling her own plate.
“According to my grandfather,” Colin said, “it was our family, the Fraziers, who started this town, not the McTerns or the Harcourts. But only my sister, Ariel, believed him. We used to tease her that she wanted to be a princess so much that she’d believe anything.”
“Sounds like she had a real fun childhood.”
“Don’t worry about Ariel. She can hold her own. Anyway, I used to write down some of the stories Gramps told us. Unfortunately, I decided that Mr. Wilson’s geometry class was the best time for me to write. I still don’t know how to use a protractor. Here it is. The Heartwishes Stone.”
“Heartwishes?”
Colin handed the notebook to her, filled his plate, then sat down at the table.
Gemma sat across from him and read aloud.
Grandpa Frazier’s story number 7
The Heartwishes Stone was given to a Frazier man who saved his clan. He was a big, strong man who moved a rock that had sealed them in a cave. A witch gave him the Stone to say thanks. She said that any Frazier who made a wish from his heart would get the wish if the Stone was nearby. It works for lady Fraziers too.
“Think I’ll win a Pulitzer?” Colin asked.
“Half of my football players can’t write this well.” She was rereading the little story and wondering if this was a subject for her dissertation. Family myth. It was a possibility.
“You look like a calculator started clicking in your mind.”
She looked across the table at him. “I have an ulterior motive for wanting this job.”
“Oh?” he asked as he buttered a slice of homemade bread.
She told him about her need of an original subject to write about for her dissertation.
“Finding something around here that’s old but has never been written about shouldn’t be too hard,” he said. “Jean says Edi-lean is as weird as if a bunch of Martians had set up a town in the U.S.”
“From what I’ve seen, I agree with her. Is there any crime here?” Gemma cut into a slice of cold roast beef.
“We had more than our share last fall, what with all those agent
s from the FBI and the Secret Service, plus several detectives from the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.”
“Oh right,” Gemma said, still looking at the notebook. “I’m looking forward to meeting this detective. Mike Shaw, is it?”
“Newland. I tend to forget Sara’s new name,” he said. “You want some more tea?”
“Sure,” she said. “So tell me what happened.”
“Nope. That’s Mike and Sara’s story. They can tell you when you go to the cookout.” He stood up. “I’ve got to go to the office for a while. You want to go with—?” He broke off. “I guess I’m getting too used to you being with me.” He picked up his plate and took it to the sink.
“I’ll take care of this,” she said. “You go on and see about saving people. Oh! I forgot to ask if there’s Internet service in here.”
“We had a router put in, so you have wireless. You look like you’re dying to get rid of me.”
“That’s not true . . .” she began, but stopped. She didn’t want him to leave but she couldn’t say that. “Yes, you’re right. I can’t wait to dive into the books in the library. Tomorrow morning I’ll tackle the storage room. The garage is last. What?”
He was looking at her in speculation. “How are you going to move boxes when you have stitches in your side?”
“Carefully.”
“I’ll come and help you. We’ll weed out the money documents, all the boring stuff, from the others.”
Gemma started to protest but stopped herself. “Okay,” she said at last.
For a moment they looked at each other, then Colin said, “Sure you don’t want me to help you clean up this mess?”
“I’m sure. I’m going to make myself a pot of tea and see what I can find out about your Heartwishes. Think it’s like the Stone of Scone? Big enough to sit on?”
“I don’t know. What exactly did your research say?”
“I don’t remember it verbatim. I was a bit nervous when I read it, too worried about the job to concentrate. I mostly remember names. Winnie, Tamsen, Ewan, and poor Julian.” She glanced at the table and the countertop with its food and dirty dishes, then back up at Colin.
He seemed to understand what she’d just thought. “You go find the letter and I’ll clean up,” he said.
“What about your office?”
“It was just paperwork, and Roy probably already took care of it. She loves that stuff. Give her a computer and she’s happy. That and a large sidearm.”
Gemma laughed. “I like her already.”
“I’ll make some calls, clean up in here, and I’ll meet you in the library,” he said.
“You’re sure?”
“Positive,” he said.
Gemma waited until she was out of the room before she let herself smile—and then it was so wide she was afraid her skin would crack.
9
GEMMA LEANED BACK against the bookcase and looked at Colin. It was a sunny afternoon, and they were eating sandwiches she’d made from what had been put in the refrigerator. Colin had fixed them glasses of iced tea.
Surrounding both of them, as though they each were on an island, was a sea of letters, diaries, journals, deeds, legal papers. Anything anyone had thought was important at the time had been saved.
“This is ridiculous, you know that, don’t you?” Gemma said.
“Which part?” he asked as he took a bite of his sandwich.
“This disorganization. I need to put these papers in chronological order.”
“I thought you wanted to . . . What was it you said? ‘Explore a family myth.’” He smiled. “Or maybe you want to find the Stone so you can make a wish.”
She motioned her arm about the pretty library. “This is my Heartwish.”
“So you’d be content to live in somebody’s guesthouse and sort papers for the rest of your life?”
Gemma took a deep drink of her tea.
Colin waited, but she said nothing. “Come on, tell me what your life plan is.”
“What about yours?”
“You’ve seen my life,” he said. “I want to know about yours. What do you plan to do after you finish your dissertation?”
“Get a job, of course.”
“Where?”
“Anywhere they’ll have me.”
When Colin frowned, Gemma knew why. She was purposely not answering his question. “Okay. I want the normal things every woman wants. Home, family, great job. Save the world. By the way, what is your deepest wish? You’re a Frazier, so maybe this Stone will show up—if it wasn’t sold at auction, that is—and you’ll get your wish fulfilled.”
Colin didn’t meet her eyes. “I want what I have. I’m content.”
Gemma remembered what Jean had said about the Fraziers keeping secrets, and she felt sure that Colin was evading the issue. But he had that right, didn’t he? Gemma was a relative stranger to him, so he didn’t have to tell her anything. When she got up, her side hurt and she winced.
“You okay?”
“Fine, but I need an early night.” Yesterday after they’d eaten, they’d worked together for a couple of hours. Colin had called a woman named Jocelyn, the wife of the famous writer, and she’d attached the genealogy files she’d made to an e-mail. She told them how to download the software that would open them, and Colin supplied a credit card. Thirty minutes later, Gemma and Colin were looking at the family trees of what he called “the seven founding families of Edilean.”
Gemma asked him what he knew about how the town started. “No one knows the true story,” he said, “but it’s been passed down that it involved a wagonload of gold and a beautiful young woman named Edilean. She was a McTern or a Harcourt, we’re not sure which. We don’t know where the other families came from.”
“Do you think they were friends of Edilean’s? Did they come from Scotland together?”
“We’re pretty sure the Fraziers came from Scotland, and so did the McDowells and the McTerns.”
She glanced at the list she’d made of the names. “What about the Aldredges and the Connors? And the Welsches? Where did they all meet and why did they settle here?”
“No one knows for sure.” “I think the real question is why did they all stay here,” Gemma said thoughtfully.
“Are you disparaging my beautiful little town?” “No. It’s just that Americans tend to move a lot. Actually, I rather like what I’ve seen of this town so far.”
“And you’ve seen little of it,” he said. “I’m looking forward to the barbecue.” “Barbecue?” Colin asked. “Oh, right. Your date with Tristan. I better warn you that—”
“Every woman falls in love with him?” Gemma asked. “Nell already told me.” If she’d been hoping for a flicker of jealousy from Colin, she was disappointed.
They’d spent the morning in the garage while Colin took boxes off the shelves and showed the contents to Gemma. If there was nothing inside but household accounts, he put the box in the bed of the utility vehicle. When it was full, Colin drove it to another storage place on the estate and unloaded it. When he returned, they filled it again.
Through the whole process, he’d been adamant that Gemma was to lift nothing heavier than a packet of letters.
At noon they’d returned to the house for lunch.
Gemma was now looking down at him as he sat on the floor. “You don’t have to spend the whole day with me. I’m sure your family would like some time with you.”
“Actually, Mom told me to stay here with you. I think she’s worried about your injury.”
“That’s nice of her.” Gemma held out her hand for his plate and took them both to the kitchen. As she put them in the dishwasher, she took a few breaths. Part of her wished Colin would leave and let her work alone. But the larger part of her never wanted him to go away. Last evening and this morning they’d bounced ideas back and forth.
Well, actually, she’d talked and he’d listened. As they went through boxes and trunks and bags, making the first cursory inspections, they’
d talked about Gemma’s dissertation. He wanted to know what interested her. What era in history most intrigued her? Were there any historical mysteries she’d like to solve? Some myth she’d like to expose as false?
“You know, don’t you, that the first rule of a dissertation is that no one other than your professors will read it?” she said.
“If you find out something about the eighteenth century, Luke will put it in one of his books and a million or so people will read about it,” Colin said.
“If I did that, do you think he’d write me a recommendation and help me get a good job?”
“Definitely,” Colin said. “Luke knows some people at William and Mary.” He looked at her for a moment, and she knew he was asking her if that school suited her.
It almost seemed as if he were asking if she’d like to settle in Edilean permanently. Gemma felt blood rushing to her face and had to turn away. She really did need to get herself back under control!
At last, she said, “That school has an excellent reputation and I’d be proud to be associated with it.”
Colin didn’t say anything, but the way he smiled made her heart jump into her throat.
After lunch, they worked some more. Gemma was happy sitting on the library floor, but Colin persuaded her to move to the living room. He took the couch and she sat in the big club chair and they read in silence.
But as the hours went on, Gemma found that she couldn’t concentrate. She kept looking at Colin, at his big body sprawled on the couch, one leg hanging down to the floor. There was a cold bottle of wine in the refrigerator, and she thought about suggesting that they open it. What happened afterward . . . Well, she’d leave that to fate.
At four, Colin stood up and stretched—and Gemma felt her heart start to pound.
“I need to go to the gym,” he said. “This is too much sitting for me. I’d ask you to go with me, but with your side, you can’t risk it.”
Gemma thought that what she needed was sixty minutes on a treadmill, forty-five minutes with the gloves, then an icy shower.