“No. There’s nothing inside. Take a look.” Gideon opened the file cabinet and removed the strong box. Then he twisted a strip of metal in the old lock until something clicked. Then he raised the lid to expose the empty interior. He waited a few seconds while Jake stared into the box and then Gideon closed and relocked it.
Jake eyed him uneasily. “Come on, Gid. We can do a deal. Just like old times. All I want is the publicity and a chance to draw in some big bucks. I need a big score.”
“Be content with staying a dead legend.”
Savage slapped his hand on the desk. “Why the hell should I do that? I’m not dead and I’ve discovered during the past five years that I don’t like being a nobody. They don’t know who I am any more, Gid. I walk into a bar and no one even knows me.”
Gideon exhaled thoughtfully. “That’s not surprising, I guess. You did a good job of disappearing five years ago.”
“As good a job as you did.”
“Tell me something, Jake. What really did happen that day we both supposedly got killed in that damned jungle? Did you set up an ambush with those smugglers? Were you working with them all along and finally decide I’d become a handicap? I was the one who saw too much that day we made the delivery, wasn’t I? You already knew what was going on. You were in on it.”
Jake’s eyes flickered. He sat very still behind the desk. “You figured it all out, didn’t you?”
“I’ve had a lot of time to think about it.”
Jake’s hand tightened into a fist. “You want to know why I did it? I’ll tell you. There was big money involved. Enough to set me up for a long, long time. Enough to ensure that I wouldn’t need to rely on you any longer, you bastard.”
“I thought we were supposed to be partners, Jake,” Gideon mocked softly.
“Yeah, but we both knew you were the one with the magic, the one who made Savage and Company a legend. And I was sick of knowing I had to depend on you. Sick of trusting you. Sick of relying on you.”
“So you saw your big chance and decided to end the partnership. Except it didn’t quite work out the way you’d planned, did it?”
“No, you son of a bitch, it didn’t. But it will.” Jake’s hand shot under the desk and Gideon knew he was reaching for the small pistol he’d always carried strapped to his leg beneath his pants.
“Forget it.” Gideon moved his own hand from behind the door and aimed the revolver almost absently at Jake. Savage froze, one hand still under the desk. “You were never that fast or that lucky and we both know it. The truth is, Jake, you were always better as a legend than you were as a reality.”
11
GIDEON WATCHED, fighting to hide his amusement, as Sarah paced up and down the living room. The cats had long since grown bored with her diatribe against Jake Savage. Machu Picchu was sprawled in his usual position across the back of the couch, his ears flat against his head and Ellora was curled up, sound asleep, alongside Gideon.
“We should have turned him over to the police. He was guilty of everything from breaking and entering to being a damned nuisance. And the man lied through his teeth. How could you just let him go like that, Gideon?” Sarah turned and stalked back across the living room, robe flapping around her ankles. Her hair was anchored in a topknot that was coming adrift from it’s moorings.
“He won’t bother us again, Sarah.”
“We don’t know that for certain. We should have had him arrested. Why didn’t you?”
“Jake would never have survived prison,” Gideon said, thinking about it. “Assuming we could have actually gotten him convicted and sent up, which is highly doubtful. We’d have been lucky to make the charges stick. He didn’t actually steal anything and he doesn’t have a record. The most he would have gotten would have been a few months.”
Sarah reached the far end of the room, spun around and headed back the other way. “I don’t think that’s all of it. I think you went easy on him for old time’s sake.”
“Old times sake?” Gideon cocked one brow.
“Sure. After all, he was your partner for several years. You’d been through a lot together. And you’re the loyal type.”
“I am?”
“Certainly. Don’t laugh at me. It’s your nature. I suppose it’s one of the things I admire about you. But that still leaves us with a problem. What if he comes after the Flowers again?”
“He won’t.”
“I don’t see what’s to stop him this time.”
“I told him that if anything happened to that strongbox, I’d destroy the legend I helped him build. That’s all he’s got left, Sarah. His own legend. It’s the most important thing in the world to him.”
Sarah paused and nibbled on her lip. “And you could do it? Through your magazine?”
“I could do it by sending letters to certain collectors and dealers telling them to take a second look at some of the South American artifacts they’ve acquired lately through Slaughter Enterprises.”
Sarah’s eyes widened. “You said you’d kept tabs on him. That’s what he’s been doing for the past five years? Selling antiquities?”
“Uh-huh.”
“And some of them were fraudulent?”
“Right. Smuggling the real stuff is a better bet. Dedicated collectors and dealers won’t ask too many questions about sources so long as the pieces are real, but they’ll be mad as hell if they think they’ve been taken in by a fake.”
“So Jake has been reduced to selling fake South American antiquities. What a comedown for him.” Sarah shook her head. “That must have grated. No wonder he was looking for a way back to fame and fortune.”
Gideon stroked Ellora. “Some people would say that publishing a small treasure-hunting magazine like Cache is even more of a comedown.”
Sarah glared at him. “It certainly is not. You’re in publishing, the same as I am. You’re an author. Just like me. You write for people who can still dream, the same way I do. We perform a very valuable function for a very important group of people, Gideon Trace, and don’t you forget it. As this world of ours gets more high-tech and more endangered, it needs its dreamers more desperately than ever.”
“I never thought of it quite that way,” Gideon murmured, amazed as usual by her highly biased view of him. It was very heartwarming.
Sarah turned away again. “I suppose somehow Jake is a dreamer, too, isn’t he? Unfortunately he’s just kind of screwed up in general.”
“Unfortunately.” Gideon yawned. “You were right, by the way, about why he set up that ambush five years ago. He was trying to prove something to himself. Trying to get free of his dependence on me.”
Sarah nodded. “Trying to prove he didn’t need you to be a success. You’re sure he’ll stay out of our lives from now on?”
“Reasonably sure.”
“What about the Fleetwood Flowers? He wanted those very badly.”
Gideon felt Ellora stretch languidly beneath his hand. “I told him the Flowers didn’t exist.”
Sarah stared at him, clearly startled. “But he knew we had the strongbox.”
“I told him there was nothing in it.”
Sarah smiled slowly, with obvious satisfaction. “That was very clever of you, Gideon. Did he believe you?”
“Not entirely, but I think that after a while he’ll convince himself I was telling the truth. He’d rather believe there were no Flowers than that he failed to get hold of them.”
“Yes, exactly. He’ll convince himself there was no treasure. And since we have no reason to advertise the fact that we found the earrings, Jake will never know the difference.”
Gideon leaned his head back against the cushions and watched her through narrowed lids. “It’s possible that when we get the strongbox open tomorrow it really will be empty. You probably shouldn’t get too excited about finding anything inside, Sarah.”
“They’ll be in there.” She hugged herself happily. “I can’t wait to go to work on that old lock tomorrow. It’s going to be such
a perfect ending to this whole adventure.”
“What about us, Sarah? Does finding the Flowers mean the end of that, too?” Gideon asked quietly.
She smiled serenely. “Don’t be an idiot, Gideon. You and I are just starting our adventure.”
“You really mean that, don’t you?”
She paused and gazed out into the night. “I’ve told you before, Gideon. In some way I’ve never been able to explain, the Flowers are linked to you, but they have nothing to do with our relationship. Do you see the difference?”
“I think I’m finally beginning to understand.” Gideon glanced toward the stairs. “It’s nearly two in the morning, Sarah. Let’s get some sleep. Knowing you, you’ll be up at the crack of dawn trying to jam a hairpin into that old lock.”
She chuckled, reaching for his hand. “I don’t have a hairpin with me. But that’s all right. We’ll rely on your professional skills.”
Gideon rose from the sofa and put his arm around her shoulder. With his other hand he lifted her chin. When his mouth closed over hers, she parted her lips for him and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Gideon picked her up and started toward the stairs.
“I love it when you do this kind of thing,” Sarah said, her eyes cloudy with desire as Gideon carried her into his bedroom. “You’re so good at it.”
“You think so?” He put her down on the bed and came down beside her. Slowly he untied her robe and opened it. She was so lovely, he thought as he bent his head to kiss her breast. And she wanted him. Him, not Jake Savage or anyone else. Just him.
“Yes. Perfect.” She caught his head and held him to her, lifting herself invitingly against him. “Absolutely perfect.”
“Perfect,” Gideon agreed softly. His hand slid down to her thighs. Gently he parted her legs and made a place for himself near her warmth.
This was what he wanted out of life, Gideon realized; it was all he asked for of the Fates. He had been cold for far too long. Now he knew he would be content if he could spend the rest of his days warming himself at Sarah’s hearth.
SARAH AWOKE SHORTLY after four o’clock when Ellora shifted slightly against her leg. Automatically she turned to find Gideon on the other side of the bed.
He was gone.
Sarah listened to the silence of the big old house for a moment or two and then she pushed back the covers and got to her feet. Her robe was on the back of a chair. She put it on, tied the sash and went very quietly out the door. Ellora followed at her heels.
Sarah crept down the stairs, avoiding the ones that creaked. At the foot of the staircase she hesitated and then turned down the hall toward Gideon’s study. There was a thin wedge of light showing through the opening in the doorway.
Sarah tiptoed to the door and peered through the crack. Gideon was sitting at his desk dressed in only his jeans. Emelina Fleetwood’s strongbox was open in front of him. Nearby sat five of the carved wooden chess pieces.
As Sarah watched, fascinated, Gideon picked up one of the chess pieces, removed the base and pulled out a small object wrapped in black velvet. He put the object into the strongbox and reached for the next chess piece.
Machu rumbled from somewhere inside the study and Ellora brushed past Sarah’s bare feet. The little cat pushed through the crack of the doorway and trotted into the room. Gideon glanced up. He saw Ellora first and then he saw Sarah standing in the shadows of the hall.
A curious stillness gripped him. He sat as if made of stone, his green eyes glittering with an unreadable expression.
“Well, well, well,” Sarah murmured. She pushed the door open wider, crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe. She wanted to shout her happiness to the world.
“Couldn’t sleep?” Gideon asked.
“Something woke me up.”
“Probably your world-famous intuition.”
“Probably.” Sarah couldn’t stop the smile that she knew was starting to light up her whole face.
Gideon sighed wearily and leaned back in his chair. “I guess you want an explanation.”
She shook her head violently. “Not necessary.”
“It’s not?”
“No. Gideon, this is the most romantic thing that has ever happened to me in my entire life.”
He glanced at the open strongbox. “It is?”
“Definitely. It proves you love me. Proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt.”
“It does?”
“Oh, yes.” She walked into the room and came to a halt on the other side of the desk. She planted both hands on its polished wooden surface.
“Sarah…”
“Admit it,” Sarah said, wanting to laugh out loud at his wary expression. “Go on, admit it. Tell me you love me. Tell me that you’re doing this—” she waved a hand to include the array of chess pieces and the open strongbox “—because you’re wildly, madly, passionately, head-over-heels in love with me.”
“Well…”
“Gideon, this is the sweetest, most romantic gift I’ve ever had. You knew how much I was enjoying my treasure hunt. You know how excited I was about opening that strongbox. And you couldn’t bear for me to find it empty, could you? You wanted to give me a gift and letting me find the Fleetwood Flowers at the end of my big adventure was your present to me. Gideon, I am so thrilled, so incredibly touched. You love me.”
Gideon gazed down at the knight still in his hand. “You’re amazing, you know that? Some women would look at a scene like this and assume right off the bat that they had been or were about to be robbed, cheated or otherwise swindled out of a fortune. You look at it and assume it’s evidence that I’m in love with you.”
Sarah grinned. “It is and you are. Aren’t you?”
Gideon’s answering smile was slow. His eyes lost their wariness. A deep, aching tenderness took its place. His hard face seemed to gentle in the lamplight. “I must be to have gotten myself into a situation like this.”
Sarah laughed, her delight bubbling up inside like champagne. She darted around the edge of the desk and threw herself into Gideon’s lap. “Tell me,” she demanded. “Say the words.”
He touched the side of her face wonderingly. “I love you, Sarah.”
“Since when?” she pressed.
“I don’t know. Does it matter?”
“No.” She put her fingertips on his lips. “It doesn’t really matter. The only thing that matters is that you’re sure now.”
“I’m sure.”
She put her head down on his shoulder, nestling close. “I figured you must or you wouldn’t be putting the Fleetwood Flowers back into that strongbox for me to find in the morning. When did you dig them up?”
“About four years ago. I needed the money to expand Cache and since I was now supposed to be an expert in treasure hunting I decided to do some. I went through a file I had put together on old treasure stories that sounded promising—the real stuff, you understand, the kind of tales I never print in Cache.”
“The kind you pursue yourself when you go on vacation?”
Gideon nodded. “The Flowers was a story that had possibilities and it was fairly close to my home here on the coast. So I did a little research, scraped together enough for a down payment on the land and bought the old Fleetwood property for a few months. As soon as I found the Flowers, I sold the land again.”
“Just the way I had planned to do it. I guess this proves that great minds really do run in the same track, doesn’t it? Why didn’t you sell the earrings if you needed the money?”
“Believe me, I was going to sell them. It was the reason I’d dug them up in the first place. They’d definitely bring a nice chunk of change. Take a look.”
Gideon unwrapped one of the black velvet packages. A pair of glittering sapphire earrings set in an old-fashioned design tumbled out onto the desk. They lay there like brilliant blue flowers. He opened another velvet bundle and a set of beautifully matched pearl earrings cascaded onto the desk. Then he unwrapped the next three sets of Flowers.
Rubies, opals and diamonds winked in the light.
“Emelina Fleetwood’s buried treasure,” Sarah breathed. “They’re beautiful.”
Gideon gazed down as the small fortune lying in front of him. “I intended to sell them off quietly, a stone at a time, but I kept making excuses not to do it. Then one day I realized I wasn’t going to be able to ever sell them at all. For some insane reason, I felt I had to hang on to them.”
“Of course you did. You were waiting for me to come and claim them. It all fits together now. I always knew the Flowers were linked to you. I just didn’t understand quite how. But now it’s perfectly clear. You were holding them, waiting for me to show up in your life, weren’t you? You just didn’t know it. You’ve got intuition, too, Gideon.”
“You think so?” Gideon wrapped his arm around her waist, holding her tightly to him.
“Definitely. Why do you think you were the one who made Savage and Company a legend? Why did you sense that ambush five years ago? Why do you think you found the Fleetwood Flowers without even a map?”
He gave her a wry look. “Why did I marry the wrong woman the first time around? Why did I trust Jake Savage to be my partner and friend?”
Sarah waved that aside. “I guess your intuition works better with treasure and danger and that sort of thing. Mine seems to work mostly with people. We’ll make a great team.”
“I think we will.” He kissed her throat.
“You let me go through the whole treasure hunt from start to finish so I’d have the thrill of actually finding the Flowers on my own, didn’t you?”
“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.”