only one. You can't confuse him with anyone else.'
'No, he's definitely an original,' Serena said faintly. She lifted her glass to her lips. 'Would you like to tell me why you helped him with this insanity?'
'I owed him,' Ross said simply. 'I helped you to get away from him. I thought I was doing the right thing, but it didn't turn out that way. He went crazy worrying about you. He tore Mariba apart, trying to find a clue to where you had gone. We finally decided you must have arrived by ship and left the same way.'
Serena nodded. 'I told you I had somewhere to go'
'And that you were married. I thought it might make a difference to Gideon.' His lips twisted. 'It didn't. He said if the bastard had sent you wandering the streets in such a state, he didn't deserve to keep you. So we started looking for you.' He took another sip of wine. 'As soon as the money started coming in he hired a detective agency. You didn't leave much of a trail and it took a long time. Two years ago they tracked you down.'
'Two years.' Her smile was faintly skeptical. 'He wasn't overeager to resume our acquaintance. Perhaps he's more enthralled with the idea than the reality. I'm sure he's had plenty of distractions to amuse him.'
'Women? He's a man. What did you expect?'
'Nothing. It's nothing to me if he has an entire harem. That's what I've been trying to tell you.'
'I'm tempted to bring up the old chestnut about protesting too much,' he said lightly. He checked his wrist watch. 'It's almost eight-thirty. We'd better go into dinner. Gideon said not to wait for him, if he didn't show up.'
'How considerate. He practically abducts me and then can't be bothered to show up for dinner. I don't believe he knows what he wants.'
'Wrong.' Gideon stood in the doorway. 'I know exactly what I want, it's just that everything seems to be conspiring to keep me from getting it.' He came forward, smoothing his rumpled hair with one hand. He was dressed in a black tuxedo and ruffled dress shirt and wore them with as much ease as he had jeans and boots. 'Sorry to be late. I had an emergency and then I had to change again and-' He broke off, his gaze on the expanse of creamy flesh revealed by the neckline of Serena's tunic.
Serena felt the hot color rush to her cheeks. What was wrong with her? She couldn't remember when she'd blushed last. 'It's rude to stare.'
'Sometimes being a poor ignorant cowboy has its advantages.' He hadn't taken his eyes off the deep cleavage swelling from the low bodice. 'Unlike city dudes, when something is offered we reach out and take. If you hadn't wanted me to look, you wouldn't have put yourself on display like this.' His gaze reluctantly moved up to her face. 'Now, would you?'
'Of course I would. Low necklines are in this year, particularly the Elizabethan look. It's very stylish to-'
'Make a man want to drag you off to the nearest bed?' he finished softly.
'No, that isn't what I meant at all. Not everyone is-'
'I suggest we go into dinner,' Ross interrupted quickly. He took Serena's glass and set it on the Sheraton desk behind him. 'Gideon, leave her alone. She's been through enough today.'
Gideon seemed mildly surprised. 'My, how protective you're being. Maybe I shouldn't have left you alone for quite so long.' Gideon's glance returned to Serena's breasts. 'I sure as hell wouldn't, if I'd known she was going to pull an Eleanor of Aquitaine.' 'Yes, you would.' Ross's gaze searched Gideon's face. 'Is everything okay?'
Gideon nodded. 'Better. For now.'
'Eleanor of Aquitaine?' Serena asked, bewildered.
'She rode bare-breasted at the head of her troops into the fray,' Gideon told her solemnly. 'Isn't that what you're doing, Serena? I've never seen a challenge more beautifully obvious.'
'Dinner,' Ross said again, taking Serena's arm and nudging her gently toward the door. 'With all possible speed.'
Serena heard Gideon's low chuckle behind her as Ross ushered her quickly from the room.
Two
The service at the table was provided by a slim, dark-skinned young man and was both quiet and unobtrusive. The crystal and china were exquisite, the food was a gourmet's delight. Serena was scarcely aware of any of it. She was conscious only of Gideon's gaze fixed on her with an intensity that caused the surroundings to fade.
Ross attempted the difficult task of keeping the conversational ball in the air, but received only monosyllabic replies from Gideon and Serena. When the meal was over he pushed back his chair, sighed in relief, and said, 'Coffee in the study, I think. I hope you both realize I'm planning on nominating myself for a medal. I deserve it after submitting my sensitive psyche to the flak the two of you have been mentally tossing at each other.'
'Flak?' Gideon raised an eyebrow. 'That's a poor choice of words. I'm not feeling in the least warlike.' He threw his napkin on the table and rose to his feet. 'Though I admit my thoughts were definitely incendiary.'
'I think it's a very fitting word,' Serena said coolly. 'I'm feeling extremely militant at the moment.'
Gideon smiled. 'Eleanor into the fray?' he asked softly. 'I can hardly wait.'
Serena found her gaze clinging to his as if she were mesmerized. She didn't know how many seconds passed before she was able to tear her glance away. She drew a deep breath and tried wildly to think of something to say to destroy the electricity charging the atmosphere between them. 'I'm no Eleanor, and you'll wait a long time, Gideon.'
'I already have.' He grinned. 'But at least I'm halfway home.'
She frowned. 'What are you talking about?'
'That night at Concepcion's.' His gaze teasingly lingered on her breasts. 'It chafes my possessive instincts to know I wasn't the only one to be so privileged, but that memory has furnished me with a number of fantasies through the years.'
The color flooded her cheeks as the memory of gentle hands pulling the white satin bodice up to cover her bare breast suddenly came back to her. 'I forgot about that,' she whispered.
His smile faded. 'I think you tried to forget everything about me, didn't you? I wonder why you felt the need. We're going to have to discuss quite a few things, Serena. Do you remember the bushwhackers we talked about? I have an idea one of them got to you after you left me.'
She suddenly felt unutterably weary. 'Quite a few of them got to me, but I fought them off the only way I could.' She smiled with an effort. 'And in the end I came out on top.'
'Not entirely,' he said slowly. 'You let them take a few things away from you. I guess I'm going to have to see what I can do about getting that booty back.'
Ross suddenly coughed. 'Look, I'm still in the room,' he said mildly. 'I just thought I'd point it out, in case I'd become an invisible man.'
Serena smiled vaguely at him and turned her attention back to Gideon. 'The only thing I want you to get back for me is Dane.'
'In time.' Gideon's eyes narrowed. 'I told you what my terms are. All you have to do is to agree, and I'll put the wheels in motion. Lord knows I want to give you whatever you want. Just give me my chance to-' He suddenly broke off as the slim, white-garbed young man who had served dinner appeared at his elbow. The boy murmured something in a low tone and then disappeared as quietly as he had come.
Gideon's expression was abstracted as he turned away. 'Something's come up,' he said tersely. 'Take care of her, Ross.' Then he was striding out of the room without giving Serena another glance.
'I gather I've become visible again,' Ross said. 'Coffee, Serena?'
'No.' Her tone was also abstracted. It shouldn't have bothered her that Gideon was constantly relegating her to second place in his scheme of things. It shouldn't, but it did. She had felt as if she had been flicked with the stinging tip of a lash when he'd walked out the door. 'I thought I'd go to my room. I'm sorry I was rude, Ross.' She suddenly realized she was apologizing to Gideon's partner in crime, and scowled. 'Though you both deserved a hell of a lot more than rudeness. Burning at the stake would be most appropriate.'
'Whew, how fierce we are,' he murmured. 'I can't help it if Gideon was forced to opt out of the fireworks. Spare me your wrath, Queen Eleanor.'
'And that joke is getting very old.' She turned away. 'I want to talk to Dane tonight before I go to bed. Will you
