Across the River of Yesterday

'It's no mistake.' A radiant smile lit his face. 'I'll make sure it's the best decision you've ever made.' His hand tightened around her own. 'Damn, I'm glad.'

She had made him happy. The knowledge sent a heady burst of exhilaration through her. He had been sad and she had given him happiness. What difference did a week make? Dane was completely happy where he was, and she had no commitments for the next few weeks. She owed Gideon far more for his past support than he had asked of her. 'I'm not promising you anything more than friendship. I still think this is crazy and-'

'Hush, don't spoil it.' He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the palm lingeringly. She felt a warm tingle begin to spread from her palm into her veins and then into every part of her body. 'Let me be happy.'

'All right.' Her voice was breathless. The night was suddenly crackling with the same electricity that had charged the dining room earlier in the evening. She could feel her heart start to pound and the temperature seemed ten degrees warmer than it had only a moment ago.

His clasp tightened around her wrist, and she knew he had felt her betraying leap of response. 'For me?' he murmured. 'Let's see what else I can…' His tongue gently stroked her palm, his thumb on her wrist monitoring her reaction. 'You like that?'

She felt as if she had been jolted by lightning.

The lightest of intimacies, and yet she was trembling. 'I think I'd better go upstairs now.'

'In a minute.' He moved his lips to the delicate blue veins of her wrist. His tongue moved lazily, teasingly on her flesh. 'I can feel your heartbeat going crazy. You're very easy to arouse, love. I'm so lucky.' He nipped her wrist with his teeth and she felt a jolt of heat flood her. 'We're going to be so good together.'

She hadn't expected this, she thought wildly. One moment she was only wanting to comfort, and the next she was experiencing a sensual pull stronger than any she had ever known before. 'Maybe this isn't such a good idea.'

'No, don't start backpedaling. You made me a promise.' He was smiling again, and warmth melted the panic starting to rise within her. 'And I'm holding you to it. We'll leave for Santa Isabella tomorrow morning.'

'Santa Isabella? I thought we were going to stay here.'

He shook his head. 'Santa Isbella is as much of a home as I've ever had. I want you to get to know it.' His lips twisted. 'Besides, the atmosphere in Castellano right now isn't conducive to relaxation and I want you mellow. Very mellow.' He tugged at a lock of her hair. 'I want to hear you laugh again.' He bent quickly and placed a sun-warm kiss on her lips and then straightened. 'That wasn't so bad, was it? I'll guarantee we'll get better at it,' He took her hand again and they covered the remaining yards to the front door in silence.

It was only when they were going up the stairs that he spoke again. 'You're barefoot. I didn't notice on the patio.' He grinned. 'Do you have a violent aversion to wearing shoes? Not that I object, you understand. You have very pretty feet and I like to look at them.'

'I forgot about them. I saw you on the patio and-'

'You wanted to help me,' he finished softly, his eyes very warm. 'So you scurried to the rescue, bare feet and all.'

There had been a moment on the patio when she would have walked barefoot on hot coals, if it could have taken away a portion of Gideon's pain. 'As I said, I'm new at having someone need me. I reacted without thinking.'

'Instinct,' he said thoughtfully. 'You came to me instinctively. Think about that tonight. You might learn something about yourself and about us, too, perhaps. I believe in instinct.' They had reached the top of the stairs and he paused to look down at her. 'Instinct made me know you belonged to me that night.' He touched her cheek with a fingertip. 'Sleep well. I'll see you in the morning, love.'

She hesitated. 'Will you be all right?'

He nodded, then smiled. 'You could leave your door ajar in case I get ambushed. I like the idea of your being available to hold me like you did out there by the fountain.'

'I don't think you'll need me. I'm not as experienced as you at shooting bushwhackers out of the saddle.' She turned away. 'Goodnight.'

She could feel his gaze on her back as she walked quickly down the hall and opened the door to her room. A moment later she was in bed, her head awhirl with a wild confusion of thoughts. Why had she committed herself? It was crazy. She was crazy. She had been swayed like a tree in the wind by sympathy, remembrance, and the sensuality he had evoked so effortlessly. She knew he'd had no intention of arousing her to this extent. He had just been himself, Gideon, and that had been enough. Even now, lying here in an emotional turmoil she was conscious of a nagging anxiety. Was he lying in his room across the hall unhappy and lonely again? Surely he had been joking about the possibility that he might need her to help him get through this time. Still, he hadn't closed his door on her, when there had been a chance she might need him.

She lay there for many minutes staring into the darkness, trying to make a decision. Then she abandoned all reasoning as totally useless. She had half known what she was going to do from the beginning anyway. Maybe Gideon was right, and following instincts was best.

She slipped out of bed and ran across the room. She opened the door and left it ajar in unspoken welcome, a gesture of friendship and support. Then she ran back across the room, jumped into bed, and pulled up the covers. It was done, and she felt immeasurably better. She closed her eyes and was asleep a short time later.

Gideon had left his own door open and was lying in bed, waiting. It was only a chance. It was really too soon for her to offer him that kind of trust, but maybe…

Then he heard the soft click of Serena's door opening and the slight rustle of the mattress as she returned to bed.

Gideon smiled into the darkness, turned over on his side, and shut his eyes. There was still a faint smile on his lips when he, too, fell deeply asleep.

'Somehow, I didn't expect a coffee plantation,' Serena said as the driver of the limousine negotiated the gravel road leading to the large stone house on the top of the hill. 'Ross said your largest hotel property was here on Santa Isabella and I guess I thought you'd live near your base of operations.'

'I have a penthouse suite at the hotel and I stay there most of the time.' Gideon waved to a khaki- clad man in one of the fields bordering the road. The dark-skinned man waved back, a brilliant white smile lighting his face. 'That's Henry Delgado, my foreman. He runs the plantation for fifty percent of the profits, leaving me to be the gentleman farmer. It suits us both.' He leaned back on the blue velour seat and stretched out his legs. 'I was going to sell off the land and just keep the house and a few surrounding acres, but that could have disrupted the lives of the farmers who live on the property. So Henry and I came to our agreement.'

'How long have you had the plantation?'

'Two years.'

Her gaze flew back to his face.

He nodded slowly. 'I decided I'd better try to have a home ready for you,' he said softly. 'The hotel is plush and modern, but it isn't a home. The detective's report said you preferred your lakeside cottage to an apartment in New York so I thought this would do as well.' His eyes twinkled. 'I even made sure it had a lake on the property fed by a real waterfall. It's completely private and I've ruled it out of bounds for anyone on the plantation. I'll show it to you this afternoon, if you like.'

'That would be very nice,' she murmured.

He frowned. 'Now you've got to stop freezing up on me when I mention things like that. I bought this house for us, and I'm not going to pretend anything else.'

'I don't know what to say. I can't imagine any man doing all this on the gamble that a woman he'd scarcely met might be the woman.'

'You are the woman,' he said simply. 'It was no gamble.'

She shook her head. 'You're utterly impossible, do you know that?'

He grinned. 'It's been mentioned a few times.'

'I can imagine.'

'You'll get accustomed to me.' His voice lowered to a velvet softness. 'I'll give you every opportunity to further your knowledge in every way possible.'

Serena felt the heat ignite in her veins like tiny licking flames and she quickly looked away from him. The sensual emphasis was clear, but not presented aggressively. There was no reason for her sudden breathlessness. Gideon managed to keep her constantly off guard. There had been no hint of sexuality in his manner either this