“Okay then,” she grinned. “But I’d rather that you try to relax enough to get some sleep. You haven’t had a lot of rest lately.”
Sleep was the last thing on his mind by the time they passed through the gardener’s gate and turned away from the main house toward the ocean. He was thrilled and excited to be going back to his childhood hidey-hole.
The midnight blue skies were just beginning to give way to streaks of rose and gold. A few storm clouds were out on the horizon. But that usually made for a great sunrise.
He directed Dana to park under a stand of salt pines, and led her down the rocky path between rows of sea grape and sand dunes. Marc hadn’t been down to the beach in years. Hadn’t managed to think of it much lately at all.
The smell of bracing salt air brought back pleasant memories of laying in the hot sand and playing in the light surf with his brothers and cousins. There weren’t any bad ghosts here. No bad vibes to be heard over the screams of the gulls. Nothing here but the echoes of good times, roaring in his mind like the phantom sounds of waves when you put a conch shell to your ear.
“Oh it’s lovely,” Dana said when she stood at the water’s edge. “Is it low tide?”
He shrugged. “Don’t know. But we’ll sit back a little ways, just in case.”
Dana snapped her fingers. “The blanket. We need the blanket to sit in the sand. I’ll go get it from the trunk.” She turned and scurried back up the dunes toward the pines and her car.
Marc stood there watching her go, enthralled with the carefree way she moved. Her long hair swung wildly down her back, drawing attention to the curve of her hips.
He didn’t feel much like himself all of a sudden. Maybe it was because he’d finally gotten that nasty story of last year’s betrayal off his chest. He hadn’t told the whole story to anyone before Dana, and saying it out loud made it seem more silly than despicable.
What he hadn’t told Dana was that the more he thought about Alicia making it with Ben, the more he’d come to the conclusion that he hadn’t really loved her in the first place. And wasn’t it true that no relationship problem was all one-sided? He’d been so wrapped up in his new projects that he’d probably been ignoring Alicia’s needs.
By now, he’d come around to deciding that he was grateful to Alicia for giving him a good excuse to end the engagement. But he wasn’t exactly ready to forgive and forget where his old buddy was concerned. Ben’s betrayal was the one spot that would remain sore for a long while.
Dana waved to him from the top of a dune and started down the path, bringing him back to the present. The sun was just beginning to climb over the bank of clouds on the eastern horizon, and the peachy-colored rays lit up the beach with a rosy glow. As he watched, the light shone on her face and turned her skin to amber.
God, she was beautiful. As she bounced down the path, she looked like a Gypsy with those big brown eyes, amber skin and those ebony curls making a halo around her head. She’d been so easy to talk to. He wasn’t sorry that he’d told her the whole story.
As he helped her spread the blanket over the sand, Marc had a great sense of well-being. He remembered his grandmother saying that everything happened for a reason. Maybe he was the Danforth who was meant to be involved with the cartel so that the fates could bring him Dana. And maybe she was meant to be the FBI agent assigned to him so that she could bring him peace of mind.
It all sounded quite rational in his hypersensitive and exhausted brain.
Dana settled on the blanket, sitting cross-legged and focusing her gaze to the east and the rising sun. He kicked off his shoes and socks and sat on the blanket too. For fifteen minutes they sat quietly watching the sun cast a pinkish hue across the waves.
“Why don’t you take off your shoes and get comfortable?” he asked her. The sun was warming the sand and he dug his toes in it like he had as a kid.
“Are you relaxing?” Dana took off her shoes and socks and laughed as she wiggled her toes.
“I’m getting there.”
“Good.” She shrugged out of her jacket and removed her gun from its holster. “I think it would be great if you could manage a short nap. You need rest in order to concentrate. I had a boss once that insisted all agents in his section stop work and get at least seven hours of sleep a day. He said the worst thing you could do for your health was to not get enough sleep.”
“But you don’t sleep that long.”
“No,” she agreed. “I’ve never needed that much sleep all at one time…high metabolism…I guess. But I do try to catch a couple of naps during the day. It clears my head. Why don’t you try it?”
She checked the safety on her gun and placed it and the holster under the far corner of the blanket. “We won’t be disturbed here, will we?” she asked, rolling up her jeans.
“No. This place is a private cove and totally out of the way. No one ever comes down here.”
Marc was fascinated by her. Every action was liquid and smooth. He took off his jacket and decided it had grown warm enough to take off his pullover shirt, as well. Rolling them up, he bunched and stuffed the roll under his head as he lay on his back on the blanket.
He looked up at the puffy white-and-gray clouds in the sky and heard Dana sigh. He was afraid to glance over at her. Afraid that his desire would show too clearly if he looked at her now. And he’d promised himself that he wouldn’t rush her. After all, she’d said she was here to work and not for play.
Resolutely, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath of salty air. It would probably rain later, he thought. This time of year the clouds came up off the ocean and soft fall showers cooled off the warm, sticky days.
For a few minutes he tried to clear his mind and rest. But knowing Dana sat that close to him was a fact impossible to ignore—and it was beginning to make him sweat.
Finally, he turned on his side and propped himself up on one arm so he could look at her. She lay on her side facing him, eyes closed and her head resting on one arm. What a gorgeous picture she made.
Her coloring was the thing that riveted him. The golden skin and black hair. It was so unlike Alicia’s blond blue-eyed elegance that he felt as though he was facing a children’s action figure.
Dana was strong and focused, just like one of those children’s heroines. The power of her personality drew him, even while she napped.
Silky black curls drooped over her cheek and curled seductively around her slender neck. The V neck of her T-shirt revealed the curve of one silky breast. He had to take a deep, big breath to continue lying still beside her.
Though it had been over a year since he’d felt the weight of a woman’s breast in his hand, a man just couldn’t forget such a thing. His body responded to the sight of hers with predictable results. He had to grit his teeth against the growing hardness of his muscles.
He forced his eyes to move on with their perusal, glancing down to the dip of her waist, the round hips that led to the impossibly long legs. A vision of those legs wrapped tightly around him brought his attention sharply back to her upper body. Lord, but he was longing to find satisfaction in that sweet body.
When his gaze ricocheted back to her nubby-tipped breasts, he noticed that he could see the hardened peaks distinctly through the material of her shirt. He shot a glance to her face, chagrined to discover she was staring at him with heavy-lidded awareness. She never moved, but held him with her steady gaze nonetheless.
An intense wave of yearning flooded his senses, shooting heated blood to his thighs, hands and chest. “I…I’m…I was just…”
She pressed her fingers to his lips. “Don’t explain. I like it when you look at me.”
He