fabric at her knees and caught at her hair, dragging it over her face. She clamped her hands to her thighs to keep her skirt in place. Gage jumped to his feet and tended to her hair himself, pulling it back with both hands to tuck the glossy mass behind her ears. Then he cupped her face in his palms, gazing at the delicate beauty of her.
His body went on high alert, his muscles tightening. Instinct urged him to put himself between her and the gusty breeze, and the too-bright sun, and any other element that might endanger her. Doubts and second thoughts evaporated. He wanted to wrap himself around her; be both her fortress and her sanctuary, and then, when he was gone, the lover she never, ever forgot.
“I’ll leave you two alone.”
Startled at the intrusion, he glanced over to see Polly rising from her seat. “Yeah,” he said, already dismissing her from his mind. “Thanks for the company.”
Without even waiting for the other woman to move off, he was staring at Skye again, the pull of her like an undertow, but he didn’t give a shit about survival.
He touched his forehead to hers, and felt her tremble in his hold. “You know, we seem to generate some powerful juju between us,” he told her.
She nodded, trembled again.
He laid it on the line. “Forget about lunch. Come back to my bed. Stay there until it’s time for me to go.”
* * *
SKYE WAS TUGGED AWAY from Gage, just as his words started to sink in. Come back to my bed. Stay there until it’s time for me to go. Polly had her by the arm, and it appeared she had no intention of letting go.
“I’ll bring her back shortly,” her blonde friend said to Gage, in her cheery, kindergarten-teacher voice. “You just sit tight.”
Gage opened his mouth as if to protest, then shut it. He must see the same implacability on Polly’s face that Skye did. Though a pair of sunglasses covered her eyes, her friend’s expression was set and her jaw was firm.
“I just need a few minutes of girl talk.” Polly continued towing her in the direction of the bar. Upon reaching it, she practically lifted Skye onto one of the stools. For a small woman, she had wiry strength that came from a career of wrangling little kids. “Thank me,” she said.
“For what?” Skye glanced back at Gage to see that he’d resettled into his seat and was staring out at the ocean. “What the heck was that about?”
Come back to my bed. Stay there until it’s time for me to go.
“I’m giving you a chance to think this through without being under the influence of Stunning Sex Man.”
“You heard what he said?” Come back to my bed. Stay there until it’s time for me to go.
“I was standing right beside you, not that I expect either of you noticed with all the pheromones buzzing around you like electrons circling atoms.”
“‘Powerful juju,’” Skye murmured.
Polly called out to the guy behind the bar. “Hey, Steve, could we get a couple of lattes?”
It was that same young man who’d served them that afternoon a couple of weeks before, the one who was the film friend of Addy’s. It didn’t take him long to concoct a couple of caffeine-and-milk beverages, and he smiled at Skye as he slid her oversize cup in front of her. “Nice to see you again,” he said. “You don’t get in here much in the afternoons, I guess. That’s when my shifts are usually scheduled.”
“No.” She gave him a polite smile. “I’ve been pretty busy this summer.”
“Searching for the famous jeweled collar?” he asked, picking up a bar towel and sliding it across the surface. “Has it come to light?”
“No.” He was looking at her so expectantly she felt compelled to say a little more. “But Addy found a letter from my great-great-grandmother to my great-great-grandfather that seems to at least confirm its existence. As a matter of fact, a local reporter is writing a feature about it for the Sunday Lifestyles section of the newspaper. It’s supposed to come out later this month.”
His hand paused in its wax-on, wax-off movement. “I’ll look forward to that.”
Skye lifted her cup to her lips. “This weekend’s paper or the next.”
“And I’ll look forward to talking to you more about it, too.” He smiled. “I’ve scored some evening shifts so maybe we’ll run into each other more often.”
Something about that smile of his set Skye’s nerves jumping.