A dam docked the boat smoothly that afternoon. Ray waited for them in the marina lounge. The rotund little man smiled when he saw them and offered Adam a cigar.
“Go ahead, Adam. I want to try my hand at the treasure map, now,” Jayne told him.
“I’ll go with you.”
“Are you sure?” she asked. The Adam she’d come to know as her boss would never pass up an opportunity to meet with a prospective buyer.
“Yes,” he said, and there was a conviction in his expression that warmed her heart.
Ray waved them off, and Adam took her hand. He led her up the path toward a cave in the hills where the treasure of La Perla Negra supposedly resided.
“Why are you doing this? I know you don’t care about the treasure,” Jayne stated.
“Maybe you don’t know me as well as you think you do.”
“That’s doubtful. After all, I’ve been overseeing your office for almost a year now. I think I know the kind of man you are.”
“What kind am I?”
She wanted to keep things light, but every action that Adam had taken today had been something out of a dream. No, not a dream—her secret desires. The romantic picnic and their lovemaking had made her feel as if there was hope. That her love for Adam wasn’t necessarily one-sided and that the future might hold more for them than she’d ever dared imagine.
“You like the finer things in life.”
“True. What else?”
“You’re very determined and stubborn.”
“Not that you share that trait.”
“Be quiet. I’m the one talking here.”
“Sorry, chère. What else were you going to say?”
“I think you might be lonely and that you’ve found a way to disguise that from the world. Those gorgeous mistresses of yours give you the illusion that you have a successful life.”
He stopped on the path, dropping her hand. She wondered if she’d gone too far. But then he cupped her face and lowered his head, sipping at her lips as if they were a fine wine.
“You’re right. But I have my reasons,” he whispered.
“What are they?”
“I don’t want to ruin any illusions you might have of me.”
“You won’t,” she said. Nothing could dim the love she felt for Adam. It was strange to think that when they’d left New Orleans he’d been her fantasy lover, and now he was the real thing.
He led her to a wrought-iron bench facing the resort, and beyond it, the ocean. “When I was fourteen my dad ran off with his secretary, leaving Mom and me on our own.”
That explained Powell International’s policy against workplace romances. Jayne wondered if Adam even realized he was trying to protect the families of all his employees from the same hurt he’d endured. Did he realize he couldn’t?
“That must have been hard,” she said.
He shrugged. “Mom had never worked a day in her life and was totally lost. She locked herself in her room and cried for three months. I took a job at a fast-food joint and started working to support us.
“I made a vow, Jayne, to never hurt anyone the way my mom was hurt.”
Jayne slipped her arm around his waist and held him tightly. “What about you? Didn’t your father’s leaving hurt you?”
“No. I was almost a man. Strong enough to stand on my own.”
But Jayne sensed he hadn’t been. For all his demanding nature at work, Adam was still an extremely fair boss. He valued his workers and took a personal interest in their lives, especially those on his executive staff.
“Fourteen’s still a boy,” she said.
He hugged her close to his side. “You sound so fierce. Going to beat up everyone who’s hurt me?”
“If I could.”
“Oh, Jaynie. Don’t care too deeply about me. I don’t think I could endure hurting you.”
“Because I care so deeply, you won’t.”
“I will. I’m not meant for…happily ever after.”
“That’s crap. Everyone is meant for bliss. You’re just afraid because your parents’ relationship went sour.”
“Everyone? I don’t see Mr. Right in your life.”
She pinched him because he’d angered her. He was Mr. Right, and if he’d just open his eyes he’d see it.
“Ouch,” he said, rubbing his side.
“Come on. Let’s find that treasure.”
She started down the path, trying to gain control over her emotions. Adam grabbed her arm, stopping her.
“I didn’t mean it that way. I just…I’ve tried marriage before.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Not many people do. She left me for a man she worked with. We’d only been married six months.”
“Oh, Adam,” Jayne said.
“Don’t pity me. I expected it to happen and it did. Modern people aren’t meant for marriage. It’s an institution that’s outdated.”
“You don’t really believe that. You’re just lashing out.”
“What are you, an amateur shrink?”
“Ha! You know it’s true. I have a hard time with relationships because of my mom. And because I’d never talk to my dad. I wanted to, you know?”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I was so afraid of him. I figured he’d left before my birth because he didn’t want me. And I was so scared that once he saw me he’d remember that and leave.”
Adam tightened his arm around her. He muttered something under his breath that she couldn’t understand, but she felt safer than she ever had before. And a certainty that they were meant to be together.
They found the treasure chest just inside the cave. Inside were polished stones carved with the resort’s logo. There was an incantation on the wall that visitors were supposed to repeat for the next three days after being at the cave, and then they’d find their heart’s desire.
Jayne reached for a stone and then pivoted to face Adam. “Aren’t you taking one?”
“No. I don’t believe in all that mumbo jumbo.”
“This from the man who has a voodoo doll on his desk.”
“That’s a joke and you know it.”
“Yeah, sure it is. That’s why if someone moves it from the right corner you have a fit.”
“A fit? Jayne, men don’t have fits.”
“What do they have?”
“Nothing but a desire for perfection and a well-ordered life. My office is my domain and as such everything in there shouldn’t be touched.”
“Was that a royal decree? Should I send that in memo form to the staff?”
“No, Miss Sassy Mouth. You’re the only one who thinks she can charge around in my life and make changes.”
“Well, someone has to. You’re stuck in a rut.”
Not anymore. He didn’t know if he should thank Jayne or curse her, but she’d definitely upset his routine. “What are you wishing for?”
“We’re not supposed to tell,” she said. Then closed her eyes and made her wish.
She then read three times the incantation that was printed on the wall, as the instructions said.
“Aren’t you supposed to spin around and spit on the floor next? Say some word like abracadabra?”
“Don’t scoff at me,” she said. She moved away from the chest toward the back of the cave, stopping in front of the display area, which held a table and chairs. Next to it was a canopy bed with heavy velvet drapes. According to the legend, the pirate and his bride had lived in the cave while building their home.
Adam took a stone when Jayne wasn’t looking and slipped it into his pocket, feeling like an idiot the entire time, but unable to stop himself. He wanted Jayne to stay with him even after they returned to their real world. And he’d do anything to make it happen—even wish on a stone.
He knew that asking her to be his mistress wasn’t an option. There was no way she’d ever agree to it. Adam was honest enough to admit he wouldn’t really be happy unless she held a more permanent position in his life.
He was going to ask her to move in with him and be his lover. In his mind there was a distinction. He’d ask her to live with him and, most of all, he’d allow her to still work with him at Powell.
“I wonder what it was like living here back then.”
“Kind of damp and moldy.”
“That sounds so romantic, Adam. Frankly, I expected better from you. Aren’t you the man who is known for his candlelight dinners?”
“Candlelight is one thing. Living in a cave is something else. Don’t tell me you’d be happy here.”
“If I was with a man who loved me, who risked everything for me, I think I would be.”
“Is that what you wished for?” he asked, hoping she hadn’t. Because of all the things he could give her, love wasn’t one of them. He’d always been afraid to trust in love because every example he’d seen had left destruction in its path.
“I’m not supposed to tell anyone,” she repeated, turning aside. Adam knew she was hiding from him, but he let it go.
“I wish I’d paid more attention in school to geology,” she continued. “This cave is fascinating.”
“What do you want to know?” he asked, walking over to her. There was a small pool in the center of the cave. The Angelinis had done a decent job of making the grotto look like a spot where a pirate would leave his lost treasure. They had flickering sconces on the rock walls and the stones were kept in a carved wooden chest.
“What are those?” she asked.
“Stalagmites?”
“You didn’t pay attention in school, either?”
“I usually sat in the back of the class and slept.”
“How did you get into college?”
“A lot of hard work. I flunked out of high school and realized that the kind of success I wanted wouldn’t come from working in restaurant management. So I studied and took the GED. My mom started coming out of her shock by then and we sold real estate. That combined with my earnings from drag racing gave us a financial base. When I had enough money, I went to college.”
“Where’s your mom now?” Jayne asked after a few minutes. He knew Jayne well enough to recognize that she was organizing facts and forming opinions. She always did an inordinate amount of research.
“Living in Tucson with her second husband, Al. They retired there four years ago.”
“Arizona is next on my list of states to visit. What about your dad and the secretary? Where do they live?”
Everyone knew about Jayne’s fifty states. In her office she had a big map of the U.S. and she’d put a smiley face sticker on the ones she’d been to.
She’d asked about his dad. Adam wanted to ignore the fact that he had a father, even though in his mind he saw the two of them playing football in the backyard of that big old house where they’d lived outside of New Orleans when he was a boy.
“Adam? What about your dad?”
“He died in a plane crash.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It didn’t matter,” he said. He didn’t tell her that the crash had happened when his dad was returning from this resort with his secretary. Adam would never let Jayne know the devastating sense of loss he’d experienced when he’d learned his dad had died. And then three days later, when they’d received the letter he’d sent them saying he was running off with Martha.
Jayne slipped her hand into his, and he felt the rock in her palm, warm from her skin. “What are you doing?”
She closed her eyes for a moment. “I’m sharing my heart’s desire with you.”
“Even though I scoffed at you.”
“Yes. I don’t want to be happy if you’re not.”
His gut tightened and he felt weak in a way that wasn’t physical. His heart raced and he realized that he had the power to hurt Jayne. Not just because of the habits ingrained from a lifetime spent not forming attachments. But because she had a soft side under her modern exterior, and he was the man she’d let see it.
“I have to make a few phone calls before dinner. Would you do me a favor?” Adam asked when they returned to their suite a few hours later.
“What kind of favor?” she asked. She was pleasantly tired from walking and being in the sun all day.
“A charity mission. Didi Angelini has the worst taste in clothes of any woman I ever met. I think that might be part of the problem between her and Ray.”
Ray did have a bit of a roving eye, and there was a strange sort of tension between the two of them. “I noticed he can’t keep his eyes off the island women.”
“Me, too.” Adam reached into his back pocket and took out his wallet. He pulled out his platinum card and handed it to her. “Get her a totally new wardrobe on me.”
“Why are you doing this?” Jayne asked. Not that she minded the task. She just wanted to understand this facet of the man she loved. He was always unfailingly polite to women, and though he only involved some in his life as mistresses, he seemed rather protective of the women he knew.
“I can’t stand to see a woman in an ugly dress,” he said, going to the fax machine and sorting through the papers piled there.
“I’m not buying it, stud muffin. Tell me why.”
“Jayne,” he asked, as if bored with the conversation, “do you really want me to spank you?”
He stepped toward her with mock aggression, and it was all she could do not to throw her arms open and say, take me, big boy. But she knew Adam wasn’t above using sex to distract her, and she wanted to know why this was important to him.
“Yes, but not now. I want to know why. You’ve done this two other times that I know about, and as far as habits go, this is a fairly odd one.”
He stopped halfway toward her and thrust his hands into the pockets of his pants. His gray eyes were cold and steely, and she had the feeling if she didn’t handle this properly he’d clam up.
“I don’t want any lip about this,” he warned her.
“I won’t give you any. I’m just curious. I want to know more about what makes Adam Powell tick.”
“Guilt, greed and lust make me tick,” he said, self-derision lacing his words.
“There’s more to you than that.”
He shrugged. “Some days it doesn’t feel like it.”
“Stop trying to distract me.”
Finally he looked up at her. “It sounds stupid when I say it out loud.”
She closed the gap between them. Wrapping her arms around his ribs, she nestled her head right over his heart, and listened to its slow, calming rhythm.
“Whisper it to me.”
He said her name and closed his hands over her shoulders. Tipping her face up to his, he dropped one small kiss on her lips. His erection nudged against her stomach and she knew he wanted her. But she also knew that he was hiding something.
“I want you, stud muffin, but I want answers, too.”
“God, Jayne, if you call me that in front of anyone I really will turn you over my knee.”
“Promises, promises. The clothing?”
He lifted her in his arms and carried her to one of the overstuffed chairs in the living area, where he sank down and settled her on his lap. Then he tucked her head under his chin. She tried to move so she could see him, make eye contact, but he was having none of it.
“My mom had the worst sense of style. One of the reasons my dad left us was that he was embarrassed by her. My mom had no idea how to change that about herself, and frankly, I didn’t either. Then I met Susan. She was very fashionable and knew how to dress right. So Mom picked up a few tips from her.”
“Who’s Susan?” Jayne asked. He’d never talked about that time in his life before and she had a hard time picturing Adam as anything but the successful CEO he was today.
“She was my wife.”
Jayne still had a hard time coming to terms with Adam as married. It didn’t fit with the man she’d come to know. Even in her wildest dreams she didn’t picture the two of them married.
She ached to wrap her arms around him but couldn’t because of the way he held her so tightly.
“How old were you? You didn’t say before.”
“Twenty when we married. Twenty-one when she left. The only good thing she did was help Mom with her sense of style. After that if I saw a woman whose marriage was on the rocks and her clothing wasn’t exactly fashionable, I’d help out.”
“You can’t fix everyone’s marriage.”
“I’m not even trying.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“Leveling the playing field.”
“That is one of the—”
“Don’t say it. I warned you.”
“—sweetest things I’ve ever heard.”
“Oh, God, give me a break. I also can’t stand to see a woman hiding from her natural sensuality.”
“Damn, why didn’t you say so earlier?”
He cupped her chin and lifted her toward him for a long, lingering kiss—at first just the soft brushing of lips against lips. Then Adam angled his head and let his tongue slowly enter her mouth, tasting her deeply.
When he lifted his head, there was more than just lust in his eyes. She saw affection and caring and a slew of other emotions she’d never expected to see when Adam looked at her.
“I have to call Sam this afternoon,” he said at last.
“Apparently I have some shopping to do,” Jayne replied, getting to her feet.
“I’ll be done in thirty minutes,” he said.
“No, you won’t. You can’t get Sam off the phone in less than forty-five.”
“If I had the right incentive I could.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
He stopped her halfway to the door, kissing her again. This time it wasn’t the sweet lingering embrace of earlier. His hands cupped her butt and he drew her hard against him. His mouth ravaged hers.
When he set her back on her feet she felt as if she’d just lived through a class IV hurricane. “What was that?”
“Incentive for you,” he said with a wink, steering her toward the door.
Jayne walked out of their room and paused for a minute on the gravel path. Adam was changing. He was no longer the unemotional man she’d worked for a few days earlier, and though she knew it might be foolhardy, her heart beat a little faster at the thought of why he’d changed.