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the delight reflected in her face.
    Any man or just him
? he wondered with a sudden sense of foreboding.
    Gideon studied her out of the corner of his eye as she watched the rugged coastline sweep past. He knew he was checking to see if his first impression had been wrong. But his earlier reactions this afternoon did not undergo any drastic revision now.
    He guessed her age at around thirty, give or take a couple of years, although she might have been younger. Those clear, deep hazel eyes were just as unsettling now as they had been when he'd first opened his door to her, her small, elfin features just as piquant.
    The red silk sheath she wore played lightly over a slender, surprisingly sensuous body. There were veins of gold running through her light brown hair. She had brushed the heavy mass straight back from her forehead and tied it in a cascading ponytail that somehow managed to look chic instead of youthful. There was a sleek delicacy about her that would make anything she wore look stylish.
    All in all, she still reminded him of Ellora. Gideon briefly regretted that he hadn't put on a tie. He suddenly felt vaguely underdressed in his jeans and white shirt.
    "This scenery is magnificent, isn't it?" Sarah said, turning away from the window reluctantly. "I'm going to have to set a book here. It's the perfect backdrop for a romance with intrigue and suspense. Lots of drama and impending danger. Where did you live before you moved to Washington, Gideon?"
    "Here and there."
    "Ah-ha. A world-weary wanderer who's finally decided to settle down. I knew it. What did you do before you started publishing
Cache
?"
    "This and that."
    "Real-life treasure hunting, I'll bet."
    He gave her an irritated glance. "What makes you say that?"
    "Well, we already know you're not a mass murderer and I don't see you as a sales rep. So what else would give you a background in this and that?"
    "The inability to hold a good job for any length of time?"
    "Nah. You could do just about anything you wanted to do. If you wanted to hold down an ordinary job, you'd have done it. But I don't see you as an ordinary sort of man, Gideon. You're like one of the heroes out of my books and I never write about ordinary men."
    "Look, Ms. Fleetwood, we'll probably get along a whole lot better if you don't try to romanticize me."
    "How can I help it? You're a very romantic figure."
    "You call being forty years old and living alone in an old house with two cats romantic?" He glanced at her in sheer disbelief.
    "Very."
    "You've got the wrong man. You want someone like Jake Savage."
    She was immediately fascinated. "Who?"
    "Jake Savage." Gideon wasn't surprised by her reaction. Women always reacted that way to Savage. Just the sound of his name was enough to do it for this particular female, apparently.
    "What a terrific name. Do you think he'd mind if I used it some day in a book?"
    "I doubt it, he's dead."
    "Too bad. What was he like?"
    "He was the kind of guy you're trying to make me into. Savage was a real-life adventurer. Liked to live life on the edge. Ran a business called Savage & Company."
    "What did Savage & Company do?"
    "Just about anything in and around South America and the Caribbean that paid enough. Flew supplies into the jungles for various governments, including our own. Transported equipment up rivers for tourists, photographers and scientists. Handled shipments of medicine and clothing for charitable organizations. Acted as guides and outfitters for archaeologists and the occasional team of journalists. And once in a while Savage and Company did some actual treasure hunting. Oh, you'd have loved Jake Savage, all right."
    "What happened to him?" Sarah demanded.
    "The story is he went off on a particularly dangerous job one day and never came back out of the jungle."
    "And thus passed into legend. Great story."
    "Thought you'd like it."
    "Did Jake Savage go alone on his last expedition?"
    Gideon hesitated. "Savage had a partner who usually accompanied