“I’m great,” I told him. With the sunshine streaming around us, and in his embrace, I’d never been more sincere.
He leaned back and met my stare.
“I have told you before, and I mean it more now than I ever have. I want you to be happy, Anna.”
“I am happy.”
He regarded me soberly, his gray eyes softened by the sunshine.
“Will you tell me about your nightmare?”
I shook my head and buried my face in his chest, inhaling his spicy, clean scent. “I don’t want to think about that.” I rubbed my nose against his cotton shirt. He opened his hand at the back of my head, cradling me against him.
“I’m sorry about last night. I was really out of it when you first woke me up,” I muttered.
“Anna.”
I heard the question in his voice and reluctantly looked up at him.
“You don’t have to apologize. Just tell me about your nightmare.”
“I don’t remember it.”
His eyes had narrowed to gleaming crescents. “Have you had the nightmare before? Is it the reason you’ve been having trouble sleeping?”
Two phone alerts chimed at once, one of them coming from Evan’s pocket. I raised my cell and saw that it was Valeria, texting me back.
“She texted you as well,” I said, backing slightly out of Evan’s arms as I read Valeria’s message. I looked up at him and smiled brightly. “She’ll be here
before noon. I want to get up to the overlook before the light changes much. It’s incredible right now, after the storm.”
He caught my hand as I started to turn away.
“I’ll ask Valeria if she can make us lunch. Come back to the house at twelve-thirty, and we’ll have it on the terrace?”
“Why don’t you come up to the overlook? I miss our picnics. You hardly come up to see me anymore, like you used to,” I said, reaching to stroke his jaw. I refused to be somber on this incandescent morning. I would not be reminded of the shadows… or Evan’s suffocating grief. “You’ll have me thinking you’re turned off by my paint smock.”
“I happen to find your paint smock very sexy, especially since you wear next to nothing underneath it,” he murmured, leaning down to cup one of my butt cheeks beneath the edge of the shorts I wore and kiss the corner of my mouth, his stare going smoky. “But humor me, and come back to the house to have lunch with me today.”
“It’s a date,” I murmured, caught by the warm promise in his eyes.
Painting up on the overlook that Friday morning, it was hard to maintain my determined carefree attitude. I continually felt that tingle on the back of my neck, that telltale sign of being watched. But it was strictly my imagination. Every time I turned to peer at the South Twin, the windows remained empty. Noah Madaster was likely still at the hospital. I wondered how serious his condition was, and experienced that vague feeling of guilt that I’d contributed to his anguish and possibly worsened his health.
By the time I set down my brush a little after noon, I was frustrated at my lack of concentration on my work. If we were going to stay at Les Jumeaux, I needed to forget about Noah Madaster. It was like Evan said. I had just as much a right to be there as Noah did.
That’s what I was repeating to myself when I hit the stretch of rocky beach and started up the steps to Les Jumeaux. Out of the corner of my eye, movement caught my attention.
“Hey!” I shouted, startled by what I saw. Two men were walking out of the boathouse, their arms filled with tanks and hoses: The scuba equipment we’d seen yesterday! I couldn’t believe it. They paused at my shout.
“What are you doing?” I yelled over the sound of the surf.
I hadn’t even got out the question before they were moving again, taking long strides along the beach and disappearing behind some boulders. I started to take off after them, but then recalled how big they’d seemed, even at a distance. Did I really want to confront two possibly dangerous thieves on a desolate stretch of beach, by myself?
“What the hell?” I muttered, furious and disbelieving at the intrusion. Then it dawned on me that maybe Evan had hired someone to come down and get the equipment to make sure it was safe to use.
When I walked into the kitchen, I saw Valeria standing behind the stove, holding a spatula. She greeted me warmly.
“Welcome! Have you been finding your way around all right?” I asked, walking over to the sink and washing my hands.