He closed the gap between them and took her face in his hands. “Goodnight,” he said softly, and kissed her lightly on the lips, then once on her forehead.
“Goodnight,” she murmured. She had to keep herself from dashing out of the dining hall while he stood there and watched her.
Chapter Four
“I just had the most wonderful idea!” Edna exclaimed the next morning as they sat at breakfast.
“What’s that, honey?” B. J. asked, biting into a biscuit.
“Kathleen should take Erik to the Crescent Hotel for dinner.”
Kathleen’s fork clattered to her plate and she jerked her head up to see the amusement glimmering in Erik’s blue eyes.
“What’s the Crescent?” he asked the Harrisons without relieving Kathleen of his stare.
“Erik, you’d love it. It’s a hotel in Eureka Springs that was built in the 1880s and has been restored to its original Victorian elegance. Their dining room is sumptuous!”
“I don’t—” Kathleen started.
“How far is Eureka Springs?” Erik interrupted.
“About thirty miles, though it takes about an hour to get there. We don’t have super interstate highways up here.” B.J. laughed. “You really ought to go see the town. We call it the Switzerland of America. Eureka Springs is built right on top of the mountains. The houses and buildings are quaint, usually several stories. One floor might be level with the street, while the back of the house is supported by stilts thirty feet tall.”
“You talked me into it,” Erik said enthusiastically. “I’ve heard of Eureka Springs, but I’ve never been there.”
“Good. Then it’s all settled,” Edna said.
“Wait!” Kathleen fairly shouted, then flushed hotly when three pairs of eyes turned toward her. “I can’t just go off like that. I mean… the children… tonight… it’s against the rules.”
“You’re a board member. You can’t break the rules.” Edna smiled. “We need to give Erik a break. He’s not accustomed to being isolated from civilization the way we are.”
Kathleen looked at Edna suspiciously. What the older woman said had merit, and it was possible that Edna truly did want to relieve Erik of one night in the noisy dining hall, but Kathleen also thought that Edna was dabbling in some good old-fashioned matchmaking. There was no gracious way to decline the offer of a free night, so Kathleen swallowed the nervous lump in her throat and said softly, “I suppose it would be nice to get away for a while.”
“You can leave as soon as you bring the kids back this afternoon,” Edna said with the briskness of one who had accomplished a mission. “Erik, the Crescent also has a lovely, secluded club with a dance floor in the basement.”
“It’s sounding better all the time,” he said to the Harrisons, then turned his back on them and winked at Kathleen.
Oh, God, she groaned to herself. It had taken all the courage she could muster to enter the mess hall for breakfast this morning after her behavior the evening before. What had come over her? She must have taken leave of her senses. She had stopped him just in time, but still he had gone further with her than any man had eve
r been allowed to go. And she had known him only two days! Her ready reactions to him were frightening.
But, self-righteously, she absolved herself of guilt. The way his hands had roamed her body with easy familiarity was an accomplished technique. His mouth, the heat of his embrace, were all too practiced. He’d detected in her a susceptibility and had capitalized on it. He had told her a poignant story about his assignment in Ethiopia, and she had fallen for the emotional blackmail like a pioneer housewife at a medicine man’s show. How many times had he used that same story to break down barriers with a woman? The tale might not even be true!
Kathleen held herself in too high a regard to dally with casual affairs that led nowhere, relationships that did nothing to enrich one’s life but fed on self-deception, disillusionment and pain until one was left with only a feeling of emptiness. Hadn’t she fought David Ross like a tiger?
Before she had finally fallen into a restless sleep, Kathleen had resolved that the next time Erik made any sexual overtures, she would inform him in terms that left no room for doubt that she wasn’t interested in a romantic entanglement.
Now, Edna had arranged a date for them! A date that would take hours if they drove all the way to Eureka Springs on the two-lane state highway that ribboned its way through the mountains.
It was with mingled relief and regret that she learned Erik had chosen to accompany Mike Simpson’s group today as they went on a horseback trip to the other side of the mountain. It would be an all-day event. How Erik was going to carry his camera, Kathleen didn’t know, but she was sure he would manage. He is a man of rare talent, she thought sarcastically as she watched him striding across the compound with his equipment and several of the inquisitive children in tow.
The hours of the day were easily filled, and Kathleen’s group was trudging up the hill to the compound just as Mike’s group was returning. Secretly, she hoped that Erik would be tired and saddle sore, anything to prevent him from wanting to keep their date. But he was smiling and exuberant when he hailed her from across the wide yard.
“Hey, Kathleen, wait up.” He said a few words to Mike, ruffled the hair of one adoring little boy and cuffed a little girl under her chin before he jogged up to Kathleen.
His white knit shirt was soaked with perspiration, and his hair clung damply to his forehead, but he had never looked more appealing as his eyes squinted into a smile.
“How was your day?” he asked.