Heartwishes (Edilean 5)

“It was good that you could see that about yourself.”

“Actually, the whole thing shook me up. It was a true epiphany. It’s not comfortable to have to look at yourself without foggy glasses. The next morning I was at the gym at six A.M. and . . .” She shrugged. “Since then I’ve never asked my boys to give more than I give in return.”

“What happened with their grades?”

Gemma grinned. “They skyrocketed so much that I was put in charge of the entire tutoring program. I started to require that anyone who works for me must work out with the boys. It’s been so successful the university officially said that physical training was to be added to the requirement of being hired as a tutor for the athletes.”

They were sitting in the car, he’d turned off the engine, and Gemma let out her breath. She’d never told anyone that story before. She’d tried to, but no one would listen. When the professors and her fellow graduate students had congratulated her on her ingenious program of working out with the athletes, Gemma always said it had been the boys’ idea. But no one believed her. When she’d insisted, they’d turned away. Her colleagues and the professors didn’t want to believe that the inhabitants of the athletic department could think. To them, thinking football players were too much like Planet of the Apes come alive.

Turning, she looked at Colin. His arm muscles were bulging inside his shirt. He was an athlete who listened and understood. Brains and brawn together—her dream man.

“I think you did a good job,” he said. “And I’m impressed that you could really look at yourself. Not many people can do that.” He nodded his approval and smiled at her in a way that made Gemma’s skin grow warm.

“What do you want to do now?” he asked. “Besides eat, that is?”

Gemma looked out the window at the front of the big Frazier house. It was an unusual structure. It seemed to have been built in sections over the years, and none of them quite matched. She looked back at Colin. “Would your family think

it horribly rude of me if I moved into the guesthouse today? I’d really like to get started on the research. Remember what I was reading that first day?”

“Sure,” he said. “You were sprawled on the floor with lots of colored pens.”

“You and Kirk! What is it about my pens that so intrigues you men?”

“I think he was jealous; I was intrigued. You’re an artistic scholar.” Colin opened his car door. “You’ll be happy to know that I anticipated what you were going to say. This afternoon while you were sleeping off Tris’s drugs, I made some calls. Lanny sent you a car. It’s a one-year-old Volvo with very low mileage. That sound okay?”

“Perfect.”

“Mom had Shamus move your suitcase to the guesthouse, and Rachel packed your refrigerator.”

“That sounds heavenly,” Gemma said. She had her hand on the door handle. “Have you ever heard of something called a Hare-whistle?”

“Not that I remember. Is that what you were reading about? Your ‘love, tragedy, and magic’?”

“Yes,” she said, impressed that he remembered what she’d said. “That word has stayed in my head. It keeps rattling around in there.”

“Through everything? Isla and Kirk? Playing cheerleader with me? Through Tristan pouncing on you?”

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t anything like a pounce,” she said, but Colin was already outside. She watched him walk around the car. The truth was, Gemma wanted to stay in the guesthouse so she’d be farther away from Colin. She had never been so attracted to a man in her life!

There wasn’t anything about him that she disliked. In fact, if she entered everything she’d ever wanted in a man into a computer, Colin Frazier would be what came out. Maybe it came from years of being around football players, but she really liked big men. She’d also grown to favor men who did things. Her colleagues, who spent their days reading and debating about things that had happened centuries ago, had come to bore her. But her students, more than a hundred of them over the years, only let her lecture so long, then they plunged into something physical—and she joined them. It had been a genuine challenge for her to teach something like iambic pentameter while she was slamming away at a hanging bag while wearing sixteen-ounce boxing gloves.

All in all, her tutoring and the subsequent workouts had changed how she looked at men. When she’d entered college, she’d imagined that someday she’d have an academic family. She’d be married to a college professor, with two intellectually oriented children. She’d have the same type of relationship with them that she’d had with her father. They’d constantly visit museums, and history books would be their main pleasure.

But the truth was that Gemma’d had more fun with the boys she taught than she’d ever before had in her life. And also, based on her months with one of the assistant coaches, she’d found that sex with an athlete was a great deal better than with a page-turner.

And now, this Colin Frazier seemed to be all that she liked in men in one beautiful package. He was smart, educated, resourceful, and an athlete. In the short time she’d been with him, the sight of his muscles under his shirt had come close to making her break into a sweat.

She remembered climbing on him this morning, standing on his broad shoulders, then later, being held in his arms. She didn’t know when she’d ever felt such desire.

But Colin wasn’t available. He belonged to Jean Caldwell.

Gemma wanted to think that she was above interfering with what seemed to be a very happy union, but she wondered what she’d do if Colin ever looked at her as something other than a friend.

“Probably make a fool of myself,” she murmured.

“What was that?” Colin asked as he stood beside her.

“I was just thinking about Tristan and hoping that I don’t make a fool of myself over him on our date. He’s very nice-looking and a doctor too.” She watched Colin’s face closely. She didn’t know what she was hoping for, a hint of jealousy, maybe? But there was none.