“All the Janes family are at the Old Mill. If you go out there, be careful. The place is falling down. Take companions with you. Big, strong ones.”
“All right, I will,” she said as he disappeared around a corner and out of sight.
To the left, on the other side of the dense hedge, came Travis, frowning as he spoke on his cell phone. But when he saw Kim he smiled and said, “Forester, just do it!” and hung up.
He held out his arm to Kim. “Ready for dinner?”
“Yes,” she said as they walked toward the main building.
Concealed in the bushes and watching them was the older man, Red. He was smiling.
“Sir?” said a man in a suit.
“What is it?” Red snapped.
“You have a call from Hong Kong and Mr. Forester needs—”
Red frowned. “My son took care of Forester. I need you to send someone to the state capital. I want to know everything about the Dr. Tristan Janes who died in 1893.”
“In the morning I’ll—”
Red gave the man a sharp look.
“I’ll call the governor.”
“You do that,” Red said as he walked away from the hotel.
The man picked up the broom and followed Randall Maxwell to the waiting car.
The sound of the shower running woke Kim, and as memories came to her, she stretched luxuriously. Last night had been wonderful. At dinner a table had been set up for them on a little glassed-in porch, and Travis had chosen the meal ahead of time. They’d had three different wines with their six-course dinner. Outside, the stars sparkled and the moonlight flowed over the soft glow from the candles. By the dessert course they were feeding each other—and it was all Kim could do not to jump on Travis and rip his clothes off.
“Shall we retire to our rooms?” he asked before dessert was finished.
“If you’re ready,” Kim said in her most demure voice.
“I have been . . . ready for the last hour.” He sounded like a man in pain.
Kim gave a very unadult giggle.
They managed to bid their server—the same young woman who’d checked Kim in—good night and didn’t so much as touch each other on the long trip up the stairs. Travis opened the door and let Kim go in ahead of him. He closed the chain lock, and turned to look at her.
There were no words needed. She made a leap and was in his arms. Clothes flew across the room and puddled on the floor. By the time they’d covered the few steps to the bed they were naked. They came together with all the passion they felt. And five minutes after their mutual climax, they began again, this time exploring each other’s bodies and finding what the other liked.
“What about this?” Travis whispered, his hand between her legs.
“Yes, very much.” Part of her still wished that they’d been together from the start of their adulthood. It would have been nice to learn about one another together. On the other hand, Travis knew some truly lovely things about a woman’s body. He knew just what to do to take her to new heights of ecstasy, and keep her there.
As for Kim, she’d learned a thing or two also, and when she lowered her mouth onto the center of him, she was pleased by his gasp. Twenty minutes later she moved back up to his neck.
“Where did you learn to do that?” he asked, his eyes full of wonder.
“Late night TV,” she said without cracking a smile.
Travis let her know he wasn’t sure whether to believe her or not, but he liked thinking she’d learned from TV and not from another man.
“You make me crazy, you know that?” he said as he rolled her to her back and began kissing her.
They hadn’t gone to sleep until 3:00 A.M. They’d fallen across each other, naked, sweaty, and as limp as rag dolls. At some point Travis had awakened. He moved Kim from lying crosswise on the bed, positioned her head on his shoulder, pulled the covers over them, and immediately went back to sleep.