Outfox

She looked away and followed a solitary cloud drifting between them and the horizon. A minute passed. He didn’t move. The silence between them began to feel ponderous. She searched for something to say. “Drex is an unusual name.”

He flinched and sat up straighter. “Sorry? I was about to nod off.”

“No you weren’t.”

The moment the words were out, she wished she could call them back. Too late now, however. Above his sunglasses, one of his eyebrows arched to form a question mark.

With a trace of challenge in her tone, she said, “You were staring at me. I could see your eyes through your sunglasses.”

He thumped the arm of his chair with his fist. “Damn! Busted.” He shot her that smile again. “I was staring at you.”

“Why?”

“Welllll, if I told the absolute, swear-on-the-Bible truth, Jasper would probably sew me up in a tow sack and pitch me overboard.”

Talia couldn’t help it. She laughed. He was a shameless flirt, and, since he made no secret of it, it was harmless. “Like the Count of Monte Cristo.”

“My favorite book,” he said.

“Oh? Why?”

He thought about it for a moment. “He was committed.”

“To getting revenge.”

He bobbed his chin. “He let nothing stop him, not even imprisonment. He was patient. He did his homework. He pulled off the best undercover guise ever. Got his man.” He paused and then grinned wickedly. “And woman.”

“His enemy’s wife.”

He sat up straight and leaned forward with his forearms crossed on the tabletop. “I called Jasper a lucky bastard when I mistook Elaine for his wife.”

“You no longer think he’s lucky?”

He didn’t answer immediately. Then, “I think he won the Powerball. Twice. At least.”

The dimple had disappeared, and so had the mischievous smile. Of a sudden, the flirting didn’t seem quite so harmless.

Chapter 4

Elaine chose that moment to open the wheelhouse door and poke her head out. “Hold onto your hats and watch to see that those flutes don’t slide off the table. We’ve cleared the marina, and Jasper’s about to give it the throttle.” She ducked back inside. The yacht gathered speed and moved out into open water.

Elaine had interrupted an uncomfortable moment. But Talia thought perhaps she had imagined the intensity in Drex’s tone, because now his teasing grin was back.

“Why was I staring at you? I was contemplating. Here I am a wordsmith, but I’ll be damned if I can think of an adjective that accurately captures the color of your hair. When I saw you coming up the stairs, I thought ‘russet.’”

“Adequate.”

“Adequate but lacking nuance.”

“You need nuance?”

“Yes. Because when you got in the sunlight, I saw that your hair is shot through with strands of gold and copper. So what word would I use to describe it?”

“Why would you need a word? Why would you be describing me? Unless you’re planning to use me as a character in your book.”

“Oh, God no! I think far too highly of you to do that.”

Her laughter was followed by a comfortable silence as they stared out across the chop. He resumed the conversation by asking what had taken her to Chicago.