Page 24 of A Treasure Worth Seeking

“Betty, I may be here longer than I had anticipated. I expect you and the others to run the business as if I were there. I’m confident you can do it. But if you have any questions or anything out of the ordinary comes up, call me.”

Betty paused for a moment before asking, “Are you sure everything’s all right?”

“Yes. Positive,” Erin lied. She gave Betty Melanie’s telephone number and, after asking about the weather and everyone’s health, hung up.

Unpacking her bags in the guest bedroom, she asked herself again if she was doing the right thing. Should she get back to her business and her life in Houston and forget about everything that had happened since her arrival in San Francisco?

No, she shook her head. She couldn’t desert her brother and Melanie now that she had just found them. She had made a commitment to her sister-in-law and intended to uphold it no matter what unpleasantness she faced because of it, including Lance Barrett.

The rest of the afternoon she and Melanie spent in each other’s company, talking for hours about Ken. Melanie knew quite a lot about his life before he met her and Erin realized that they must have a very happy marriage. But that was incongruous with the fact that he had stolen the money and abandoned her without a word. It was too complicated for her to figure out.

They strolled around the patio and backyard. Melanie was justifiably proud of her flower garden which she cultivated diligently. She named every shrub for Erin, explaining when she pruned, when she fertilized, how often she watered. Erin remarked that it must be a showplace in the spring when everything was blooming, and Melanie beamed happily.

It was amazing to Erin that the young woman, who had been born with a silver spoon in her mouth, would take such pleasure in cooking, keeping her house and yard, and shun her parents’ life-style of country clubs and parties.

For dinner that night, Melanie baked a delicious quiche which they ate at the table in the kitchen. Lance and Mike had graciously declined her invitation to join them though she protested that she had prepared too much food for only two people.

Erin didn’t see Lance again until late the following morning, and then it was quite by accident. She was having difficulty zipping up the back of the blue wool jersey dress she had put on. The soft fabric had gotten caught in the teeth of the zipper and no matter which way she tried to move it, the zipper wouldn’t budge. She was on her way to ask Melanie for assistance when she bumped into Lance as she stepped out into the hallway.

“Oh!” she exclaimed in embarrassed surprise and backed against the wall, aware that her back was exposed.

“Hi,” he said, as unsettled by their abrupt meeting as she was.

“Hi.”

“I, uh, came up here to replace a light bulb for Mrs. Lyman.”

“Oh.” Erin felt imbecilic standing with her back against the wall that way, but she couldn’t move without grabbing the shoulders of her dress and giving away her predicament. She was afraid it would slip down her arms.

“She’s down in the kitchen,” Lance said irrelevantly. Puzzlement was creasing the vertical line between his brows.

“I’ll catch up with her down there. With your permission, she and I would like to go out for a while this afternoon. She wants to take me to Fisherman’s Wharf.”

“You want to go sightseeing?” he asked, scoffing.

“No I don’t!” she bristled. “But Melanie wants to take me. It will do her good to get out of this gloomy house, the atmosphere of which you don’t improve one bit.”

“I’m not here in the capacity of court jester. Or have you forgotten my very serious reason for being here?”

Immediately she regretted her outburst. He must have a million details on his mind with the red telephone in the living room continually ringing. He didn’t need her to contribute to his worries. “No. Of course I haven’t forgotten,” she said humbly. “Is it all right if we go?”

“Yes,” he sighed resignedly.

She looked up at him and was held by the magnetism of his eyes as they stared down into hers. A fleeting impulse to reach up and investigate the cleft in his chin was stifled just in time. But there was no calming the frantic beating of her heart. She turned away quickly and took one step before the cool air on her back reminded her of the contrary zipper. She slammed into the wall again.

“What in the hell is the matter with you?” he asked.

There was no use pleading ignorance. She’d just as well explain why she was behaving like such a ninny. He would stand there all day until she did. “I’m having trouble with my zipper. I was about to ask Melanie to help me.”

Instantly a grin tilted the corner of his mouth. He smiled lazily and leaned his shoulder against the wall only inches from her. His voice was seductive as he drawled, “She’s busy. I, on the other hand, am available, willing, and able.”

“No—”

“Let’s see what the problem is.” Before she could resist, he had turned her around. She flushed hotly when she knew that her whole back was revealed to him. The dress was fully lined, so she wasn’t wearing a slip. The skin of her back was naked except for the thin satin strap of her bra. The zipper started in the middle of her hips, covered only by sheer pantyhose.

She shivered when she felt him slide his hands inside the dress and place them on the curve of her hips just below her waist. His fingers were warm as they pressed into her skin.

For a long moment neither of them moved, and there was silence except for the pounding of their hearts which each was certain the other could hear. At first Erin thought she was imagining the sensuous movements of his fingers, but they became very real when she felt them on the bare skin of her stomach. One hand rested on her rib cage, close… close… agonizingly close to her breast. The other slipped under the waistband of her pantyhose and investigated her navel with gentle fingers.

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