Lover in the Rough Read Online Free PDF Page B

you? Next to that, the rarest gems were less than a handful of sand hissing down the slipface of a dune.
    “Reba, are you all right?”
    “Fine,” she said dully. “Just a headache.” And memories that haunted her relentlessly, sand dunes and moonlight and the heat of a man whose name she didn’t know. “I’m going to sort through the photos of Jeremy’s collection. When loverboy comes, bring him to my office.”
    “Loverboy?”
    “Sinclair,” said Reba, frowning at the slip. Only one person had called Todd Sinclair “loverboy.”
    Tim gave her a speculative look. “Did Sinclair give you a bad time in Death Valley?”
    “Not as bad as he got,” she said succinctly.
    Tim smiled. “I wish I’d been there. He’s overdue for a session in the woodshed.”
    “Nothing that violent happened to him, I’m afraid,” said Reba.
    But it could have if Todd had taken one more step. The memory of the predatory change rippling through the stranger’s body both frightened and reassured Reba. It had been a relief to know that a man would help her rather than take advantage of her relative weakness, as Todd had wanted to do. Even when she was utterly helpless with grief, the stranger had done no more than hold her while she came apart in his arms.
    “I think I’ll take a late lunch today,” said Tim casually.
    Tim’s usual lunch was eleven to twelve. Todd was coming at eleven.
    “That’s not necessary,” said Reba.
    “I had a late breakfast.” Before she could object further, he asked quickly, “Want Gina to do a press release about your choices?”
    “Poor Gina. She gets stuck with everything.”
    “She loves it. Really. In fact, if you need someone to do words for your book about Jeremy’s collection, you might think about her.” Tim watched Reba with intense brown eyes that did little to conceal his interest in her answer.
    Reba tilted her head to the side and absently tucked a stray lock of hair back into the coil on top of her head. “I like it,” she said finally, decisively. “Yes. We’ll have to hire another bookkeeper, though. Gina shouldn’t work too hard in her condition.”
    Tim looked startled. “She told you she was pregnant? She only told me last week.”
    “My eyes told me, Tim.” Her eyes and the possessive way Tim stroked Gina’s slightly thickened waist when he thought no one was looking. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone, though why you’d want to keep it a secret is beyond me. If I were Gina, I’d be taking out full-page ads in the L.A. Times. ”
    “You ought to get married,” said Tim, smiling and serious in the same moment.
    “I was.”
    He looked startled.
    “It was a long time ago,” she said indifferently.
    “What happened?”
    “I grew up. He didn’t want me to.”
    “I’m sorry,” said Tim uncomfortably.
    “I’m not. He was a lousy husband but a fantastic French teacher. Without him, I’d never have known Jeremy.”
    The phone rang. Tim picked it up, listened, then covered the mouthpiece. “Sinclair,” he said curtly. “He wants to see you now.”
    Reba shrugged. “All right. At least you’ll be able to have lunch at the usual time.”
    Tim put the receiver to his ear. “We can squeeze you in if you can be here in ten minutes.” He hung up before Todd could say anything.
    “That was remarkably rude,” observed Reba, trying not to smile.
    “Thank you. I hope he gets a ticket on the way over.”
    “No such luck. God watches over fools and drunks.”
    “Which category is Sinclair in?”
    “Both.”
    Reba went into her office. The first thing she saw when she opened her office door was the eighteen-inch piece of crocidolite that had been mined in Cape Province, South Africa. A German carver had taken the exquisite specimen of tiger’s-eye and transformed it into the likeness of a man.
    The Tiger God stood in an attitude of lithe relaxation, naked but for the solid gold longbow slung over his shoulder. He held a golden arrow loosely in his