just seeing her again had knocked the wind out of him, and he needed to be on his toes. She wasn’t his student anymore. No more boundaries. And he was definitely interested. But first, business.
“Dr. Philips? Is anything wrong?”
He met her puzzled eyes. Hazel. More golden than green. And lashes that were naturally long and thick. He’d never been this close to her before. He’d made it a point not to.
“No, not exactly. I, um…”
She sucked in her lower lip, making the tiny dimple at one corner of her mouth more pronounced. It looked as if she’d pulled her hair back tighter since she’d been sitting at the bar, but escaped tendrils curled around her face, a mass of golden highlights picked up by the flickering light from the candle on the table.
“Good evening. May I get you something to drink?” The waitress said, making him jump. He hadn’t even seen her approach. “A glass of wine while you look at the menu maybe?”
“Just some iced tea, please.” Karrie smiled at the other woman and then looked back at him. “I got here early and had something at the bar already.”
Damn. How was he going to do this tactfully?
“Look, Karrie,” he said as soon as the waitress left. “I’d really like to hear about what you’ve been doing. Maybe you could give me your number and—”
She looked affronted.
This was precisely the type of situation he tried to avoid. Small talk, especially with women, was not his strong suit. He always managed to say the wrong thing. “The truth is, I’m here to meet someone. It’s business.”
Her confused frown deepened, her lush full lips parting provocatively. It threw him off balance and he fumbled for the right words that wouldn’t sound as if he were blowing her off.
He pushed a hand through his hair, then checked his watch. “Do you have plans later?”
Her eyebrows rose. “I don’t think so.”
“This meeting I have. It shouldn’t take long.” He gave her one of those grins his secretary described as devilishly boyish and shrugged. “I’m trying to sweet-talk some corporation rep into letting me use the company’s land for a dig. I don’t think it’s going to be a problem. Probably just want to make me jump through a few hoops before they agree.”
Her eyes briefly widened and then a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “Well, start jumping and sweet-talking. I’m the Sanax rep.”
2
ROB STARED AT HER, hoping like hell she was kidding. Finally, he laughed. “You have a wicked sense of humor.”
She pressed her lips together, looking entirely too serious. “I really am from Sanax.”
“You’re here from New York?’
Lifting a shoulder, she nodded.
“Damn.”
She smiled again. “It’s not as if you said anything bad. I mean, you could’ve described how you were gonna suck up to me and all that. Which I would’ve enjoyed, actually.”
He grunted.
Karrie laughed. “Okay, I should have introduced myself right away, but I figured since you had my name and knew who I was…”
The name hadn’t registered. Even after he recognized her. Karrie, herself, was another story. That hair, those lips… He cleared his throat. “Sorry. I hope you didn’t think I was hitting on you.”
“I’m flattered.”
At a loss for words, he studied her for a moment. She’d changed. She seemed more sophisticated. More confident. Not that he’d ever really known her, but there was something about the way she looked him directly in the eyes…
“Okay,” he said, anxious to get back to business, an area in which he was more comfortable. “Do you want to talk about the site or should we order dinner first?”
“Dinner. I haven’t eaten since I left New York this morning.” She picked up the menu and peered down at it, while nibbling at her lower lip.
Instead of perusing his own menu, he watched her study the list of items with the concentration of a student preparing for a quiz. The thought occurred to him that gaining access to the land might not be as easy as he’d thought. Dealing with someone from the urban East wasn’t the same as trying to sidestep a local.
Most people from around here were too familiar with the odd discovery of a vein of silver or finds of an important historic burial ground. Sanax wouldn’t want the land tampered with, unless it was by their own people who could swiftly take advantage of any discovery.
Karrie had probably only come to Las Vegas for college, like most of the student body. And like the rest of the kids, her agenda had been grades and dates, not local environmental and cultural issues. He hoped so, anyway.
“Any recommendations?” she asked, and looked up to catch him staring.
He quickly turned his attention to the menu. “Uh, yeah. The coconut shrimp is good, and so are the bacon-wrapped scallops.”
“Ever have the seafood bisque?”
“Many times. The chowder isn’t bad, either.”
“Sounds like you eat here often.”
“The Crab Shack on the other side of town, but yeah, probably too often.”
“I guess that means no wife and kids at home.” She moistened her lips, the action threatening his resolve to stay on the business track.
“Nope. What about you?”
She gave a startled laugh. “I’m too young to be tied down.”
“I hear you.”
She frowned. “Can I ask you something personal?”
“Go ahead.” He didn’t promise to answer, although he had a feeling he knew what the question was.
“How old are you?”
He smiled. “Too young to have been a professor when I had you as a student.”
“Seriously, you didn’t look much older than we did.”
“I’m thirty-one. You were in my class—when? five years ago?”
“Six.”
“Ah. You were the first class I taught after getting my Ph.D. I’d just turned twenty-five that spring.”
Her eyebrows rose. “You had to have entered college at a really young age.”
“Sixteen.”
“That must have been tough.”
He
