she let her eyes ask for elucidation. His voice was deep, male and sent shivers of awareness through her as he said, “You can explain how it’s even remotely possible a woman like you is traveling on an excursion like this alone.”
Savannah surveyed the contents of the closet in her hotel room with disfavor. As if something incredibly eye-catching and seductive would miraculously appear if she stared long enough, but she knew that wasn’t going to happen. She didn’t own anything incredibly eye-catching and seductive. And if she did, most likely she wouldn’t have brought it on this trip anyway. Slacks, blouses, sweaters and jeans were all she’d packed. Not a single dress. Well, there was that dressy tunic to be worn over slacks, which she’d packed for the Welcome Reception on the river cruise portion of the tour. But it wasn’t nearly sexy enough for a dinner date with Niall Johnson.
Then she took herself severely to task. “It’s not a date. It’s just...dinner.”
But dinner with a man who looked at her the way she’d dreamed of having a man look at her. As if she was irresistible. As if he wanted to do unspeakably wonderful things to her body...all night long.
Her imagination immediately went into overdrive and her nipples tightened unbearably. Unexpected heat in her core sent the blood rushing to her cheeks, and all of a sudden she grabbed her purse off the bed and headed for the door. There were at least two elegant shops on the first floor of this five-star hotel. And she had time...if she didn’t dawdle.
* * *
Five hundred seventy-three dollars poorer, Savannah opened her hotel door at Niall’s knock, and he literally did a double take. “Wow. I mean...” He seemed at a loss for words, and the stunned expression in his eyes conveyed that every penny had been well spent. “Wow,” he said again.
“Thanks.” She thought about adding, Just a little something I packed at the last minute, but she didn’t think she could pull it off. Instead, she admitted, “I kind of got carried away in the stores downstairs.” Which she had. The peach-colored frock, with its frothy, layered-chiffon skirt and coyly plunging neckline, was one she’d never even imagined trying on. But the saleswoman in the shop had known her business, and before Savannah had realized it, she’d bought the dress, sheer stockings and silk-and-lace wisps of panties and a bra.
Then, because she’d already splurged, she’d headed for the drugstore and the cosmetics counter there. Peach lip gloss to match the dress, of course, and eye shadow to make her gray eyes smoky and mysterious—it was amazing what a little makeup did to change a woman’s appearance. Not to mention what it did for a woman’s self-esteem in a social setting.
She didn’t wear makeup as a general rule, because she’d always wanted to be taken seriously as an engineer. Not as a woman engineer. So she’d never worn it at work, but that didn’t mean she didn’t know how to apply it. She’d experimented in middle and high school like most girls, and she knew what suited her. But it had been a long time.
Niall looked fantastic in gray slacks and a long-sleeved white dress shirt, but then he had this morning, too, in much more casual clothes. His slightly-too-long brown hair would have looked ungroomed on another man, but on Niall...it was perfect. Out of the blue, she thought of Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp in the movie Tombstone, and realized she’d hit the nail on the head. She could so envision him as a gunslinger in the Wild West.
He was watching her mouth again. Something about that intent stare thrilled Savannah to no end. She would normally be flustered by male attention of that sort—not that she’d had all that much of it in her life, in large part because she’d eschewed it—but still...
It was different with Niall, though. He made her feel desired, but safe...in an unsafe sort of way. In other words, as safe as she wanted to be.
But she didn’t want to be. She’d spent all that money on this dress and everything else, for one reason and one reason only. She wanted to throw caution to the winds. She wanted to be reckless for once in her life. She wanted to be wild and wanton. And she had every intention of letting Niall teach her how to be wild and wanton, things at which she was absolutely sure he was an expert.
Which was why she’d bought something else at the drugstore. She’d hidden the little box in the nightstand by her bed, but she was acutely aware it was there. And if she played her cards right tonight, Niall would be using its contents. Multiple times.
* * *
Niall told himself it was just the dress and the makeup. Fine feathers make a fine bird, he reminded himself cynically. But he was lying to himself...and he never did that. Which meant it wasn’t the dress, and it wasn’t the makeup. It was the woman he was attracted to. He’d been entranced by her lips earlier today, and there hadn’t been a trace of lip gloss on them then.
Desire had tugged at his loins when he’d created that little space for her on the Great Wall, and he’d wanted to pull her into his arms and possess that mouth with a single-mindedness that made a mockery of his assignment. Desire that had flared out of nowhere. Desire that now threatened to get out of hand.
She’s your target. The reminder helped, but not enough. Not nearly enough.
* * *
“So tell me why this year is so special,” Niall invited. They’d filled their plates at the buffet, then reseated themselves in the secluded corner booth he’d charmed the hostess into seating them in.
He watched as Savannah swallowed a bite of the excellent shrimp in lobster sauce he’d already sampled. His brain took a quick detour as he considered pressing his lips to the delicate hollow of her throat, clearly visible in that temptation of a dress. He dragged his attention back with an effort when she said, “My parents died three months ago.”
He blinked. He knew that fact—of course he knew. He knew just about everything there was to know about her. But he’d never have thought their deaths would be something she—
“They were booked on a round-the-world cruise,” she continued softly, her eyes filled with shadows. “To be followed by a series of cruises along ancient waterways—the Nile, the Amazon and the Yangtze Rivers, among others. It was the dream of a lifetime for them. It’s not as if they’d never travelled before, but not like this for many, many years...mostly because of me.”
“Because of you?” He knew why, but he wanted to encourage her to confide in him. To trust him.
She hesitated. “My parents used to travel a lot during Christmas and summer breaks from teaching, mostly in the US. And they continued doing that when I came along. But...” She glanced down at her plate, then back up at Niall. “The summer I turned four, we flew to Hawaii—Oahu, actually. I loved it, right up until I got separated from my parents in a Waikiki open-air tourist market. Masses of people. All strangers. All crowding around me. And when I started crying, everyone tried to help. But that only made things worse. People kept coming up behind me, touching me. I panicked and began hyperventilating. I passed out eventually, collapsing into a little ball on the ground. By the time my parents found me...”
“So that’s why you don’t like crowds.”
“Not crowds so much,” she explained, “although I prefer not to be in them. It’s more people coming up behind me. Touching me unexpectedly. Like today at the Great Wall.”
“I
