one hand on the snap of his chinos.
“Wait.” He lifted his champagne glass so she wouldn’t spill it. “I have a better idea.”
“Better than this?” She pulled off her panties. “I’ve waited too long.”
“No. Put your clothes back on. I’m taking you someplace special.”
“The most special place I know is the bed.”
“Please. You’ll love this.” He turned his back completely toward her as he fumbled through yet another bag.
Suddenly, she caught a glimpse of his reflection in the huge mirror. He pulled a ring-sized box from one of the larger bags and put it into the pocket of his chinos—and she wasn’t sulking any longer. He was going to propose.
She’d have to tell him the truth, and she had to tell him now. “Daniel, there’s something I have to tell you, and I need your help—”
“Ann.” He gathered her in his arms. “It can wait, can’t it? Just an hour. Let me take you someplace. You can tell me there.” The ring box in his pocket bumped her thigh, promising a happy ending.
And what could she say? The vials could wait an hour, couldn’t they?
4
Inhaling the warm salt air, Ann waited as Daniel locked the car. He’d chosen the beach.
The full moon hung low over the Pacific, lighting the waves with its ethereal magic. Starlight sprinkled the velvety blue darkness, and the rhythmic sound of the surf hitting the shore made her heart pound with its intensity. She could hear the waves lapping the shore on the bay side of the beach, too.
This was the moment her mother said would never happen—not for her kind. An ache jolted through her heart, a loneliness that surprised her with its intensity. Fighting to take a normal breath, she wished she could talk to her mother, just for another second, just to share this moment.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it,” Daniel said.
“I can’t imagine anything more breathtaking.”
Daniel had found the most deserted stretch of beach she’d ever seen. No cars cruised Silver Strand Boulevard, and city lights didn’t spoil the darkness. She thought of him on bended knee, offering her the ring, and fear wrapped around her lungs. What man would accept her as a wife, and what man would let his fiancée fuck a predator?
“Hey.” He took her hand as if he sensed her nervousness.
She swallowed, grateful for the contact. “Hey.” Would he help her fight the predator and get the vials from him?
“Your hand is so cold,” he said.
“Cold hands, warm heart.”
He pulled her against him. “I know how to warm you up.”
“Hot sex on the beach?”
“That, too.” He held up a small cooler he’d taken from the trunk. “I brought some wine and cheese—and chocolate.”
“Chocolate? Yum.”
“Champagne truffles.”
“Sounds perfect.” She tried to control her pounding heart. He bought these in advance, to celebrate. Even if she didn’t get the Harvard job, he’d bring their relationship out into the open with the ring. No more hiding. “Sounds absolutely perfect.”
“You’re perfect.”
And although his words were mawkish, their sentiment should’ve bound her closer to him, melted her heart. Instead, they brought her fear to a head. If he were coming out of hiding, she’d have to, too.
What was the worst that could happen? He’d never reject her. He loved and accepted her. She trusted him with her life. He’d understand what she had to do with the predator.
“Let’s take a walk.” He led them toward the water. In the distance, she heard a vireo’s chirruping call. The warm scent of the ocean filled her nose. Underfoot, the sand shifted as they walked in silence for a few minutes. “What about here?”
Ann looked around, ignoring the bright lights of a lone car as it passed them. A few yards to the east, an oversized green shell moved over the sand. The giant sea turtle began to dig a hole for its eggs. She felt blessed by the turtle’s choice. “It’s perfect.”
“It is, isn’t it?” Daniel asked. Against the dark sky, she saw the white of his teeth as he flashed a grin. “I know how to give you exactly what you want.”
“You do, do you?” Her nervousness made her flirtatious remark come out like a challenge. How would she tell him her dark secret?
Daniel didn’t seem to mind her edginess. Maybe his own roiling emotions left him impervious to hers. He set down the cooler, took out a blanket, and spread it on the sandy knoll. “I brought your sweater.” He pulled it from his basket and handed it to her.
The last time she’d seen it, she’d packed it in her suitcase while in North Carolina. “You went through my bag.” The man was about to be her husband. He knew a lot more about her than the contents of her overnight case. Why did it feel like he’d invaded her privacy?
Because she was about to tell him the truth.
“I hope you don’t mind,” he said. The fine lines around his eyes deepened. A normal woman wouldn’t be able to see them. If she were normal, she wouldn’t be bringing mortal danger to their marriage. “I wanted to surprise you tonight, and I didn’t want you to be cold.”
“Oh, Daniel.” She stepped into his arms, wishing with all her heart that she was a normal woman. “I’m sorry. Of course I don’t mind. It was thoughtful of you.”
He brushed his lips over her temple, wrapping his arms around her. “Ann, I love you.”
“I love you, too.” She relaxed in his arms, inhaling the clean citrus of his scent, so different from the predator’s dark fragrance. Then the sharp edge of the ring box in his chinos pressed against her thigh.
“Here,” he said, perhaps noticing the contact. “Let’s sit.” She let him pull her down to the blanket, and he pulled a bottle of wine from the cooler. The cork popped out, and he set the bottle aside for a minute. “We’ll let it breathe.”
“Did you remember wineglasses too?”
“Yes.” He chuckled softly against her ear. “I’ve been planning this moment for a long time. For months, it seems. Maybe years.”
“And what moment is that?” The pounding surf nearly overwhelmed the sound of her ragged question.
He didn’t answer. Instead, he took her in her arms, kissing her neck. Over the surf, she heard the swoosh of the turtle tossing sand for her nest, preparing for her future.
“Will you still love me when you’re a famous Harvard professor?” he asked. “Will you still love me when you’re
