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e
chest and arms were. For a man his age, he was really tremendously fit.
"I'm looking
, " he said without greeting.
for Karie
s still
She wa
stung from his cold words while Quentin had been poring over his photocopies. "They're down the
beach watching a parasail go up. Don't worry, I told them not to go hing. "
near the t
He went to the railing, shaded his ey
d
es and stare down the beach. "Okay, I see them. They're wading in the surf, watching. "
"Oh. "
He turned back to her and searched her flushed face quietly. "Where's the boyfriend?"
"Gone back to Indiana. You just missed him. "
"Pity, " he said languidly.
She laughed mirthlessly. "Right. "
He glanced at her computer
. A wo
screen
rd processor had been pulled up, but no files were open. "That's obsolete, " he stated. "Why aren't you
using the new one?"
"Because it takes me forever to learn one. " She smiled at him. "I guess they're all child's play to you. I
couldn't write a computer program if my life depended on it!"
That was interesting. "Why not?"
"Because I can't do math, " she said simply. "And I don'
and m
t underst
achines, either. You must have a
natural gift for computer science. "
He felt less inferior. "Something like that, maybe. "
"You didn't go to school at all to learn how to write programs?"
He shook his head. "I worked with two men who were old NASA employees. They learned about
computing in the space program. I suppose I picked up a lot from them. We started the company
together. I bought them out eventually and kept going on my own. "
"Then you must have known how to get the best and brightest people to work for you, and keep them.
"
He smiled faintly. "You aren't quite what I expected, " he said unexpectedly.
"Excuse me?"
"Some academics use their
make peo
education to
ple who don't have one feel insignificant, " he
explained.
She smiled ruefully. "Oh, that would be a good trick, making a millionaire feel insignificant because I
have a degree in history. "
"What do you do with it?" he asked unexpectedly.
She stared at him. "Do with it?"
"Yes. Do you teach, like your parents?"
"No. "
"Why not? Are you happy being a secretary
king for a slave driver?
and wor
"
She remembered, belatedly, the fictional life she'd concocted. "Oh. Well, no, I don't, really. But
degrees are a dime a dozen these days. I know a man with a doctorate in philosophy who's working at
a fast-food joint back home. It was the only job he could get. "
He leaned against the wall, with his hands in his pockets. "How fast do you type?"
"A little over a hundred words a minute. "
He whistled. "Pretty good. "
'Thanks. "
"If I can get the refinancing I need, you can come to work for me, " he suggested.
Was he trying to make up for his behavior when he'd said he was sorry he'd ever met her? She
wondered.
"That's a nice offer, " she said.
"Think about it, then. " He shouldered away from the wall. "I'll go get Karie and tell her I'm back. "
"They won't have gone far. Have you found out anything about that man who was watching her?" she
added, concerned.
He scowled. "No. "
"I guess that's good. "
"I wouldn't say that, " he said absently. His eyes met hers. "Has he turned up again?"
She sighed. "He's been around. He bot e
h rs me. "
"I know. I'll keep digging and see what I discover. "
She was staring at the computer, sitting there like a one-eyed predator, staring at her with its word
processing program open and waiting.
"Busy?" he asked.
"I should be. "
He held out a hand. "Come along with me to get Karie. Your work will still be there when you get
back. "
She smiled, tempted. This was going to be disastrous, but why not? It was just a walk, after all.
She turned off the computer and, hesitantly, took the hand he offered. It closed, warm and firm,
around hers.
"I'm safe, " he said when she flushed a little. "We'll hold hands, like two old friends, and pretend that
we've known each other for twenty years. "
"I'd have been four years old... "
His hand contracted. "I'm thirty-eight, " he said. "You don't have to emphasize that fourteen-year jump
I've got on you. I'm already aware of it. "
"I was kidding. "
"I'm not laughing. " He didn't look at her. His eyes were on the beach as they descended the steps and
walked along, above the damp sand.
Kurt gave them a curious look when he saw them holding hands. He waved, grinned and went back to
chasing down sand crabs and shells, the parasail already forgotten. Karie was much further down the
beach, talking to some girls who were about her age. She hadn't looked their way yet.
"When are your parents due back?" he asked.
"God knows, " she replied wearily. "They get involved and forget time altogether. They're like two
children sometimes. Kurt and I have to keep a close eye on them, to keep them out of trouble. This
time, we're a little worried about pothunters, too. "
"Pothunters? Collectors, you mean?"
"Actually I mean the go-betweens, the people who steal archaeological treasures to sell on the black [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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