April didn't have long to wait for either occurrence. The couple came down first and quickly disappeared toward the restaurants in the resort area. Richard followed moments later and went directly to his car. He wore gray Dockers and a white shirt that both fit him as if they were made for the contours of his body. April craned her neck to watch him walk. His body was athletic with tight muscles, broad shoulders and sex appeal. She'd noticed it the first day on the beach when he wore swimming trunks and nothing else.
She swallowed and pursed her lips to keep from making a sound. Part of her wanted to call out to him and ask to go with him. Then she remembered her father and the small chest hidden in Richard's room. She knew she had to remember that. As he backed the car out of the space and turned it toward the street, she released a long breath.
It would be time soon, she told herself. April knew it was prudent to wait a while, making sure Richard would not return before she went up the steps. Giving herself ten minutes, she didn't move, although her heart beat like a drum in her head. She could feel it pounding and her body was moist from the heat she generated on her own.
Taking a deep breath, she got up and walked slowly to the door. The desk was empty, as it often was at this time of day. April didn't want to run into anyone. She got to the second floor without incident.
The door to room six didn't open with the key April had kept for seven years. She hadn't expected it to fit, but she'd hoped it would. The place wasn't maintained very well, but apparently, the door locks had been replaced at some point. Maintenance and upgrades hadn't been totally completed, as the doors to some of the rooms were crooked. At first, the old fashion nature of the place was appealing. Having a physical key instead of a plastic card for an electronic lock provided an old world feel. Her plan was to jimmie the old lock or use her newly acquired electronic lock breaker to open the door. Now that Richard was gone, she had another problem.
"Try the easy route first." April heard her father's words flash through her mind. She'd try her key. The lock looked just like hers and the mechanism looked as old as the building. Another thought rushed into her mind, but she dismissed it. It wouldn't work, she told herself, yet, she'd try it.
Pulling her shirt up, she fished her own key out of the small pocket. Looking both up and down the hall, she made sure she was still alone. Her hands were slick and sweaty and she forced herself to keep from dropping it. April wished she'd worn gloves, but she had not brought any to Florida. Slipping the key in the lock, no one could have been more surprised that April when the tumblers clicked and the door swung inward with barely a creak.
"I'll be!" she said out loud, her voice so soft she could barely hear it. Her former thought had to be true. It had to be what they'd done. They had obviously replaced the lock on the door after she left with the key, but instead of buying new locks, which they probably couldn't find, they'd exchanged locks from other doors.
April tentatively looked around. The room was a mirror image of her own. She was on the bay side and Richard was on the side facing the trees. It was darker here. One lamp on the bedside table cast an umbrella of light over a small area. The remainder of the room was a study in shadows.
Twisting her head from one side to the other, April took a final look down the hall. A quiet sigh escaped as she confirmed her solitary status.
Crossing the threshold, she closed the door taking care to not make a sound. The fireplace stood to her left, its vantage point to the bed constructed to mesmerize the room's occupants. For a moment, she thought of Richard sleeping there. She could see him; bare chested and covered with only a sheet. Closing her eyes, she turned away. With silent determination she faced the fireplace. The room was cool because of the air conditioner. April remembered the history of the couple who built the Eden Paradise house. They were from the north and had fireplaces installed for heat if needed and for the aesthetic beauty of the rooms. April remembered how beautiful they once were and it saddened her to think that this would be her last visit. But she needed to get to her task and get out of this room.
Suddenly, her heart jumped to her throat as she heard a key being slipped into the locked door.
Swinging around at the sound, the door opened and silhouetted by the hall light, Richard stepped into the room. April froze, unable to move. He took only two steps toward the bed before realizing he wasn't alone. He stopped, standing as still as a statue, both of them staring at each other.
"What are you doing here?" they both said at the same time.
The words released her from her state and a second later she found her feet and lunged for the door. Richard, faster than she was, careened into her, tackled her to the floor.
"Let me go!" April screamed, using all her strength to fight him off. She pushed and scratched. Her feet kicked at him, but all she did was exhaust her strength.
"Stop it!" Richard commanded.
"What are you doing in my room?" she shouted through fists that hit at him.
Grabbing both her hands, he splayed them above her head and stared down at her. He was laying on top of her. April stopped struggling. Her body was already hot from her illegal activity, but now that a virile man was pressing her into the floor, struggling only made her excited.
"What do you mean? And let me up," she ordered.
Richard moved off her, but didn't let go of her hands. He stood up, pulling her up with him.
"This is my room," he said. He looked behind him as if showing her the truth of his statement.
"But–" she broke off, pulling her hands free.
"You probably got confused, like I did."
April looked confused. "You did?" Her voice was normal, but only due to the massive effort she used to keep it that way. She could do nothing about the pounding of her heart.
"The nail holding the number on your room must have fallen out. When my key didn't fit, I realized I'd been concentrating so hard, that I was standing on the wrong side of the hall. You must have done the same thing."
He gave her a reason for being in the wrong room, but it was too close to a lie for her to let it be, even though she was going to lie anyway.
"But my key," she said. "I opened the door with my key. Reaching under her shirt, she was careful to pull her room key out of the pocket. Her hand touched the fob, and she pushed it down making sure it was secure.
Going to the door which remained open since it was off center, she slipped the key in the lock and turned it. Both of them watched as the latch bolt turned silently in place, allowing the door to be unlocked.
"That's strange," Richard said.
"I'm sorry," April said. "I'll go to the desk and get another room with a key that doesn't open both doors."
"We'll go together." Richard checked his watch. He was obviously in a hurry and returning to the guest house had made him late. From what he mentioned about the family he was going to see, they were punctual. "I'm late now," he said, almost as if he was remembering that he had an appointment. "I forgot something that I have to take." Turning he went to the beside table, the one with the light and picked up an envelope. He came back to where she stood, stuffing it in his pocket.
Taking her arm, they left the room. He closed the door, making sure it was locked. Quickly, they went to the desk to call the clerk. Richard took control, explaining the problem. April produced her key and handed it over. After several apologies, she was given another room on a different floor and the clerk insisted on helping her move. Richard quickly thanked the clerk for her help and apologized for having to leave.
There would be no chance of April getting into his room now. She watched him rush to the door where he turned and gave her a look that confused her. She didn't know what to make of it. Did he believe that she'd really made a mistake and the numbers on the doors had sent her to the wrong room?
She knew the truth. About him, she wasn't sure.
Chapter 4
Dinner with the Jamisons had been like sitting on a hot plate. Richard had to conc
entrate hard to keep his mind on the conversations. He kept thinking of April and why she was in his room. If he hadn't forgotten the envelope with the tickets he'd purchased as a gift for his friend's parents, he wouldn't have returned to the Eden Paradise House. And he wouldn't have found April in his room.
Her explanation was plausible, especially since she had a key that obviously fit the door. Going to a room on the opposite side of the hall when she'd stayed in it before was also within reason. Yet he had the feeling that all was not as it appeared. Richard had found that to be true more times than not in his line of work. But April could be innocent.
Discussions about Wade, plus family photos and small talk took three hours. Richard was relieved to leave, an emotion he'd never felt in the past with relation to the Jamisons.
Back at the guest house, he went directly to his room. It was dark and he turned on the overhead light. Surveying the space, he scanned the room. She'd been facing the window when he saw her. What was over there?
April was looking for something. He was convinced of it. But what? And where? Richard stood in the place he'd tackled her and turned a full circle. Clockwise, he looked at the radius of the circle, trying to determine where she could have been before he caught her.
His gaze took in the whole room. In his mind, he could only see them lying on the floor, her body completed covered by his. Thoughts of kissing her were so strong he nearly gave into the lust that filled his body as she struggled beneath him. Once she stopped, spent of energy and heaving heavily to draw air into her lungs, she was too helpless for him to put action to his thoughts.
He'd pulled her to her feet, but that didn't dampen his need. The files he had on her did that. As April went to show him that her key had worked in his lock, he quickly glanced at his computer and briefcase, grateful that none of the papers he had on her and her father were visible. The case was locked. But from now on, he'd take care to make sure he left nothing open in his room. To be sure, Richard checked that the lock on the briefcase was on and his computer had shut down. Usually he left it on, but unsure of the house's electrical circuitry, he'd shut it down before leaving for his dinner engagement.
April was now on another floor. Richard did a check of his room, finding nothing out of place, nothing moved and nothing disturbed. Even the brush in his bathroom was exactly as he'd left it. He doubted that she'd been in the room long enough to do anything. He breathed a sigh of relief. He went to the window, she'd been facing when he came in. Outside there was light from the moon, but the darkness on this side of the building camouflaged most of the surrounding area. The lack of the overhead light, when he opened the door, didn't give him a clue to what she might be looking for, if she was looking for anything.
Richard stopped, turning and leaning his back against the giant fireplace wall. He was creating a mountain out of something that could be nothing. Naturally suspicious due to his job and needing to find out what had happened to his father, he might be creating problems where none existed.
And that was not like him.
Yet there were things that were unexplainable, at least the present explanation was as alien as holding a moonbeam. Giving up, he went to bed, but sleep eluded him. His mind was busy thinking of April. It wasn't the possibility that she might have searched his room that kept him awake, it was the imprint of her body under his. He wanted that as much as he wanted to keep breathing.
Where was she? In what room? Could she be directly above him? And was her night as sleepless as his?
***
Makeup was a girl's best friend. And April needed it after her night. An artist hired to do her hair and makeup for a photo shoot when they updated her photo on the boxes and packages of National Nutrition's products, had taught her that. April proved a good student and knew that she could do a lot with a little. Standing in front of her bathroom mirror, she frowned, seeing she had her work cut out for her. She didn't need a makeup case with hundreds of brushes, powders, creams and lipstick colors. The small pouch she carried in her purse with a blush, powder and lipstick could change her appearance, removing the dark circles under her eyes and producing smooth creamy skin.
Blessed with arched brows that rarely needed trimming and skin that showed her daily routine of swimming and jogging helped with the man-made cosmetics.
As she applied mascara, April knew she had to devise something new. She wouldn't give the plan a name or a letter designation. Plan A and B hadn't worked, going further up the alphabet would only depress her. She could wait him out. Richard had a job. He had to return to work sooner or later. Already he'd been at the guest house for a week. How long could he stay without needing to return to an office?
She, too, needed to return. She had a business to run and National Nutrition was in the middle of negotiating an acquisition. April had put Josie off several times. She'd taken conference calls, but she really needed to be on hand for some of the discussions. Yet leaving Barefoot Bay wasn't an option. This was where everything about her life and future hinged. If word got out, it would likely impact funding for the Briar Food acquisition. No doubt the bank would back out. Current product sales would plummet and being arrested was not out of the question. She'd have no business to return to. Staying in Barefoot Bay was the new plan.
That decided, she shook her head at the bathroom mirror and walked back into her new room. It looked like her old one. There was a fireplace on the same side of the room as the one Richard occupied. In fact, this room was next to Richard's. The clerk had checked that the keys to rooms six, nine and her new room twelve did not fit each other. After the one on the third floor proved to have a faulty air conditioner and mold in the bathroom, ironically it put April back on the second floor in a room with a bed that abutted the one where Richard slept.
And speaking of Richard, it was time to eat crow.
***
Expecting to see Richard sitting at their normal breakfast table, April found Darcy Simmons waving her over. Darcy was alone and April wondered where the man of the week was. Unable to leave without insult, she skirted the empty tables until she reached Darcy.
"Good morning," Darcy said, cheerfully.
"Two days practically in a row," April greeted. "I don't remember you being a morning person."
"I'm not." Darcy made a face.
"So what are you doing here? You're on vacation. Sleep as late as you like."
"I would, except this morning I agreed to go sailing."
"You and Mr. Wicksham?"
Darcy nodded.
"Where is he?" April asked. "Why are you eating alone?"
"He's not a breakfast person. He's checking the boat out to make sure everything is ready for us."
"I see," April said, but she didn't see. She didn't understand Darcy's attraction for him. She'd always loved the athletic types. The kind like Richard Steele. April nearly covered her mouth for even thinking of Richard.
"What are you doing today?" Darcy asked, interrupting April's thoughts.
"I'm not sure." She had no plans other than to apologize to Richard. Anything else would depend on whether he accepted it or not.
"What about that guy you were ogling the other day."
April's brows rose. "Ogling?"
"Don't try to kid me, April Quinn. I recognize attraction when I see it and the two of you are both sending out come-and-get-me-chocolate-beams."
"Chocolate beams? Is this some type of new slang I'm too old to recognize?"
Darcy laughed. "As the owner of a nutrition company, you know that chocolate and attraction to the opposite sex have an equal effect."
"I do know that. I've just never heard it put that way before. And I was not ogling him. We happened to run into each other that day. He's a guest here, the same as we are."
The waitress who'd served April for the last few days came over and filled her coffee cup. "Same as before?" she asked.
April nodded and like magic, the woman left and returned with her plate of fresh fruit and a
yogurt smoothie.
"Well, things have been known to happen on ships, in hotels, guest houses. . ." Darcy left the rest of the sentence hanging.
"Nothing is happening here. I'm way too busy to get involved with a man."
"If not now, when?" Darcy asked the cliche-ish question.
"I'm not sure." April hadn't thought about a relationship. She was technically married to National Nutrition. All her time and attention at the moment was focused on the acquisition of Briar Foods, a nutritional vegan food company.
"You're not getting any younger," Darcy reminded her.
Memories of a family flooded April's mind. It was a plan she'd had before getting involved with her company. She'd thrown her energy into it when Colin Waverly dumped her for another woman. She smiled, without bitterness. If he hadn't dumped her, there would be no National Nutrition, Inc. But because he did, there was also no marriage and no children.
"I'm not decrepit, yet," she told Darcy. "You've been married three times, yet it doesn't seem to work for you."
"It works. I love being married." She smiled to the ceiling, looking really happy. "I'm just searching for the right man."
"I can say that too," April replied. Her thoughts immediately conjured up Richard's face. She pushed it aside, telling herself that it was there because he was the last man she'd spent any time with. Yet, the reaction in her belly and the increase in her heartbeat telegraphed her a different message–one she wasn't willing to listen to.
At that moment, her cell phone buzzed. April pulled it out of her purse and checked the display. It was Josie.
"I have to take this." Getting up, she saw Darcy nod. "I'll be right back."
Pressing the accept button, she walked out of the dining room and stopped when she reached the porch. It was the same spot where she'd eluded Richard the night before, she spent ten minutes with Josie, trying to sort out things from two thousand miles away.
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