* * *
It was worse—make that better—than Abby could have imagined. Not only did the man have the face of a movie star, he had the body of an action hero to go with it.
Standing in the shower, every time she closed her eyes, she remembered the bands of muscle on Gage Logan’s broad chest, his flat belly and six-pack abs, the pair of bulging biceps. The man was in amazing physical condition—that was for sure.
A requirement for the difficult ventures he undertook.
Reminding herself that finding the treasure was worth putting up with her inconvenient attraction, Abby finished her shower and braided her hair. Dressed in stretch jeans, ankle boots, and a white V-neck sweater, she returned to the living room. Both of them were ready to leave, and they were on their way in minutes.
Gage was hungry, so after they stopped at the bank and she returned the gold to her safe deposit box, he drove to a place he knew for breakfast, a café called the Waffle Iron in an abandoned firehouse. An alarm went off every once in a while, which entertained the kids, and there was even a pole in the middle of the room that firemen had once used to reach the first floor.
Gage was clearly a regular, as evidenced by the attractive blond server who seemed to know him far too well.
“Hey, Gage, how’s it going?” The blonde turned over his coffee mug and filled it without being asked.
“So far so good. Mandy, meet Abigail. We’re working on a project together.”
Mandy filled Abby’s cup. “A treasure hunt?”
“Maybe. Depends how things shake out.”
The waitress eyed Abby with suspicion. “Gage doesn’t take women on his expeditions. That’s a rule he never breaks.”
He flicked Abby a glance. “The waffles here are fantastic,” he said, ignoring the comment.
Abby folded up her menu and handed it to Mandy. “Great, that’s what I’ll have. Oh, and a side of bacon.”
Gage looked at her with approval and handed back his unopened menu. “Eggs over easy, sausage, and dry wheat toast. Thanks, Mandy.”
The blonde said nothing, just flicked him a seductive glance and left to turn in their orders.
“One of your girlfriends?” Abby took a sip of coffee.
“I don’t have any girlfriends.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Not even a few friends with benefits?”
He shrugged his powerful shoulders, a faint smile on his lips. He was a man. He had needs. Looking at him, Abby was beginning to have a few needs of her own.
The meals arrived, as good as he had promised. From there, Gage drove to his attorney’s office to pick up the contracts for her review; then they headed for the museum to retrieve her car.
“I assume you don’t have a man in your life,” Gage drawled as they crossed the lot to where she was parked. “No way could a regular-sized guy fit in a car that small.”
Abby laughed. “It’s a convertible, which makes it worth the sacrifice. Fits me just right, and I’m too busy to have a man in my life. I want to travel, see the world. Most men just want to stay home and make babies—or practice, at any rate.”
One of his dark eyebrows arched up. “So you don’t like sex?”
Abby’s face went warm. “With the right man, I like it fine. As I said, I’m just too busy to look for one.”
Gage cast her a heavy-lidded glance, but made no comment.
CHAPTER SIX
ABBY FOLLOWED GAGE’S LAND ROVER BACK TO HIS OFFICE, PARKING the Fiat in one of the spaces reserved for Treasure Hunters Anonymous. Gage waited for her at the front door, and they went inside.
He handed her the legal papers he had picked up from his lawyer. “I figure you’ll want your attorney to review these before you sign them. Be the smart thing to do.”
She looked him dead in the eye. “If I can’t trust you with a few pieces of paper, I’ll be in big trouble when we’re somewhere deep in the mountains looking for millions of dollars in gold.”
His lips curved. “Good point.”
“Don’t worry. Before I sign, I plan to read every word.” Taking a seat at one of the computer desks, she went over the documents page by page, line by line. Everything was laid out in easy-to-understand language, which surprised and pleased her. Once she was satisfied the contracts were in order, she and Gage walked to a small local bank a block away and had their signatures notarized.
Back in his private office, Gage retrieved his laptop, and they sat down at the round oak table in the corner.
“So where do we go from here?” Abby asked.
Gage opened his laptop and pulled up Google Maps. “Have you ever been to the Superstition Mountains?”
“No. I started studying the area after I inherited the map, so I know they’re in the middle of the Arizona desert east of Phoenix.”
“Your grandfather never mentioned going there?”
“Unfortunately, no. He was always very secretive about his expeditions. He would tell me about his adventures when he got back, but he didn’t talk about them beforehand. When he talked about the Devil’s Gold, he never mentioned the Superstitions. From what I’ve learned, I know it’s a designated wilderness area. That means no motorized vehicles, not even drones.”
“Unfortunate but not unexpected.” Using the keyboard, Gage brought up a string of photos of the mountains and the surrounding arid desert lands.
“If the terrain is as rough as it looks, we may have to go in on foot. We’ll talk to people who live there, see what they suggest, but we’ll definitely need to hire an outfitter to serve as a guide, someone familiar with the landscape. We might be able to go in on horseback, but more likely we’ll have to walk in, use horses or mules to pack in our gear and supplies.”
“We’ll need permits to enter the wilderness,” Abby said.
Gage nodded. “Can you take care of that?”
“Sure. If you can give me an estimate of how many we’ll have in our party.”
“This is only a preliminary trip. You haven’t met Mateo. He’s my right-hand man, someone I can always count on. He’ll be meeting us there.”
“You said ‘preliminary.’ You don’t think we’ll find the spot King marked on the map?”
“It’s possible, but as you said, if finding the gold was easy, King would already have brought it out.”
Disappointment trickled through her, which Gage must have noticed.
“We’ll know a lot more once we’re on the ground in Arizona.”
Abby perked up at that. “That’s true.”
“This is a three-pronged effort, Abby. If we find anything promising on our first trip, we’ll come back with more men, enough to dig, if that’s what we need to do. If we find the gold or any solid evidence it’s there, we’ll have to deal with the authorities, figure out a way to get the gold out legally.”
“Share some of the booty, you mean.”
“That would be our best-case scenario. Worst case, the bureaucrats tell us to take a hike. In which case, we tell them to take a hike. If we get nothing, neither do they.” Gage grinned, and Abby laughed.
“What’s the closest town big enough to provide supplies?” Gage asked.