He looked up slowly. "Art collection?" He snorted. "I think not. There used to be a collection of swords but I think it was sold off when the roof needed fixing." He looked her up and down with some distaste and she got the distinct feeling he didn't approve of her. "This department focuses exclusively on military history. Unless you're looking for a collection of ancient battle maps, you're in the wrong place."
"Oh. Thank you." Deflated by his hostile gaze, she turned and left. As far as she'd been able to discover, the other universities nearby were entirely science-and technology-oriented.
She stopped into a boutique selling pretty traditional dresses and asked about a job there. The owner, a rather glamorous middle-aged woman, was kind, but said that currently she didn't need help.
As she walked through an unfamiliar souk in a neighborhood more than twenty minutes from her own, she realized it was a good place to meet Quasar. He answered his phone immediately and eagerly agreed to meet her there right away.
Feeling better already, and trying to hide her smile, she walked among the stalls, and tasted a sugary date. She even bought a bag of almonds so she wouldn't look as if she were only there to meet her lover. She still couldn't believe they'd made love in her bedroom. It was so wrong, and yet so exciting and exhilarating.
"Hello, gorgeous." Quasar's low voice in her ear made her spin around and her grin probably announced their relationship to anyone who was paying attention.
"Hi." Her skin prickled with awareness in his presence. Something about him lit her on fire, even out here in the everyday atmosphere of the market. She noticed a lime seller eyeing them curiously. "We should probably go somewhere else."
"I've been thinking about nothing but seeing you since yesterday." His eyes glittered with a desire that echoed her own.
"Me, too." It was hard to think straight with him around. Colors grew brighter and the sounds of the street seemed to blur into white noise. "I missed you."
She knew she was admitting too much, letting him know the power he had over her. He knew already, though. How could he not? She melted like butter in the hot sun whenever he was near.
"Let's walk." He gestured along the road that led south, toward the ocean. His hand twitched slightly and she could swear he wanted to put it around her waist, but was resisting.
They rounded the corner out of sight of the market stalls, and were now alone on a dusty street of modest houses. Quasar took her in his arms with a swiftness that almost pushed the breath from her lungs, and kissed her with intensity.
When their lips finally parted she was shocked for a moment at how bold he'd been to kiss her in public. "We shouldn't do this. Someone might see."
"Let them." His blue eyes flashed defiance. "I don't care who knows how crazy I am about you."
"You're not the one whose reputation is already in tatters."
He laughed. "That's where you're wrong. You should see what the media says about me."
She'd forgotten about that. "I did. I looked you up on the internet after I learned your full name, remember? All the more reason I shouldn't be seen smooching you in public. If I had any sense I'd stay far away from you."
"Don't believe everything you read." He had the decency to look somewhat concerned. "They make most of that stuff up to sell magazines."
"Where there's smoke there's usually at least a spark of fire." She raised a brow. "The most recent stories were about you and Laura Larson. Apparently one minute you were planning your wedding, the next she was telling everyone she prefers to be single. Did you dump her?"
His mouth quirked into a wistful smile. "She dumped me."
"Were you heartbroken?"
He looked at her for a moment, then shook his head gently. "No. I enjoyed her company but I didn't feel the same kind of...intensity I feel with you."
"She's very beautiful."
"You're more lovely than she is."
"Okay, now I know you're toying with me."
"You are. She gets this weird wrinkle between her eyebrows when she's thinking. And she always glances to the left when she's telling a fib. She's almost always acting and I realized over time that she's not as interesting as most people think."
"Really?"
"Really. She's nice, but pretty kooky. Far too much drama on a daily basis."
"More than, say, my father calling your family sons of dogs?"
He laughed. "I asked for that by going to see him when you told me not to."
"Or maybe you actually like drama, and seek it out."
He was silent for a moment, contemplating what she'd said. A little frisson of alarm crept through her when she realized there might be more than a grain of truth in her words.
"I am something of a thrill seeker, but in sports, not in romance."
"Or so you'd like to believe." Were things getting too dull and predictable with their romance, making him want to stir the pot by approaching her father? "I told you to leave my house and promised I wouldn't see you again. Next thing I know, you're making love to me in my own bedroom. You're a bad influence." She was kidding, but only just.
She glanced up and down the street. A white car drove by. "We shouldn't hang around here. Let's walk like we have somewhere to go."
Quasar put his arm through hers and started walking. She wanted to tug her arm back, but he resisted when she tried. His powerful muscles were hard to argue with.
"I'm a good influence. I'm here to help you out of your cloister before you spend your life locked away in it."
"I'd probably be a lot safer locked away in a cloister."
"Safety is overrated." He shot a teasing glance at her. "Adventure is a lot more fun."
"Until you end up in the jaws of a lion."
He squeezed her gently. "I'll protect you."
"Unless you are the lion."
"Even then." He pressed a warm kiss to her cheek. Then he stopped and spun her to face him. "Come back to the United States with me."
"What?" She let his words echo inside her brain. His arms were now around her waist, possessive, holding her steady so she couldn't move. Couldn't leave.
"I mean it. I'm planning a move to the East Coast. Most likely Boston. There's some top technical talent there that I want to leverage for one or other of my newest business ideas."
"MIT is there."
"Exactly. And Harvard. Harvard must have an art program or museum of some kind where you could find a job."
"Oh, I'm sure I can walk right into a curatorial position at Harvard." She chuckled. His idea was so outrageous that it was funny rather than scary.
"You think I'm kidding? If you worked at Princeton, you can work at Harvard."
"I was very lucky to get the position at Princeton. I was an idiot to give it up."
"Have you ever been to Boston?"
"Sure. I've attended a couple of conferences there. I even lectured at one. I talked about Mesopotamian metalworking techniques."
"Did you like the city?"
"Uh, sure."
He was serious. At least the look in his eyes said so. "It's not as big and bustling as New York or L.A., but I like that about it. And there are some lovely neighborhoods in the older parts of the city."
She blinked, still not really sure this was happening. "So, in your vision, we'd live together in Boston?"
"Yes." He squeezed her. "I can see us in a pretty brick house with a garden."
No mention of marriage, of course. Did he anticipate that she'd be happy shacking up with him, no commitment in sight? On the other hand she was not at all keen to venture into marriage again. It was probably safer to keep the exit door open at all times by keeping any partnerships free of legally binding obligations to stay together until death did them part.
"What about when you get tired of me?" She tried to inject a note of humor but it fell rather flat. Because she truly wanted to know the answer.
"Tired of you? Impossible." He squeezed her again, and her heart leapt. The kiss he pressed to her lips flushed her with heat and passion that made it impossible to think straight.
"How can you say that when you barely know me?" It was hard to remember that they'd only known each other a few days. Things had happened so fast between them.
"Instinct. And I've learned to trust my instincts. They rarely fail me."
She sighed. This was all a bit much to take in. "Outrageous as your idea sounds, I like it." Warning bells and alarms flashed in her mind. Was she really going to place her trust in a man and venture off into unknown territory with him, away from friends and family?