"In any case," he continued, "I've got all the professional equipment now, and a very minor skill." He smiled at her. "Not like yours."
"How do you know I have any skill when you haven't seen my work?"
"Excellent question. I could say the opinion comes from watching you work just now. You have the patience, the silent grace, the stillness. Stillness is an attractive quality."
"Maybe, but I've been still long enough." she started to rise, but he shifted his hand from her shoulder to her elbow and drew her up with him. "I don't want to keep you from your walk."
"Jo Ellen, you keep brushing me off, I'm going to get a complex."
she looked more rested, he thought. There was a little color in her cheeks-but that could have been brought on by annoyance. He sanded and lifted the single-lens reflex camera that hung around her neck. "I've got this model."
"Do you?" Remembering his upbringing, she stopped herself from tugging the camera away from him. "As I said, it would be hard for you not to have some interest in photography. Was your father disappointed that you didn't follow in his f-steps?"
"No." Nathan continued to study the Nikon, remembering his father patiently instructing him on aperture, field of vision. "My parents never wanted me to be anything but what I wanted to be. Anyway, Kyle made his living with a camera."
,,Oh, I didn't realize." Kyle was dead too, she remembered abruptly and, without thinking, touched a hand to Nathan's. "Look, if it's a tender spot, there's no need to poke at it."
"You can't ignore it either." Nathan shrugged his shoulders. "Kyle based himself in Europe-Milan, Paris, London. He did a lot of fashion photography."
"It's an art of its own."
"Sure. And you take pictures of rivers."
"Among other things."
"I'd like to see."
"Why?
"We've just established that it's an interest of mine." He released her camera. "I'm going to spend more time on it while I'm here. And I'd like to see your work. Like you said, it's ... connected to my father."
It was the right tack to take. He could almost see her mind change from automatic refusal to agreement. "I brought some with me. You could take a look sometime, I suppose."
"Good. How about now? I was heading over to Sanctuary anynvay."
"All right, but I don't have a lot of time. I'm still on housekeeping duty." she started to bend to pick up her camera bag, but he beat her to it.
"I've got it.
Jo walked with him, dug her cigarettes out of her jacket pocket. "This isn't another come-on, is it?"
"It would be if I'd thought of it. I've still got that steak waiting."
"It's going to get freezer burn." she exhaled, studied him through narrowed eyes. "Why did your wife leave you?"
"What makes you think she left me?"
"Okay-why did you leave her?"
"We left each other." He brushed some low-hanging moss out of their way. "Marriage canceled through lack of interest. Are you trying to gauge what kind of husband I was before you let me grill you a piece of meat?"
"No." But the annoyance in his tone made her lips twitch. "But I would have if I'd thought of it. Why don't we leave that topic, and I'll ask you how you've enjoyed your first week on Desire."
He stopped, turned, looked at her. "Isn't this just about where you fell into the water that summer?"
she lifted a brow. "No, actually, it was quite a bit farther downriver that you pushed me into the water. And if you've got a notion to repeat yourself, I'd think again."
"You know, one of the reasons I'm here is to revisit some of those days, and nights." He took a step forward, she took a step back. "Are you sure it wasn't here that you went in?"
"Yes, I'm sure." He backed her up another step. she slapped a hand on his chest but found herself maneuvered nearer the bank. "just I'm sure I'm not going in again."
"Don't be too sure." As her feet skidded on the wet grass, he hauled her back and against him. "oops." And grinning, locked his arms comfortably around her waist. "Not much to you, is there?"
she gripped his arms firmly, just in case. "There's enough."
"I guess I'll have to take your word for that ... and anticipate finding out for myself Anticipation's half the fun."
"What?" she felt her blood drain down to the soles of her feet. I'm a fan of anticipation. "What did you say?"
"That I'd take your word for it. Hey." He shifted his weight, pulled her closer as she struggled against him. "Watch out, or we're both going to be taking a morning dip."