Free More Than Paradise by Jennifer Fulton Page A

usually the safest, and checked that the driver matched his ID. Opening the door for Charlotte, she said, “I’ll take you back to your hotel.”
    Charlotte raised no objections. “I’m at the Crowne Plaza.”
    “I know it.” Ash slid in beside her and locked their doors.
    The Plaza was Pom’s “safe” hotel, all things being relative. They drove toward the waterfront in silence. Ash could feel Charlotte eyeing her.
    “What line of work are you in, Mr. Evans?”
    “Please, call me Ash. And I’m a pilot in the private security industry.”
    “You take tourists on scenic ß ights?”
    “No. My work is in cargo mostly.” The term disguised a multitude of sins. Illegal arms. Drugs. Espionage. Human tragedy.
    • 58 •

    MORE THAN PARADISE
    “Do you ever spend time in Irian Jaya?”
    “We call it West Papua ’round here,” Ash said. “Irian Jaya is an Indonesian invention. When you steal someone else’s country, you need to give it a new name so no one notices the original inhabitants vanishing.”
    Charlotte blinked. “So, it’s true then? The genocide?”
    “That’s a word we avoid—those of us who have to work with the Indonesians. I can suggest some coy euphemisms. Transmigration.
    Resettlement. And a special favorite…vital projects commitment.”
    “I see.”
    Ash doubted it. She changed the subject. “Gangs are a problem in Port Moresby. It’s better if you stay in your hotel at night. Actually, it’s better if you stay there all the time.”
    Charlotte looked embarrassed. “I only went to that bar because I was supposed to meet a man with some rare plants to sell.”
    “Plants,” Ash repeated.
    “For my research.”
    Brains but no smarts. Tunnel vision. A man has rare plants—
    wonderful. Why not get killed trying to buy them? Ash felt gloomy.
    She had already pigeonholed Charlotte Lascelles as too brainy and too classy to sleep with anyone just for the hell of it. Even if she was open to experimenting with a woman, she was the type who had to be wooed.
    That breed of woman expected emotional engagement and intellectual compatibility. They thought sex was about love. Ash was out of her mind if she read anything but expediency into the kiss they’d shared.
    She contemplated showing up at the Crowne Plaza later in the evening, looking much more appealing than she did now on the off chance Charlotte would allow herself to be seduced. The likeliest scenario played across her mind: she takes Charlotte into her arms and kisses her. Charlotte gets interested and wants to Þ nd out what she’s packing. Shock. Disappointment. Ash tries to explain herself and attempts to sell Charlotte on the idea that she won’t miss out on anything, in fact Ash will take such good care of her she’ll wonder what she ever saw in males. Charlotte doesn’t want to know. She is outraged to have been fooled by a liar who only wants to get into her pants.
    Ash stole a sideways glance at her companion’s proÞ le. Charlotte, she decided, was a straight woman who thought she was talking to a moderately viable man. She probably had no idea of the nonverbal signals she kept sending. Ash was enjoying these, even if they were
    • 59 •

    JENNIFER FULTON
    unconscious and rooted in a false impression. Every now and then, she could feel Charlotte’s eyes prowling her body and when they spoke Charlotte looked at her mouth.
    She couldn’t help but wonder how far she could get by continuing with the deception. What if Charlotte was interested enough in Mister Evans and far enough from civilization that she would willingly get drunk and do something out of character? It could happen, and often did in faraway places. The idea was tempting, and since they would never see each other again there was no reason why she shouldn’t pursue. Except that it was dishonest and even she had some standards.
    Besides, Ash knew exactly what would happen if, by some blunder of the Fates, she made it to second base with this woman. There