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researched the place—you even have the brochure. Where do you get brochures anymore?”
“In the airport while you’re waiting for an uptight doctor’s plane to land.” She bunched her lips.
Lane gently grabbed her elbow and stopped her. “Uptight doctor?” She’d struck a raw nerve, calling him that again after she’d kind of apologized for doing it before. But did she have a point?
He’d had structure in his life since the moment he was conceived. His parents had planned everything out for him even before that. It had paid off, getting him through med school and residency, and the opening and operation of a successful practice—for a while. He’d found a fiancée who’d fit the mold, too…until she’d broken it and crushed it to bits. His parents still had no idea about the extent of what she’d done. Her professional misconduct had been widely reported, but her personal betrayal of him was too painful—and embarrassing—to share with anyone. Better for people to think it was the fallout from the pill-prescribing scandal that had come between them.
So much for what he’d gotten from structure. Maybe it was time for him to do something totally spontaneous for a change. Something unplanned and temporary—maybe even risky.
He leaned in close to Paige and said with a low drawl, “By the time we leave this island, you’ll know better than that.”
For a split second, Paige looked stunned. “What does that mean?” she asked as they neared the ticket window.
“You’ll see.” Big words, considering he wasn’t exactly sure what he meant himself.
“We’ll have two combo tickets,” Paige said to the pleasant clerk.
Lane pulled his wallet from his back pocket and paid for the tickets while Paige was still rummaging in her purse.
“Thank you, sir,” the clerk said with a lilting accent, handing him the tickets. “Enjoy.”
They stepped away from the window. “Thanks for paying,” Paige said. “I owe you.”
“I’ll remember that,” he said lightly. “What’s the combo deal? We get to see and smell the volcano?”
She stuck her nose in the air and inhaled deeply. “The smell is free. I mean, they’d have to give that away, right? Or maybe they’re just prepping us to buy the Island Sulfur–scented candles they sell in the gift shop.”
Lane smiled as they headed up the steps to the overlook. Some of the things she thought of would never cross his mind.
A group of tourists and a guide gathered at the far end of the overlook. Paige and Lane stepped up to the railing to view the sprawling, hilly, burned-out crater. Random areas boiled, spewed, and steamed.
“Wow.” He’d imagined the surface of the moon looking like that. “Pretty cool, in a disturbing kind of way.”
“We’re standing over a magma chamber,” she said.
“Thanks for the warning,” he teased.
“Seriously. The magma heats the rocks above it, then they heat the rain and seawater that seeps up into the substratum. That’s what makes everything bubble and hiss—” She raised her eyebrows and gazed at him pointedly. “And threaten to blow.”
His pulse picked up its pace. “I totally get that,” he said. “But it’s been a while, I’d say.”
“Hasn’t erupted since 1766, but this place is still the hottest, most active geothermal field around.”
How the hell had she made that sound sexy? “Were you a geology major?”
“Nope. Culinary arts. But I am smarter than a box of rocks.” She grinned, and slipped the brochure out of her purse. “I did my homework.”
“Evidently.” He pulled his iPhone from his pocket and stepped back from the railing. “Let me get your picture.”
“Sure,” she said, surprising him. She was totally different from Stephanie, who’d always shied away from a camera, only letting him snap a picture after the moment was lost. Paige cocked her head and flashed a dazzling smile right before he clicked the camera. Lane checked out the photo of her looking