Free For the Taking by Lilian Darcy

given them to me, and I have them hidden at sea for safekeeping. No one but me now knows where they are. I won’t risk Joran getting his hands on them.”
    “If anything happened to you, they might never be found.”
    “Better that than to risk them getting into the wrong hands. I want you to think, Lass, and I want you to go through Cyria’s things again. Could she have hidden your part of the key somewhere? Buried it or put it in a bank vault? Did she ever say something to you that in hindsight might have been a cryptic clue?”
    “Loucan, I—”
    “I’m not expecting you to come up with a miracle on the spot.”
    “That’s good,” she drawled, “because I’m running a little low on miracles today.”
    “In fact, let’s forget the whole thing for now. Let your subconscious work on it, and maybe it willthrow something into the light. Are we getting close to your musical creek?”
    “Yes, the trail is to the right, just over this rise.”
    She urged her horse on a little faster, and Loucan dropped behind, content to watch her rear view and leave further talking for later. When they reached the creek, she dismounted at once, led Willoughby down to drink, then turned him loose to graze.
    “Milo, too?” Loucan asked.
    She nodded. “There are fences running parallel to this trail on both sides. You can see them through the trees. Even if the horses do wander off, they can’t go far. I’ve got some treats in my backpack to make them come running.”
    “Picnic time, then. Did you bring a blanket to sit on?”
    “Uh, yes. Yes, I did.” She looked a little self-conscious. Goose bumps rose on her arms as if she was cold in her short-sleeved, pale blue T-shirt, and when she’d spread the blanket on a patch of dapple-shaded grass, he understood why.
    It wasn’t meant for two…unless those two happened to be lovers.
    Lass clearly didn’t know what to do about the problem. A lot of the women he’d known would have used the opportunity to flirt, but even if she knew how—and he doubted she did—she obviously wasn’t planning on flirting with him.
    He thought back to yesterday’s kiss, and it disturbed him. In theory, those long, intense moments in each other’s arms should have played right in the direction he wanted. From the time when he first began his search for Okeana’s children, he’d hoped for a strategic marriage with one of the three Pacificanprincesses. Kissing Lass was the closest he’d gotten to realizing that goal.
    And yet, although it didn’t make sense, he couldn’t help wondering if the unplanned kiss had been a huge mistake.
    Without it, he might not have suspected just how innocent she was. Now that he knew, her innocence wasn’t something he could ignore. Coupled with the passionate sensuality of her response, it added up to a woman he could very easily hurt. An emotionally volatile woman who might not be able to contemplate the cool-headed political alliance he was looking for.
    With the restless, questing life he’d led in his late teens and early twenties, Loucan had hurt women before. His ex-wife, Tara, had suffered, through his cowardly inaction, the kind of hurt that no woman every truly forgot. His guilt over that had been terrible. He’d questioned everything he believed, and everything about the man he’d become. In the end it was what had impelled him back to Pacifica.
    There, he had sworn off the whole idea of love. He’d loved Tara once, but not enough to act in a way that might have saved their marriage. He didn’t want the same kind of power over a woman’s happiness a second time. He didn’t trust his capacity to give that much.
    The last thing he wanted, therefore, was that Lass should fall in love with him, and he had no intention whatsoever of falling in love with her. He still wanted to marry her, though. He just didn’t know if he dared.
    Hands off, he decided silently to himself. That’s the only way this can work. I can’t kiss her again.
    “Did