It was a glorious, heady experience. The entire weekend was too good to last.

When, finally, after what seemed a short afternoon, the sun began to set against the cold gray sea, Erin found Kane standing studiously on the porch. She had packed together all of her things, and she knew that it was well past the hour that Kane had planned to leave. And still he lingered. He half stood, half leaned against the railing and stared endlessly out toward the broad expanse of the ocean and into the beckoning twilight.

Quietly Erin watched him. She knew that he, too, was hesitant to leave the solitude of the romantic haven that this otherwise miserable excuse for a cabin had provided for them. She lowered her body into the rope hammock, which sagged and groaned against her weight. The noise distracted Kane, and he slowly turned to face her. His eyes were distant; his mind was light-years away. Lazily he leaned against the post that supported the roof of the porch and let his eyes slide caressingly over her body.

“I’m…ready to go,” she stated. It was a poor attempt at conversation.

“Are you?” he drawled.

“Everything’s packed. We really should get going.”

“I know,” he agreed reluctantly, and looked longingly once more at the ceaseless gray tide. He spoke softly, as if to himself. “It surprises me that I’m not itching to get back to the office. Usually I’m anxious and just can’t wait to get back behind my desk. But tonight—I don’t know—it all seems so pointless.”

When he faced her once again, his gray eyes moved over her face, as if he were memorizing every contour of her creamy skin. He made a simple statement with measured slowness. “I’m going to buy this cabin. We’ll come back together.”

“I hope so,” she breathed, and wondered why it was so important to her. Unconsciously she clung to the first promise that hinted of a future that they might somehow share together.

The week that followed was a dismal and lonely time for Erin. As Kane had promised, he refused to keep their affair quiet or in the dark. Although he didn’t actually make an announcement of the fact, his cold indifference in the office had disappeared, and it was with difficulty that Erin had managed to keep up appearances during working hours. His eyes caressed her, and his affection was never hidden. Although inwardly Erin was pleased, she couldn’t help but notice the reaction of the other employees of the bank, the expressively uplifted eyebrows whenever she was with Kane and the accusatory glances that were cast her way when she wasn’t with him. She tried to ignore the gossip that was blazing through the bank, but she couldn’t calm the churning of her stomach.

When Kane had to leave on Wednesday for California, Erin was slightly relieved that the pressure of keeping him at arm’s length at the office would be relieved for a while.

It was on Friday morning when everything seemed to happen at once. Kane’s absence, as expected, had created a little extra work for Erin as well as the rest of the staff, but what she hadn’t anticipated was an outbreak of the flu, leaving the office very shorthanded. Nor had she expected that the bank’s main computer would break down, slowing the month-end posting to a snail’s pace. It was a hectic, frustrating day, and when the telephone rang for what seemed to be the twentieth time within the span of five minutes, Erin couldn’t keep the tight strain of anxiety out of her normally composed voice.