“I’m not sure I want you to know it,” she replied. “I’m afraid you already know too much about me.”

“From what I’ve observed so far, you possess the same equipment as other women, except that it may be delineated and arranged more artfully than usual. Your name is currently the only secret.”

“Jinx,” she replied. “Jinx Jameson.”

“Is Jinx a family name?”

“A childhood nickname, because of my tendency as a toddler to break things. I was born Jennifer, but when people call me that, I tend to think they’re talking to someone else.”

“What would you like to do now, Jinx?”

“Well, I’d like to swim for a bit, since I’m already here.”

“Would you be more comfortable if I got you a swimsuit?”

She thought about it. “In the circumstances, that seems a retrograde notion. If it’s all right, I’ll just swim a few laps, and then, while you avert your gaze, I’ll flee the premises.”

“I have a better idea—I’ll give you a robe when you emerge, and then we can have some lunch at poolside.”

“A kind invitation, thank you.” She began swimming again, while Stone got out of the pool, found some robes, and ordered lunch.

—

AFTER THE WAITER had departed she swam to the ladder; Stone held up a robe between them, and she slipped into it and toweled her hair.

“Hungry?”

“Ravenous,” she replied, slipping into the chair he held for her. “I just got off a plane from New York. What have we for lunch?”

“A lobster salad and a very nice Chardonnay by Far Niente, which also has the advantage of having the most beautiful of labels.”

She sipped the wine and examined the bottle. “Right on both counts. Have you just come from somewhere?”

“Also from New York, by way of Santa Fe, where I spent a few days with friends.”

“You don’t have a home in Santa Fe? How disappointing. I always wanted to meet a man with a Santa Fe house.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but my friends make me so comfortable that I’m loath to invest in real estate.”

“You’re not penurious, are you? I despise that in a man.”

“No one has ever accused me of such.”

“I’m relieved to hear it.”

“I’m happy to relieve you. So we’re both New Yorkers?”

“I’m not a native, but a Southerner, from a small town in Georgia, called Delano. I came to New York after studying theater design at the Yale Drama School, nearly fifteen years ago.”

“That’s enough to make you a neo-native.”

She laughed. “That’s a new word. It describes me well. Are you a native?”

“Born and bred.”

“And how do you occupy yourself in the Apple?”

“I’m an attorney, sort of.”

“Sort of?”

“Well, my interests have broadened over the years, so I’m only a part-time attorney these days.”