“Did I hurt you?” he managed.

Libby shook her head quickly, too quickly. Hurt? she thought. That was nothing. Devastated. With one kiss he had devastated her, showed her that her will could be crumbled and her heart lost.

He wouldn’t apologize. Cal turned away until he was certain he was under control enough to speak rationally. But he would not apologize for wanting, or for taking. He would have nothing else of her when he left.

“I can’t promise that won’t happen again, but I’ll do my best to see that it doesn’t. You should go back inside now.”

And that was all? Libby wondered. After he had stripped her emotions to the bone he could calmly tell her to go back inside? She opened her mouth to protest, and she nearly took a step toward him before she stopped herself.

He was right, of course. What had happened should never happen again. They were strangers, whatever her heart told her to the contrary. Without a word, she turned and left him alone by the creek.

Later, when the sun and shadows had shifted, he opened his hand to let the wounded flower fall into the water. He watched it drift away.

Chapter 5

She couldn’t concentrate. Libby stared at her computer screen, trying to work up some interest in the words she’d already written. The Kolbari Islanders and their traditional moon dance no longer fascinated her. She’d been certain work was the answer—an immersion in it. No one had ever distracted her from her studies before. In college she’d completed a thesis while her roommates threw an open-door pizza party. That single-minded concentration had followed her into her professional life. She’d written papers in tents by lamplight, read notes on the back of a jogging mule and prepared lectures in the jungle. Once a project was begun, nothing broke the flow.

As she read a single paragraph through for the third time, all she could think of was Cal.

It was a pity she hadn’t had a greater interest in chemistry, she thought, pulling off her glasses to rub at her eyes. If she had, perhaps she would understand more clearly her reaction to him. Surely there was a book somewhere that would give her the information so that she could analyze it. She didn’t want to feel without being able to list logical reasons why. Daydreaming about love and romance was one thing. Experiencing it was something else altogether.

This wasn’t like her.

With a long sigh, she pushed away from the desk and folded her legs under her. Her eyes still on the screen, she propped her elbows on her knees and braced her chin on her fisted hands. She wasn’t in love, she told herself. It had been a knee-jerk reaction to the intensity of the moment. People didn’t really fall in love that quickly. They could be attracted, of course, even strongly attracted. For love, though, other factors had to be mixed in.

Common ground and common interests, Libby decided. That made good, solid sense to her. How could she be in love with Cal when the only interest he had that she knew about was flying? And eating, she added with a reluctant smile.