CHAPTER FOUR
SIMON WAS WAITING by the Starbucks, as instructed. Montana paused on the opposite corner, both admiring him from afar and not sure if she had the courage to approach. Telling herself she was doing this for the greater good wasn’t as helpful as it could have been. There was something about Dr. Simon Bradley. Something she couldn’t put her finger on.
It wasn’t just his patronizing attitude. She’d never met anyone quite like him—obviously intelligent, but an emotional puzzle. Plus, he was good-looking. Sure, he had those scars, but did they really matter? When a man like him looked at a woman, the rest of the world just seemed to disappear.
Not in a romantic way, she told herself quickly. She wasn’t attracted to him. After all, it wasn’t as if he was a nice guy. And wasn’t that what she was looking for? A nice guy. If he happened to have those smoky-green eyes, well that was a plus. Except, not Simon. She might not know many things, but she knew he wasn’t the one for her.
All of which was very interesting, but wasn’t getting the job done. She drew in a breath, squared her shoulders and purposefully started across the street. Unfortunately, she didn’t look even one way, let alone both, and had to jump back to avoid being hit by a Prius driven by a distracted tourist.
As she got closer to Simon, she realized he had traded in his white coat and dark trousers for jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. She hadn’t known him for long, but he didn’t strike her as a casual dresser. She would never have guessed he even owned jeans. Not that he didn’t look good in them.
“Hi,” she said as she approached. She was nervous and didn’t know what to do with her hands. Should she offer to shake, or give a little wave? “Good afternoon.”
Simon’s voice was as steady as his gaze. He looked calm, cool and completely unimpressed with her. How fair was that? He was the new guy in town. Shouldn’t he be at least a little uncomfortable?
But he wasn’t, and there was no getting around it. And if she didn’t get out of her head pretty soon she was going to make herself crazy.
Purpose, she told herself. She had a purpose. She had been assigned a task by the mayor and she would see it through to the best of her abilities. Starting right now.
“I thought I’d show you the town,” she said, hoping she sounded cheerful and confident. She was a happy person, so the cheerful part was easy enough. As for the confidence, weren’t they always saying, “Fake it until you make it”? God knew she’d been faking it for years.
“That’s what you offered,” Simon said, watching her in that steady way of his. “A tour of the town.”
She blinked. “Right. That is what I said.” She tried to smile, found herself fighting nerves again, then went to a safer place. She’d been learning about the history of Fool’s Gold since the first grade. When in doubt, stick to the facts.
She cleared her throat.
“In the early thirteen hundreds a matriarchal tribe called the Máa-zib settled on the shores of our lake. Not much is known about them. Legend has it that they’re a branch of Maya Indians who came looking for a place where women and their children could live in harmony. Without men.”
Simon raised his eyebrows. “So they died out?”
She laughed. “Okay, men were allowed in the village for certain purposes. They say there is a curse that keeps the men out. Maybe that’s the reason Fool’s Gold has a man shortage. Or at least we used to. More men are moving here all the time.”
She thought about saying that he could move here, but didn’t think that was especially subtle. Although having him agree would get her job done very quickly.
She motioned toward the park and started walking. Simon fell into step beside her.
“In fifteen eighty-one an English crewman who served with Sir Francis Drake wrote about being injured in the mountains and cared for by a matriarchal tribe of natives. His account suggests he was here in Fool’s Gold and that the women were from the Máa-zib tribe.”
Simon glanced at her. “Let me guess. He had sex with several of the women but they didn’t let him stay.”
She grinned. “You have to respect their ability to get what they want.”
“Would you still respect their actions if the tribe in question had been men?”
“An unfair question. The women chose to get pregnant by him. I assume they wanted to refresh the gene pool, although they wouldn’t think of it that way. That’s completely different than a man getting a woman pregnant and walking away.”
“Except he lost his children. He wasn’t allowed to see them or raise them.”
“A good point,” she admitted. “But it’s kind of the town thing to respect the women.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”