They joined six other people in the elevator, Ross look ing suspiciously at every one of them in turn. He nodded for her to get off on the fifth floor, but as soon as the ele vator doors closed, he quickly steered her toward the stairs.
"We're actually on the fourth," he told her. "Listen, I'm serious about this. They'll try to find us."
She laughed as she followed him, clattering down the stairs. "What name did you register under?" she wanted to know.
"John Smith. Why not? There are ten other John Smiths registered here, too. It will take them an hour just to go through and check out all the names."
"'Them'?"
He grinned, steering her down the hall. "The world at large. The evil forces trying to keep us apart."
"Ah." She nodded wisely. "That 'them.'"
Ross unlocked the door and she stepped inside, then caught her breath at the spectacle before her. Pulling off the sunglasses, she gazed about her. The room was full of flowers: spider chrysanthemums, pink carnations, red hi biscus, sprays of baby's breath and a huge stalk of violet vanda orchids in a vase of its own.
"Where did you get these?" She turned slowly to take it all in. Perfumes blended to give the room a tropical feel. She was reminded of the South Seas again, but she ig nored the images in her mind. He'd done this for her, and she loved him for it.
"I spent the morning raiding every florist shop in Destiny Bay . I even drove down to Santa Maria to the whole sale greenhouses there."
He picked up a single gardenia, set off by two waxy green leaves. "Put this in your hair," he murmured as he pulled at her pins to let the full weight of her hair fall free.
"Why?" she asked, closing her eyes while he worked, freeing her hair, then attaching the flower with a clip.
"I don't plan to entertain a staid and proper restaurant manager," he murmured, kissing her neck. "I invited you here as a wild island woman."
"Oh. I see! It's just the variety that attracts you."
He put his arms around her and nuzzled her neck. "I have a feeling that you could give me all the variety I would ever need."
She turned to search his blue eyes. Did he sense how much she loved him?
"Ross," she began tentatively, thinking she ought to tell him her feelings now, so that there would be no confusion later. She wasn't here to have an afternoon fling. She wasn't here to be part of some one's circus fantasy. Variety was the last thing she was aiming at.