The Carson Springs Trilogy: Stranger in Paradise, Taste of Honey, and Wish Come True by Eileen Goudge Page B

as she might, she found it impossible to dislike Sister Agnes. She might be a thief, but she was a charming one.
    “These, for instance.” Sister Agnes fingered a delicate lace table scarf. “They remind me of home.”
    “We just got them in.” Sam smoothed the scarf, tucking it back into the pile.
    “Excuse me, I was wondering if you had another one of these.”
    Sam turned to find a nicely dressed gray-haired woman holding out a fluted bud vase with a chip in its base. “Oh, dear. I’m afraid it’s the last one. Is there something else I can show you?”
    “Let me poke around a bit.” The woman reluctantly handed her the vase.
    The exchange hadn’t taken more than a few seconds, but when Sam turned around Sister Agnes was gone—along with the scarf. She heard the bell tinkle, and caught a flash of black serge as the little nun disappeared through the door.
    She sighed. There was no avoiding it now. Like it or not, she’d have to speak to Mother Ignatius. Not over the phone, though. She’d have to make a special trip.
    “Sam.” A familiar voice, low and musical.
    She turned around, startled to find Ian standing before her. How had he managed to sneak in without her noticing? Heat rushed up into her cheeks, and she darted a furtive glance over her shoulder. No one was looking their way. “What are you doing here?” she whispered.
    He flashed her an easy grin. “I didn’t realize I needed an invitation.”
    “You know what I mean.”
    He didn’t appear the least bit fazed. In the same unhurried voice he asked, “Is there somewhere we can talk? In private?”
    She cast another glance over her shoulder. Laura was waiting on someone, and only one other customer was wandering about. “All right,” she said, “but only for a minute.”
    She led the way to the tiny office in back, just large enough for a desk and file cabinet. There was no point offering him a seat. She nudged the door shut with her heel. The pounding of her heart seemed to fill the tiny, windowless space.
    She didn’t wait for him to speak. “Ian, listen, yesterday was… unbelievable. I don’t regret it for a moment. But it can’t go any further.” She closed her eyes, leaning against the file cabinet. The metal felt cool against her burning skin.
    “Because of the age thing?” He sounded more puzzled than anything.
    “It’s complicated.”
    “It doesn’t have to be.”
    “For you. ”
    “For either of us.”
    He stepped toward her, and suddenly she was in his arms. Oh God. How easy it was, like sliding into a warm bath. As if her mind had become separated from her body somehow. A body with a will of its own. She felt his mouth on hers, his sly tongue…
    Just this once, she pleaded, as if to some higher authority. After that, no more. If she was to have any chance of resisting him in the days to come she’d have to end it. Here. Now.
    The question was how?
    Wrapped in Ian’s arms, lost in a kiss with no beginning and therefore no end, Sam wasn’t aware of the door easing open behind her. She didn’t hear her daughter gasp.
    “Oh God, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.”
    Sam broke away from Ian. Her daughter stood in the doorway, gaping as if at a car wreck, her cheeks flushed and eyes wide with horror, a corner of her mouth flickering in an interrupted smile. Then, with a tiny cry, Laura scurried off.

Chapter 4
    “S LOW DOWN,” Alice said. “I don’t want it to end.”
    As the Mercedes twisted up the steep road to their house she felt a sudden desire to retreat, burrow into the cocoon of these past three weeks. Maui had been a heaven in which they were lulled to sleep each night by the sound of the surf after lolling on the beach and making love all day. Now life back on earth—messy and unpredictable—was just around the bend, waiting to pounce.
    In her mind she could see the red light on her answering machine, blinking like a reptilian eye, the stack of mail by the door, the pile of wedding presents to be