Read Online Pictures of You by Barbara Delinsky - Free Book Online

when we reach the mine.” Here he paused to draw a dog-eared piece of paper, yellowed with age and bearing the distinct tracings of coffee-cup stains, from the western-style pocket of his shirt.
    Eva’s eye had followed the hand-to-chest movement, lingering on the latter long after the other eyes had turned to the map. Roberto’s monopolization of this part of the conversation had enabled her to study him freely, outwardly as the others were doing but inwardly in a quite different manner. She noted his posture, casual yet alert, a statement to the world of his continuous
involvement. Her eyes roamed the breadth of his chest, resting on the dark hairs that had escaped the confines of his shirt in its narrow vee, before climbing the tanned column of his strong neck to alight on his now animated face. He looks almost boyish, she thought, when he enjoys what he’s doing, obviously the case right now. Eva smiled with an affection that startled her, her mind nowhere near the map, which the others were so seriously studying. At that moment Roberto glanced up at her. Her smile vanished immediately, replaced by a slight flush of the cheek. His expression held a note of amusement and mockery, his eyes sending her a private message which only increased her blush. With as much conviction as she could muster, she turned her attention away from Roberto and onto the map that was to lead the small group of mountain wanderers to the Espinhaco Topaz.
    Study of the map completed, Roberto refolded it and returned it to his pocket—the latter movement with a smirk toward Eva, as if he had been aware of her personal wanderings from the start—and excused himself to disappear into one of the rooms off the long hallway that led to the kitchen. When he re-emerged he carried a pile of large canvas and nylon knapsacks, which he unceremoniously dumped onto the center of the table for each to help himself. He then answered the few questions raised, none of which concerned Eva directly.
    â€œIf there are no other questions,” he began, looking slowly from face to face around the table, “I suggest we turn in. Remember, dawn tomorrow!”
    It suddenly occurred to Eva that she had a whole list of questions, some critical to her—such as where her luggage was, because she hadn’t seen it earlier in the living room—which needed answering.
    â€œWait!” she burst out, looking in embarrassment at
the five faces turned toward her in surprise. “Ah … I have several questions. The hotel? I need a place to sleep. And my luggage? I seem to have misplaced it.” She paused, feeling like an idiot, wishing desperately that these men would stop looking so intently at her, magnifying her feeling of incompetency.
    â€œI think, Mrs. Jordenson,” Roberto’s cool tone broke into her state of discomposure, the mocking twist of his lips at the corner of his mouth only intensifying it, “that we should let the others go now. They must be tired. I can answer any questions for you after they leave.”
    Damn him! Damn him! Just what I don’t want, and he knows it, she thought, but she gave a forced smile and a terse nod of assent.
    â€œThank you. I’d appreciate that.”
    One by one the men offered congenial “good nights” and departed, heading toward who-knows-where, thought Eva, and leaving her alone with Roberto.

CHAPTER 4
    Eva and Roberto stood staring at each other in silence as the last of the footsteps faded into the distance. Eva held her tongue, waiting for him to initiate the conversation as she knew he would. Not disappointing her, his coolly impersonal but polite tone broke into the stillness.
    â€œWould you like more coffee?” To her surprise he did not wait for a reply but proceeded to clear the empty cups from the table, Maria having left unobtrusively a short time before. Eva made no effort to help him, since he had rebuffed her earlier offering of help to