The Reef by Nora Roberts Page A

shifts,” he went on. “If we start to bring up gold, Red, hunters will smell it from Australia to the Red Sea. Believe me.”
    â€œI do.” And because she did, she hopped down to fetch the snorkeling equipment. “Let’s check on Dad and Buck. Then I want to get that film developed.”
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    By the time Tate was ready to go ashore, she had a list of errands in addition to the film. “I should have known Mom would give me a grocery list.”
    Matthew hopped into the Adventure’ s little tender with her, cranked the engine. “No big deal.”
    Tate merely adjusted her sunglasses. “You didn’t see the list. Look!” She gestured west where a school of dolphin leapt before the lowering sun. “I swam with one once. We were in the Coral Sea and a school of them followed the boat. I was twelve.” She smiled and watched them flash toward the horizon. “It was incredible. They have such kind eyes.”
    Tate rose as Matthew cut speed. She timed the distance to the pier, braced her legs and secured the line.
    Once the boat was secure, they started across the strip of beach. “Matthew, if we hit the mother lode, and you were rich, what would you do?”
    â€œSpend it. Enjoy it.”
    â€œOn what? How?”
    â€œStuff.” He moved his shoulders, but he knew by now generalities wouldn’t satisfy her. “A boat. I’m going to build my own as soon as I have the time and means. Maybe I’d buy a place on an island like this.”
    They moved by guests of the nearby hotel as they baked lazily in the lowering sun. Staff with flowered shirts andwhite shorts strolled across the sand with trays of tropical drinks.
    â€œI’ve never been rich,” he said half to himself. “It couldn’t be too hard to get used to it, to live like this. Fancy hotels, fancy clothes, being able to pay to do nothing.”
    â€œBut you’d still dive?”
    â€œSure.”
    â€œSo would I.” Unconsciously she took his hand as they walked through the hotel’s fragrant gardens. “The Red Sea, the Great Barrier Reef, the North Atlantic, the Sea of Japan. There’re so many places to see. Once I finish college, I’m going to see them all.”
    â€œMarine archeology, right?”
    â€œThat’s right.”
    He skimmed a glance over her. Her bright cap of hair was tousled by the salt and wind. She wore baggy cotton slacks, a skimpy T-shirt and square, black-framed sunglasses.
    â€œYou don’t look much like a scientist.”
    â€œScience takes brains and imagination, not looks or fashion sense.”
    â€œGood thing about the fashion sense.”
    Unoffended, she shrugged. In spite of her mother’s occasional despair, Tate never gave clothes or style a thought. “What’s the difference, as long as you’ve got a good wet suit? I don’t need a wardrobe to excavate and that’s what I’m going to spend my life doing. Imagine getting paid to go on treasure hunts, to examine and study artifacts.” She shook her head at the wonder of it. “There’s so much to learn.”
    â€œI never thought a whole lot of school myself.” Of course, they had moved around so much, he’d never had a choice. “I’m more a fan of on-the-job training.”
    â€œI’m certainly getting that.”
    They took a cab into town where Tate could drop off her film. To her pleasure, Matthew didn’t seem to mind when she wanted to poke around the shops, dallying over trinkets. She sighed for a while over a small gold locket with a single pearl dripping from its base. Clothes were forkeeping out the weather, but baubles were a nice, harmless weakness.
    â€œI didn’t think you went in for stuff like that,” he commented, leaning on the counter beside her. “You don’t really wear any bangles.”
    â€œI had this little ruby ring Mom and Dad gave me for Christmas