Amber Beach (36 page)

“Yourself?”

“Mostly. Lately I’ve found myself working for
a
sharp-tongued buttercup.”

“Who has found herself the employer of a lethal darlin’”, she retorted.

“Sometimes flowers just don’t get the job done.”

Carefully Honor let out a breath that kept trying to break. She wanted to stay close to Jake so much that it scared her. She was in over her head in every way that mattered. She would survive falling in love with the wrong man.

She wouldn’t survive trusting the wrong man in a deadly game of greed and amber.

“If it helps”, Jake said, “as your official
ginteras, I
come with the Donovan International seal of approval.”

“What?”

“Unlike a certain razor-edged buttercup, Archer figured out real fast that I wouldn’t hurt his little sister. He offered to whitewash me if I’d take you away from the line of fire.”

“I don’t understand.”

“No shit”, he said roughly.

She bit her lip against the scalding words crowding her tongue. A tirade wouldn’t help right now, even though it would feel almost as good as shaking Jake Mallory until his big white teeth rattled.

“Let me get this straight”, she said neutrally. “Archer offered to clear your name if you would take me away from here?”

“Yes.”

Honor didn’t know what to say.

“You don’t believe me”, Jake said, watching her.

“I don’t know what to believe.”

“Ah, the lady learns.”

“Listen, you smug…”

“Sorry”, he said over her words. “I’m a little edgy myself, okay? If I didn’t know you were damned intelligent, I would have stuffed you in a kennel cage and mailed you back to the Donovans C.O.D.”

“Thanks, I think. You turned down Resnikov and you turned down Archer. Why?”

“I don’t trust Resnikov.”

“Do you trust Archer?”

“In all but this. When push comes to shove, it’s me or Kyle. I know how any Donovan will choose.”

“Archer wouldn’t go back on his word to you.”

“He loves you and he loves Kyle. Only a fool asks a man to choose between two things he loves equally. You can’t predict the outcome.”

Honor opened her mouth and then closed it without making a sound. She knew that Jake was right. If she had to choose between siblings… she couldn’t.

Rain started spitting down. She turned on the headlights and finally found the windshield wiper control. Road dirt smeared across the window until Jake reached over and turned on the washer. The glass cleared into two curved views of a gray universe.

“What do you believe?” Honor asked finally.

“Fuck believing.” Jake’s voice was cold. “I
know that
I didn’t steal the amber, much less a panel of the Amber Room.”

She wanted to doubt him.

She wanted to believe him.

She was being asked to choose between two people she
loved, Kyle and Jake. Her mind could give her a lifetime of reasons to chose Kyle. Her gut simply rebelled at making either choice.

“If there were another suspect, any other suspect”, Honor asked almost desperately, “would you believe Kyle was
innocent?”

“Hell, yes! I’ve been going through it in my mind since I heard about the theft, looking for another explanation. Any explanation. I thought the charming son of a bitch was my
friend.”

She opened her mouth and thought better of it. Instead of defending her brother, she listened to her one-night, once-in-a-lifetime lover.

“At first I couldn’t believe Kyle had screwed me like that”, Jake said. “I even thought he might be in trouble and I could help him. Jesus, was I ever a fool.”

The pain and self-contempt in Jake’s voice made Honor wince. It was an exact echo of how she had felt after Archer told her who her fishing guide really was.

“I started asking questions”, Jake said, “and Donovan International came down on my head like a hundred-year flood. Next thing I knew people were offering to kill me unless I shut up and got out of town. I kept pushing. The Donovan clan didn’t like it. They had me thrown out of that half of
world.”

A seething kind of silence closed over the car. After a few
miles, Honor broke it. “What about the woman?”

“Ellen?”

“No. Mariyoo whatever.”

Jake looked startled. “Marry you?” Then he understood. “Oh,
Marju.
What about her?”

“If Kyle stole anything – and I’m not saying he did – then isn’t there a chance that she knew what was going on?”

“Yes.”

“And?”

“She says Kyle used her to get to the Amber Room.”

“That’s not his style.”

Jake didn’t reply.

“Damn it, it’s true!” Honor said. “Kyle wouldn’t do something like that, especially to someone he loved.”

“Lusted. Not the same thing.”

“No shit”, she said bitterly.

Jake felt like pounding on the dashboard. The certainty that Honor was slipping away from him had put a deadly edge on his temper. He told himself all the reasons why she had a right to feel used, took a slow breath, and then another.

He still felt like hammering on the dashboard.

“What makes you so sure Marju didn’t use Kyle?” Honor asked.

“No motive.”

“How about sixty million bucks?”

“How about the fact that Marju’s connection to the panel came from the Forest Brotherhood?” Jake countered.

“So?”

“She’s a heavy-duty Lithuanian patriot. The Forest Brotherhood is a Lithuanian patriotic organization. She might steal the Amber Room from one love, the Brotherhood, and give it to another love, Kyle, but she wouldn’t steal it from him and the Brotherhood both. No motive. Either way, she already had the damned thing, so why steal it from herself in the first place?”

“What about Snake Eyes?”

“If he had the Amber Room, he wouldn’t be hanging around here.”

“The same could be said of everyone.”

“Except Kyle”, Jake said evenly. “He isn’t here.”

“Neither is Archer. Does that mean he stole it?”

“Makes sense to me. Archer is the one who shut down Russia around my ears.”

A few more miles went by in tight silence.

“What if Kyle didn’t steal the panel”, Honor said finally, “but is being blamed for it?”

“Great. Who stole it?”

“I don’t know! Maybe they all did it and ganged up on Kyle!”

“They? As in Russia, Lithuania, the United States, and various international crooks of unknown origin, including me?”

“Easy for you to ridicule, but I don’t hear you coming up with anything better.”

“I don’t have to. I already have a suspect who is
a
dead match for the facts.”

“Your facts need rearranging.”

Jake swore wearily. “Any one of a thousand people could have stolen the panel, but that doesn’t explain why Kyle and the shipment went missing together, does it?”

“But someone could have just slipped the panel in with the rest of the amber when it was loaded. Kyle didn’t have to know anything about it.”

“I packed every piece of that shipment myself. There was nothing but raw amber. Nothing.”

Honor’s eyelids flinched. She didn’t say a word. “I turned the truck over to Kyle”, Jake continued relentlessly, “to take to the driver he had hired. Before the truck left Kaliningrad, the driver was murdered and dumped by the side of the road. A man matching Kyle’s description was seen driving the truck over the Russian border. The truck hasn’t been seen since. Kyle has. Here. Two weeks ago. Not once in the four weeks he has been missing did he call his loving family to let them know he was all right. Now, tell me again how I’m a coldhearted son of a bitch to think your brother
is guilty.”

Honor’s expression went from stubborn to despairing.

Jake should have felt better that she finally seemed to be believing him. He didn’t. It was hard to feel good about anything that made Honor look like she had been hit by a truck.

The silence made the rhythmic clicking of the turn signal seem as loud as a drum roll.

The unmarked police car was still parked in the small turnout near the cottage.

“He’s going to rust right into the ground”, Honor said in a harsh voice.

“Who?”

“The cop with the radar unit.”

“He doesn’t give a damn about writing tickets. He’s watching your driveway, not traffic.”

“Wonderful. What if I flip him off just to let him know I care?”

“He has an eight-hour shift. He can spend it giving you a hard time or he can sit there and read girlie magazines.”

Honor kept both hands on the wheel as she turned into the driveway.

“How long will it take you to pack?” Jake asked.

“No time at all. I’m not packing.”

With an effort he managed not to say the first red-hot thing that came to his mind.

“What do you have against coming to my cabin?” he asked evenly. “My bed is bigger than the one here. You’ll be able to put your whole damned suitcase between us.”

Ignoring him, Honor got out of the truck.

Jake opened the glove compartment, grabbed the gun, and caught her before she reached the front door.

“No”, he said through his teeth. “Let me check the place out first.”

“I locked it.”

He gave her a disgusted look. “You’ve got a good brain, buttercup. Use it.”

She looked at his gun. “I find it hard to believe that I’m a – a
target
or whatever.”

“Believe it. You’re the key to the Donovan castle. Someone could grab you and open negotiations for the Amber Room.”

“I don’t have it.”

“The Donovans do.”

“Like hell!”

“Prove it.”

Her mouth opened. Nothing came out. “Now you’re catching on”, he said. “You can’t prove a negative. Give me the key.”

“I thought all you secret agent types carried a lock pick.”

“Lock pick? Sure thing. I have one right here.” Jake lifted his boot to kick in the door.

“Never mind”, she said quickly. “Here.”

“Stay outside until I come back for you.”

“This is ridiculous.”

“Amen. Stay here.”

Divided between anger and a nagging fear, Honor waited. Though it wasn’t long before Jake returned, it felt like an hour
to her.

“Like I said”, she muttered, stepping around him to get
through the door, “this is – Damn! I forgot.”

“I didn’t. Watch your step. Paper can be as slippery as ice.” Picking up what she could, Honor threaded her way
through the mess the intruder had made. Finally she reached
the desk. The answering machine didn’t show a message
light.

“Sure you wouldn’t rather come to my cabin?” Jake asked. “I’m not the world’s neatest housekeeper, but I’m better
than this.”

She didn’t bother to respond.

“Hell”, he muttered. “I’ll check on the boat, then I’ll be back to help you put this together.”

Before Jake got his foot out the door, the telephone rang. Sourly he thought that whoever was spying on the cottage had a good communication network. He and Honor hadn’t been back five minutes and already the fun was beginning.

She grabbed the phone. “Hello?”

“Hello. Who is this?”

“Honor Donovan. Who are you?”

“We have not met, but Kyle has talked much about you. My name is Marju. Kyle is my fiance. May I come and talk with you?”

“Well?” Honor asked impatiently, trying to look past Jake’s shoulders. She was eager to see the woman who claimed to be Kyle’s fiancee.

“She’s alone.”

He watched Marju get out of a beat-up rental job and pick her way through the mud and puddles toward the front door.

“Wonder if she and Ellen went to the same school?” Jake asked idly.

“Spy school?” Honor asked, startled.

“Locomotion.”

“What do you – oh, that”, she said, understanding when she saw Marju walking. Even though the black skirt and sweater weren’t particularly stylish, on her they looked like Paris originals. “Whew. I think some women are born walking like that. No practice required.”

“You ought to know.”

She gave Jake a sidelong look. “I don’t move anything like that.”

“You do it better.”

“Ha. No way do I walk like I have the secret of the universe tucked between my thighs.”

He made an odd, strangled sound and then laughed out loud. As he turned toward her, the backs of his fingers brushed down her cheek and across her lips. “You’re one of a kind, honey. Whatever happens, I don’t regret meeting you.”