Jo Goodman (50 page)

"I haven't decided. I was thinking I should come to know my new son-in-law."

Grey's smile held no warmth. "You wouldn't like him."

"Perhaps not."

Making his point bluntly, Grey asked, "What will it take for you to leave us alone?"

Anderson did not pretend that he had been insulted. "I'm not greedy, Mr. Janeway. I expect to realize a tidy sum from the return of the earring." He glanced at Garret for confirmation.

"That's right," Garret said.

"So," Anderson went on. "I could be satisfied with as little as ten thousand dollars. I could be very happy with fifteen."

Grey did not blink and he didn't hesitate. "Will you take a draft? Or do you want it in gold?"

"Gold, I think. A draft payment can always be stopped."

"I'll make the arrangements with the Bank of California this afternoon. You will have your money and a passage back East by closing. I'll insist on seeing you off." His gaze swiveled to Garret. "Both of you."

Leaving nothing to negotiation, Grey turned on his heel and left.

Berkeley was pacing a path in front of the staircase. She looked up when she heard someone on the steps. "Grey!" Her eyes moved quickly over him as he made his descent. He appeared all of a piece.

"You look none the worse for that encounter," Ivory noted when Grey reached the bottom. "I told your wife not to worry. Poor thing. Back and forth. Back and forth. I'm spinning, I know that."

Grey grinned at Ivory as Berkeley launched herself at him. He was rocked back on his heels. "She never does anything by halves." One of his arms came around Berkeley. The other he held out for Ivory. She grasped it and they shook hands warmly. Behind Berkeley's back Ivory blew Grey a kiss. She was vastly amused to see him blush.

Grey released Ivory's hand and set Berkeley from him. "Thank you, Ivory. I didn't think Berkeley could get away from us today. You did the right thing by sending for me."

She smiled. "Your wife doesn't share that sentiment." Ivory's eyes gleamed. "You're not going to beat her, are you? I think she believes you're going to beat her."

Berkeley sucked in her breath. "I never said any—"

"It has merit though, doesn't it?" Grey interrupted. "Thank you again, Miss DuPree. Berkeley, we have to go." He didn't offer his arm or wait for her assent. He moved toward the door and forced her to hurry to keep up with him. The pace he set outside only slowed marginally, and she had difficulty matching his long stride. Grey took pity on her only as they were crossing Portsmouth Square and he heard her labored breathing. He stopped in his tracks so suddenly that she bumped into him.

Berkeley looked up. "Do you wish to drag me the last fifty yards?" She began to loosen the ribbons of her bonnet. "By the hair?"

"I'm more tempted than amused," he said dryly. He watched her sweep the bonnet off to one side and shake her head. The same wind that whipped her skirts against her legs lifted the gold-and-platinum banner of her hair. He was reminded that she had made a similar gesture the first time they stood in front of the Phoenix. He might even have fallen in love with her then. His lips moved around a single word, spoken softly, more to himself than to Berkeley.
Tempted.

Grey lifted Berkeley inches off the ground. Her mouth parted in surprise, and her hands grasped his shoulders to steady herself. The bonnet slipped from her fingers and was caught by the wind. It rolled and bounced and was ignored by both of them. She searched his face, and what she saw made her close her eyes. His mouth covered hers, and if she hadn't already been dangling above the ground, surely she would have floated half again as high.

They were oblivious to the miners and merchants who paused on the perimeter of Portsmouth Square, caught in mid-stride by the exuberance of the lovers. They didn't hear the appreciative applause or enthusiastic whistles. They could have been alone in their own room.

Berkeley buried her face against Grey's shoulder as she steadied herself. She was catching her breath again, this time for a very different reason. Surreptitiously she lifted one hand to her mouth and touched the faintly swollen outline of her lips. She could still feel the pressure of his kiss, the taste and texture of him as he had drawn her out and into him.

She smiled a bit shakily as she stepped back.

"This doesn't change anything," Grey said.

"I know." She was beaming. Her eyes were radiant. "I
know."

His brows came together. He spoke slowly, as if to a child. "I mean I'm still angry with you."

"Yes," she said. Her smile didn't fade at all. "But it doesn't change anything. You don't love me any less. I'm just understanding that part."

Grey shook his head, relief and exasperation tugging at his expression. "It's damn well about time." He grabbed her hand and pulled her along, stopping just once to scoop up the wayward bonnet.

* * *

Anderson Shaw stood at the window of his room. He didn't turn until Grey and Berkeley disappeared from his narrow view of the street. "I think I made the better bargain," he told Garret.

Garret Denison shrugged and dropped himself casually into the overstuffed arm chair. He leaned back his head and momentarily closed his eyes. "I got what I came for," he drawled softly.

"Are you certain?"

The question surprised Garret. What was its purpose? "What are you saying? That I'm wrong about the earring?" He sat up and looked behind him for Anderson's reply.

"No, only wondering if you're sure."

"Of course I'm sure. It's not easily mistaken. There's not another like it."

Anderson said nothing. Actually, he was thinking, there were two.

* * *

Berkeley disappeared into the dressing room as soon as she and Grey returned to their suite.

"Don't think you can hide in there!" Grey called from behind his desk in the library. He poured a cup of tea for each of them from the tray Annie Jack had prepared. To Berkeley's he added a dollop of honey. He held out the cup to her as she swept back into the room. She had removed her cloak and bonnet. The reticule and gloves were gone as well. His eyes dropped to her hands. They were empty. "I believe, ma'am, you have something that belongs to me."

Berkeley reached for her tea, but Grey drew it back suddenly. She frowned.

"My knife?" he asked.

Berkeley had the grace to blush. "You might have said something before I went to all the trouble to put it under the armoire."

"Why on earth would you put it there?"

"To make it appear it fell out of your boots when you dropped them there."

Grey said nothing. His look in response to this bit of misguided subterfuge told Berkeley quite clearly what he thought of it. "You'll be so kind as to get it for me."

"If you must have it." She sighed. A few moments later she was exchanging the knife for a cup of tea.

Extending his leg, Grey slipped the blade back into the sheath inside his boot. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Berkeley watching him with some consternation. "Did you think perhaps that I had another?"

"I thought you must," she offered lamely. "Somewhere. Though I admit I was distressed when I couldn't find one. It would have been my first choice."

Grey could only shake his head with a vague sense of disbelief. He pointed to the chair opposite his desk. "Sit down, Berkeley."

She sat. It was not so very different than her first interview with him, she thought. He had not been complimentary regarding her intelligence on that occasion either. "I know you think I've acted unwisely..."

"Not in all things," he said quietly. He saw her head come up and rivet her attention on him. "But yes, it's difficult to act or think reasonably when one is as frightened as you were. I wish you could have trusted me with your fear, but I don't fault you for it. It was just last night that I finally understood the only thing that really frightened you was losing me. In your own way you were trying to protect me. Have I got it right?"

She nodded. Her cup rattled a bit against the saucer. She steadied her grip.

"Thinking back," Grey said, "I believe it's been about eight days since you discovered Garret was in San Francisco and Anderson was alive." He saw by the slight widening of her eyes that he had hit the time just about right. "That would make it the day after our wedding. You and I had had a disagreement, and I walked out. When I came back you weren't in the suite. Someone said they thought you were preparing to move your belongings from your room into ours. I went looking for you. Do you remember meeting me in the hallway?"

Berkeley's eyes dropped a fraction. She remembered throwing herself at him. She had been desperate to get him away from her room. "I remember," she said. Her voice was reedy, not like her own. She cleared her throat uncomfortably.

"Perhaps if you drank some tea," Grey suggested gently.

"Oh, yes. Yes, of course."

He covered his faint smile by drinking from his own cup. He watched her over the rim a moment before he set it down. "I have fond memories of that afternoon. You were rather insistent in your attentions, as I recall." Grey saw pink color bloom in her cheeks. "I'd like to think your desire was not solely to keep me from your room."

Berkeley bit down on her lip.

"Oh, then perhaps it was."

"No," she said quickly. "That was part of it, of course. A good measure, I should think. At least at first. But when we were alone, and I knew there wasn't any immediate danger, well, then it was... well, then it was just desire, I suppose."

Under the desk Grey crossed his legs at the ankles. He leaned back in the leather chair. "So they
were
in your room then."

"Yes." Berkeley looked at him oddly. "You just said... oh, I see, you weren't entirely certain. You flustered me into that admission."

Grey thought he shouldn't be feeling so smug. It was too early for that. Berkeley wasn't likely to be tricked as easily again. "Tell me what they wanted."

"Garret wanted the earring. I was wearing it around my neck but under my dress. I couldn't give it to him as a necklace. Anderson would have known immediately that it was the fake. He knew I couldn't have tolerated the real one next to my skin. I needed time, and I bargained for it. Your arrival was helpful. Anderson was going to escort me back to our suite for me to get the earring. I'm not sure how I would have managed if you hadn't appeared. Did you suspect then that I wasn't alone?"

"I merely suspected something was wrong. You said you had seen me arrive. I wondered at the lie. It was an odd thing to tell me when I came in the front of the hotel and your rooms face the rear."

Berkeley didn't recall saying anything of the kind. "I chatter sometimes when I'm nervous."

"Oh? I hadn't noticed."

She regarded him suspiciously. His eyes were not so cool as their flint color would have suggested. "Hmmpf."

Grey suppressed a grin. "And Anderson? What was his game?"

"To torment me."

Grey waited, expecting some further revelation. When Berkeley remained silent he realized she was quite serious. "You mean it, don't you? That's all he wanted."

"And money. But that was part and parcel of his torment. As a boy Anderson was the sort who liked butterflies better without their wings."

"As a man, too," Grey said quietly. Berkeley had never lost the vaguely fey, otherworldly expression that focused beauty in her eyes. Anderson would have tried hard to steal that from her.

Berkeley shifted uncomfortably under his steady regard. "I'm hardly a butterfly."

"More like a woodland fairy."

One lightly feathered brow kicked up. She gave him a patently skeptical look. "I would rather be seen simply as a woman."

"That's never been lost on me," Grey said.

Berkeley smiled. She remembered the fish wagon and the Ducks and her sprint across the wharf to find protection with this man. He had seen through her disguise almost from the first.

Grey's own smile faded as he returned to the serious matter before them. "You and Anderson came to San Francisco carrying the earring," he said. "Is it your understanding that he was working more on the behalf of my brother than the Thornes?"

"That's my understanding now. I didn't have any idea until I met Garret here. Apparently Garret is the one who pointed Anderson in the direction of Boston and the Thornes. I was never clear on how he came by his initial information. Your brother must have supplied him with a starting point for the search."

"Do you think he
is
my brother?" Grey asked.

"You mean is he the brother of Colin and Decker Thorne?" Had she not been holding the teacup, she would have turned over her hands in a helpless gesture. "I don't know," she said softly. "I've wondered the same thing myself. But I don't think Anderson's really told him everything about the Thornes. Garret doesn't seem to know about their search for their youngest brother. I started to tell him some things, but Anderson was insistent that I not talk about it." Berkeley took another swallow of her tea. "Garret has a strong attachment to the earring, but it was clear to me that he doesn't comprehend the origins of it."