Pearl Cove (19 page)

Good habits. Contrary to modern urban myth, theres no such thing as safe sex. For people
like us, sex comes two ways dangerous and more dangerous.

She didnt like the sound of that. What do you mean?

Theres no condom you can wear to protect your emotions. Very gently he kissed the frown
lines between her eyes. Go to bed, love.

What about you?

You showered on the plane. I didnt.

But... Her voice faded when she looked at him. He no longer held himself as though he was
ready to fight or flee on an instants notice. He was tired. She could see it in his eyes,
in the lines of his body. Despite that, he looked years younger. The wary, unwavering
calculation was gone.

But? he asked.

She kissed him gently and put desire on hold. Ask me in the morning.

When he understood, his body changed in the space of a few heartbeats. He pulled her
closer and opened her mouth with a twist of his head, sinking into her with a heady, slow
luxury. A taste of brandy, a wisp of mint, and a swirl of something much hotter, more
ancient.

Dangerous.

Youre tired, she said.

Dead on my feet. Take me to bed.

You dont have to.

Youd rather I sleep on my feet?

Her smile curved against his lips. You know what I mean.

Nope. His tongue dipped, tasted, savored. What do you mean?

It can wait until morning.

It?

Sex, she muttered, embarrassed. She and Len had never talked about it. They had just done
it.

Sex can wait until hell freezes over, Archer said calmly.

She gave him a startled look. The heat and laughter and confidence in his eyes made her
feel as though she was being licked all over by tongues of fire.

Making love, now, thats different, he said. That cant wait a minute longer.

Her smile disappeared in a kiss that was both restrained and urgent. When it ended, she
was naked on the bed and his tongue was sliding over her, lingering in all the tender
places, the hidden places, the secret places where scent and mystery fused into heat. His
hands caressed even as his mouth tasted, hovered, tasted again, before slowly, slowly
sinking into her, unraveling her in a loving that was both tender and starkly intimate.

Her breath stopped and her heart speeded as her climax uncoiled in a luxuriant whip of
pleasure that arched her whole body. Seeing her lovers dark hair against her skin as he
turned and bit her with

exquisite care sent another slow lash of ecstasy through her, another unraveling so
beautiful that she couldnt breathe. Yet somehow she said his name.

He looked up, saw the hazy indigo of her eyes, and smoothed his cheek against the sultry
flesh he could still taste on his tongue. When he felt the ripple begin again, the sweet
slow clenching of her body, he could wait no longer.

His name came in fragments from her lips when he entered her with a single, prolonged
movement of his hips. The ravishing whip uncurled again, taking her, giving her to him. He
took the gift and gave himself in turn, moving slowly, kissing her tenderly. Despite the
urgency building with every leisurely stroke, he savored each moment, memorizing the scent
and taste of her shimmering and crying, burning beneath him.

And then he was burning with her, pulsing in light-shot darkness, spending himself until
he had no more to give, no more air to breathe, no more body to feel, nothing but her arms
holding him to tell him that he was still alive.

It was a long time before he found enough strength to roll aside. Even then he didnt leave
her body. He simply gathered her closer and held her against him as he turned over. She
made a murmurous sound, burrowed into his neck, and took a ragged breath as the silvery
aftershocks of ecstasy rippled through her again.

You were supposed to be tired, she said huskily. I was. Next time you get to do all the
work. She smiled against his neck. Youll have to tell me how. In great detail.

The thought of it made his heartbeat quicken. He laughed softly. He had never been like
this with any woman. The sensual revelation was as surprising to him as anything that had
ever happened in his life. He nuzzled her ear, bit delicately, and said, If this keeps up,
youre going to be pregnant for sure.

More than half asleep, she snuggled against him and said the first thing that came to her
mind. I hope so.

Relief and something very close to joy swept through him. He held her even closer,
wondering if many people were ever lucky enough to know they held the world in their arms.
Good. Ill make the arrangements tomorrow. Well be married as soon as

Married. Hannah struggled upright and stared down at Archer as though he had grown two
heads. Who said anything about marriage?

We did. When we agreed to make a baby.

No. She pushed away from him and sat on the edge of the bed. I didnt say anything like
that.

If youre pregnant

Ill sell my half of Pearl Cove, she cut in, buy a house, and make my living color-matching
pearls for the other farmers. It would be a good, stable job, and it would give me plenty
of time to raise my child.

Your child? Archers question was as cold as the chill he felt inside and out, everywhere
that he had been warm from her. What about me?

Angry, frightened, feeling cornered by life and wanting to lash out in all directions, she
combed trembling fingers through her hair. She didnt want to talk about this, any of it.
She just wanted to go on as they had, suffused in passion, not asking about tomorrow
because they both knew there wasnt any tomorrow.

Not for them. Damn it, Archer. What are you complaining about? Sex with no strings
attached? Most men would

be dancing a jig. Sex with no strings attached. He closed his eyes and tried to accept the
fact that the woman he could have loved all the way to his

soul felt nothing more than lust for him. Im not most men.

I know. Thats why I cant marry you. Rage chased in the wake of pain, caught it, raced neck
and neck in a headlong run toward destruction. Archer let the pain sear through him, but
he fought the anger savagely. At a level too deep for words, he knew if he slipped the
leash on rage, he would regret it even more than he regretted leaving Hannah to Lens mercy
ten years ago.

Why cant you marry me? he asked evenly. Explain it to me, Hannah.

She looked at him. Her breath caught at the drawn lines of his face, as though he had his
hand in fire and was fighting not to show pain. Yet it was there. Agony. Stark and real.

Something terrifyingly like his agony sliced through her to her soul. Then he opened his
eyes. They were the color of steel. They belonged to a man who knew no mercy. Look in the
mirror, she whispered. Youll see why. Tell me.

Youre like Len! Her breath broke on a sob. Damn you, youre like Len! Great smile, great
body, and underneath it all, as cold a bastard as ever walked the earth. That kind of
ruthlessness makes love impossible. It makes everything impossible, even the most simple
affection. She took a tearing breath. Tears blocked her view of Archer, but it didnt
matter because all she could see was the past. I was pregnant once. When I miscarried, I
wanted to die. I almost got my wish. Later, much later, I went down on my knees and
thanked God that I didnt have a child to raise in Lens cold shadow. Ill never expose my
child to that kind of ruthlessness. Never.

Once, years ago, Archer had been beaten to the point that it was agony to breathe, to
move, even to blink his eyes. He felt that way now. I would never hurt any child, much
less my own.

She just shook her head. You dont understand. You cant. Like Len. He didnt get up each
morning and decide to be the way he was. He just... was.

Silence stretched, stretched, thinned. Snapped.

Lets see if I understand, Archer said, his voice low and flat. Marriage is out because you
dont trust me and you dont like me, but you dont mind having sex with me.

She gave a broken laugh and wiped her eyes. I trust you. Thats why I called you. I know
you wont

kill me.

You trust me with your body, but not your emotions, your future, and your children, is
that it?

The blunt words made her flinch, yet she didnt argue. I like you. I didnt want to, but I
do. And the the sex is good. She shivered. Very, very good. Cant that be enough?

It had been enough for Archer in the past, with other women. It wasnt nearly enough now.

Sex and protection, thats all you want from me? he asked, driven to be certain.

Again his blunt words scraped over her emotions, touching raw spots she didnt even know
she had. Yes. Her voice was bleak. Thats all.

Archer looked at Hannahs bruised eyes and trembling lips, at her chin tilted up and her
shoulders squared. He remembered the girl who had stood on a street corner in Rio de
Janeiro with empty pockets and a raw determination to survive. With a distant sense of
surprise he realized that he had fallen in love with Hannah then: her courage and her
fear, her despair and her hope, the life that burned so incandescently within her, giving
her a beauty no other woman had ever equaled in his eyes.

Nothing had changed in ten years.

Nothing would change.

He would never have the woman he loved.

The mattress hitched suddenly as Archer got up and began dressing. If youre pregnant, I
will support you and my child.

No, I-

The child will know his or her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents, he continued
relentlessly, zipping up his pants with a quick jerk. Most of all, the child will know me.
He buttoned his shirt with quick flicks of his fingers. If that upsets you, I regret it,
but its not negotiable. If you wanted a child without complications, you should have gone
to a sperm bank.

But I- See that intercom? he cut in, pointing to a lighted panel on the wall by the bed.
She nodded. If you want protection or sex, punch number six.

Ian Chang shut off his car engine and got out while the red dust was still boiling up
toward the gunmetal sky. As he strode over the walkway to the verandah, he ran through all
the points his father wanted him to cover with Hannah McGarry who was buying what, who
was selling what, and the gradations of threat to apply at each point in the negotiation.

Sam Chang wanted Pearl Cove, even if it meant partnership with Donald Donovans Number One
Son.

Unfortunately Hannah had refused to answer her phone or return messages left on her
answering machine, which meant that Ian Chang had been forced to make the boring drive
from Broome just to talk to her. Irritated, he knocked hard enough to rattle the verandah
door on its hinges. The thunderous sound startled a flock of cockatoos. They took off in a
swirling, darting, shrieking cloud of white.

It was the only response Changs knock got.

Hannah, its Ian, he said loudly. Let me in.

No one answered. It was the same for the back door. Nothing but silence and the muted echo
of his fist thumping on the door. Cursing in a sizzling mix of Cantonese and English,
Chang lit a cigarette and headed for the scattering of cottages where the workers lived.

Coco waited on the front porch of the third cottage, leaning languidly against the wall.
She had been leaning there since she saw Changs car roar up to the McGarry house. She
could have saved him the trip down to the cottages, just as she could have saved him the
trip to Pearl Cove by returning the messages she had listened to in the middle of the
night, when no one would notice her inside the McGarry house.

But Coco wasnt in a mood to save anyone trouble. She was in a mood to cause it. Especially
with Ian Chang, who had forgotten their date a few nights ago. She wasnt used to a man
forgetting her. Just as she wasnt used to a man looking past her to Len McGarrys pale,
sexless wife. The memory still stung.

Is Hannah diving again? Chang demanded in English without so much as a greeting. No. Is
she in whats left of the sheds? No.

Then where the hell is she? He drew in smoke and sent it out again in a rush of silver.

Coco shrugged, but her black eyes gleamed with cold amusement. She liked seeing Chang
upset. She gone.

What do you mean, shes gone? The angry demand in his voice was like wine to Coco. She had
his full attention now. Just that. Gone.

Fffft.

Where? he snarled. Did Christian get her?

Laughter that was both soft and hard curled out of Coco. No, it is Donovan.

Uneasiness cooled Changs anger. He took another pull on the cigarette, swallowed smoke,
and let his temper damp down. Shes with Donovan?

Oui. They go to Broome and never come back. Cable Beach, nimmm, the rooms grand and the
sheets ver cool and smooth. She took the cigarette from him, sucked deeply, and returned
it. Then she licked her lips with the deliberation of a cat grooming itself. Maybe they in
bed still, yes? He is a ver potent man. Long time since she was a woman.

Chang didnt like to think about it Hannah and Archer, the tangle of legs and musky sweat
and

pumping hips. You should have called me.

But why? She smiled with pure malice at what she saw in Changs expression. She asked in
French, Did you lust to see how well he fills the hole between Sister McGarrys white legs?

Chang flipped the burning cigarette onto the ground between Cocos bare feet. His left hand
shot out and wrapped around her throat. Dont play the bitch with me. I havent time for it.
Where is Hannah?

Where is Donovan? Coco countered, amused.

His fingers tightened enough to leave marks on her tan skin. If I find out that you knew
more than you told me, youll be stuck with your half sister back on an atoll in Tahiti
thats smaller than your ass. Do you understand nie?

Smiling, she inched closer to Chang, brushing her breasts against him, then her thighs.
Coco understands many things.

For a moment he was tempted to take what she was so plainly offering.

Seeing it, Coco smiled. Like the cigarette smoke curling up between her feet, her smile
was cool.

Chang let go of her and stepped back a bare inch. Just enough not to feel her hard nipples
against his chest. I dont have time now. Later.

Black eyebrows rose like sleek whips. What if I do not have time later?

Find it.

Coco thought of the cache of pearls she had built over the years, of the payments she had
received from the Chang family, and of other payments from the pearls her half sister sold
whenever Coco gathered enough to make it worthwhile. She would take Changs money and his
screwing, because he was the most interesting game in town at the moment; he wanted her,
but not enough to beg.

Nakamori had been hers for years, enslaved, pleading for the sweet poison he was addicted
to. Flynn was too much like her; neither of them felt jealousy as other people seemed to,
something to kill or die for. With Flynn there was simple sexuality, a bull covering as
many cows as presented themselves. All women were the same to him. Cows. Just as all men
were the same to Coco. Bulls.

She would always regret that Len had died before she could find the key to seduce him.
From him she would have had the secret of the black pearls that looked like Australias
famous black opals. And from him she also would have had the only emotion she felt deeply.

Fear.

Sighing, Coco stretched and rubbed herself against Chang. Cest vrai, mon cher. Coco find
time. Later.

Chang didnt bother to say goodbye. He simply turned and strode off to his car, leaving
Coco with a thin wisp of cigarette smoke coiling up between her bare legs.

Before Pearl Cove vanished from his rearview mirror, Ian was calling Cable Beach hotels.
Most people who demanded to know if someone was registered at a hotel would be politely
told that such information wasnt given to the public. The Chang family, however, owned one
hotel outright and had employees at all the others. When a Chang wanted answers, he got
them.

By the time Ian sped into Broome, he knew he was in trouble. He went to his office, looked
at the deceptively placid ocean until he was certain of his own self-control, and then
called his fathers private line.

There is a problem, Ian said in curt Cantonese when his father came on the line. Increase
the offer by ten percent. That is not the problem. I listen.

Ian didnt doubt it. Being listened to by Sam Chang was an experience most people didnt
wish to repeat. It reminded everyone of the days when emperors were gods who anointed or
executed at will.

Hannah McGarry has vanished, Ian said baldly. So has Archer Donovan. The silence that came
back told him that Sam was still listening. She is not at any hotel, motel, or rented room
in Broome, Ian said. Not under her own name, perhaps?

Of course, Ian snapped. Then he reined in his impatience. He had had a lifetime to get
used to one simple fact: his father thought that his Number One Son was incapable of doing
anything more taxing than producing sons. It had taken five tries, but Ian had managed to
get a son and heir. Unfortunately, as far as Ian was concerned, said son and heir was
useless, a gambler and a wastrel whose greatest ambition was to clean out his fathers and
grandfathers bank accounts.

Speak, Sam said harshly.

Hannah McGarry is not staying in Broome under any name. No tall Caucasian woman with short
sun-streaked hair and big indigo eyes has checked into any accommodation, with or without
a man. No tall, muscular Caucasian man with pale eyes and short black hair and beard has
checked into any accommodation, with or without a woman. Donovans car has not been turned
in to the rental agency, which means that they are probably in Derby by now. Or even
Darwin.

The silence was different now. Ian couldnt say how it was different; he just knew it was.
He had had many years to learn how to read his father. Right now the senior Chang was
thinking hard, fast, and cruel. Ian hoped he wouldnt be on the receiving end of the
cruelty, but braced for it anyway.

Incompetence, Sam said angrily. When will I grow accustomed to Number One Sons
incompetence?

Ian muttered the required apologies for living, breathing, and disappointing his father.

I will find them for you, Sam said, his voice harsh. Then you will bring me the secret of
Pearl Cove.

If I have Hannah alone, you will have your secret, Ian promised. If Archer Donovan is with
her, we will have a great problem. The Americans want him unharmed.

Sam made a curt, throaty sound possible only to a Chinese autocrat. I will test their
resolve on this Donovan.

Please do, Ian said smoothly. While you negotiate with the Americans, I will search Derby
and Darwin for our missing pawns.

Sam grunted. With luck, we will not need them.

Though Ian didnt move, he came to full, quivering attention. May I ask why?

The manager of my Hong Kong store called. He has seen a black pearl unlike any other. It
has all the colors of life and the dark transparency of time.

Did it come from Pearl Cove? Ian demanded. No. From the American gambling city of Las
Vegas. Where is the pearl now?

The swine would not sell it at any price. His wife wanted an entire necklace of such
pearls.

Sam muttered in disgusted Cantonese about stupid dogs and bitches in heat. First Son, you
went to Stanford in California. Tell me. Why do American men let their women run free? It
is against all common sense.

If I knew the answer to that, I would understand the West.

I do not.

Sam lit a cigarette, drew hard, and blew over the mouthpiece of the phone, setting up an
odd rushing-whistling sound. You know the answer to nothing. Why have I been cursed with
seven daughters and a worthless son?

Ian didnt know the answer to that question either.

Archer was up and working long before dawn. Lawe and Justins suite was laid out like
Archers, with a sitting room just off the hall. Because the boys shared the living
quarters, there were two smaller, adjoining bedrooms with big beds. Thanks to the modern,
angular style of the condo building, every room had privacy and some kind of a view.

But even when dawn started sending pale streamers of light over the city, Archer didnt
look up from the computer screen in front of him to admire the sight of the sleeping city
coming awake. It wasnt the computer that kept his attention from the cloud-shot sunrise.
There wasnt anything exciting on the screen. He had been over and over the information,
seeking patterns, finding them, discarding them.

Nothing new.

At the moment, the list of telephone numbers that Len McGarry had frequently called glowed
on the screen. There was a name and an address beside each one. Most of the numbers traced
back to pearl farms in Western Australia. Another number led to one of the Tahitian pearl
farms owned by the Chang family. Archer ignored those listings. None of Lens competitors
or professional friends had the secret of the black pearls.

A handful of numbers belonged to high-end jewelry stores such as Sea Gems. Five numbers
belonged to pearl dealers whose reputations were no better than they had to be to stay out
of jail. Two numbers led back to midlevel bosses of the Red Phoenix Triad.

What were you up to, Len? Archer muttered. Or were you just stirring the pot to see what
floated to the top?

Len had been good at that. The man was a trouble magnet, and he took the devils own
delight in it. If trouble didnt exist, he poked and kicked until it boiled up around him.
And then he laughed, because life never rushed through him so hotly as it did when he was
rocketing down the greased skids to hell.

The computer cursor blinked patiently, waiting for its human master to do something.

Archer clicked the mouse and a new screen appeared. On it was a long list of names and
dates, quantities, and enigmatic entries along the margin. The names and quantities
related to pearl-production allowances, shell quotas, and pearl sales. He had studied
enough raw data in his past service with Uncle Sam to see very quickly that the allowances
and quotas had no obvious relation to the size or productivity of the pearl farms.

Some growers get a higher quota than others, according to a formula only the government
can understand.

Hannahs sardonic words echoed in his mind, distracting him. He didnt want to think about
her. Thinking would make the pain worse, not better. All he could do was find Lens killer
and get Hannah out of his life. Maybe the ache and emptiness would go with her.

Maybe. But he wasnt betting on it. He dragged his mind back to the task at hand. There was
nothing he could do to change what he had

done in the past or her fear of him in the present.

Youre like Len! Damn you, youre like Len!

Ruthless. Cold. Unworthy.

For a moment Archers eyes closed, as though being blind would somehow make the agony less.
It didnt. He accepted that, too. He had lost Hannah to Len. Twice. This time he had lost
her before he ever had a real chance to win, but not before he had learned the razor
stroke of love against his undefended soul.

Accept it. Get over it. Get on with it.

Archers eyes opened. He stared at the information on the screen. Nothing new emerged.
Pearl Cove, along with other rebellious pearl farms in every pearling zone of Western
Australia, had been systematically given the short straw when it came to allotments of
wild shell. The allotment of domestic shell, the amount of oysters a farmer could breed
and raise on his own farm, had also been curtailed.

The only loophole was experimental shell, those oysters devoted to improving the breed.
Not surprisingly, Len had designated forty percent of his farm as experimental. The truth
was closer to seventy percent, a fact that even Hannah hadnt known. The shortfall in
pearls was made up in Tahitian gems from Sam Changs farms.