Donovans 01 - Amber Beach

his laughter against her thigh, but that put him very close to real temptation. He remembered all too well where he had left off.
    Honor sucked in her breath. He was teasing her in the most delightful way, drawing hot designs on her skin with his tongue and then nibbling along the cooling lines.
    “All right,” Archer said harshly. “I didn’t want to scare you, but you don’t leave me any choice. I’m hearing rumors that some really ugly folks are after Kyle or the stolen amber or both.”
    “Do you think they found Kyle?” she asked, afraid all over again for her missing brother.
    Jake paused in his sensual play. The fear in Honor’s voice was echoed in the sudden tension of her body, a tightness that had nothing to do with rising desire.
    “I don’t know,” Archer said, his voice rough with frustration. “I only know they’re looking.”
    “But why go to all this trouble for some amber that could be replaced with a few trips to the mines?”
    “It’s not that simple.”
    “I’m listening.”
    “I don’t have time to educate you in the bleak, bloody stupidity of clan warfare carried on in the ruins of empire. Take my word for it. You’re in danger as long as you stay there. Get out.”
    “I believe you, but”
    “No buts,” he interrupted. “I’m coming down the instant the weather lifts enough for a plane to get out.”
    “What’s the rush? Do you think Kyle is here?”
    “I think someone should be there.”
    “No problem, I’m here.”
    “Damn it, haven’t you been listening? You could be right in the line of fire! The men looking for Kyle aren’t the churchgoing, baby-kissing, kind-to-mother type.”
    “I figured that out for myself after the one-way phone calls and the boats following me, and the”
    “Boats?” Archer interrupted swiftly. “Have you been out in the Tomorrow ?”
    “Yes. I think Kyle”
    “Are you crazy?” he interrupted
    “I’m your sister, does that count?”
    Archer exploded. “You don’t have the faintest idea how to handle a boat! You have no business playing around with”
    “I hired someone,” she interrupted loudly.
    “To do what?”
    “To teach me to run the boat.”
    Jake tried not to tense. He wasn’t successful. Not that Honor would have noticed. She was already strung as tightly as a recurved bow.
    “Did you ask for references?” Archer asked.
    “Yes.” It was the truth as far as it went. She had asked. She just hadn’t gotten any. “Jake is a very good boat driver. He knows SeaSports and he’s learning how to deal with Kyle’s chart plotter. We went through a lot of stored courses yesterday.”
    “Are you doing what I think you’re doing?”
    “Looking for Kyle? Of course. I may be your sister, but I’m not completely crazy.”
    “Honor. Listen. Please. It’s too dangerous.”
    “Jake can handle himself.” He also could handle her exceptionally well, but she didn’t think Archer would appreciate that discovery nearly as much as she did.
    “Does Jake have a last name?”
    “So you can have Donovan International detectives vet him?” she asked sweetly.
    “Jake who?” was Archer’s only response.
    “Mallory.”
    There was a charged silence.
    Honor didn’t like it. She knew all about the quiet that preceded a major Donovan storm.
    “Is he about six feet two, moves like a fighter, light eyes and dark hair, scar on one eyebrow and a small one on his lip?” Archer asked softly.
    Honor felt the room falling away. She didn’t know what a fighter moved like, but the rest fit. “Yes,” she whispered.
    “You little fool. He’s the one who framed Kyle. He could even be Kyle’s killer. Get out of that house and stay out.”

13
    H ONOR’S HORRIFIED EXPRESSION told Jake everything he didn’t want to know. She was looking at him the way a kid would look at the man who shot and mounted Santa’s reindeer on the den wall.
    He took the phone from her hand before she could stop him. “Hello, Archer. Telling lies again, I see.”
    Silence came, then a swiftly drawn breath. “Mallory!”
    “Yeah.”
    “You son of a bitch. If you so much as touch Honor I’ll—”
    “Shove it,” Jake said through his teeth. “You’re the one who sent her to the firing line, not me.”
    “I didn’t know—”
    “Shove that, too,” Jake interrupted. “There’s a lot you don’t know but it hasn’t stopped you from shooting off your goddamn mouth, has it?”
    “Listen, you assh—”
    “You listen,” Jake said, talking