Donovans 01 - Amber Beach

woman and frowned. No red jacket, but the rest looked real familiar, even without binoculars. “Isn’t that the wom—” she began.
    Jake shut her up with a hard kiss. “Move, darlin’. We’re blocking progress.”
    “Of course, buttercup . Whatever you say.”
    He gave her a warning look. She gave him a wide-eyed, innocent, empty smile and turned to follow the Russian to his table.
    Ellen took a table nearby. Her partner went to the bar and ordered two mugs of chowder and two beers. Jake watched the couple without appearing to. He held out Honor’s chair, then sat down beside her so close that their thighs rubbed. She flinched subtly but didn’t move away.
    The bar door opened again. Resnikov’s pale blue eyes narrowed. Jake glanced sideways toward the front of the bar.
    “Old home week,” he murmured.
    “What?” Honor asked.
    “Snake Eyes. Don’t look. Trust me.”
    She bit back the obvious retort. “Who’s his date?”
    “He’s solo.”
    “No surprise there. Even a mirror wouldn’t want to be seen with him.”
    Jake smiled faintly. He looked toward Resnikov. “Friend or competitor?”
    “Pavlov?” He shrugged. “I don’t know.”
    Jake didn’t believe him.
    The door opened again. Conroy walked in with a young, burly man who was probably a recruit. Jake saluted silently. Conroy responded with a nod and headed toward the bar.
    “Who is that?” Resnikov said sharply.
    “An old friend.”
    “Will he want to join us?”
    “I don’t know. Will he?”
    Resnikov appeared to think about it, then shook his head in the negative. “On the whole, for you it would be better to renew old friendships elsewhere.”
    Jake wasn’t surprised. “Right. What’s on your mind?”
    Before Resnikov answered, he looked around the smoky room. The tables close to them were full. Then came a swath of empty chairs. Then came a knot of regulars who looked frankly surly at the invasion of their turf.
    “I was told this was a quiet place,” the Russian said. “Perhaps we should return to my ship. It would not be wise to show you the amber here.”
    Honor took a swift breath. Before she could speak, Jake’s hand clamped down on her thigh beneath the table.
    “What amber?” he asked. Though the words were clear, they didn’t carry any farther than Resnikov.
    “A, er, sampling? Is that correct word?”
    “Close enough. Samples of what?”
    “Amber, but of course. My employers would like your opinion of the worth of these pieces.”
    “Why didn’t they ask you?”
    “They wanted the best. I am merely quite good.”
    Honor looked from Resnikov’s handsome, surprisingly elegant features to Jake’s rough-edged face. Beneath his offhanded expression, she sensed an intensity in him that compelled her. It reminded her of the single-minded lover who had turned her world inside out in the space of a night.
    But sex wasn’t the center of Jake’s attention right now. Amber was.
    He loves amber like some men love God.
    “There’s a back room here,” Jake said. “I’ll see if it’s available.”
    Two minutes and forty dollars later, he led Resnikov and Honor into a dingy private room. The Russian set down his beer and a small suitcase not unlike Jake’s. Resnikov pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and settled into a chair. In front of him was a circular table whose ruined cover might once have been green but now was the color of dirty hands. So was the deck of cards stacked near the overflowing ashtray.
    Jake chose a chair that had a view of the door they had just come through. There was another door that led out to the alley. He could see that one, too. He pulled a chair very close beside him, patted it, and smiled at Honor.
    “Come to papa,” he said.
    “You’re old, buttercup, but not that old,” she said, deadpan.
    Resnikov snickered. “She is like her brother, yes?”
    “Not in the ways that really matter,” Jake said, giving Honor an up-and-down look and a slow grin.
    She blew a kiss to him through lips that wanted to snarl. When she noticed the Russian giving her an odd look, she took Jake’s hand and nipped at the pad of his thumb. “You promised this wouldn’t take long, remember?”
    Jake’s eyes narrowed. He made no attempt to hide the leap of hunger caused by Honor’s playful bite.
    “You heard the lady,” he said in a husky voice. “Let’s see the amber.”
    Resnikov opened his briefcase, pulled out a piece, and set it on the table. Jake picked up the stone. It was half the