Donovans 01 - Amber Beach

thing he and Archer agree on. But why would the Russian government steal its own Amber Room?”
    “Same reason the Italian mafia stole one of Italy’s great paintings— The Nativity by Caravaggio. Competing interests. Crime and legitimate government may overlap, but they aren’t the same. Yet.”
    “You said something about Lithuanian terrorists. What would they want the Amber Room for? To swap it for arms?”
    “That’s one possibility. If they were really smart, they would use it as a lever to pry themselves farther apart from Russia and get their own currency, a real rather than a toothless local government, real autonomy, that sort of thing. Unfortunately, right now Russia can’t afford to turn loose any more pieces of its former empire without inviting total collapse.”
    “What about the woman? What’s her interest?”
    “Marju?”
    “No. The one in the red coat.”
    “Oh. That’s Ellen Lazarus. We used to work for the same outfit.”
    “The U.S. government?” Honor asked evenly.
    “Part of it. Nobody works for all of it, not even the president. As for Ellen, it’s simple. She wants the Amber Room.”
    “Why?”
    “She didn’t say.”
    “Guess.”
    “Politics. International leverage. You stroke mine and I’ll stroke yours and we’ll all have a fine time for as long as it lasts.”
    “Jake Mallory’s First Principle,” Honor said sardonically. “For as long as it lasts.”
    “Beats fairy dust about love, life, or country ever after, world without end, amen. Nothing lasts forever, honey.”
    “Even amber?” she challenged.
    “Even that. It comes close, though. When you hold a Neolithic figurine in your hand, time peels away until you can almost touch the yearnings of the people who put their own souls into a simple carving . . .”
    The husky resonance of Jake’s voice shivered through Honor. He loved ancient amber the way she had always dreamed of being loved by a man.
    Yet he had turned down the very thing he loved so deeply.
    “Why?” she asked.
    “Why what?”
    “Why did you refuse Resnikov? Didn’t you believe he would follow through with his promises?”
    “It didn’t matter. I only work for one employer at a time.”
    “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