Donovans 02 - Jade Island

Jake. And I did hate to fish before I met him.”
    “I always wondered about that,” Kyle said, turning to his brother-in-law. “How did you convince her that fishing wasn’t slimy, scary, and disgusting?”
    “No problem. I let her use my rod.”
    There was a beat of silence before Kyle snickered.
    Color burned on Honor’s cheekbones. She tried not to laugh, but couldn’t stop herself. She gave Jake a slow-motion cuff on his shoulder that turned into a caress halfway down his arm. He gave her fingers a lingering, lemony squeeze and a smile that transformed his hard features.
    Smiling rather wistfully, Lianne scattered fresh herbs over the filets. As she admired the contrast of vivid green herbs and red-orange flesh, she thought of her years withLee. She had never had that kind of sexy teasing and easy camaraderie with him. Perhaps the difference was cultural. Perhaps it was personal. Whatever, it was real.
    The front door of the condo opened.
    “Archer?” Kyle called as he started for the door. He was impatient to know if anyone had been following Lianne. And if so, who the tail worked for.
    “No,” called a woman’s voice. “It’s Faith and Tony.”
    Lianne wondered if Honor and Jake noticed the subtle hardening of Kyle’s features. Lianne certainly did.
    “Faith is my twin,” Honor said over her shoulder as she rushed out to the living room, her smile just a bit too big, too welcoming.
    Kyle and Jake exchanged a brief, sideways look, but neither said a word.
    “Hey, it’s your gorgeous sister,” said a male voice. “Good thing you’re spoken for, babe. I love the way you fill out a sweater.”
    Whatever Honor said didn’t reach the kitchen.
    “Drizzle some olive oil over that,” Jake told Lianne. “I’d better go see that Faith and Honor don’t get in trouble between the front door and the kitchen.”
    “The two of them are like puppies,” Kyle explained. “What mischief one doesn’t think of, the other does.”
    Lianne lifted silky black eyebrows. “I suppose you and your brothers never egged each other on into trouble?”
    He fixed her with innocent, gold-and-green eyes. “Me? Trouble? I was altar boy of the year.”
    “I’d be impressed if I believed you.”
    Honor came into the kitchen arm in arm with her sister. Honor had sun-streaked chestnut hair; Faith’s was a golden blond. Honor was an inch taller and more roundly built. Faith was a willow. Honor’s eyes were the same striking color as Kyle’s. Faith’s eyes were the color of fog just before it thins into clear sky—silver with a hint of blue. Both sisters had slanting, pronounced cheekbones, a stubborn chin, a light-up-the-room smile, and a leggy, easy stride.
    The man walking next to Jake was a big, brown-eyed blond who looked like he lifted brick outhouses for the hell of it. He was bigger than Kyle, bigger than Jake; Tony had been a nose tackle in college and a third-round draft pick for the pro circuit. Then he brought his foot down the wrong way on Astroturf and fractured every bone in his right ankle. An orthopedic surgeon put it all back together with titanium pins and screws, but Tony’s career was over. It took a second break in the same ankle, more surgery, three months on crutches, and six more on pain pills to convince him, but he finally gave up his dreams of gridiron fame and took a job with his father’s PR firm.
    “There’s my man! Kyle, gimme five. How ’bout them Sea Hawks?” Tony asked triumphantly.
    Kyle and Jake looked blank. So did everyone but Faith. Football season was long over.
    “Whatta play!” Tony said. “Pulled it out in the fourth with the kind of pattern I used to run when I played pro ball.”
    “What game?” Kyle asked.
    “The one last night on the sports channel. They ran it all with commentary from a Sea Hawks trainer.”
    “I didn’t catch the rerun,” Kyle said. “Lianne, this is—”
    “You missed it?” Tony asked in disbelief. Then he smiled slightly. “Oh, yeah. I keep forgetting you didn’t play in college, big guy like you. You were in what, golf?”
    “Synchronized swimming.”
    Honor’s smile faded.
    Faith’s became more determined.
    Kyle took a better grip on his uncertain temper. Faith was wearing a diamond the size of Wisconsin on her left hand. Or left fist, at the moment. He didn’t give a damn what Tony thought, but he loved his little sister.
    “Lianne Blakely,” Kyle said, showing a double row ofwhite teeth, “my sister Faith and her