Donovans 02 - Jade Island

jade burial suit, she shut down. Then she changed the subject. When he brought the topic back to jade, she asked about fishing.
    So he took the pretty little thief fishing.
    Except she just didn’t look like a thief. Especially now, playing tug-of-war with a rockfish and so excited that she was dancing in place on the Tomorrow ’s deck. She was wearing one of his fishing jackets over her businesslike suit. The waterproof jacket hung halfway down her legs. She should have looked ridiculous. Instead, she looked edible. She definitely didn’t look like a woman on the verge of being arrested as an international art thief.
    Archer was wrong. Or the government was. Or…
    What’s the problem—your mind or your dick?
    Archer’s sardonic question echoed in Kyle’s memory. He told himself that he was too old and too smart to be led around by his dumb handle again. And he had proved it last night. He had been the one to end the kiss, not Lianne.
    Besides, there were good reasons why Lianne could be innocent. The fact that there were good reasons why she could be guilty just made the game more interesting. And that was all it was. A game.
    If Kyle didn’t want to play, there was the uncomfortable fact that he owed the government a favor that Archer shouldn’t have to be the one to repay. Let his brother go count pearls in Japan or Australia or Tahiti; Kyle was determined to find out if Lianne was a thief and he was a dick-brained idiot, or if she was mostly innocent and he wasn’t a complete fool.
    Laughter and the flash of dark cognac eyes distracted Kyle from his edgy thoughts. He checked the position of the Tomorrow, saw that nothing had changed, and went back to watching Lianne. The twenty-seven-foot powerboat didn’t need much attention at the moment. It was anchored up close to Jade Island, at the foot of a steep cliff.
    He had chosen the island’s remote, stony presence for three reasons. The first was its proximity to Farmer Island. The second was the near certainty of snagging a rockfish among the eddies and swirls where the north side of the tiny island rose sheer and stark from the dark green sea. The third reason was that he had almost died here. The severe beauty of fir and rock, wind and sea, would remind him that there were some mistakes a man could get killed repeating.
    Thinking with his dick was one of them.
    Lianne blew strands of black hair out of her eyes, settled her feet more securely on the gently rolling deck, and shifted her grip on the rod.
    “Is it another dogfish?” Kyle asked.
    “How would I know? I can’t see it. Maybe it’s a salmon.”
    “Doubt it.”
    There hadn’t been enough time to make a serious run at trolling for salmon, and the tide was wrong anyway. Fortunately, rockfish were tasty and they weren’t as picky about what and when they ate as salmon were.
    “This is great,” Lianne said gleefully, reeling as hard as she could. “When I went out on that cattle boat, it took forever to find any fish at all. I’ve had two so far.”
    “They were dogfish. That’s why we shifted fishing spots.”
    “In China we would have eaten them.”
    “In China you eat anything that doesn’t eat you first. Keep reeling. I’m hungry enough to eat a big rockfish all by myself and look around for more.”
    “Aren’t you going to fish?” Lianne asked, frowning as she reeled line in.
    “I figure I’ll be kept busy baiting hooks for you.”
    And pulling hooks off the bottom, replacing hooks after dogfish swallowed them, untangling snarls, and fixing allthe other minor disasters that came while learning how to catch bottom fish.
    Lianne laughed in sheer excitement as the rockfish fought against being reeled in. Watching her, Kyle kept trying to convince himself that she was a clever thief bent on revenge, no matter what the cost to family and country. He didn’t make much headway on the project because he was caught in a three-cornered argument with himself: his mind had no problem with guilt, his dick didn’t care either way, and his gut was hanging tough for innocence.
    “This fish must be huge!” Lianne said, bracing herself again as the Tomorrow ’s deck shifted almost lazily beneath her feet.
    “Doubt it. Rockfish hit hard and give up easy.”
    “When does the give-up begin?” Lianne asked.
    “Real soon.”
    “Is that a pun?”
    “Bite your tongue.”
    The weight of the unhappy fish dragged the top of the rod into an arc. Long and limber, the rod was designed to