Donovans 02 - Jade Island

real friends, no lover, no—”
    “There’s me,” Kyle interrupted before he could think better of it.
    “One night.” Her smile trembled on the edge of turning upside down. “And what a night. But there are the days, aren’t there? All the days. I thought it was enough to be independent, owing nothing to anyone, building my own business so that no man could wave his hand and kick me out on the street if he got tired of me.”
    Kyle didn’t have to be a mind reader to know what Lianne was talking about. “Johnny Tang and your mother have been together longer than a lot of married couples.”
    “I’m sure that comforts her when Johnny spends Chinese New Year with his family, shows up for their birthdays and christenings and misses ours, gets his wife pregnant as often as he likes…”
    Another violent shiver racked Lianne, the only outward indication of how hard she was holding onto her self-control. “How they hate me,” she whispered.
    “Your mother?” Kyle asked, shocked.
    “No. My father’s family. They would send me to hell with a smile.”
    “What about your father?”
    “What about him?” Lianne asked wearily. “His money raised me, clothed me, educated me. That’s more than some fathers do for their legitimate kids. As for the rest, it’s my fault.”
    “What is?”
    “Isolation. Building Jade Statements took every bit of my time and energy. While I was doing it, I didn’t regret it. I might have been alone, but I wasn’t lonely. Besides, I was always going to get to a point in the business when I would have time for a personal life. Someday. Now…” Lianne cleared her dry throat. “Now I’ll have time, all kinds of time. My business won’t survive the loss of my reputation.”
    “Assuming you’re guilty.”
    “Why shouldn’t people assume it? Wen does. Johnny’s youngest son does. And so do you.”
    “I didn’t say that.”
    “You didn’t have to.” Lianne turned away from the bright sunlight pouring through the windshield. “You just keep watching me with those cool, measuring eyes and asking me what really is going on.”
    “That’s—”
    “No,” Lianne cut in, lifting her hand abruptly as though to ward off an attack. “I’m not complaining. You barely know me, yet you got me out of handcuffs. It’s a lot more than I had a right to ask of a one-night fling.”
    “Is that how you feel?”
    “No. It’s how you feel.”
    “Right now, all I feel is pissed off.”
    For a time only random traffic noises disturbed the strained silence. Kyle drove with an unconscious expertise that left him plenty of time to think. Too much. He kept remembering Kaliningrad and how he had nearly died. Then he remembered how the Donovan family had closed ranks around him. He hadn’t asked for their help. In fact, he had been determined to go it alone. Yet he had always known that help was there, waiting.
    Then he thought of Lianne. You barely know me, yet you got me out of handcuffs. It’s a lot more than I had a right to ask of a one-night fling.
    Kyle let out a hissing breath. “My gut believes you’re innocent. My mind is asking questions.”
    And his dick still didn’t care.
    Lianne lowered the window and let the cool air wash over her. It wasn’t a bath, but it was the best she could do for now.
    “Ask away,” she said finally, pushing hair back from her eyes. “You might get lucky. I might know something useful. But I doubt it. None of the people who questioned me seemed happy with the answers I gave them.”
    Kyle’s mind said there were two explanations for that. The first was that she didn’t know anything, so she could hardly help. The more likely explanation was that she knew exactly what everyone wanted and had no intention of sharing.
    The Feds were a lot of things, but rock stupid wasn’t usually one of them. Unless politics were involved. Then everybody’s IQ dropped off the scope.
    The Jade Emperor’s Tomb made for a nasty bit of politics.
    “Did you get a list of pieces that are missing from Wen’s collection?” Kyle asked.
    “Ms. Mercer requested it.”
    “And?”
    “The Tangs are working on a complete inventory.” Lianne smiled brittlely. “That will be hard.”
    “Why?”
    “Other than me, Wen is the only person who knows each and every piece of the collection on sight. Or did. Now he can’t tell the real from an inferior substitute.”
    “Substitute? Are you saying that the pieces of Tang jade aren’t really missing, that the