Donovans 03 - Pearl Cove

indulgent.
    It didn’t take Hannah two seconds to catch on. She spun around and put her hands on her hips. Her mouth was set in a hard-edged pout, which was a good thing. Otherwise it would have dropped open at the sight of him. Loud sport shirt, safari pants, and no facial fur except for a thick mustache.
    “I told you, baby,” he continued. “Pearls cost more in Broome, not less.”
    When Hannah spoke, it was with a pronounced whine. “I could be in Tahiti sipping gin and watching men in G-strings juggle torches, but no, you had to come to Australia. Adventure, you said. Exotic animals. Thousands of miles of pristine sugar-sand beaches. So I came, and what did I get? Mudflats, sweat, and nasty flies. But have I complained? Hell no. The least you could do is buy me some pearls!”
    He looked at the choker, grimaced, and looked away. He would rather have owned the shell the pearls came from. “Too much. It would max out our plastic.”
    “We’re having a special on pearls, luv,” the shopkeeper said quickly. She sized up the couple’s clothes, the irritation reddening the lady’s cheeks, and the guilt on the man’s face. “Thirty percent off. But since your sheila’s been such a good sport, I’ll make it forty.”
    He looked at the pearls, hesitated, and shook his head.
    “Half, then,” the shopkeeper said instantly. “You’re a shrewd man in a bargain, mate.”
    Archer shook his head, but his eyes gleamed with amusement only Hannah could see, egging her on.
    “Hon-ey,” she said, drawing out the endearment. Her tone was both sexy and threatening. What she threatened was an embarrassing scene if he didn’t buy the pearls. “You promised.”
    With a few curses under his breath, he reached into one of the eighteen pockets decorating his wrinkled safari pants, hauled out the wallet he had seen for the first time a few minutes ago, and handed over a debit card to the shopkeeper. Hannah gave him a sultry smile, put one arm around his waist, and began whispering against his chest.
    “Is that your card?” she asked.
    “Never seen it before in my life.”
    Her eyes widened and she asked anxiously, “Do you know the PIN number?”
    “A little late to be thinking of that, isn’t it?”
    She looked stricken.
    “Don’t worry, sweetheart.” He kissed her lips, then slid his tongue along them. “It’s all taken care of. Uncle is thorough.”
    A few moments later Hannah left the shop with a cheap—but not inexpensive—pearl choker around her throat. Despite the inferior quality of the pearls, she liked the heavy, cool feel of them against her skin.
    “What are you smiling about?” Archer asked. “You throw away better pearls than that every day.”
    “Yes. But this is the first time I’ve owned any.”
    “Out of all the pearls you’ve seeded, sorted, color-matched, doctored, you never owned one?”
    “Everything that was worth selling got sold. Except for—”
    “Yes,” he cut in quickly, thinking of the black rainbows. He touched the choker with gentle fingertips. “If I had known, I would have bought you a good necklace.” Then he laughed. “No, I wouldn’t have. Anyone who follows us will be looking for people who know about pearls. No one who knew anything about pearls would buy that necklace.”
    She didn’t argue, but she kept smoothing her fingers over the pearls just the same, enjoying them.
    Smiling, Archer looked at his watch. “Time to go.”
    “Where?”
    “The airport.” He handed over a small cloth purse. “Your California driver’s license and credit cards are inside if anyone wants ID at the gate.”
    She blinked. “Gate. As in airplane?”
    “Yeah. We’re going to Darwin.”
    “Why?”
    “Because when they don’t find our names on a flight out of Broome, they’ll assume we drove to Derby, so they’ll look for us there.”
    “Who will be looking for us?”
    “Should be interesting to find out.”
    “Is that why we’re going? Just to find out if anyone follows?”
    “No.”
    Hannah dug in her heels and stopped. “I can’t just walk away from Pearl Cove and have a little holiday.”
    “That’s what everyone thinks.”
    “Except you,” she retorted. “I don’t know what you think at all.”
    “I think we’ll be dead in two days—one week max—if we stay in Pearl Cove.”
    A chill went over her that the sun couldn’t touch. She looked at his face, hoping he was making a bleak joke. Nothing she saw reassured her. Without the beard, the