Midnight Jewels

intently, aware of the unyielding will in the man. "And you're the type who always takes care of old business, right?"
    "The Circle must be closed."
    "I don't want to hear any of your macho philosophy! Just give me facts. I can deal with facts. On the other hand, maybe I've already got more than I want. You're not interested in
Valley
because you want the book for your own collection but because it represents a link to something you thought had been settled three years ago."
    "Yes."
    "You're afraid you might not have finished the job you set out to do."
    "Yes."
    "And you're not interested in me because you find me fascinating and irresistible but because I'm another piece of the puzzle you're trying to solve. You're using me to follow the trail of the book."
    Croft's brows came together in a hawklike frown. "That's enough, Mercy. Your logic is getting damned shaky. You and the book are two different issues."
    "The hell they are. I can be just as logical as you, Croft Falconer. You're using me, and if you expect me to tolerate it you're out of your mind."
    Croft sighed with genuine regret. "I'm sorry, Mercy. But you haven't got any choice in the matter. Things have gone too far."
    She wanted to scream in frustration. Instead she fought for control. "Correction. I can stop them right here and now."
    "You'd better take your shower and pack. It's almost dawn and I doubt if either of us is going to get any more sleep tonight." Croft turned and walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind him.
    Mercy watched in helpless dismay. All thoughts of screaming in fury or retaliating with physical violence disintegrated.
    What she really longed to do was cry. She felt trapped between Croft's rigid code of ethics and her own anger at being used.

----
Chapter SEVEN

    Croft kept his eyes on the winding mountain road as he drove into the dawn, but his mind was on the woman seated beside him. She was too quiet, he thought. He didn't like it. This much silence from Mercy meant trouble. It meant she was floundering inside her own head, looking for ways to put up barriers and erect defenses.
    It wasn't good strategy to give an opponent too much time to mink, especially not a woman like Mercy. She had already come to some dangerous conclusions. It was time to take a firm hand.
    "Mercy, if you're finished sulking, we can talk about what we're going to do when we reach Gladstone's."
    "I am not sulking. I'm thinking."
    "I don't want to argue the point. But I do want to talk to you."
    "If you want to talk to me, tell me why I'm sitting in this car with you when I should have dumped you off at the motel and driven on to Gladstone's alone."
    "You're here with me because deep down you trust me and you know it." He felt a pleasant rush of satisfaction at the drought. It was die truth, and he'd known it for certain half an hour before when she had silently gotten into the car beside him and slammed her door.
    "All right, I'll concede I believe your wild story. I think you are concerned about the fact that
Valley
has surfaced after three years. I think you're wrong to suspect a link between what happened three years ago and my client, however."
    He shrugged negligently. "It's very possible I am. I hope to hell I'm wrong. I was certain that Graves died in that fire. But then, I was certain his book collection had also gone up in flames. None of the other books from that collection have shown up in any of the dealers' catalogs."
    "You've kept track?"
    Croft nodded shortly. "When I first set out to find Graves I spent a lot of time studying what little was known about the man. His passion for book collecting was the one thing he couldn't keep completely camouflaged—not if he wanted to add to his collection. He was very careful in his dealings with booksellers. Always used an intermediary and kept his own identity secret. But rumors have a way of leaking out and I was watching for them. I used Graves' book collecting mania as a way to trace him to the island. Believe me, I learned a lot about his areas of interest. He was very selective and specific. Most of the volumes were one of a kind. Some of them dated back to the sixteenth century. Most of them were extremely valuable simply because they were totally unique.
Valley of Secret Jewels
wasn't an important acquisition because it's not one of a kind. That's one of the reasons I remembered it when I saw your ad. There are a few other copies in existence. It's only worth a couple of thousand