Sweet Revenge

should I?”
    “Two reasons.” There was a clutch of orange and scarlet blossoms, a little droopy, on a table. Philip drew one out and waved it under his nose. He preferred it to whatever dime-store cologne she’d doused herself with. “The first is that Icould make things very uncomfortable for you if you refused to cooperate.”
    With an inelegant short she scooted farther down in the chair. “Terrifying.”
    He gave her a cool look that made her want to straighten again. Defiantly, she stretched out her legs. “Second,” he continued. “If there’s a major theft here, of this style, not only will I be unable to protect you from the consequences, but it will foul up the path I’ve set up that leads away from you.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “Just this afternoon I sent my superiors on a wild goose chase to Paris.”
    Now she did straighten. “Why?”
    He was tired of her asking that question, just as he was tired of asking it of himself. “I wanted to give you the chance to explain—to me.”
    She stared at him longer than either was comfortable with, then she looked down at her hands. “I don’t understand you.”
    Small wonder. He didn’t understand himself. Impatient, he tossed the blossom aside. “There’s time for that later. Now, I’d appreciate it if you’d get moving. I want to finish this business.”
    She sat a moment longer. It would have been easier if he’d shouted back at her, hurled insults and accusations. Instead, he was calmly, logically, outlining what needed to be done. And dammit, for some reason he’d managed to put her under obligation to him.
    “I didn’t know you were on the island.”
    “You don’t know me very well. Yet. I know you better than you might think. This hotel is your usual choice when you’re down this way.” He ignored the quick flash in her eyes. “People in our business are very good at research, Addy.” Watching her, he plucked another flower to tap it against his palm. “I thought it best, under the circumstances, that I skip the festivities at the St. Johns’ and keep an eye on you from a distance. Imagine my delight when I discovered you were keeping rooms here as well.”
    He’d discovered a great deal more than that. She couldlearn to detest him for it. “I’ve always considered spies a lower life form. Like snakes and grubs.”
    “What a way to talk—after my attempt at playing Sir Galahad.”
    “I didn’t ask you to do me any favors.”
    “No, you didn’t.”
    “I’m certainly not going to thank you for it.”
    “I’m crushed.”
    Deliberately, she crossed her legs. “It’s you who’s been poking your nose in where it isn’t wanted, needed, or appreciated. I’ve been plodding along just fine without you.”
    “When you’re right, Your Highness, you’re right. The common man deserves to have dust kicked in his face.”
    “This has nothing to do with rank, and dammit, you won’t make me feel guilty.”
    But oh, he thought, he already had—and only smiled at her.
    She drummed her fingers on the arm of the chair. “I suppose if they weren’t put back, things would get sticky for you.”
    “Now, why would you think that? Just because I was a thief for nearly fifteen years and I sent Interpol scurrying off to Paris while a half a million dollars in stones was stolen while I was here?”
    “I get the point.” Rising, she pulled a black shirt and slacks from the dresser, then stared at him.
    Philip drew out a cigarette. “If you’re shy, change in the closet.”
    “A gentleman to the end,” she muttered as she strode away.
    “While you’re at it, you can give me the layout.”
    Hangers rattled as she struggled out of Lara’s padding. “I don’t have to give you a bloody thing.”
    “Perhaps I should come in and give you a hand with that while we discuss it.”
    She snapped a plastic hanger in two. “They have a suite on the top floor. Four rooms, two baths. There’s a safe in the dressing room closet. Opens with a key.”
    “Which you have?”
    “Of course.”
    “Handy. And the way in?”
    In the closet Adrianne flipped her hair out of the collar of her shirt. It wasn’t the jewels that mattered, she reminded herself. It was the money. Since she already had that, she could afford to be cooperative.
    “I used Plan B this evening because I wanted to have dinner with my cousin and her family. Maid’s uniform, linen cart. The St. Johns were entertaining the press at a cocktail