The Reef

all.”
    “I’m leaning with Buck on this.” Frowning, Ray studied the Chinese figures. “I won’t dispute that we have an obligation to share what we’ve found, but we haven’t finished yet. We have weeks more excavating, maybe months, before we’ve played her out. And we’ve yet to find the main thing we came for.”
    “Angelique’s Curse,” Buck said under his breath. “Maybe she doesn’t want to be found.”
    “If she’s there,” LaRue corrected, “we’ll find her.”
    “I think you’re all missing the point.” Marla spoke quietly. It was so rare she offered an opinion on excavation policy, everyone stopped and turned to her. “I know I don’t dive, don’t work the airlift, but I understand the heart of all of this. Look what we’ve done, what we’ve found already. A small operation with only two diving teams, working frantically to keep it all so quiet and secret. Yet we’ve uncovered a kind of miracle. And we’ve made Tate responsible for caring for that miracle. Now that she’s asking for help, we’re all worried someone might come along and steal our thunder. Well, they can’t,” she added. “Because we’ve done it. And if we focus so narrowly on one piece, aren’t we losing sight of the whole? Angelique’s Curse might have drawn us here, but we don’t have to find it to know we’ve done something incredible.”
    With a sigh, Ray draped an arm over her shoulders. “You’re right. Of course you’re right. It’s foolish to think we haven’t succeeded because we haven’t found the amulet. Still, every time I go down and come up again without it, I feel as though I’ve failed. Even with all this.”
    Tate’s hot gaze skimmed over Matthew before settling on her father. “You haven’t failed. None of us have.”
    Saying nothing, Matthew rose. He took the gold chain from his pocket, let it dangle. For an instant, Tate thought she saw light flash from the stone.
    Ray got shakily to his feet. His vision seemed to blurand fracture as he reached out to touch the center ruby. “You found it.”
    “Tate found it. This morning.”
    “It’s a devil’s tool,” Buck whispered, backing away. “It’ll bring you nothing but grief.”
    “It may be a tool,” Matthew agreed, and his glance flicked over LaRue. “And I’ll use it. My vote goes with Tate. We make arrangements to transfer what we have. She can contact her committees.”
    “So that you can lure VanDyke,” she murmured.
    “VanDyke’s my problem. This is what he wants.” Matthew slipped the necklace from Ray’s hands. “He won’t find it easy going through me to get it. It might be best to suspend operations for a while. You and Marla and Tate could go on island.”
    “And leave you here to face him down alone?” Tate tossed back her head. “Not a chance, Lassiter. Just because I’m stupid enough to want to marry you doesn’t mean I’ll let you bundle me off.”
    “You’re getting married?” Marla pressed a hand to her lips. “Oh, honey.”
    “I had intended to make the announcement a little more smoothly.” Annoyance glittered in Tate’s eyes. “You jerk.”
    “I love you, too.” Matthew hooked an arm around her waist while the amulet dripped from his free hand. “She asked me this afternoon,” he explained to Marla. “I decided to give her a break and go along with it, since it means I get you in the bargain.”
    “Thank goodness the two of you have come to your senses.” With a sob, Marla threw her arms around both of them. “Ray, our baby’s getting married.”
    He patted his wife awkwardly on the shoulder. “I guess this is my cue to say something profound.” Emotions warred through him, regret mixed with joy. His little girl, he thought, was another man’s woman. “I can’t think of a damn thing.”
    “If you will pardon me,” LaRue said. “I suggest a celebration.”
    “Of course.” Marla wiped at her eyes and stepped back. “I should have thought of it.”
    “Allow me.” LaRue strolled off into the galley to unearth the bottle of Fume Blanc he’d hidden away.
    After the glasses were poured, the toasts drunk and the tears dried, Tate walked to the starboard rail to join Buck.
    “It’s a pretty big night,” she murmured.
    “Yeah.” He lifted his glass of ginger ale.
    “I thought—I’d hoped that you’d be happy for us, Buck. I do love him so much.”
    He shifted uncomfortably. “Guess I know you do. I got used to thinking about him like my own the past