The Reef

Knowing no better way to soothe, Matthew sat beside her, took her hand. “I’m sorry you were worried.”
    “Worried. Yes, I suppose I was a bit concerned when I thought pieces of you were floating on the Caribbean. And why did you blow up your boat?”
    “So VanDyke would think pieces of me were floating on the Caribbean. He’s paying LaRue an extra quarter mill for it.”
    “I will enjoy collecting.” LaRue’s cocky smile faded. “I apologize for not killing him for you when I found you on his boat. It was an unexpected turn of events. I didn’t yet know you were missing. When I returned to tell Matthew, he was already making plans to get you back.”
    “You’ll excuse me if I’m confused,” Tate said coolly. “Have you or have you not been passing information about Matthew to VanDyke during this expedition?”
    “Filtering information is more accurate. He knew only what Matthew and I chose for him to know.” Squatting on the deck, LaRue took the brandy bottle again. “I’ll tell you the beginning. VanDyke offered me money to keep watch on Matthew, to become his companion and to pass along any salient information. I am fond of money. I am fond of Matthew. It seemed to me there was a way to take the first and assist the second.”
    “LaRue told me months ago about the deal.” Matthew picked up the story, and the bottle. “Of course LaRue had already been collecting for what, about a year, before he decided to let me in on the arrangement.”
    With a flash of gold, LaRue grinned. “Who is counting, mon ami? When the time was necessary, I shared with you.”
    “Yeah.” To settle the stomach that had just begun to jitter in reaction, Matthew drank from the bottle. “We figured we’d play along, split the profit.”
    “Seventy-five, twenty-five, of course.”
    “Yeah.” Matthew shot him a sour look. “Anyway, the extra cash came in handy, and it did me a lot of good knowing we were bleeding it out of VanDyke. When we decided to come back after the Isabella, we knew we’d have to up the ante. And if we played it right, we’d harpoon VanDyke at the same time.”
    “You knew he was watching us?” Tate said dully.
    “LaRue was doing the watching,” Matthew corrected. “All VanDyke knew was what we wanted him to know. When you found the amulet, LaRue and I agreed that it was time to reel him in with it. Only it got a little complicated when he reeled you in first.”
    “You kept this from me, from all of us?”
    “I didn’t know how you’d react, or even if you’d be interested in my personal agenda. Then things moved pretty fast. It seemed logical,” he decided with a lift of brow, “that the fewer people who were in on it, the better.”
    “You know what, Lassiter?” She rose stiffly to her feet. “That hurts. I need dry clothes,” she murmured and stalked off to her cabin.
    She’d no more than slammed the door when he was shoving it open again. One look at her face decided him. He flipped the lock.
    “You put me through hell.” She slapped open her closet, yanked out a robe. “All because you didn’t trust me.”
    “I was playing it by ear, Red. I couldn’t even trust myself. Look, it’s not the first mistake I’ve made where you’re concerned.”
    “Hardly.” She fumbled to unbutton her wet shirt.
    “And it won’t be the last. So why don’t we . . .” His words trailed off as she dragged off the shirt. There were purpling bruises on her arms and shoulders. When he spoke again, his voice was icily detached. “Did he put those marks on you?”
    “Him and his ham-fisted henchman from hell.” Still simmering, she peeled off her slacks, shrugged into the robe. “I stabbed that Slavic robot with a hundred-dollar pen.”
    He was staring at her face now, at the bruise along her cheekbone. “What?”
    “I aimed for his eyes, but I guess I froze up. Put a damn good hole in his cheek. Scraped a few layers off LaRue, too. I suppose I should be sorry for that now. But I’m not. If you had told me—” She squeaked in painful surprise when Matthew lurched forward and wrapped her tight in his arms.
    “Yell at me later. He put his hands on you.” Eyes fierce, he framed her face. “I swear to God he’ll never touch you again.” He laid his lips gently on her cheekbone. “Never again.”
    Strapping on control, he stepped back again. “Okay, you can yell now.”
    “You know damn well you’ve ruined that for me, Matthew.” She reached out, let herself be