When She Was Bad...

Afterward, he wasn’t sure how he managed to rid them both of their suits. All that he could think of was being inside of her. Being a part of her. When he’d settled himself over her, he framed her face with his hands. “Open your eyes.”

When she did, he said, “Say my name. Tell me you want me.”

“Cole, I want you.”

9

Friday, February 13—6:00 p.m.

“DAMMIT!” Butch slammed down his phone and tossed the cigar he’d just ruined across the room.

H ducked, then gathered up the shreds of the mutilated cigar and disposed of them. “Problem?”

Butch rose from his desk and began to pace. “The problem is that woman. Damn her.”

“I take it that Irene Rossi caught the connecting flight to Eden Island by mistake?” H asked.

“Yeah.” Butch reached in his pocket for a cigar, then recalled that he’d already destroyed it. “But Angelo says the camp boss lady lost her. She claims Renie checked into the hotel with a Mr. Johansson, and then the two of them disappeared. They don’t know where she is. What kind of a place are they running? She claims that couples disappear all the time, that they’re encouraged to do that.” His voice turned falsetto again. “What better way to seek out all the sensual delights that Eden has to offer.”

Butch whirled and pointed a finger at H. “And she’s with a man. I’m going to go over there myself.”

“You’ve forgotten your meeting with Evan Atwell.”

Butch stopped short at the door to his office. “What do I care about that? I want Renie.”

H said nothing, and for a moment Butch concentrated on what he’d just blurted out. He wanted Renie. Could that be true?

“Don’t say a word,” he said to H. And the man wouldn’t. That was why Butch liked him, why they made such good partners in business. H never interrupted when Butch was thinking something through. “I just want to make sure she’s safe,” Butch said.

“Of course. But Angelo’s very competent. And Mr. Vanetti will be at our meeting in Atwell’s suite to verify the authenticity of the painting. If that goes well, as I assume it will, we’re joining Atwell at nine-thirty to discuss a price.”

“All right. I’ll stay here and take the meetings.”

“Shall I inform Pepper Rossi that her aunt is on Eden Island and that we’re going to bring her here just as soon as possible?”

“Yes.” Then Butch added, “Dammit! What’s Renie up to?”

H said nothing.

Butch began pacing again. “Why couldn’t she just have understood that we should continue to go on as we were? She has her life—a good one—and I have mine here. It’s worked for forty years. And getting together might ruin all that. We’re too different. If we get together, it could turn out to be a disaster, and I don’t want to lose her. She can’t know what her friendship has meant to me. Why can’t she understand that?”

This time H spoke. “She’s a woman. They’re different than we are. And not just biologically. They think differently, too.”

“Tell me about it.” Butch opened the drawer of his desk and took out a new cigar. “And isn’t it the French who say, ‘Vive la différence’?”

“That they do.”

“Well, they’re stupid. And speaking of the French, have you gotten anything back yet on the Frenchman with Evan Atwell?”

“I’m still working on it,” H said.

PEPPER SWEPT HER HANDS back and forth in the water with just enough force to keep herself afloat. Cole was treading water only a few feet away.

“You told me that you were taking me to paradise, but I thought you were talking about the sailing,” she said.

“You didn’t think I was talking about my masterful techniques as a lover?”

The feigned look of insult on his face had her laughing, and if his hands hadn’t gripped her waist just then, she would have slipped beneath the surface of the lagoon.

“Well, that too,” she said. “But I’ve never been anywhere quite this beautiful.” They’d rowed the sailboat to a spot where the lagoon had widened into a pool of sorts. Water poured from an outcrop of rocks above in a sheer curtain that fell a few feet from them. There was a small cave behind the waterfall that they had yet to explore. And flowers she’d never seen before bloomed everywhere. She cupped water in her hand, lifted it, and then let it fall back into the lagoon. “This color—it can’t be real.”

“It’s as real as the place,” he said.

Treading water again, she glanced around. She was aware of the stillness, of the dappled sunlight that managed to make its way through the canopy of palms overhead, of the soft splash of the waterfall. But most of all, she was aware of the fact that her legs were almost brushing Cole’s beneath the water. She might not be sure of the reality of her surroundings, but she was sure that Cole was real.

And both the man and the place would be gone at the end of twenty-four hours. Something twisted around her heart.

“Adam and Elena must have come here often.”

“You’re fascinated by their story, aren’t you?” Cole asked. “Do you know how it ended?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t read that far. But what chance did they have of a happy ending? They reminded me of my parents. It must be hard to find love and then lose it.”

“Yes, I suppose it is.”

A cell phone rang. But before Cole moved away to the shore, she had seen the shutters come down over his eyes. She wondered how often he’d found the love of a family and then lost it. Turning in the water, she watched him pull himself out of the lagoon. He was so different than what she’d expected him to be.

“Yeah?” He spoke the one word into his cell and then listened.

It had to be Butch or H, Pepper thought. Had they located Irene? It shocked her to realize that she hadn’t thought much about either her aunt or the Monet since they’d begun sailing. She’d better remember that she’d come to this island on a mission. After swimming to the side of the lagoon, she climbed out and sat beside him.

“Okay, I’ll let her know,” Cole said. “Thanks.”

Pepper let her gaze sweep the lagoon. Lovely as it was, this was just an interlude. The reality was a missing Monet.

Cole closed the phone and was about to set it down when it rang again. “Yeah?”

There was a brief silence. Then Cole said, “Interesting. I can’t talk right now.”

This time when he disconnected, he turned to her and said, “Your aunt is somewhere on Eden Island. According to the woman who runs the place, she’s gone off with a man to find a way off the island. Castellano’s man is looking for them and he’ll bring your aunt back here.”

Pepper frowned. “Irene has gone off with a man? I don’t think so. She’s crazy about Butch. What if someone’s kidnapped her? I’m getting that feeling again that something’s wrong. Maybe we should—”

Cole touched her arm when she started to stand up. “I think Castellano has it covered. And I don’t think she’s been kidnapped. According to Butch, your aunt has been highly visible and made quite a stir about getting back here ASAP. A kidnapper would hardly allow that.”

She searched his face. “You’re sure?”

“Since Butch isn’t going over there himself, I’m betting that Angelo is highly capable. Butch is clearly besotted with your aunt.”

“You think?”

“He had blood in his eyes when he came crashing into our bedroom. If you hadn’t grabbed that gun, he might have shot me first and asked questions later.”

“Suppose you’re right and Butch really is head over heels. I know for a fact that she’s over the top when it comes to him. So why don’t they just get together? Instead, she’s stolen a priceless painting. And a man who’s gone straight for forty years is thinking of shooting people. What’s wrong with them?”

“People do stupid things when they’re in love. Shakespeare used to call it madness—and he got a lot of mileage out of that theme in his comedies and tragedies, not to mention the sonnets.”

Pepper stared at him again. “I would never have pegged you for a Shakespeare scholar.”

“I’m not. I’ve just worked a lot of jobs where I’ve had time to read.”

“Stakeouts?”

“Yeah. You could call them that.” He plucked a flower from one of the plants that grew along the edge of the lagoon and tucked it behind her ear.

When she realized that he wasn’t going to elaborate, she asked, “Why did you come to work at Rossi Investigations?”

He studied her for a moment, then nodded. “Okay, I guess you deserve to know that. I came because your brother offered me the job, and I wanted to get out of government work.”

It wasn’t the whole answer. She was certain of it. And she suddenly realized how little she knew about him. “What kind of work did you do for the CIA?”