Where There's Smoke

“He showed no lack of courage when he took his lover into his bed while her husband slept down the hall,” he observed. “Or was that stupidity? Sometimes there’s little distinction between bravery and ignorance. What made you do it when there was such a good chance of getting caught?”

“Love is a powerful motivator. It makes us its victims and causes us to do crazy things, things we wouldn’t ordinarily do. During that weekend at the cottage, the atmosphere was… charged. Expectant.”

She looked down at her hands, rubbed her palms together. “Desire that strong obscures conscience and better judgment. It overpowers the fear of discovery.” She sighed and raised her head. “I should have read the warning signs. They were glaringly apparent. In hindsight, I realize that disaster was inevitable and imminent. I just wasn’t paying attention.”

“In other words, you were so eaten up with animal lust that common sense didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell.”

“Don’t sound so superior. Your ‘animal lust’ for a married woman got you shot! Besides, that’s ancient history. Why bring it up now?”

“Because if I don’t make it out of this godforsaken banana republic, I’d like to think I died for a noble cause. I’d like to believe that you were more than a roll in the sack for my horny brother, and that for you he wasn’t just a convenient diversion from an unhappy marriage.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him to go to hell. But, in effect, she had placed her life in his hands. Without him, her chances of surviving this trip were nil. Like it or not, they were comrades with a common goal. Infighting should be kept to a minimum.

“Despite the way our relationship ended, I loved Clark,” she said. “I believe with all my heart that he loved me. Does that make this mission noble enough for you?”

“Was he Ashley’s father?”

She hadn’t seen that curveball coming. For a moment she was dumbstruck. She had never hinted that Clark had fathered her child. Not even the news hounds with the sharpest teeth had sunk that particular fang into her. On second thought, she realized, she shouldn’t be surprised that Key was the first to raise the question. It was characteristically shocking.

“I can’t answer that.”

“You mean you don’t know? You were screwing them at the same time?”

“I’ll rephrase,” Lara said heatedly. “I won’t answer. Not until we’ve done what we came down here to do.”

“What difference does it make?”

“You’re the one who asked about Ashley’s parentage. You tell me if it makes a difference.”

“Oh, I see. You think I might try harder to find her remains if she was a Tackett.” He made a disagreeable sound. “Your opinion of me must be even lower than I thought. Exactly where do I rank on your scale of life forms? A notch above pond scum? Or a notch below?”

Anger was a supreme waste of energy considering the ordeal facing them. “Look, Key, we’ve certainly had our differences. We’ve both slung more than our share of mud. Some of it was warranted. Some of it was spiteful. But I trust you. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have asked you to bring me down here.”

“You had no other options.”

“I could have hired a mercenary.”

“You couldn’t afford the going rate.”

“Probably not, but shortage of funds wouldn’t have stopped me. Eventually I would have gotten the money, even if I’d had to wait for my inheritance.”

“But you felt that we Tacketts owed you this.”

“That wasn’t it entirely.” She hesitated; he looked over at her. “True, I came to Eden Pass specifically to coerce you into bringing me down here. But I didn’t expect to feel this confident about my choice.”

Their eyes locked and held for several moments. Finally Lara turned away. “Once we’re safely on our way back home, I promise to tell you anything you want to know. In the meantime, don’t throw any more poison darts, okay? I won’t throw any either.”

He said nothing for several minutes. When he did, he spoke in a gruff voice on a topic unrelated to Ashley’s origins. “One way or another, we’ll be going down soon.”

“One way or another?”

“We’ll either reach the coast and find the landing strip, or we’ll run out of fuel and ditch into the ocean. In the meantime, why don’t you try to get some sleep.”

“Is that supposed to be a joke?”

He grinned. “Yes.”

“Not funny.”