Part 9 (2/2)
”I've made arrangements,” he said, resting his forearms on his raised knees.
Relief swept over her. Thank the Lord. ”That's great.” She took another step toward him.
”You'll be getting out on a boat. It'll take you directly toFlorida. From there you can take a plane anywhere you'd like. And stop hovering behind me. If you want to come and sit down here, just do it.”
His tone of voice didn't change so it took her a moment to figure out what he'd said. She realized she was hovering. She thought about retreating to the swing,then decided she might as well continue to be brave. The worst wasn't over by a long shot.
She lowered herself to the top step, but kept as close to the railing as she could. The stairs were wide; there was at least a foot between them.
”When do we leave?” she asked.
”Forty-eight hours.” He pushed a b.u.t.ton on his watch and the dial lit up. ”Make that forty-four hours from now. Just aftermidnight. I've worked with this man before. He can be trusted. He's probably one of about three people Kray doesn't own on the island.”
She risked glancing at him. ”I really appreciate this,” she said.
”Don't thank me until you're safely away.”
”Still, I'm grateful. How much is the boat going to cost?”
”Keep your money.”
”I can't. Buying us T-s.h.i.+rts is one thing, but chartering a boat is another. That's got to be expensive.”
He glanced at her. He was still wearing the contact lenses and his eyes were so dark, the irises looked black. The odd combination of familiar and unfamiliar startled her. Her heart began a funny sort of thumping in her chest and her palms were damp. It was just fear, she told herself. Fear and very natural apprehension about the future.
”Keep your money,” he repeated. ”I don't want it and I don't need it.”
”But-”
He s.h.i.+fted suddenly, turning so he was facing her. ”You're going to need it to stay alive once you're back in the States. Don't be a fool, Andie. Kray isn't going to let you and the kid go. We both know that. So quit worrying about how you're going to get off this island, keep your money and instead figure out how you're going to keep Bobby alive and away from his father once you're in the States.”
She flinched as he spoke and clasped her hands together on her lap. He'd frightened her again. Jeff swore under his breath. He seemed able to do that without even trying. The worst of it was he might be scaring her for no reason. If he succeeded, she would be free.
He looked back at the dark ocean and the faint white froth of the waves against the sh.o.r.e. He was tired and he'd been on St. Lucas less than a week. Of course he'd been planning the mission for months, maybe even years. It had always been there in the back of his mind, he admitted to himself. He'dnever not thought about revenge.
”You're right,” Andie said quietly. ”Thank you.”
He didn't bother replying. Instead, he wished she would goinside, or at least move far enough away so that he didn't have to inhale the sweet scent of her body. The fragrance was subtle, blending with the tropical breeze and the heady perfume of the night. It made him wonder what she would feel like in his arms and how she would taste if he kissed her He shook his head. He didn't want to think about that. Not now; not with her. She was Kray's wife. That made her the enemy. He searched for his anger and hatred, but couldn't find either. Maybe it was because he was beginning to see her as a person. Maybe it was because her strength made him respect her.
There had been rumors about Kray's wife. He'd a.s.sumed they all were true, but now he wondered. Andie had the good looks of a model, but she didn't strike him as the party-girl type. She cared too much about her kid for one thing. For another, she wasn't that dumb.
He s.h.i.+fted on the hard porch. He hoped she was smart enough to keep clear of Kray. If that madman got a hold of her- Jeff didn't want to think about it. Andie had to know the danger she was in. She'd lived withKray, she knew what he was capable of.
”What are you thinking?” she asked.
He searched for the closest thing to the truth he was willing to risk. ”How did you meet Kray?” he asked, glancing at her.
She rolled her eyes. ”Please. Give me some credit.”
”What do you mean?”
”You've been wasting your time thinking about me and wondering how I met Kray? I don't think so. If you've thought about me at all, it's probably been ten different ways to get me as far away from you as possible.”
Jeff stared at her. She didn't blink or look away. ”You're some gutsy lady, you know that?”
”Yeah, I've got more courage than sense. Don't rub it in.” She sighed. ”It's okay that you don't like me, Jeff. Just get Bobby safely away from his father. That's all I care about.”
It was the first time she'd used his name instead of ”Rambo.” That was surprising, but not nearly as startling as the realization that she could read his emotions. Either she was a h.e.l.l of lot more insightful than he'd given her credit for, or his five years behind a desk had left him dangerously vulnerable. He had a bad feeling it was a combination of the two. Or maybe, he thought, being completely honest with himself, he'd been acting like a macho jerk from the moment he met her. He wasn't usually like that. Of course he didn't usually run into his enemy's ex-wife in the middle of a tropical jungle.
”I still want to know how you met Kray,” he said.
”How did a small-town girl from Nowhere U.S.A. get involved with a notorious crime lord?”
”Uh-huh.”
She pulled her knees close to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. ”It's a long, boring story.”
”Neither of usseem to be sleepy.”
”I guess you're right.” She sighed again.
The sound came to him, like a whisper of the wind. In the faint light of the moon and the glow from the windows, her long hair gleamed like pale gold. She was too far away for him to feel the heat of her body, but he knew she was there. Just out of reach. A temptation.
He hadn't been with a woman since Jeanne died. Sometimes that surprised him, if he bothered to think about it at all. He hadn't set out to avoid women, it just sort of happened. The invitations that came his way hadn't been intriguing enough to make him forget the pain and guilt. Now, without warning, he wanted again. His mind might hate Andie forwho and what she was, but his body didn't give a d.a.m.n about anything but being with her.
The h.e.l.l of it was, despite the erection straining against the fly of his trousers, this wasn't all about s.e.x. Sure he wanted to bury himself inside of her and get lost in the pa.s.sion, but it was more than that. He wanted to hold and be held, to whisper in the middle of the night, to sleep in a sweet tangle of arms and legs. He missed more than the s.e.x. He missed the closeness of living with someone. He missed being married.
He studied Andie's profile, but instead of seeing her as she sat next to him, he saw the photographs taken with telephoto lenses, blown up until everything was grainy. He remembered her in short tight dresses and cropped red hair. He remembered her clinging to Kray's arm and laughing.
Even while his body ached for her, even while he felt guilty for being a jerk and judging her, even while he acknowledged she was brave and smart, with a strong sense of survival, he hated her. Not for marrying Kray, but for being alive when Jeanne wasn't.
”Once upon a time there was a tall gangling fifteen-year-old, with big eyes and skinny legs.” Andie glanced at him. ”I was not popular in high school.”
”I'm surprised.”
”No, you're not.” She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and continued. ”We lived in a small town in centralCalifornia. You wouldn't have heard of it. Anyway, one weekend my mom took me to the mall. There was a big model search. We didn't know anything about it until we got inside. There were all these really beautiful girls there. I'd never seen so many. I was standing there watching when one of the photographers saw me. He wanted to take my picture.”
She smiled at the memory. ”I don't know who was more surprised. Me or my mom. I let him take a bunch of photos,then I gave him my name. Three weeks later I got a call from an agency inNew York. They wanted me to come see them. If I looked anything like the photos, they were going to send me toEuropeto do some print work and model for the spring collection. I thought it was a joke.”
”Did you go?”
She shook her head. ”I was only fifteen. The farthest I'd been from home was the weekend I went with my parents toSan Francisco. I was going to finish high school and become a veterinary a.s.sistant.” Her smile faded. ”Such lofty goals.”
”What happened?”
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