by Sharon Sala
Her eyes lit up. “It was so much fun. I haven’t done anything like this in ages. The only thing that could have made it better would have been sharing it with someone.”
“If you’d asked, I would have been happy to—”
She blushed just as the door opened. “I wasn’t fishing for an invitation,” she said, and bolted into the small foyer leading to her door. With shaking hands, she punched in the security code and then opened the door and stepped aside, making room for him to enter.
“Just put them anywhere,” she said. “And I really appreciate your help.”
East dumped the bags on the sofa and then turned to look at her. She was still standing by the door, obviously waiting for him to leave. Despite the urge to linger, he could take a hint.
“See you at dinner tonight?” he asked.
“Yes. I’m starved already.”
“Did you eat lunch?” he asked. “I can have something sent to your room.”
“There’s no need.”
He frowned. “Have you had anything at all since breakfast?”
“Well, no, except an ice-cream cone. But I’m fine, really.”
Still reluctant to leave, he glanced at the bags, curious as to what things would interest her.
“Find anything special?” he asked, pointing toward the bags.
For the first time since he’d relieved her of her bags, she gave him a genuine smile.
“Oh, yes! I collect music boxes and I found the most amazing one. It’s not really a box, it’s a snow globe, but it still plays music so I thought—”
“May I see?”
“Really? You really want to see?”
He nodded.
She slammed the door and bolted toward the sofa, then began digging through the bags.
As he watched, he remembered what she’d said about her parents’ lack of interest in her childhood, and it occurred to him to wonder how many times in her life she had found pleasure, but had no one to share it with.
“Please, have a seat,” Ally said. “It’s going to take me a minute to find… No, wait, here it is.”
She pulled a small box from a sack and then without thinking dropped onto the sofa next to where he’d sat down. She was so intent on unpacking the box that she didn’t realize how intimate the moment had become; thighs touching, shoulders bumping as he leaned forward to see what she was digging out of the tissue.
She laughed to herself as she lifted it up, letting the light from a nearby window pierce the glass and highlight the figures within.
It was a miniature image of a cowboy on horseback with a small red and white calf lying across his lap and against the saddle horn. The cowboy was wearing blue jeans, a heavy sheepskin coat and a dark, widebrimmed hat. He sat hunched in the saddle, leaning over the calf, as if sheltering it with his body. When she shook the globe, a sudden snowstorm appeared. Immediately, the viewer was drawn into the drama of the tender rescue of the calf from the storm.
“Isn’t that the most amazing thing?” she said. Then she wound it up and tilted her head to one side, staring in fascination as the music began to play.
“What’s that tune?” East asked.
She turned, her face alight with joy. “‘Desperado’. It’s an old Eagles song, but it fits, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, it does,” East said.
She looked back at the globe. “Isn’t it pretty?”
“Very,” he said softly, unable to take his eyes off her face.
Suddenly, aware of the brush of air against her cheek, she turned. Her eyes widened, her breath caught and then slowed. Long, endless seconds passed as they stared into each other’s eyes, measuring the other’s intent and the distance between their lips. The thought crossed her mind that if she leaned forward—
The music stopped.
Both of them blinked, as if startled to find themselves in such an intimate situation, but it was East who was the first to move away. Not because he wasn’t tempted, because he was. But he kept remembering she was not only a guest, but had come here in a fragile condition.
“Sorry,” he muttered. “I didn’t mean to—”
Ally stood abruptly, the snow globe clutched to her chest like a shield.
“You didn’t do anything, so an apology is uncalled for.”
He followed her lead and got up as well. “Look, Ally, don’t take me wrong. I—”
She lifted her chin and smiled. “Thank you for carrying my packages.”
He fisted his hands, fighting the urge to shake that fake smile off her face.
“You’re welcome,” he said shortly. He walked to the door then turned, unwilling to leave her on such an uncomfortable note. “See you at dinner?”
“Of course,” she said, and shut the door in his face.
“Well, hell,” he muttered, and stomped toward the elevator.
“Damn, damn, damn,” Ally moaned, and stomped toward the sofa, her joy in the snow globe forgotten.
It wasn’t until she was changing her clothes that she remembered the package from the desk. Curious, she dug it out of her bag and began to unwrap it. But when a small black cell phone fell out of the packet with a note attached, her stomach knotted.
Jonah.
She picked up the note. As usual, Jonah’s instructions were sparse and to the point.
Press the Send button. Let it ring twice then hang up.
She did as she was instructed, knowing that somewhere within the network of global communications, a chain of events was going off that would eventually alert Jonah that she’d received what he’d sent. Within a minute of her call, the small phone rang. With a sigh, she lifted it to her ear.
“This is Corbin.”
The familiar rumble of Jonah’s voice filled her ear.
“Are you well?”
“I’m fine, thank you. The weather here is marvelous.” Then she frowned. He hadn’t sent her here for a weather report. “I don’t have much to tell you.”
Jonah bit off an expletive. This wasn’t what he wanted to hear, but it was hardly a situation he could force.
“What’s the situation?”
She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair in a gesture of frustration.
“We’ve met, of course, even talked quite personally a couple of times. But he’s not the most approachable person in the world and I’m not much good at employing feminine wiles.”
Jonah almost smiled. She didn’t know it, but that was exactly why he’d sent her. Easton Kirby was too shrewd a man by far to be swayed by something as sordid as impersonal sex.
“I didn’t send you there to have sex with the man. You’re the perfect woman for this job. You have a calm, rational approach to situations. Remember that and use it.”
“Yes, sir,” Ally muttered.
Jonah hesitated, but there was no need to delay the obvious.
“A situation has come up that has escalated the need for haste. Can you handle it?”
She swallowed nervously. “Yes, sir. I’ll find a way. I won’t let you down.”
“Good. Oh, and keep the phone handy. It’s programmed to contact me, and me alone. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“If it happens to fall into the wrong hands, it will self-destruct itself when used incorrectly.”
“Right.”
“I’m counting on you, Corbin.”
“I won’t let you down.”
The line went dead.
Ally disconnected, too, then put the phone in her dresser, her joyous mood gone. She went back to the living room and picked up the snow globe, wound it up, then gave it a shake. Immediately, the snow and the music began to swirl around the lone cowboy and his mount. Her eyes narrowed as she stared, her thoughts in as much turmoil as the snow within the globe, and she didn’t move until the music had stopped and the snow lay dormant in the bottom of the globe. Finally, she set it aside and started toward the bedroom to shower and change. East didn’t know it yet, but tonight, he was
going to get more on his plate than his dinner.
About a half-mile offshore, a lone yacht was dropping anchor for the evening while the staff began readying for the owner’s evening meal. A man with a pair of powerful binoculars stood aft, ostensibly enjoying the view from the spacious white deck. But it wasn’t the rhythmic rise and fall of seagulls over the water that captured his attention. His gaze was trained toward the beach and the hotel that sat on the rise above it. Even with the binoculars, he was unable to make out the faces of the people he saw, but he didn’t care. He’d already confirmed that the people he sought were at the hotel, and it would only be a matter of time before he introduced himself—but in his own special way.
Despite the pep talk Ally had given herself while dressing for dinner, her stomach was in knots. It wasn’t so much facing East that she dreaded, as the possibility of failing Jonah. She didn’t know why the need for East to return to active duty was so important to Jonah, but she knew it must be vital for him to persist in such a fashion.
The dress she was wearing was simple, as were all of her clothes; it was of a white gauzy fabric with a scoop neck and loose, three-quarter length sleeves, and a hem that brushed the tops of her ankles as she walked. Her shoes were flat and little more than three straps; one across the back of her heel, the other two across the top of her foot. Her makeup was a reflection of how she saw herself—neat, coordinated and uncomplicated.
As she exited her suite and started down the elevator, she gave herself the once-over in the mirrored interior of the car. Satisfied that nothing was smudged or smeared and that her hair was in place, she lifted her chin and prepared to do battle. The car stopped once at the third floor. An elderly man and a young couple got on. The old man nodded at her, but the young couple had eyes only for each other. Ally tried not to stare, but their affection for each other was quite compelling and impossible to ignore.
It wasn’t the first time in her life that she’d wished she’d been born an ordinary child and she let herself play with the idea of “what if” all the way down to the lobby. Yet when the doors opened and it was time to get out, reality returned. She wasn’t ordinary and for some reason, she’d been entrusted with a job that was very important to Jonah. The fact that she’d never seen the man in her life did not negate the loyalty she felt for him. In an odd, even pitiful way, Jonah had become the father figure she’d never had. He asked things of her that no one else would have even considered, but always with the confidence that she would do a good job, and when it was over, was forthcoming with his praise. It didn’t matter to her that she’d never felt his arms around her or seen a smile on his face. It was all about trust.
She strode into the lobby with that thought in her heart, then noticed that she was a little earlier than the time she’d planned to come down. A quick glance toward the terrace was all it took to draw her outside, and as she took her place at the railing overlooking the beach below, she realized she wasn’t the only one who’d had the same idea. The sun—in all its glory—was about to set.
The water burned with a radiance, reflecting the colors hovering on the horizon, and the path of the sun lay in a straight line upon the water, pointing toward the beach below the hotel. If one was prone to fancy, which of course Ally was not, one might have been tempted to step onto that path, just in case it was as firm as it appeared.
And that was how East found her, staring at the horizon with her elbows on the railing and her chin resting in her hands. The evening breeze was tugging at the hem of her skirt, as well as the loose ends of her hair, but she seemed oblivious to the taunt.
“Quite a view, isn’t it?” he said softly.
Ally straightened abruptly and turned. “I didn’t know you were here.”
His dark eyes bore down into her face, searching for something. He didn’t know what.
“Just arrived,” he said, unwilling for her to know that he’d been watching her for some time before his approach. “Are you hungry?”
“Starved,” she said, and was surprised to realize it was the truth. Suddenly, all her worries about facing this man faded in comparison to the beauty of what she’d just witnessed. “But before we go in, I have a question I need to ask you.”
A little surprised, he hesitated, then nodded. “Of course. Ask away.”
“Do you believe in repaying old debts?”
Immediately he thought of Jonah and his senses went on alert. But her face seemed so guileless, he chalked it up to guilt.
“Of course. I don’t think a person can be free to go forward in life until old debts have been paid, whether monetary or emotional.”
She nodded. “I agree,” she said softly, then looked toward the dining room inside that was beginning to fill. “It’s getting a little chilly out here. Shall we go inside?”
East offered his elbow and she accepted, as if taking the arm of a handsome man was an everyday occurrence for her. As he seated her, and then himself, it hit her how calm she was feeling, and moments later, knew why. The decision had been made and before the night was out, she would have stated her purpose and pled Jonah’s case as eloquently as she possibly could. After that, it was out of her hands.
When East asked her what she wanted to eat, she laid her menu aside and blessed him with a rare smile.
“Order for me, too, will you? I’m in the mood to be surprised.”
Chapter 5
Dinner was over and dessert had been ordered. The other two couples at their table had said their goodbyes and forgone the last course for a walk, instead. And although Ally wasn’t really hungry for sweets, she held her ground, knowing that East would not abandon her to eat alone. It was the moment she’d been waiting for.
“The food was delicious,” Ally said. “Thank you for such a fine meal.”
East smiled. “Red snapper is a favorite of mine, especially when Pete serves it up Cajun by blackening the fillet as he did tonight.”
She nodded, then glanced around, making sure that they were basically still isolated within the room. Satisfied that their conversation would not be overheard, she leaned forward, pinning East beneath the force of her gaze.
“Why did you refuse Jonah’s request?”
East’s smile froze, then disappeared. His fury was evident as his face suddenly paled.
“Son of a bitch.”
Ally flinched inwardly, but she refused to let him know she was scared.
“He sent you, didn’t he?”
“Yes.”
It had to be said that East hadn’t expected her honesty and it caught him off guard. He struggled with the need to throw something or throw her out of the hotel, but his anger landed somewhere between. He got up from the table and stalked off, leaving her behind.
It wasn’t exactly the conversation Ally had hoped for, but nothing she hadn’t expected. She caught up with him at the elevator and inserted herself between him and the wall.
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“Lady, I guarantee that right now you don’t want to hear what I’m thinking, so why don’t you take your little self off and mind someone else’s business besides mine?”
The doors opened. Several guests got off. East got on and immediately pressed the Close Door button, unwilling to ride up with anyone else and have to deal with courtesies he wasn’t feeling. But Ally was right behind him. To his dismay, he found himself enclosed in the small, mirrored car with her. Everywhere he looked, he saw a reflection of her face and the question in her eyes, still waiting to be answered.
“You told me you believed in paying back old debts. I didn’t take you for a liar, Easton Kirby.”
He spun, pinning her against the wall with the flat of one hand.
“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
“I know that he saved your sanity and your butt by putting you in this job and that the one time he asked you for a favor, you refused him.”
The doors opened and East pivoted, stalking off the eleva
tor toward his personal quarters. Ally was still right behind him.
“Is that the way you repay Jonah, Mr. Kirby? For some reason known only to him, that man needs you and you’ve thrown up your hands and said no. Why? Because once upon a time someone died?”
He jammed his key in the lock and stormed inside. Before he could shut the door, she followed him inside.
“Shut up and get out!” he hissed. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
“I’ll leave when I’m through,” she snapped. “What I do know is that this is a war we’re waging—a constant, daily war against crime and evil and all things ugly in this world and that sometimes in a war innocent people die. I know that. I’ve seen it firsthand, but it hasn’t made me want to quit.” Forgetting her earlier hesitation, she jabbed a finger against his chest. “What it has done is make me angry. And when I get angry, I want to get even. I want to take down the bad guys in a way that they will never come back. What I don’t do is hide.”
East inhaled sharply, stunned by her anger and her accusations.
“I didn’t quit. I still work for SPEAR, just in another capacity. I fulfill a duty that might not be as dramatic as yours, but I am not hiding from the world.”
She snorted beneath her breath. “You may have convinced yourself of that, but not me.” Then she shoved her hands through her hair in frustration and started to pace. “Look, I don’t mean to belittle your life. God knows it’s true that you’ve already done your bit. You’ve already put yourself on the line more than most people, and what you’re doing now is an important and honorable job.” She stopped and turned, looking him straight in the face. “I don’t know why Jonah needs you, but I suspect that you do, so can you look me in the face and tell me that whatever it is doesn’t matter?”
A muscle jerked at the side of East’s jaw. He knew it wasn’t really her fault. She’d been following orders, just as he’d done many times before. But the thought did occur to him that for the first time in his life, he now understood what prompted the desire to kill the messenger for bringing bad news.
