Family Secrets: Books 5-8

by Virginia Kantra

  She understood, Honey thought. She understood that kind of satisfaction exactly. Shed felt it when shed blasted that horse through the PETA protestors. She sat back and held her wineglass in both hands, staring into it. Things should always be that basic.

  Things take on a life of their own sometimes, he said.

  Unless you fight it.

  Well, Im fighting it.

  She looked up at him again. Oh, those eyes, she thought, all whiskey brown and turbulent now. He almost looked as though he wanted her to understand. Why do I get the idea that the houses turned into something likeI dont know, housing developments and what-not?

  Maybe Im as transparent as you are.

  Im not transparent.

  Honey, youre like a pane of glass.

  She almost spilled her wine. Shed been in the process of bringing her glass to her mouth when she twitched and a bit of it sloshed over the rim. Her heart rioted for a moment before she realized that he wasnt actually calling her by name. He was simply tagging her with a nickname. An endearment.

  And endearments were a very, very good omen for what she had in mind with him.

  Slowly, deliberately, Honey licked a drop of wine off her thumb. She saw his expression react, something flare in his eyes before they shut down, his mouth nearly kick up into a grin before he hardened it again. Sort of like when he hadnt been looking at her yellow bra, she thought.

  He plowed on, giving her answers now without thinking about it because maybe he thought the answers were safer than the sight of her tongue flicking out and touching her skin. You always start out with the idea of getting ahead. Thats the goal. Make money. Succeed. Grow larger. But when it happens, all the good stuff gets left behind.

  What was the good stuff? Honey nudged.

  The feeling of really smooth, planed wood under your palm.

  Like a womans skin?

  Knock it off. Im talking here.

  And Im interested, too. But I like making you do that thing with your eyes.

  What thing? he asked suspiciously.

  Where you want me but lightning would strike you before youd admit it, so you halfway look at the sky like youre waiting for it to come down.

  He leaned toward her suddenly. Honey could feel the heat coming off him. Yes, he was riled.

  You know, if you were one of my sisters, my daddy would tan your hide for talking like that.

  She leaned forward as well. Hed have to catch me first. And she wondered what it would be like to have a father who tanned hides instead of looking down his nose.

  He would, Joe said. Id put my money on him.

  You havent seen me run.

  Because you dont do it. You just keep encroaching. What would make you run, Elise?

  Suddenly, she was finding it hard to breathe. She took a gulp of the wine. It was really excellent wine, she thought. God bless Portugal. Nothing.

  I dont believe that.

  Ill tell you a secret then, she whispered. Rose gardens make me faint.

  A little prick rocks your boat?

  One might say that.

  Youre just multifaceted, arent you?

  You could find out. And then she heard her own words and straightened back into her chair suddenly. What was she saying? She wanted sex from him! Not to get to know himother than an understanding of what he was doing here in Portugal so she knew he was safe. She definitely didnt want him to know hernot Honey who passed out at the prospect of getting laid, and not Honor who was going to be dragged to an altar like the one her mother had gotten married at unless she really kicked and screamed. This wasnt about telling him her secrets. She didnt want a friend. She wanted a one-week stand.

  If Joe got too close to the heart of her, it would do the same thing to her that the townhouse had done. It would bring on the bam-bam-bam-rat-tat-tats.

  Honey looked over her shoulder to buy herself time, to come up with an easy way to segue backward. But when she moved, she caught a sight at Amandos boat that froze every muscle in her body. Her father. Her mother. Drew. Boarding the skiff. Heading for Brunhia.

  Honey looked back at Joe helplessly. Sorry about this. Then she jerked to her feet and fled.

  Six

  A woman seated six tables down from them was wearing a wide-brimmed hat with burgundy ribbons. Honey stopped beside her, careful to keep her back to the street and the docks on the other side. Ill give you ten bucks for that. She pointed.

  Mon chapeau?

  Honey picked up on the womans accent. French? She was still tripping over her Portuguese.

  Her father had eagle eyes. He had only to look over his shoulder to nail her, Honey thought. Best to make this quick. She didnt have time to horse around with translations. And, hey, money talked.

  She dug in her purse and found a fifty. Shed never had time to convert her cash, but it would still spend. She dropped the bill on the table and plucked the hat off the womans head. Her husband looked ready to come out of his chair and swing a fist. In for a penny, Honey thought, in for a pound. She grabbed a pair of cheap sunglasses off the table as well.

  Thanks so much! she called back to the couple, heading up the street again.

  She was shoving the glasses onto her face and piling her hair under the hat when Joe caught up with her. Was it something I said?

  The fact that he could make her grin under this kind of duress was something shed think about later. She peeked over her shoulder at the docks. Her family was still there.

  Youre coming with me, she decided. She grabbed his arm to tow him along. When he tried to fall into step on her right, she dodged around him. No, no, I need you to be on that side. He was big enough to shield her from view from the docks.

  It begs asking why youre acting so crazy, even for you. But he cooperated.

  There was no way to tell him the truth, Honey thought. For one thing, she knew beyond a doubt that if she was going to get past the bam-bam-bam-rat-tat-tat business this time, she was going to have to do it as Elise No-Name. She couldnt have him encountering her family. Then there was the fact that the idea of squeezing back into her Honey skin felt suddenly abhorrent to her. She wasnt ready for this idyllic time to end. And she really wanted to lay her hands on a computer before this day ended. So she put a hand to the top of her head and pushed the hat down a little more firmly.

  Maybe Im wanted in sixteen countries, she suggested.

  And maybe not.

  Maybe I decided I dont want you after all. Maybe Im trying to scare you off.

  You already did but you wont let me go.

  She smiled quickly.

  Ex-lover? he guessed.

  Nope.

  Current lover?

  Ha!

  He didnt understand the rough edge to that bark of laughter so he kept trying. Seriously angry husband? It made his stomach cramp a little. He told himself
he was thinking of Camille.

  Honey lifted her left hand and wiggled ring-free fingers.

  Doesnt mean a thing, he said. My ex-wife never wore hers.

  You were married? Oh, wait, theres a cab!

  Max found himself diving into the car after her. Then his head swam all over again when she leaned forward to speak to the driver.

  Take me, por favor, to, uh, uma bibloteca, she said.

  You want to go to a library? Max was incredulous. All this is about a library? Its a drug transaction, right? Its got to go down somewhere innocuous.

  She rolled her eyes and sat back as the cab pulled into traffic again. She finally pulled off the hat and sunglasses. She breathed. Free. Still free.

  Then she looked over at Joe. Funny, she thought, how the more often she looked at him, the more she liked his facewhat she could see of it under all that dark beard. There was a kind of reticent character there, as though he was trying to deny what made him tick. At the moment, his whiskey eyes were challenging.

  That was a waste of fifty bucks, he said, pointing.

  Honey looked down at the hat and sunglasses spilled in her lap. She shrugged. It was all relative.

  Ah, right, he said. You can afford it.

  You decided that. I never said it was true.

  Your father

  Tom Jones, she clarified.

  Breeds thoroughbreds

  You can find the beasts in backyards all across America.

  Not the kind that would sour a woman on a good, sturdy mule.

  She threw back her head and laughed. Touch.

  And youre staying at the big house.

  What does that have to do with anything?

  Everyone landing there this week seems to be rich and American. That makes you rich and American by implication.

  Theyre all politically powerful and American, Honey said, though Im still not sure yet where this Ethan Williams fits in. I guess most of them have some bucks, too.

  Ethan Williams? Now theres money. In fact, it came close to rivaling his own, Max thought. Ethan Williams was at the big house? He tried never to look squarely at Amandos human cargo when they came in because he didnt want to give anyone a dead-on glimpse of his own face. Apparently, he had missed a lot.

  What the hell is going on up there? he asked. Besides the taming.

  That, she said in a conspiratorial whisper, leaning closer to him, is what were going to a library to find out.

  The car stopped in front of a large brick building that made Honeys spine tingle. She loved librariesall that knowledge, all those words, inside one set of walls. So often they were dignified and ornate, like an old dowager inviting a young belle in for some of her wisdom. She paid the driver, opened the door and stepped out onto the street. She was so preoccupied with the building that she was halfway there before she thought to look back to make sure Joe was still with her.

  He was. That could mean either that he was really curious about why shed fled the bistro, or that he was mellowing toward her. Either way, she was pleased. She turned back to the library and pulled open the thick mahogany door.

  They stepped into cool mustiness, the faint smell of thousands of old pages snuggled together. She breathed in deeply.

  What are you doing? he asked. Getting high on dust?

  And you thought I was just another prima donna, she scoffed, striding forward to the information desk. Computers? she asked the woman there. Computadores?

  Sim, maam. Estao no quarto no alto das escadas.

  Gotcha. She took off in the direction of the stairs. Shed trotted up half of them before her conscience got the better of her. She slowed down and let him catch up. She really did owe him some sort of an explanation. There were some people back there at the marina. If they had spotted me, they would have dragged me on board with Amando and taken me back to the island. I wouldnt have gotten to come here.

  Amandos taking more people over?

  He seemed stuck on that, she thought. Im pretty sure this will be the last of them. Theyve run out of bedrooms.

  But theyll be gone soon? All these people?

  Lets put it this way. Weve got a White House advisor, a world-renowned financier, not to mention my fath

  Your what?

  Damn it, he was quick, she thought. Not to mention Ethan Williams. E-than. Thats what I was going to say. My point being that these sort of high-powered people generally have places to get back to in a hurry, right?

  Right, Max thought. Unless theyd dropped out the way he had. What the hell was Kurt up to? Why would all these people not want you to come to a library?

  Honey started up the stairs again, more slowly this time, rubbing a freckle on her nose while she thought about it. Theyre afraid of what Ill find out. They think Im trouble.

  He joined her in the upstairs computer room. Ha. What a horrible misconception.

  Her spine hardened to the point of pain. Please, not from him, too. I dont go looking for trouble. Sometimes it just finds me.

  You damned near drove me off the road and looked ecstatic about doing it.

  I wasnt ecstatic. I was Honey trailed off to think about it. Waiting to see what would happen next.

  Did broken bones enter into the picture?

  Only briefly. Mostly I was wondering if I would need CPR and what your mouth would feel like on mine when you gave it to me.

  He did it again! Oh, she loved it! His eyes got a little hotter, then they shut down. But the left corner of his mouth kept trying to tuck up. And he looked at the ceiling.

  Still waiting for lightning? Honey asked.

  I think its hit. I must be out of my mind.

  She stepped closer to him. Because youre still here?

  He had to turn the tables on her, Max thought. And he had to do it now. She was getting under his skin. Youd swoon if I grabbed you and planted one on you.

  She almost did. And then her heart took off at the mere prospect. Not bam-bam-bam. Not even rat-tat-tat. It was more like it took flight. She read that as a good sign. Dare you, she whispered.

  He was staring at her mouth. And then he did it.

  She hadnt really thought he would. Honey told herself that was why everything swirled inside her this time instead of outside her. He caught her elbows in his hands, and she had a second to think that they were work-roughened and that that was nice. Then he jerked her toward him, slanted his head and took her mouth with his.

  She cracked one eye to be sure. The walls were where they were supposed to be. No spinning books or computers.

  Then things started bubbling inside her, up from the very core of her. Like champagne, she thought, but not chilled. Tiny delicate air pockets rising and bursting as his tongue swept hers, teased a moment, then was gone. She wanted it back. She search
ed with her own and found his again.

  And then he set her away from him.

  Never ever dare a confused man, he warned, his voice rough.

  She couldnt think. She couldnt talk. She wanted to press her hand to lips that still felt on fire, but fought the urge.

  You wanted computers? he asked, stepping away from her.

  I want you. In that moment, for the first time in her life, she wanted. For herself. Not for show. Not for anything else but this thrumming blood inside her. Well, Honey thought, this certainly put a whole new slant on things. She cleared her throat carefully. You only pushed me away first because it wasnt your idea.

  His eyes heated. I pushed you away first because were in public.

  She looked around. Oh. Yeah. Double dare you when were alone.

  He almost made another move on her. God help him, he almost did, Max thought. How was she reaching him? She wasnt anything he wanted. And she was everything that made him feel real again.

  He turned for the computers because that was safest. What are we looking for?

  Honey couldnt remember.

  She moved toward one of the desks, amazed to realize that her knees felt a little weak, as though someone had replaced the cartilage and bones there with noodles. Cooked noodles. This was a new sensation. The walls and all the books stacked upon them were still blessedly stationary, but she pulled out a chair and sat quickly anyway. She wasnt entirely sure this phenomenon wouldnt drop her, too. Why tempt fate?

  She reached for the computer mouse and ran the cursor over icons until she found what she wanted. He leaned over her shoulder. He smelled like clean sea air, she thought, her mind wandering again.

  You didnt answer my question. His voice was close enough to her ear to make spiders with warm, velvety feet traipse down her spine.