Family Secrets: Books 5-8

by Virginia Kantra

  In any event, she didnt intend to waste a moment of her time remaining on Brunhia. She went to the hooks on the wall and snatched her maillot off one of them, then she looked around the room for accessories. Shed been in residence just long enough that clothing was strewn all over the place. This time she decided that the long hot-pink gauze skirt would be the perfect accompaniment, that and her flat sandals, the ones in pearly pink. She felt like

  a woman whose whole life had been leading her toward last night.

  Honey growled aloud at the thought and went downstairs for a shower. The fact that she was headed right back to the beach today, even though shed achieved her goal last night meant nothing. She just wanted to cram as much of this sex business into the next two days as she could, she told herself.

  She was dressed and feeling chipper when she reached the kitchen. She was on her way to the back door and the garage when Carey came sweeping in from the big room. She was carrying the coffee carafe.

  Are you off to the beach again? she asked when she saw Honey.

  Honey grinned. Yup.

  Your work in progress is coming along well, then?

  Splendidly.

  Then dont let me keep you.

  Honeys grin started feeling hard and stiff on her mouth. It was an odd thing for Carey to say, overly polite. Got a burr up that cute tush of yours this morning?

  Of course not, Carey said. Too fast, Honey thought. She watched her friend go to the urn to refill the carafe. But why is it that the youngest woman in any crowd is always relegated to coffee duty?

  Its a hierarchy thing designed by the male of the species.

  Well, thats just cow dung.

  Your Kansas is showing. She watched Carey hug the filled carafe to her tummy, both arms around it, and she was alarmed. Hey, youre going to burn yourself!

  Carey realized it at the same time and put the carafe on the counter. We havent talked at all since Matt and I have been here, she said finally.

  You and Matt? Honey asked innocently.

  Carey sighed. You and me.

  Well, Ive been deliberately excluded from your little circle during this get-together. What else could I do but pursue sex with a hot island vagabond instead?

  Carey didnt laugh. She winced. Im sorry. But everyones all here in one place for the wedding and they want to put their heads together.

  About what?

  Carey stared at her without answering. And Honey felt the hurt somewhere down deep in her gut, a twisting, cold thing. She turned away for the door.

  Honey, it was never my intention to shut you out! Im stuck in the middle.

  Honey shrugged. It didnt matter. She wouldnt let it matter. She reached for the door handle but then she paused.

  Carey had said they were all in the big room talking again. About Marcus and Gretchen and Jake and the Coalition, about bad guys snapping up the wrong brother and nefarious ends? Honey still wondered how Matt and Carey fit into all that. She wondered if Kelly and Ethan Williams were in the big room, too.

  She turned back into the kitchen. Carey had left. Why was she tiptoeing? The question flashed into her mind as she crossed the room again toward the door to the big room. When a pariah, she whispered aloud, one should always slither in.

  She pressed her ear against the door. She couldnt hear a thing. Trust the marble maven to install two-inch thick wood. She leaned her weight against the door ever-so-gently and it eased open a crack. She couldnt see, but now, at least, she could hear.

  What was the message? Jake asked.

  Matts voice answered. I have information you might be interested in. Quote, unquote. Verbatim.

  All right, whats the downside of meeting with him? Gretchen asked.

  Could be a setup, Marcus said.

  We really cant be sure which side Hatch is on. That was Samantha, Honey thought.

  I should be the one to meet with him, Marcus said.

  If Hatch isnt on the up-and-up, you could be in danger, Samantha said, quiet tension in her voice.

  Thats my point. It would take three or four of them to overpower me.

  Its got to be me, Matt said. Im the one he reached out to and we cant blow him off on the chance that he really does know something important. Lack of information is our greatest impediment.

  Violet would be invaluable right now, Gretchen said. Something in her tone, a soft and confused grief, lifted the hairs on Honeys nape. Marcus had mentioned Violet too. She obviously hadnt fared too well in all this. The short silence in the other room sounded as though people were collecting themselves so she figured Violet might be mom.

  We need to set a game plan, Jake said finally. Honey heard a bar stool move and imagined hed gotten up to pace. Okay, in order. Im doing my damnedest to find Faith. Weve got to alert her to the danger and bring her into the fold.

  Im still working on decoding Henrys tapes, Gretchen said. Im close. If nothing else, well soon know exactly how they did what they did to us.

  Im working out the best angle for a sting operation to take the Coalition down. But I need more facts to work with, Marcus said.

  Which brings us right back to Samuel Hatch again, Matt Tynan said. The Coalition has no reason to grab me. I should be safe enough even if he is in with them.

  Except youve been asking a lot of questions about Code Proteus lately, Carey said. They could grab you just to find out how much weve learned.

  Weve learned? Honey almost choked aloud. Oh, Carey, she thought, youre so deep into this and you never told me. A fresh sense of betrayal made her chest feel tight.

  Senhora! What are you doing there?

  Honey gave a little cry as Rafaelas voice startled her. She jerked around and forgot that the door was of the swinging variety. Her elbow hit it hard and it flared open.

  The voices in the big room stopped cold.

  Me? Honey asked. I wasuh, going to see if anyone, uhwanted breakfast. Lunch.

  The door swung inward again so hard it slammed her in the back. She took a few startled steps forward and whipped around again. Her brother had pushed in from the big room. And Marcus was mad.

  Well, so was she. Dont say it, she hissed at him. Dont even say it.

  What the hell were you doing? Eavesdropping?

  She see about lunch, Rafaela said helpfully.

  Of course, I was eavesdropping! Honey heard her own voice rise. How else am I supposed to have any idea whats going on around here?

  Its none of your business! Marcus roared.

  Well, I beg to differ. They grabbed Zach instead of Jake, and apparently this Violet met an untimely end of some sort. And the last time I checked, we were related. Given what I just overheard, I actually could be in danger. Careys afraid theyre even going to grab Matt!

  Honey, youve gone too far this time. Youre just twisting things around as an excuse to snoop, then run around repeating everything youve heard. You have no place here!

  It felt
like something with a hot, barbed tip drove deep into her chest. Honey felt her lungs trying to seize up again. First Carey, now Marcusthe two people she was closest to in the world. Both of them had had occasion to peer beneath the Honey-antics and see what dwelled inside. Apparently, neither of them had been impressed. They still wouldnt let her in.

  She turned away. Talk away to your hearts content. I wont be around to offer any input.

  Honey, for Gods sake, what input could you possibly have anyway?

  It snapped something inside her just as she reached the back door. Honey jerked back to him. I know Samuel Hatch.

  He gaped at her. How do you know Hatch?

  She twirled a finger at her temple. Ex-CIA agent? A little wifty, holding on with both hands to memories of his old glory because retirements not much to his liking? That Sam Hatch? A guy who would call the White House frequently just to stay in touch and who would enjoy chatting with anyone who expressed even the vaguest interest in his past?

  Whats your point?

  Come on, big brother, we know all about your brawn but I always gave you credit for some brains, too.

  Shed hurt him. Honey saw it in his eyes. That, she knew, was his Achilles heel. Sometime soon, when her temper died down, shed be sorry. It would make her miserable. But now she had a grand exit in mind. Im a White House telephone operator. Duh.

  She turned around again and banged out the door. She raked a hand through her hair as she strode toward the garage. It was trembling a little. She grabbed a scooter, hiked up her skirt again to mount, revved the little motor and peeled out for the beach. Damn them, damn them, damn them!

  The women of Paz and Deus Fornece were all at the shoreline cleaning fish when she arrived. She started up the sand to find Paloma. The air was ripe with last nights catch. Honey pressed the heel of her hand to her chest. I need to breathe, she whispered aloud.

  Talking to yourself? came a voice from behind her.

  Joe. Honey turned around. I get the most interesting answers that way.

  He didnt smile. She hadnt really expected him to. She pulled air in hard.

  Youre still mad at me, she said.

  Are you crying?

  Of course not. She scrubbed her hands over her eyes.

  Youre crying. Youre eyes are all shiny.

  I just had an altercation with someone I love. If youre just going to yell at me, too, then beat it. I dont want to see you after all.

  Oh, youre going to see me. Youve got some talking to do.

  Im not up for it right now.

  Its all right for you to chase me all over Portugal, but when I want to talk to you, you just slam the door?

  I did not chase you all over Portugal. It was just one small city and an island.

  He closed the distance between them to stare down into her face. Honey wondered what he saw there. An air-brain? A lunatic who had swum out to his boat so she could unload her virginity on him? Or a woman who could make him smile and laugh? She waited and realized it mattered. It mattered a lot. Her eyes were burning again.

  Hey, hey, he said, then he reached with a thumb to catch a tear.

  It undid her. She heard herself gulp and was mortified.

  Come on, nothings that bad, he said quietly. Im not mad. I just dont get it.

  Im not crying because of you. She sniffed. You I can handle.

  Apparently. He took her elbow. They began walking up the sand.

  Urgent thoughts spilled through her mind. What I did to you was wrong.

  Well, you didnt exactly rope me and mount me.

  I thought of it. If you had resisted much more, I might have.

  She was rewarded by a bark of laughter.

  I should have told you first, she said. But I wasdesperate.

  Desperate for sex? Honey, a woman who looks like you could grab it with a snap of her fingers.

  She jolted a little again when he unwittingly used her name. That made her feel small, too, that she had lied to him about who she was. Thank you. I think.

  Suddenly she stopped and looked around. Theyd passed the village and had reached the quarry. She sat down in the rocky soil and drew her knees up to her chin.

  Why were you desperate? he asked, standing over her. To fulfill some sort of saltwater fetish?

  A quick laugh escaped her and surprised her. A moment ago, she had thought shed never laugh again. Its more like a Georgetown phobia. I can blame myself for that, too. People dont have a right to whine because theyve been wronged by a misconception theyve created themselves.

  Max felt her words like something winding through his blood, spreading light as it went. He had done that, he thought. It was exactly what he had done. Everyone had assumed he lived for the next deal, the next dollar. And when hed tried to run from that and theyd hounded him, hed blamed them for it.

  What? she asked. You look funny.

  Just thinking that you said another mouthful. He sat beside her.

  Wow, a high-water mark. Someone thinks I have insight.

  Ive always thought you had insight.

  Her brows climbed. Really?

  Why wouldnt I? You spit out things like that all the time.

  She thought about it, then she picked up a stone and tossed it down the slope. It kicked up little puffs of dust as it tumbled. Im going to tell you a story, she decided. About a princess.

  Would this princesss name be Elise?

  Thats one of her names, yes. Elise lived in a beautiful castle with a mom and dad who loved her very much and a nanny who thought the sun rose and set by her. Her mom and dad were always very busy so they needed someone to take care of their little girl. Her dad had to do important work and her mom had to sit just so in her ivory tower all the time. She couldnt risk getting sticky little chocolate fingers on her pretty dresses.

  Ah. Makes sense. Ivory towers are hard to keep clean.

  Honey snickered. Yeah. Oh, and there were also two big brothers. She thought about Marcuss gift. Really big, as it turned out.

  Goliaths?

  One was. The other was just sort ofperfect.

  Did they love her very much, too?

  Very much, Honey agreed. The brothers and the mom and dad and the nanny never wanted anything to be hard for her. They all wanted her to be happy, so if she asked for a moonbeam, theyd lasso the whole moon. If she wanted to plant a flower, theyd rush out and make her a whole garden, so she wouldnt have to get her hands dirty, of course. And if she wanted to be a steeplechase jockey, then they made sure she had the best mounts available.

  Ah. I guess they bought up a lot of Girl Scout cookies, too.

  A lot of them, she agreed. You have no idea how many cookies it takes to get to Disney World. Anyway, what they all really wanted was for the princess just to be still and grow up intowell, into her mom.

  With an ivory tower of her own, Joe guessed.
Nice work if you can get it.

  Honey finally grinned. The princess would have gone out of her mind.

  I know someone named Elise who would have reacted the same way. So what did the princess do about all this?

  Princess Elise turned the castle on its ear. She sort of struck her own path doing very un-ivory tower-type things. Whenever her mom and dad tried to push her into her own tower, she kicked up her heels.

  Ill bet. How did her brothers feel about this?

  She thought one of them understood until a little while ago. Her own smile faded. The game was over. Hes lived with my antics for so long, even he believes them now.

  When Joe reached out and brushed a stray curl off her cheek, one the breeze had been teasing, her lip trembled. She pressed her cheek to his hand. He didnt pull away.

  Youre right, he said, you cant always blame the recipient of the, ah, antics.

  I know.

  People see what they expect to see.

  I know that, too. She brought her head up and looked at him suddenly. I want to run away from it all. I dont want to be the heel-kicking princess anymore. Joe, Im tired.

  Yeah, all those calisthenics could be wearing.

  She reached up and caught his hand. Im serious. I want to do what you did.

  He was startled. He started to tell her it wasnt that easy, but, of course, it was. If you had money. If you had enough determination. He thought she had both.

  Are you ever going back? she asked abruptly. Back to your real life?