“Because I won’t be able to go if I don’t. I’m already cursing myself as a complete ass for doing it.” He brushed his lips across her forehead. “But I’m not going to start building our relationship on the defiance you’re feeling toward Hu Chang. I won’t let him intrude one breath into it.”
“That’s not why I—”
“Tomorrow.” He kissed her quickly, then was gone.
She stared blankly at the closed door. Everything had happened so quickly and none of it as she’d thought it would. Passion, bewilderment, anger, passion again. Gallo had probably been right to leave, but it was difficult to sort out her feelings at the moment. She was the one who had hurled those words of defiance at Hu Chang, but Gallo had been the one to follow through. Perhaps because Gallo had realized that her anger and hurt with Hu Chang had made her behave impulsively. She should have felt only anger, but with Hu Chang she could never feel the anger without the hurt.
And if she felt hurt, had her words also hurt Hu Chang?
She remembered that glimpse of pain she’d thought she’d seen on his face. Hu Chang, who was always enigmatic and never revealed vulnerability.
Imagination.
No, not imagination.
And no matter how angry and indignant she was toward him, she couldn’t bear that thought.
She opened the French doors and went out on the balcony.
He was no longer standing on the path.
“Here, Catherine.” Hu Chang was sitting at a table on the veranda to the left of the path. “Don’t worry, I’m fine.”
“I wasn’t worried.”
He smiled. “Liar. We always worry about each other.”
“You were wrong, Hu Chang.”
“I did what I thought was best. Has he gone?”
“Yes, did you plan that to happen, too?”
“No, not this time,” he said wearily. “I thought no further than getting him here for you. I knew you’d be angry and fretting about Luke, and I wanted to give you a gift that would take your mind off what I’d done.”
“Oh, Gallo did that all right. He’ll be back, Hu Chang. It was his decision.”
He nodded. “Very wise. I always knew Gallo was a dangerous choice.”
“It wasn’t your choice to make. Tell me you won’t do anything like this again.”
He shook his head. “I would never lie to you. I do what I must.” He smiled faintly. “But I promise that you will never be bored by anything I do. That’s why you always come back to me.”
“That’s not why I come back.”
His smile faded. “No, that is true, and I realize my good fortune.” He suddenly straightened in his chair, and his smile returned. “So why do you not come down off that balcony and join me? You’re not the Juliet type, and your Romeo has temporarily deserted you. I’ll go raid the wine cellar for one of Chen Lu’s best vintages, and we’ll sit here and watch the moon travel across the night sky. You’ll have the opportunity to curse and lecture me, and when you tire of that, we’ll talk of other things. Or just be silent. Silence is good, too.”
Watch the moon travel across the night sky …
The words invoked a picture too tempting to resist.
Serenity that soothed. Friendship that banished all loneliness. A closeness that needed no words.
“Yes, silence can be good, too.” She turned and headed for the French doors. “But not until we have a few more words about what you did. Go get that wine, Hu Chang. I’ll be right down.”
ALSO BY IRIS JOHANSEN
Bonnie
Quinn
Eve
Chasing the Night
Shadow Zone (with Roy Johansen)
Eight Days to Live
Deadlock
Dark Summer
Quicksand
Silent Thunder (with Roy Johansen)
Pandora’s Daughter
Stalemate
An Unexpected Song
Killer Dreams
On the Run
Countdown
Blind Alley
Firestorm
Fatal Tide
Dead Aim
No One to Trust
Body of Lies
Final Target
The Search
The Killing Game
The Face of Deception
And Then You Die
Long After Midnight
The Ugly Duckling
Lion’s Bride
Dark Rider
Midnight Warrior
The Beloved Scoundrel
The Magnificent Rogue
The Tiger Prince
Last Bridge Home
The Golden Barbarian
Reap the Wind
Storm Winds
The Wind Dancer
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Iris Johansen is the New York Times bestselling author of Eve, Quinn, Bonnie, Chasing the Night, Eight Days to Live, Blood Game, Storm Cycle (with Roy Johansen), Silent Thunder (with Roy Johansen), Deadlock, Dark Summer, Pandora’s Daughter, Quicksand, Killer Dreams, On the Run, Countdown, Firestorm, Fatal Tide, Dead Aim, No One to Trust, and more.
Visit www.irisjohansen.com.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU. Copyright © 2012 by Johansen Publishing LLLP. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Johansen, Iris.
What doesn’t kill you / Iris Johansen.—1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-312-65123-7 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4299-5293-4 (e-book)
1. Women intelligence officers—Fiction. 2. Chinese American women—Fiction. 3. United States. Central Intelligence Agency—Fiction. 4. Assassins—Fiction. 5. Poisoning—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3560.O275W48 2012
813'.54—dc22
2011045692
e-ISBN 9781429952934
First Edition: April 2012
What Doesn't Kill You Page 36
