Jade Island (25 page)

Archer nodded. He understood. It was what he would have done, once.

“Three days, slick,” April said, looking from one Donovan brother to the other. “Then Farmer’s museum opens and we start frying sweet little Lianne.”

Maybe it was the artificial light outside Anna Blakely’s condominium. Maybe it was the glittering jewelry and designer clothes she wore. At first glance, Kyle thought that Lianne didn’t take after her blond, deliberately expensive mother very much. Then he took another, better, look and decided that the biological link was there in the tilt of her smile, the chin lifted to take on the world, the singing female allure of her walk, and the graceful length of her fingers as she reached for her daughter. They hugged as though it had been months rather than three days since they had last seen each other.

After repeated assurances that Lianne was all right, Anna pulled back and gave her daughter a long look.

“You should have called right away, baby,” she said, her voice husky. “When Johnny told me, I went crazy.”

“I left word at your hotel. When you didn’t call back…” Lianne’s voice died. The silence from her mother had been harder to bear than Wen’s belief that she was a crook.

“The Tangs need a new travel agent,” Anna said, her mouth turning down. “There was a mix-up in the reservations. We had to change hotels. If Johnny hadn’t thought to check with the original hotel for messages, we’d still be in Tahiti and you’d still be here alone.”

“Let them come in,” Johnny said, walking up behind Anna. “We can talk more safely inside.”

Lianne stiffened and stepped away from her mother.
She hadn’t expected Johnny Tang to be here. She hadn’t wanted him to be. She was afraid that he, like Wen, believed she was a thief.

“Inside,” Johnny repeated, drawing Anna into the room.

Kyle shot him a look, but the older man was too busy staring past the women to the street to notice. Kyle had the distinct feeling that Johnny was worried.

We can talk more safely inside.

Maybe someone in the Tang family had told Johnny that his backdoor daughter was attracting the wrong kind of attention from the wrong kind of people. Or maybe Johnny hadn’t had to be told. Maybe he had known all along.

And maybe he had known about the attack, too.

Cold rage shot through Kyle. He didn’t like to think that Johnny had known in advance that Lianne was going to be arrested, so he packed up his mistress and took off for Tahiti, leaving Lianne to face the cops alone. The possibility that Johnny also might have known in advance about the attacker was enough to make Kyle killing mad.

Using a gentleness that was at odds with his thoughts, Kyle put his arm around Lianne’s shoulders and urged her inside. Johnny and Anna were clear across the room, talking in low voices near the counter that separated the kitchen from the living area.

Even when the door shut behind him and automatic locks clicked into place, Kyle kept his arm around Lianne. She gave him a look that was surprise and something more, relief and yearning and wariness. She leaned against him for just a moment, then straightened instantly as though stung. When she would have stepped away from him entirely, his fingers tightened. His free hand came up under her stubborn chin and he kissed her very gently on the mouth.

“This is one you don’t have to do alone,” he said simply.

“Part of the stuffed-elephant escort service?” Lianne asked coolly, but her lips trembled.

“I met you because Archer asked me to,” Kyle said. “I made love to you because I wanted you. I still do, and it has nothing to do with anything except us.”

Lianne was too surprised to say anything. The hunger in Kyle’s eyes was as real as his kiss had been tender. She was caught between the two, afraid to trust either, needing so much to believe in both. She told herself she would be a fool to believe in Kyle now, when she knew he was bound to his family just as Johnny was bound to his.

Then she was leaning into Kyle’s arm and her own arm was stealing around his waist. No matter what had come before or what came after, she would take what he was offering to her now. She desperately needed it.

This is one you don’t have to do alone.

When the ungiving leather and steel of Kyle’s shoulder holster registered on Lianne’s senses, she simply tightened her grip on him. Whatever happened tomorrow or the day after, she had to get through this day, this evening, the next hour. That came first. Everything else came last.

“Tea?” Anna asked, looking from Kyle to Lianne with a mother’s sad, hopeful eyes.

“Sure,” Kyle said. “Oolong, if you have it.”

Anna smiled approvingly. “Lianne’s favorite. Of course I have it. Johnny?”

“Brandy,” he said. “I had enough Chinese tea on the flight back to last me a lifetime.”

“Tea is good for you,” Anna said, looking at the dark circles under his eyes and the brackets of fatigue on either side of his full mouth. For once, her lover showed every one of his years.

“Brandy is better.” Johnny sat down on one of the low couches, leaned back against the silk cushion, closed his eyes, and said, “What the hell is going on, Lianne?”

“We were hoping you could tell us,” Kyle said before Lianne could open her mouth.

She started to speak anyway, only to have Kyle’s hand close with painful demand over her shoulder.

“Let your father talk,” Kyle said calmly.

There was a crash from the open kitchen area as Anna dropped a brandy snifter.

Lianne jerked, but not because of the broken snifter. She wasn’t used to hearing Johnny referred to as her father. Not out loud. Certainly not in Anna’s presence, much less in Johnny’s

“Sorry,” Kyle said sardonically. “Did I point out that there’s a lump the size of the Empire State Building under this fine Chinese rug?”

For the first time, Lianne realized that beneath his relaxed exterior, Kyle was furious. And the focus of his anger was Johnny Tang.

“Make that brandy a double,” Johnny said. “Looks like Lianne has finally brought home a man who doesn’t give a damn about the Tang Consortium.”

“Oh, I care,” Kyle said. “I need information. Tangs have it. One way or another, I’m going to get it.”

Though Johnny’s eyes were still closed, he sensed Anna leaning over the couch, a glass of brandy in her hand. He took the glass and a fast, healthy swallow. Then he opened his eyes, murmured something in Cantonese, and smiled gently when Anna flushed like a girl.

“Information from the Tangs,” Johnny said idly. “Why? So Donovan International can get a leg up on Asian markets?”

“Fuck the markets. I want Lianne off the playing field. The only way I can do that is to get the truth about how Dick Farmer ended up with Wen Zhi Tang’s jade shroud.”

Johnny sat bolt upright, shock on his handsome face. “Jade shroud? What the hell are you talking about?”

For ten seconds Kyle stared. Then he muttered, “Shit Marie. Nothing about this is going to be easy, is it?”

“
S
o someone has been taking jade out of the Tang vaults, selling it, and substituting junk in its place?” Johnny asked tiredly. As he spoke, he looked at his watch, hardly able to believe that less than half an hour had passed since Kyle had shattered precedent and named Lianne as Johnny Tang’s daughter.

“That’s one explanation,” Lianne said. She reached for her second cup of tea. “Another is that Wen needs cash for some reason and is selling off jade to get it.”

“He’d sooner sell his second and third sons,” Johnny said. “And I mean that literally.”

“What about his first son?” Kyle asked.

“Only an American would ask,” Johnny said.

“Wen would sooner die than lose Joe,” Lianne said in a calm voice. “The Chinese much prefer sons over daughters. First sons are greatly preferred over other sons, second sons are more valued than third, and so on. Correct, Johnny?”

Johnny shrugged. He had absorbed and accepted the consequences of sex and birth order long before he had words to describe any of it. For him, the cultural preference he had been raised in was as unremarkable, if sometimes as inconvenient, as getting older each year.

“Quit pacing, Anna,” Johnny said. “Sit by me. The scent of your perfume helps me forget I’ve been awake for thirty-two hours.”

Anna gave Lianne a searching glance and settled by Johnny’s side. When he took her hand between his own, she couldn’t conceal her surprise. For all his fluency in America’s language and customs, Johnny had an old-fashioned Chinese reserve about touching Anna in public.

“If Wen didn’t sell the jade,” Kyle said evenly, “then it was stolen.”

“Harsh word,” Johnny said.

“You try seeing your woman in handcuffs, scared bloodless, and then tell me how tender you feel toward the world,” Kyle retorted. “But, hey, I’m all for intercultural sensitivity, so how about I use the word
borrowed.
Does that make you feel better?”

“There’s no need to be rude,” Anna said. “This is Johnny’s family we’re talking about, not some stranger’s.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, Ms. Blakely,” Kyle said, giving Anna a cool look, “but one member of Johnny’s family is sitting right next to me, which makes—”

“It doesn’t matter,” Lianne cut in. “The subject is jade, not family.”

“The hell it is,” Kyle retorted. “The subject is a Tang family dispute over how a batch of jade went missing. Various members of the family are pointing fingers at you, which makes me feel rude as Satan. From what I can see, you worked your ass off to please the Tangs, and in return you were set up to take the fall for a spot of family theft.”

“Jade,” Lianne said sharply. “Let’s just stick to the damned jade.”

“Christ,” Kyle snarled. “Not you, too. Don’t you ever get tired of tripping over everything that’s been shoved under the carpet?”

She closed her eyes, hardly able to speak for the combination of humiliation, sadness, and anger sweeping over her. “Yes! I get damned tired! But what does that have to do with getting the U.S. government off our backs? What—”

“Daughter.”

Johnny’s single word cut off the flow of angry words
from Lianne. She opened her eyes and stared at the father who had never acknowledged her as his daughter. Until now. He was watching her with eyes that reflected her own seething emotions.

“I don’t expect you to understand,” Johnny said. “I value you as much as I value my legal daughters.” He smiled sadly. “More, I’m afraid. There is so much of your mother in you. She is the only woman I have ever loved, and I will never marry her as long as my wife lives. Perhaps not even when she dies. It would be very, very difficult for Anna to be my wife. By then Wen would be dead. His Number One Son has no patience for Western women. Neither does Harry. Nor would I see my sons embittered by having to accept into their family the woman they have resented since they were old enough to know why I spent so much time in America.”

Tears ran down Anna’s face, shiny trails through her carefully applied makeup. She held her lover’s hand between her own. Her eyes were unfocused, looking through everything, even the daughter of her love for Johnny Tang.

“Resentment,” Kyle said. “Interesting. Like vengeance, resentment is an age-old human motive.”

Johnny didn’t disagree.

“How much do Lianne’s half siblings resent her?” Kyle asked. “Enough to set her up for ten years in jail? Or would their vengeance be more personal and final? An assassin in a dingy hallway, for example.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Johnny snapped.

“You have a better explanation as to why a triad hit man attacked Lianne yesterday?”

“What?”
Johnny leaped to his feet. “Lianne, is that true?”

“Baby, are you all right?” Anna asked simultaneously, standing as swiftly as Johnny had.

“She’s fine,” Kyle said. “She has a nice karate kick.” He looked at Lianne. “Didn’t mention that little incident to your parents, huh?”

“What was the point?” Lianne’s narrow eyes told him
she wasn’t happy that he had raised the subject. “It’s over. The man has been shipped back to China.”

“I’ll tell you the point, sweetheart. A load of grief has come down on you lately, and it has come from the Tangs. I want to find out which Tang is responsible. Then I’ll put an end to it.”

“My sons resent Anna and, to some degree, Lianne,” Johnny said after a moment. “They don’t hate either one enough to kill.”

“You sure about Daniel?”

“Kyle,” Lianne said fiercely under her breath. “No!”

He ignored her. His odd, golden-green eyes were fixed on Johnny with the unflinching clarity of a big cat closing in on lunch.

“Daniel?” Johnny asked. “Why?”

“He knows jade,” Kyle said succinctly.

Anger flattened Johnny’s face and made his eyes opaque. “Are you saying that my son would steal from his family?”

“Someone in the Tang family is a thief, and it’s not Lianne. If not Daniel, who? Who else knows jade, has the combination to the Tang vaults and a reason to wish Lianne a shitload of bad luck?”

“Daniel respects and loves his grandfather, his uncles, and his father too much to do such a thing.”

“And Lianne doesn’t?” Kyle shot back.

“But…” Slowly Johnny sat on the couch again. Jet lag weighed down his brain like melted lead. He made a sound that was more a groan than a sigh. “When I asked Lianne to meet you, I didn’t think it would lead to this.”

Worried by his sudden pallor, Anna sat next to Johnny and took his hand. It was cold.

“Which raises another interesting point,” Kyle said smoothly. “Just why did you want Lianne to pick me up? The Tang Consortium’s overtures to the Donovan family were turned down months ago. Did the Tangs think I would be an easier Donovan mark than Archer? Or did you—”

“Stop bullying him!” Anna interrupted. “Can’t you see that he’s exhausted?”

Kyle gave her a cutting look. “What I keep seeing is your daughter in handcuffs. Unless your lover can help us, you’ll get to see it, too.”

Anna flinched as though Kyle had struck her. Johnny’s cool hand touched her cheek.

“It’s all right,” he said tiredly. Then he turned to Kyle. “I wanted you because the Donovans don’t need anything from the Tangs. Then there was that incident with the Russian amber. I don’t know all the details, but what I found out suggested that you wouldn’t turn and run at the first sign of trouble.” He almost smiled. “I was right, wasn’t I?”

“Kyle saved my life,” Lianne said. “The assassin would have—”

“Bull,” Kyle said. “The way I remember it, you saved
my
life.”

“I did no such—”

“Sure you did,” he said, talking over her. “You broke his knife arm. Now my life is yours. You can’t get out of it, sweetheart. Old Chinese rules.”

Lianne gave him a baffled look, then bent over and sniffed his teacup suspiciously. Nothing but oolong.

Kyle’s knuckles slid down her cheek to the curve of her neck in a caress that was both casual and so infused with intimacy that her breath caught. She looked up and felt his smile like another gentle touch.

“No brandy,” he said softly. “Just your perfume going to my head.” But all gentleness left Kyle’s expression when he faced Johnny again. “What were you planning for me and Lianne?”

“A healthy young man who is good in a fight, a beautiful young woman who might need such a man on her side…” Johnny shrugged. “There was no plan.”

“What made you think that Lianne might need someone like me?” Kyle asked. His voice was edgy, impatient. He shouldn’t have to drag answers out of Johnny like a cop
cross-examining a hostile suspect. It was Johnny’s daughter they were trying to help.

For a long time Johnny didn’t say anything. He simply focused on Anna’s hand lying pale and beautiful on his arm.

“I am very uneasy about Han Seng,” Johnny admitted finally. “My family…would like to ingratiate themselves with him.”

Lianne went cold. She stared at her father, hardly able to believe what she was hearing.

“And Lianne was a little deal sweetener?” Kyle’s tone was neutral. But his whole body tightened.

“I told Joe that Lianne didn’t like Seng, much less want to become his lover,” Johnny said.

“What about Wen?” Lianne asked, almost afraid to hear the answer. “Did he expect me to be Seng’s concubine?”

“He didn’t understand the difference between you being Chin’s lover a while back and being Seng’s now.”

“Obviously Wen is blind,” Kyle said. “Chin and Seng are both snakes, but Chin is a damned pretty one.”

Lianne ignored Kyle and spoke directly to her father. “I thought I loved Chin. I thought he loved me. He didn’t. He loved only the family of Tang.”

“Of course,” Johnny said with faint impatience. “He is Chinese-born, Chinese-raised. Did you really think Chin wanted your body more than your family connections?”

“Yes.”

Johnny shook his head. There were aspects of his American daughter that he would never understand. She was intelligent—very intelligent—quite fluent in Chinese art and languages. Yet she couldn’t seem to grasp the fundamental dynamic of the Chinese culture: family. An individual’s desires were as nothing against the needs of his family.

“So you were nervous about what Seng would do,” Kyle said. “You were right, by the way. While you were
flying to Tahiti, Harry told Lianne to take some jades for trade with good old Seng.”

“It wasn’t the first time such trades had been arranged,” Johnny said calmly. “It was simply the Tang way of presenting Lianne with an opportunity to become intimate with Seng. The connection would have benefited the Tang family.”

Kyle’s eyes glittered with anger. “‘An opportunity to become intimate,’” he repeated savagely. “Well, that’s one definition of rape, I suppose.”

Johnny sighed. He had wanted an American protector for Lianne, one who wouldn’t kowtow to the Tangs. He had gotten one, for better or for worse. “A liaison with Seng would have benefited Lianne greatly as well. He is a very wealthy, very influential man. His enthusiasms are brief, but he is known to be generous with his women. Since Lianne won’t accept money from Anna, and the Tangs pay her barely enough to survive…” He shrugged.

The only thing that kept Lianne from jumping to her feet was the weight of Kyle’s hand on her shoulder, holding her in place.

“So Seng is generous,” Lianne said in a low, vicious tone. “Let me tell you how generous, Johnny. An appointment was set up for me to see his jades. The appointment was at night, on Farmer Island. Since there isn’t any ferry service, arrangements had already been made for me to be picked up by the institute’s launch. I was expected to spend the night. And I was to come alone, of course.”

Johnny’s eyelids flinched. It was what part of him had secretly feared but none of him had really believed. Wen was pragmatic and quick to defend or enlarge the interests of the Tang family, but he wasn’t a cruel man. He wouldn’t have set up his granddaughter’s rape.

“When I showed up,” Lianne continued, “Seng was wearing lounging pajamas and perfumed like a whore. Instead of the party I was told he was hosting, the place was empty except for his assistant and his armed bodyguard. Tell me, Johnny. If Kyle hadn’t been with me, how
much
choice
would I have had about becoming one of Seng’s women?”

Johnny closed his eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know about that.” He turned to Anna, who was watching him with pain thinning her full mouth. “Anna, it never occurred to the Tangs that Lianne wouldn’t be open to Seng’s offer. In Asia, women pursue Seng. As I said, he is generous. And it’s not as though she was a virgin who had never taken a lover.”

The nod Anna gave was tight, her eyes devastated. “I pity those women with nothing to sell but themselves. Lianne isn’t that desperate. Tell your family. Immediately.” She vibrated like a plucked string. “Never again, Johnny. Promise me. Lianne isn’t what I was—homeless, rootless, forced to survive by—” Her voice shattered. “
Tell them.
”

“I will.”

Lianne let out a breath and pushed a wing of thick, black hair away from her cheek. “Don’t worry, Mom. The Tang family won’t be trying to fix me up with a generous rapist anymore. They’re too busy hating me for pissing Seng off.”

“By refusing him?” Johnny asked. “He’ll simply buy a willing woman with three times your beauty.”

“That could be tough,” Kyle said dryly. “In case you hadn’t noticed, Lianne is gorgeous.”

Lianne ignored Kyle. “The only refusal Seng was truly upset by was my refusal to trade superior Tang jades for inferior Seng pieces.”

“You refused a trade?” Johnny asked in disbelief.

“Yeah,” Kyle said. “Seng didn’t sic his guard dog on us until we headed out the door with Tang jades still wrapped and sealed in their boxes.” He turned Lianne’s face toward him. “You
are
gorgeous, you know.”

“I know no such thing,” she retorted. Then she smiled. “But thanks anyway. Every woman likes to think that a dropdead handsome man would see something gorgeous in her.”

Kyle laughed and skimmed his thumb over her high, slanting cheekbone.

Frowning, Johnny sat without really listening, still caught by something about the trade that hadn’t been consummated. “Those boxes…” he began.