Page 170 of Her Reluctant Hero
“We haven’t found it,” Mallory said quickly.
Adrian tightened his shoulders, cursing himself for revealing his frustration. Smoller thought he had trust issues. Clearly Mallory didn’t believe he’d make the right choices here.
Not the time to dwell on that, not when all his wits needed to be focused on his nemesis. “She’s telling the truth. We haven’t found anything yet.”
Smoller touched the hilt of Mallory’s knife on the table, spun it closer to him, though not quite out of Adrian’s reach. “I do wish I could believe you, but the way she answered so quickly makes me think you’re hiding something.”
“We may have uncovered the captain’s quarters, but we can’t be sure. There’s no casket so far.” Adrian struggled to keep his tone even, his attention on the knife.
Smoller waved a hand. “This is not news to me. Don’t you think your crew told me what I wanted to know? You’re talking to me easily enough. I honestly thought it would take more effort on my behalf.”
“I just want to see my brother, make sure the others are all right.” Adrian felt the strain in his throat as he tried to keep from begging.
“Bargaining, my most useful tool. All right. I see we won’t get anywhere unless I give you what you want.” He signaled one of his men on the barge, who in turn signaled the boat. Three forms stepped from Smoller’s boat onto the flat surface of the barge.
Adrian cast a glance at Smoller. “My eyes aren’t what they used to be. I need them to come closer.”
Smoller grumbled but called in French for them to approach, then halt. Adrian recognized his brother’s shape.
“Are you all right?” he called in Gaelic, the language the two of them had studied as boys to communicate without their father understanding.
“For now,” Toney responded in kind.
Relief at hearing his brother’s voice had all his muscles quivering. Smoller must have seen it, for he called for the others to return to their quarters, then turned to Adrian.
“I need you to bring it up.”
The revelation that his brother was alive may have turned his insides to jelly, but it also hardened his resolve that this man would get nothing of his. “Bring it up yourself, or are you so afraid of the curse?”
Smoller slashed a glance toward Mallory. “Really, Adrian, you’re a scientist. You don’t believe there’s a curse.”
“So why do you need me to bring it up? You’re surely not planning to offer me credit.”
“No, not credit. But I do need your expertise. The crew I used in Florida nearly destroyed the damn thing. I know you’ll take the proper care.”
“I don’t particularly feel helpful.”
Smoller spread his hands in front of him. “We both know you won’t walk away.”
Adrian didn’t move, wanted to deny, unable to. Behind him, Mallory made a small sound he couldn’t identify.
Smoller rose. “As I thought. Mallory, I’d like you to accompany me to my boat.”
She tensed behind him. Adrian felt taut enough to snap in two. “She’ll stay here with me.”
“So the two of you can plot together? I don’t think so.” He extended a hand to Mallory. “I think you’ll like my boat. This one’s nice, but mine is much more comfortable.”
She stepped up beside Adrian and pressed against him. “I want to stay with Adrian.”
One of Smoller’s dark eyebrows arched. “Given what you told me in the past, I would like to say I’m happy for you. In fact, maybe I am. You always were his weakness. That could come in handy.”
The hairs on the back of Adrian’s neck lifted. He understood the threat in the other man’s tone. He realized another man had crossed the barge and stood at the edge, alert, ready to board this boat. Because Adrian loved Mallory more than anything, she was in danger. And he was a prisoner.
“Make sure Dr. Reeves is secure here,” Smoller told the man behind him, curving his hand around Mallory’s arm. He tugged her to his side with enough force that she stumbled. “Sleep well, Adrian. We’re diving at first light.”
Panicked at watching Mallory leave in the company of his enemy, Adrian twisted out of the grip of the man who held him. When the man lunged, Adrian gave him a Glasgow kiss, felt the crunch of cartilage against his forehead as he rammed the hardest part of his head against the man’s nose. But before he could turn back for Mallory, Smoller had freed the knife from its groove in the table and lifted it to Mallory’s cheek.
“I don’t need her to be pretty to dive for me,” he said in a maddeningly calm voice.
