Serpent in Paradise Read online

  “Oh, he dealt with it this time with great aplomb, I assure you!” Amy was in the corridor now, fishing for her key.

  “Amy!” It wasn’t Sam’s voice that called to her from the foot of the stairs; it was Jase’s. He’d followed her.

  How had he gotten here so quickly? More important, she thought nervously, how was she going to get rid of him?

  Amy came to a startled halt on the threshold of her room.

  It seemed to be a night for violence, she thought half hysterically. Her room had been thoroughly searched.

  Chapter Three

  Amy was still staring, stunned, into the ransacked room when Jase reached the top of the stairs.

  “What the hell...?” He came to a halt behind her, gazing over her shoulder at the chaotic scene. “Well, I’ll be damned, lady, you really are having an exciting evening here on colorful Saint Clair, aren’t you?” He draped a casually possessive arm around her shoulders as if he had every right to do so.

  “Don’t tell me; let me guess,” Amy got out fiercely. “This is just another example of a little routine island trouble, right? A few of the good ol’ boys having a bit of fun with the tourists?”

  Jase didn’t look at her as he continued gazing thoughtfully into the room. “No, as a matter of fact, this isn’t routine. Believe it or not, Amy, we really don’t have a lot of city-type crime here. Everyone knows everyone else too well for that. I know you don’t think too much of our rather loose social structure, but we do have one, and it’s fairly effective in its way. A few brawls, now and then a little theft down at the wharf and that’s about the extent of our problems.”

  “And once in a while someone accidentally gets his throat cut?”

  “Only accidentally,” Jase drawled, refusing to rise to the bait. “But I’ll stake The Serpent on the guess that whoever did this isn’t a local or even off the Navy ship.”

  Amy said nothing as she absorbed the implications of the scene in front of her. She realized she was trembling, and the heavy weight of Jase’ s arm was suddenly and unexpectedly welcome. Of course whoever had done this wasn’t a local. Dirk Haley was trying to go back on the bargain.

  Nervously she tried to step out from under Jase’s arm, aware of a need to establish some distance between herself and this man. She seemed to be surrounded by violent males this evening.

  He turned his head as she made the small bid for freedom. “It’s okay, honey,” he soothed. “I’ll take care of everything.”

  “That’s quite all right, thank you. I’ve seen how you take care of things!” The feeling of masculine possessiveness that she sensed in the weight of his arm around her shoulders made her uneasy. And Amy didn’t care for the gleam in his turquoise eyes. The last thing she needed right now was to have Jase Lassiter start claiming rights to her. She had never released such rights to any man and she certainly didn’t intend to start now with the proprietor of a South Pacific bar who settled barroom brawls with the aid of a knife

  “Don’t be afraid of me, Amy,” he whispered. “Please.’’

  “I’m not afraid of you!” she lied. “I’m just feeling rather tense at the moment. Don’t you think I have cause?” She didn’t like her own reaction to the hard pleading in him. Why on earth did she have to find herself lapsing into these stupid moments of softness toward Jase Lassiter? This wasn’t the first time today it had happened!

  He nodded in response to her caustic question. “I think you have cause.” Then he pulled his arm away from her shoulders and stepped into the room, glancing around curiously. “Care to tell me what that cause is?” he added very casually.

  “No!” Amy stopped herself, stricken by how much she had revealed with the impulsive answer. “I mean, it’s obvious what the cause is! I’ve just watched five grown men try to beat each other up and stab one another, then I arrive back at my room to find someone’s been having fun with my possessions. Surely that’s cause enough?”

  He lifted one shoulder in silent dismissal as he prowled toward the bed. Amy stifled a groan as he came to a halt and stood staring down at the two-hundred dollar French nightgown, which had been snatched out of a drawer along with several other items of expensive intimate apparel.

  Without a word Jase reached down and buried his hand in the exquisitely soft fabric of the nightgown. He seemed quite fascinated by the champagne-colored garment.

  “Nice,” he murmured, letting it go with obvious reluctance. “Very nice. Sophisticated and soft.”

  “Thank you,” she replied stiffly. “It’s one of my best-selling models!”

  “I can see why. I’d like to see you in it sometime.”

  “Don’t hold your breath.”

  “You are in a fractious mood tonight, aren’t you? What was he after, Amy?”

  She blinked, rapidly trying to marshal her defenses. “Who? The man who did this? How should I know? Money, I suppose. Or jewelry.”

  He sighed. “Amy, my brains haven’t been completely disintegrated by the tropical sun. Don’t expect me to buy that. I’ve told you we don’t have this kind of crime around here. You arrive on my island to meet a man none of us know. You won’t discuss your ‘business.’ You spend two nights in a waterfront bar, waiting for a mysterious contact. On the second night your room is broken into and searched. Don’t give me that bull about not knowing something about what’s going on!”

  “I don’t have to make explanations to you, Jase,” she tried to say with quiet emphasis.

  “No, I suppose you don’t. Want to make them to Fred Cowper instead?”

  Amy’s eyes narrowed. “Who’s Fred Cowper?”

  “He passes for the local law. An ex-cop from New York who probably left a wife and five kids behind when he departed for the South Pacific. When something like this comes up, he represents the government’s interests.”

  Amy shifted uneasily. “Jase, I don’t want to do any explaining to this Mr. Cowper. What could I tell him? It’s obviously the work of vandals. Or a petty thief.”

  He favored her with a pitying glance, as if she weren’t very bright. In truth, Amy decided sadly, she wasn’t feeling very bright at the moment. “Take your pick, Amy, honey,” he said bluntly. “Either you tell me what’s going on or you explain all this to Cowper.”

  She stared at him balefully, aware he meant every word of his threat. “You have no right to give me orders like that,” she said resentfully, knowing it was a useless protest

  “Who’s going to stop me?” he asked curiously.

  “Damn it! Just because you’re accustomed to taking the law into your own hands, don’t think you can get away with using that approach on me! I don’t intend to be bullied!”

  He watched her tense features for a long moment as if trying to make up his mind about how to deal with her. Then Jase slowly walked across the room to stand in front of her. He kept his voice low, almost placating, but every line of his body was hard and determined.

  “Amy, it’s pretty damn clear you’ve got some problems. I know I’m not your idea of a knight in shining armor, but this is my island and I know it, as well as the people on it. Like it or not, I’m probably the best-qualified help you can get at the moment. I know that, even if you don’t choose to recognize it. Yes, I’m going to bully you into accepting my help. I sure as hell am not going to leave you alone to handle whoever did this!”

  Amy sucked in her breath, aware she wasn’t going to talk her way out of the mess but feeling she had to make one more try. “Jase, this is a private matter....”

  “Then we’ll discuss it in more private surroundings. Let’s get your things packed and get out of here.”

  “What?” she exclaimed as he turned back into the room and reached for her suitcase, which had been left lying open on the floor. “Jase, I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  “Yes, you are. You’re coming home with me. Now, do you
want to do your own packing or do you want me to do it for you?” He was already lifting the champagne-colored nightgown in his hand. The silky stuff flowed across the rough khaki that covered his arm.

  “Jase, please!” Panicked, Amy heard the pleading desperation that had crept into her voice.

  He dropped the nightgown into the suitcase without a word and went on to the next garment that lay wantonly across the bed, an ivory-toned lace bra embroidered with tiny flowers. Amy winced at the sight of the delicate garment against his tanned hand.

  “All right, all right,” she said through gritted teeth, dashing forward to rescue the antique-rose-colored bikini underpants that were next in line to be packed. “I’ll do it. Just give me a few minutes, will you?”

  Jase nodded in grim satisfaction. “I’ll wait for you downstairs.”

  She glanced up with renewed worry. “You won’t tell Sam what happened?”

  “Not yet. Not until I know the whole story myself,” he promised. He turned away and walked out of the room.

  Amy sank down onto the bed, the bikini underpants in her lap. What a mess. What in the world should she do now? Or did she really have much choice? Jase meant what he said; he would call in the local law and leave her to explain everything if she didn’t do as he wanted.

  But was she any better off going home with Jase Lassiter? Hardly! It had all seemed straightforward when she made the arrangement with Dirk Haley. Why was he reneging now? All she wanted from him in exchange for the mask was the truth about what had happened to Ty Murdock. She and her sister deserved that much, at least.

  Damn Haley and damn Murdock. Maybe she ought to throw Lassiter into the heap too! Men were probably universally damnable. With a frustrated motion of her hand, she tossed the panties into the suitcase and reached for the next item.

  She would let Jase take her home. But if he thought he was going to wind up with a bed partner as well as a few explanations, he could think again!

  It occurred to her a few minutes later as she stuffed the last of her things into the suitcase that although she was angry at Jase, she didn’t actually fear him, at least not on a personal level. If she did, she wouldn’t have let herself be forced into packing up and going with him.

  If she handled him adroitly, she might still be able to salvage the situation. And perhaps he was right. Perhaps he could be of some help to her. As she went out the door of the room, suitcase in hand, another stray thought assaulted her unsettled mind.

  She no longer knew how dangerous Dirk Haley might be. Perhaps she had bitten off far more than she could chew when she’d arranged their deal. If that was so, then the protection of a man who knew how to deal with knife-wielding brawlers might be rather welcome.

  Fortified with that thought, Amy came slowly down the stairs with her suitcase to find Jase waiting patiently at the bottom. He took the case from her hand and nodded at Sam, who merely grinned cheerfully and went back to his newest girlie magazine.

  “I can imagine what Sam must be thinking,” Amy complained in a low mutter as she obediently walked beside her new host.

  “Don’t worry about Sam. After forty years out here he’s seen it all.”

  “Really?” she demanded scathingly. “That’s a great comfort. How many women has he seen you drag out of the Marina Inn to take home?”

  Jase favored her with an unexpectedly wicked grin. “Talk about two-edged questions! That’s like asking me if I’ve stopped beating my wife!”

  “Did you?”

  “Did I what? Beat my ex-wife? What do you think?”

  Amy hugged herself with her arms, not looking at him. “No,” she mumbled, feeling ridiculous. “I don’t think you did.”

  “Should I take that as a compliment?” he asked dryly.

  “Take it any way you want.”

  “You’re right, you know,” he went on smoothly. “I didn’t beat her. Which is not to say I’m incapable of beating a woman, given sufficient provocation,” he added deliberately.

  “Is that a threat?”

  “Take it any way you want.”

  She flinched inwardly as he tossed her own words back at her. “Let’s get something clear between us, Jase. I’m going home with you tonight because you give me no alternative. I don’t want anyone else knowing my business on Saint Clair, and you threatened to make it public knowledge by forcing me to talk to this Fred Cowper person. So I’m going to give you the explanations you seem to want, but that’s all. I am not going to share your bed. I realize there’s a shortage of tourists on Saint Clair, but you’ll just have to wait for the next batch if you’re looking for a bedmate. Understood?”

  “You know, you have all the makings of a first-class shrew,” he observed. “If some man doesn’t take you in hand soon, you’re going to become rather unmanageable.”

  “I’m not in a mood for your chauvinistic jokes. Just tell me that you understand and accept the terms under which I’m agreeing to accompany you tonight.”

  “Seeing that I set the terms myself, I guess I understand them,” he retorted.

  “Jase, you’re twisting my words!”

  “Relax, Amy. You’ll be safe enough under my roof,” he said with sudden seriousness. “And I won’t have to lie awake wondering if whoever searched your room tonight is planning on coming back to confront you in person.”

  Amy swallowed. “Yes, that thought did occur to me too.”

  “Sensible,” he approved. “Better the devil you know than the one you don’t, hmm?”

  “I hardly know you,” she whispered morosely.

  “But you trust me more than whoever it is you’re on Saint Clair to see, don’t you? Given what you think of me, that sure doesn’t say too much for him, does it? How the hell did you get involved with this Dirk Haley, anyway?”

  “I’m not involved with him. At least not personally. I have a... a business arrangement with him,” Amy said, picking each word carefully. “I’ve never even met the man. I’ve only corresponded with him once or twice.”

  “Don’t make me drag it out of you,” Jase groaned. “Just tell me in short, simple sentences about this ‘business’ arrangement. What was it your unknown visitor was searching for tonight?”

  “A mask. A carved wooden mask from Africa,” she told him starkly.

  Jase slanted her a sidelong glance. “How large is this mask?”

  “Not very. It will fit inside my purse. Which is where it was tonight when whoever it was came looking for it,” Amy concluded with some satisfaction. “I haven’t let it out of my sight since I left San Francisco. It’s the only thing I’ve got with which to bargain.”

  “What’s so special about this wooden mask?” Jase inquired levelly.

  “To tell you the truth, I don’t know. I had it evaluated by a dealer in San Francisco who specializes in such things and was told it does have some value as a collectible, but not a great deal. I only know that Haley seems to want it very badly.”

  “Where did you get it?”

  Amy shut her eyes briefly. “My sister’s ex-husband sent it to her shortly after her son was born.”

  “What happened to this ex-husband?”

  “That’s what I want Dirk Haley to tell me.”

  There was a long moment of silence while Jase digested that bit of information. Then: “What was the ex-husband’s name?”

  She didn’t like the soft way he asked that question. But what was the harm in answering? She’d told him so much already. “Ty Murdock.

  “Okay, so give me the punch line,” Jase demanded. “What was your sister’s ex-husband to you? Why are you the one on Saint Clair, looking for answers about him, instead of his ex-wife?”

  “Look, the personal side of this matter is entirely irrelevant to the problem.” Amy lifted her chin in defiance.

  “The hell it is,” he shot back, apparently tota
lly un-awed by her aloof rebuke. “I’d say it had everything to do with the problem!” As he spoke, they turned down a badly paved street a couple of blocks from where the lights of The Serpent gleamed on the water.

  “Where are we going?” Amy peered into the gloom.

  Saint Clair didn’t boast anything as advanced as street-lighting. All she could see were a few quiet houses of indeterminate age and structure. Everything quickly became weathered and well-used-looking here in the tropics, Amy decided. Including people.

  “I told you. My home. Don’t panic, I’m not leading you off into the palms in order to ravish you.”

  “I wish I could be certain of that,” she shot back furiously.

  “You can be absolutely positive of that,” he stated. “When I ravish you, it’s going to be in a nice comfortable bed, not on top of a bunch of spiky palm fronds on the hard ground. I’m not as young as I once was,” he added darkly by way of explanation.

  “I’m not in the mood for your lousy jokes! Don’t tease me, Jase. I’ve had a hard night!”

  He came to an abrupt halt—so abrupt that Amy, who was concentrating fiercely on deciding whether or not she had jumped from the frying pan into the fire, managed to collide with him.

  “Damn you!” she gasped, her voice muffled against the fabric of his shirt as she clutched madly at his sleeves for support. In spite of the unexpectedness of it, her impact had virtually no effect on him. Jase stood rock steady as she pushed herself away, seeking her balance again.

  “As charmingly klutzy as you are,” he said calmly, “you’ll probably fall into my bed of your own accord when the time comes.” He set the suitcase on the ground beside his right foot and reached out to touch her face with the tips of his rough fingers. She could barely see his face in the overwhelming darkness of the island night, but Amy was suddenly so vividly aware of him that she could hardly breather “I wasn’t teasing you, honey,” he went on with grave gentleness. “I wasn’t making jokes. I want you. Sooner or later I think I’m going to have to take you to bed.”

  “You... you said I was all wrong,” she reminded him desperately. “And you were right. Furthermore, it works both ways, Jase. You’re all wrong for me too!”