Bride of the Tiger by Heather Graham (best large ereader .txt) 📗

her doorstep. Tara, I nearly died. I never would have intentionally deserted you. But I didn’t know who I was—and Tanya was frightened. She knew that something had gone wrong with the authorities and that I had been involved. She nursed me herself.” He gave the woman a warm smile with so much tenderness in it that Tara felt a new wave of anguish sweep through her.

“Tanya, Tara. Tara, Tanya. I would have died without her,” he said very softly.

Tanya, who didn’t seem to understand what had been said, did understand the love in his voice. She blushed and offered Tara a shy smile.

Tara smiled wistfully at them both, then gave herself a little shake. “Jimmy, what are you doing here now? Like this? Why didn’t you just call me? Why—”

“Sit down. And keep your voice down. The walls around here may well have ears,” he told her.

She looked skeptical, but sat obediently. Jimmy paced before her while he spoke. “I started a new life here, Tara.” He laughed. “I learned to blow glass! But that’s beside the point. About three weeks ago, I saw in the newspapers that Galliard was doing another showing in Caracas. There was a picture of you on the front page. When I saw it, I suddenly remembered everything.”

“So why didn’t you call someone, Jimmy? Why—?”

He smiled patiently. “I’m going to go back further in time,” he explained ruefully. “My family is into gems. Shipping and gems. That led us into antiquities. You know, financing expeditions for various museums, that type of thing. Anyway, I had gone to Mexico as a guest of the government to work at a Mayan site. We dug up some fabulous things!”

“The mask!” Tara interrupted.

“Precisely. Anyway, a number of things were stolen one night. They disappeared quite cleanly. We assumed they would take a nice circuitous trip through South America before appearing in some private collection somewhere in the world. But we did have a bit of a clue—the authorities had been investigating Tine Elliott. I had followed him here, and snooping around, I found his little cache up in the mountains. I took the mask as proof of what he’d been up to. I planned to go to the authorities, but then I met you, and from what I had learned of the man, I was afraid for you. I waited, and then you called me, and, well, you know the rest. Except that I came here like this today because I don’t want Tine Elliott to know that I’ve found you again, or that you’ve found me. I know he’s back, Tara. He wants two things: you and the mask.”

“I don’t believe this,” she murmured. “Why wait for two years to try to—”

“Tara, that mask is made of gold, diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires. Millions of dollars’ worth, even on the black market.”

She shook her head. “But he had money!”

“Not enough, apparently,” Jimmy said. “Tara, he has to be caught this time—before he hurts anyone else. That’s why I had to lie low. For your safety, and for Tanya’s.”

She stared at him, still incredulous. She was so glad to see him alive that she wanted to kiss and hug him again—except that she didn’t want Tanya to get the wrong impression.

She started suddenly. He didn’t know! He didn’t know about Rafe! And despite her bitterness, she acknowledged Rafe’s right to know as quickly as possible that his brother was alive.

She smiled at Jimmy. “We may have a clue. Your brother is at the police station right now, trying to identify a man who attacked me yesterday. He must be associated with Tine.”

“What? Rafe is here?”

The gladness on his face and the pleasure in his voice touched her heart. He also sounded relieved—as if he had infinite faith that big brother could handle anything—and a little amazed.

“Yes,” Tara murmured. “He’s here. Or, rather, he’s at the police station.”

“You know each other?” Jimmy demanded.

Tara’s mouth twisted in a wry smile. “You didn’t read enough newspapers. We were supposedly engaged.”

“Supposedly?”

“Long story. Anyway, that’s over. Now that you’ve appeared!”

Jimmy was frowning. “You were attacked? I can’t believe that Rafe would leave you alone after something like that.”

“I’m not alone. Sam is out in the hallway. And a detective.”

Jimmy shook his head. He and Tanya glanced at each other; then he shook his head at Tara again. “No one is out there.”

“But I’m sure they are! Sam—”

Jimmy laughed with little humor. “Tara! I grew up with old Sam. Trust me. I’d know if he was out there!”

“Maybe—”

“Let’s not worry about the maybes,” Jimmy said worriedly. “Let’s get to the police station as quickly as possible. Tanya—” He paused, and switched to Spanish to talk to the beautiful Venezuelan. She nodded; Jimmy explained the exchange to Tara.

“She’s going to call the police. They’ll send a car for us, I’m sure.”

“The phone is right over here—” Tara broke off. As soon as she had said the word “phone,” the thing starting ringing as if on cue.

“Maybe that’s Rafe right now,” she murmured.

Smiling a little too eagerly, she pounced on the receiver, speaking into it breathlessly. “Hello?”

“Hello, Tara. Have you missed me?”

It wasn’t Rafe. Her heart seemed to skip a beat, then slam against her chest.

“Don’t hang up, Tara. Speak to me, love. I promise you’ll be very sorry if you don’t.”

Seconds ticked by in which she couldn’t talk. She could just hear him breathing on the other end, and she knew that he was laughing.

“What do you want, Tine?”

She stressed his name, looking anxiously toward Jimmy, raising a hand when he would have rushed over.

“A couple of things, sweetie. I want the mask. And I want you. For the time being, at least. I watched you yesterday. Nice. Old George put on a real good show.”

She sat down on the bed, afraid that she would fall. He had been able to watch her, all that time.

“They’re going to arrest you, Tine. And put you in jail for years and years. You could even be charged