Eyes Of Fire

“I do?”

He shrugged. “Well, if you do decide to try to throw me off the island, you’ll have to hope someone else is around the next time you’re in trouble.”

“I thanked you, didn’t I? Of course, it would have been helpful to know just who was attacking me, but then, you’re not a cop anymore. You couldn’t possibly have been expected to nab the attacker as well as save my life.”

“Okay, the next time you’re about to fracture your skull, I’ll consider you expendable in the pursuit of justice.”

“Will you please get the hell out?”

“Nice. I should just leave you to the next ski-masked attacker who crawls into your bathroom.”

“Look at it my way. I haven’t seen you in years. The next thing I know, my bathroom is filled with strange men.”

“Strange men?”

“I consider you very strange.”

“Maybe you’d better consider me dangerous, instead,” he warned her suddenly, softly, a thoughtful look in his eyes as he studied her.

“Maybe I should,” she murmured, agreeing. “Damn it! I just want to know exactly what you’re doing here.”

“All right. Fine. Tell me, do you know exactly who all your guests are?”

“You know how the island is run. My father is gone, so yes, of course, I meet all my guests.”

“I didn’t ask you that. I asked if you knew who they were.”

“I’m not a cop. People don’t have to fill out their life histories on arrival. I don’t have dossiers on everyone who sets foot on Seafire Isle.”

“I didn’t think so.”

He sounded so damned self-satisfied.

“You do, of course? Have dossiers on my guests?”

“Yes.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Well, I don’t exactly have dossiers. But I imagine I know a great deal more about them than you do.”

“All right, who’s on my island?”

“You really have no idea?”

“I really have no idea.”

He stared at her, then smiled suddenly, cocking his head. He turned away from her, heading toward the door.

“Where are you going?”

“Out.”

“Out?”

He paused, looking back. “You wanted me out, right?”

“Damn it! That was before—”

“I’ll see you at cocktail hour, Sam.”

“Damn you, you didn’t answer my question!”

“I didn’t, did I? But then you haven’t been particularly cooperative either, have you?”

“Cooperative! Are you insane?”

“See you later, Sam. Maybe we can exchange some information then. Go in and close that window in your bedroom. Unless you want to take the chance of having a few more strange men enter.”

“Damn you, Adam!”

“Sam, pay attention. Make sure you close and lock that window. And when you leave your cottage from now on, make damned sure that you lock it carefully. You need an alarm system, actually.”

“This is an island! We’ve never needed any kind of alarm system!”

“Maybe you never did before.”

“Adam, this is ridiculous! What we’ve had has always been sufficient. Normal hotels don’t have alarm systems in every room.”

He arched a brow. “Yeah, well, a lot of your big guys have some kind of video surveillance. That’s beside the point now. You should think about moving into the main house for a while, maybe. For your own protection. Yancy lives in the main house, right? And Jacques?”

“I don’t want to move into the main house. I’m quite comfortable where I am—”

“With strange men in your bathroom?”

“Damn you, Adam, you have no right to do this! Talk to me, tell me—”

“Sam—”

“You know, Adam, that’s the basic problem with you. You always want something for nothing. You don’t seem to have the concept of give and take down yet.”

“Sam, so far, you haven’t given me a damn thing.”

“Son of a bitch! I always gave you everything.”

“Wrong, Sam. You never gave me a chance to give you anything before—”

“What?”