Page 82 of Austen

His mouth tightened around the edges.“I can’t tell you.I’m not...”He sighed.“I’m not allowed to.”

“What?If you tell me, you’ll have to kill me?”She wasn’t really kidding.Seriously?He’dliedto her?After everything?

And Phoenix’s words rose inside her.“Don’t be deceived by his good looks or his money, honey.Rich men only have room for one thing in their heart.Themselves.”

“Get away from me,” she said.“I can’t believe that after everything, you won’t tell me what’s going on.How do you expect me to trust you?”

His eyes darkened, a fierceness in them.“I expect you to trust the man that you know.The man that I’ve been to you.That’s the man I hope that you’ll trust.”

Steinbeck shook his head and looked away.

“And now I hope you’ll trust me enough to escape this ship.”

“What?”Austen said.

“The stateroom is equipped with an escape hatch.In case the boat goes down or flips, there’s a hatch under this floor.”He pointed to a small square etched into the carpet.“It leads to the walkway on the deck level.You get to the swim deck, deploy the lifeboat.And get off this ship.”

Austen stared at him.“No.I’m not leaving you here.You can’t be serious.”

“Yes, he’s serious,” Steinbeck said.He stood up, considered him.“How do you propose we accomplish this?”

“I’m going to knock on the door and tell them that I’ll lead them to where we’re taking the obsidite.The captain of theSanta Mariais waiting for final coordinates from me.I will send them and we’ll meet it there.”

“Where isthere?”Steinbeck said.

Declan shook his head.“I want you guys off this ship.I want Austen safe.”

“And I want you to tell me the truth,” Austen said.“I want you to not be this guy that lives a double life.I want you to be the nice guy I met at my sister’s wedding, who danced with me and left me wanting to know him more.The same guy who showed up in Key West and asked me to come help him at a charity event he was running.Fororphans!”Her voice shook, rising a little, but she didn’t care.“I want you to be that guy who helped look for a couple of lost kids on Mariposa and even got my brother out of trouble with a bunch of thugs on the island.I want that guy who helped people during the landslide and got dirty and sweaty because he cared about people.”She took a breath, her eyes filling.“I want the guy who stopped at nothing to find me in the middle of the ocean just because he cared about doing theright thing.”

“Iamdoing the right thing!”He recoiled, then schooled his tone.“Iamdoing the right thing.But sometimes doing the right thing requires you to do some, well, some bad stuff to get it done.”

“Stuff that gets people killed?”

He paused and looked at her.“Not you.”He looked at Steinbeck.“Can you get her off this boat?”

“I’d like to see you try!”Austen said.That sounded tougher than she felt, and probably stupid too, but frankly, she didn’t know what to believe.Because in her heart, everything she’d said about Declan, everything shesawabout him, proved that he was a good man.An honorable man.She couldn’t believe that he would do evil things.

But maybe shedidn’tknow him.“Was there anything you told me that was true?”

“Everything I told you was true, Austen.Everything.I just left a few parts out.”

She nearly lifted her hand to slap him, but even that she couldn’t do.Because of course she again simply froze.

“We’ll need to do it quickly, before the sun rises,” Steinbeck said tightly.

Declan said.“It’s about two hours to sunrise, and I figure the current will carry you east.You should be able to hit the Keys or even the Bahamas.Or, more likely, a cruise ship.”

“Does the raft have an EPIRB?”Steinbeck asked, rising.

“Yes, it does.All the rafts do.It’s in the survival case.”

Steinbeck nodded, looked at Austen.“Then yes, I can get her off this boat.”

No.Yes.Oh, she couldn’t move.

Declan looked at Steinbeck.“Thank you, Steinbeck.I don’t deserve...Well, you are the best bodyguard I’ve ever had.”

“You’re a hard man to protect,” Steinbeck said quietly, and held out his hand.

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