Jayne Castle - Obsidian Prey

Cruz began to beat the eggs. "There is one small favor I'd like to ask in return, Nancy."

Lyra stopped laughing. "Here it comes. I told you, Nancy. Doing a deal with a Sweetwater is like dining with the devil. You want to bring a really, really long spoon."

"Are you kidding?" Nancy rubbed her palms briskly together. "For a chance to clean out the Sweetwater vault, I'll gladly sit down to dinner with old Lucifer, himself." She looked at Cruz. "What's the catch?"

"The catch is that I think that you should attend my grandfather's birthday party on Saturday evening. You'll go as Jeff's date, since I've already got one of my own."

Nancy stared at him, dumbfounded. "Well, sure. No problem. But, uh, why?"

"Because the news that you were invited to attend the event will be leaked to the media which, in turn, will ripple through the art world and start an early buzz for the exhibition," Cruz explained.

Lyra blinked. "Talk about strategic thinking."

"Thanks." Cruz put the whisk aside. "I can't help it. Goes with the talent."

Nancy looked at Lyra. "We've got to go shopping. We need dresses. The most fabulous dresses we can find."

"I thought you were afraid of being recognized on the street," Lyra said.

Nancy waved that off. "Cruz is going to make that problem go away, aren't you, Cruz?"

"That's what I do." Cruz opened a package of coffee. "Make problems go away."

"See?" Nancy said. "We've got Sweetwater muscle now. It's safe to go shopping."

Cruz spooned ground coffee into the pot. "But you've got time to eat breakfast first."

ON SATURDAY NIGHT LYRA STOOD ON THE SWIMMING pool terrace of the Big House on Amber Island, looking out over a moonlit sea. One of the two boats that was running a shuttle service for the Sweetwater guests had just left the dock and was headed back toward the mainland. Its lights bobbed as the vessel caught the waves. The churning wake phosphoresced a brilliant white.

Cruz lounged beside her, one foot propped on the low railing, his forearm resting on his thigh. Nancy and Jeff were to her right. She and Nancy had champagne glasses in their hands. The men were drinking beer.

The night was warm. The scents of the garden perfumed the air. Music from a live band spilled out of the great room of the Big House and across the shadowed terrace. The voices and laughter of nearly two hundred guests fluttered and buzzed in the night. It was a perfect evening.

Lyra was fuming.

"I swear," she muttered, "if just one more person comes up to me and says, 'Oh, so you're the woman who broke Cruz Sweetwater's heart, I'm not going to be responsible for my actions."

She had been introduced to innumerable wealthy, powerful people, including the bosses of the Crystal City and Aurora Springs Guilds and their wives. She had also met some "friends of the family" who were not particularly wealthy or powerful but who seemed to have ties to the Sweetwaters. One of them was a private investigator named Davis Oakes. His wife, Celinda, proved to be the author of Ten Steps to a Covenant Marriage: Secrets of a Professional Matchmaker . Lyra had nobly refrained from informing her that she had hurled the book off her balcony after Cruz had left.

Another interesting couple, Emmett and Lydia London, who appeared to have mysterious connections to the head of the Cadence Guild, were also present. In addition she had met a variety of movers and shakers, including the mayor of Frequency and her husband and the governor of the city-state.

But it was the members of the Sweetwater family that had gradually elevated her temper. Time after time the first words out of every Sweetwater mouth after introductions had been made were, "So you're the woman who broke Cruz's heart." Granted, Cruz's two brothers had looked amused when they said it, but still . She could tell they were serious.

Nancy giggled. "Well, it has been sort of funny, you have to admit. First his mother, then his grandmother, a couple of nephews, both of his brothers—"

"There is nothing funny about it." Lyra gulped some of her champagne and glowered at Cruz. "As for you, you're not helping one bit."

He shrugged. "What am I supposed to say? It's the truth."

Jeff grinned. "And everyone in the family knows it. The boss couldn't deny it, even if he tried."

"Well, I think it's very romantic," Nancy declared.

"That's because you're not the target of the joke," Lyra said.

"It's no joke," Jeff said. "We Sweetwaters take these things seriously."

Lyra gritted her teeth. "I knew it would be a mistake to come here tonight. I should never have let you talk me into it, Cruz."

"I didn't talk you into, it," he said mildly. "We had a deal. You agreed to come here with me in exchange for my keeping quiet about those three pyramids that you concealed."

Lyra gave Nancy a bright little smile. "You see? There's nothing romantic about it. It's just business."

"And also because we're involved in a very hot affair," Cruz added. "I like to think that's part of the reason you agreed to come with me."

The heat of embarrassment sizzled through her. "For heaven's sake," she muttered. "Don't say things like that in public."

Nancy laughed. "Come on, Lyra. Lighten up. This is a night we're both going to remember for a long, long time. Just think about it. You and I are attending one of the ritziest social events of the year. We're on the Sweetwaters' private island, for crying out loud. It doesn't get any more posh."

"Hey," Jeff said, contriving to look deeply hurt. "At least let me entertain the illusion that you wanted to be my date for the evening."

"Absolutely," Nancy said. She patted his arm. "That, too. You know how I feel about FBPI agents. They are so incredibly sexy."

"Whew, thanks," Jeff said. He wiped his brow with the back of his hand. "For a while there I was a little worried that this was all about Cruz."

Lyra looked at him. "How's that new career plan of yours going?"

"Going good," Jeff said. "My application to the academy goes in on Monday."

"How did Big Jake take the news?" Lyra asked.

"Well, after we peeled him off the ceiling, Cruz here pointed out how useful it would be to have someone from the family working inside the FBPI. That calmed him down somewhat. But I should warn you that he blames you for being a bad influence on me."

"I'm a Dore. I do bad influence."

Jeff grinned. "This family needs shaking up."

Before anyone could respond to that remark, a woman emerged from one of the clusters of guests gathered on the terrace. She looked to be in her late fifties, well-preserved and stylishly dressed in a long, blue gown. Her hair was a discreet shade of silver blonde. An amber and diamond necklace framed her throat. More amber and diamonds dangled from her ears.

She circled the pool, walking briskly toward Lyra and the others.

"Here we go again," Lyra muttered. "Just remember I warned everyone."

"There you are, Cruz," the woman said. "Hello, Jeff, dear. Sorry I'm late. My flight out of Cadence was delayed."

"Better late than never, Aunt Teresa," Cruz said. He took his foot down off the railing and gave her an affectionate kiss on the cheek.

"Hi, Aunt Teresa," Jeff said. "I wondered where you were. Thought maybe you'd actually worked up the nerve to duck this gig."

Teresa uttered a warm, throaty laugh. "Not a chance. No one gets out of this event. You know that. By the way, Big Jake tells me that you've decided to apply to the FBPI academy."

Jeff smiled. "Gotta say, Big Jake is taking the news fairly well, all things considered."

"That's because he's decided that it will be useful to have a Sweetwater on the inside of regular law enforcement," Teresa said. She winked at Cruz. "Can't imagine where he got that idea."