Iris Johansen - Across the River of Yesterday

Dane's smile illuminated his face. "That was an exception. I told you I don't do windows." He turned back toward the helicopter with barely leashed eagerness. "Come on, Julio, we'll be late for the rendezvous."

Julio's lips twitched. "Yes, sir."

Jeffrey Brenden came around the helicopter. "Be careful." He clapped Julio on the shoulder. "Luck doesn't last forever."

"I haven't noticed any signs of your luck fading away," Julio drawled.

"Because I had more than luck," Jeffrey said gruffly. "I had friends."

"And so do I." Julio's expression softened. "So do I, Jeffrey."

There was a silence more intimate than a handshake between them before Jeffrey turned jerkily away. "I'll go check out the Cessna. See you on Santa Isabella." He walked quickly toward the plane on the far side of the glade.

"You'll be back on Santa Isabella within the hour," Julio told Gideon. "And with any luck Dane and I will join you at the hotel for a midnight supper. Okay?"

"Okay," Gideon said with deliberate lightness. "I'll order a feast fit for Wellington's return from Waterloo. See that you're not late; I have a very temperamental chef."

"I'll instruct the junta it's essential they topple from power right on schedule. We wouldn't want to disrupt your plans." Julio turned toward Dane and jerked his thumb in the direction of the helicopter. "Hop into the passenger seat, Dane. Time's wasting."

"I know," Dane retorted caustically as he opened the door. "I've been waiting for you to realize that. You're the one who's been holding up the works. I haven't heard so many touching farewells since I saw The Wizard of Oz. Take off your ruby slippers and let's get moving, Dorothy."

Julio's dark eyes were suddenly dancing. "Something tells me I may regret taking you with me. You don't have a fitting appreciation for the traditions. Heroic good-byes are de rigueur before engagements of this nature."

"Well, they seemed a little silly to me. It's not as if anything's going to happen to either of us."

"Ah, the immortality of youth." Julio shook his head with a sigh. "I can remember when I felt like that."

"Get into the helicopter," Dane said with a grin. "You're aging before my eyes and, if you get much more ancient, I don't know if I'm going to trust you to fly this thing. I hope you realize I don't appreciate your avuncular attitude. You're acting more like my father than-" He broke off, his expression sobering. "Oh damn, I forgot!" He turned away from the helicopter, his gaze on Serena. "With everything that's been happening, I forgot to tell you. Mendino contacted my father before Gideon arranged for the hostage switch."

Serena's breath stopped in her throat. "What?"

Dane's expression was troubled. "Lord, I'm sorry, Serena. I meant to tell you, but everything happened so fast. Mendino evidently thought he'd parlay his bets, so he hit my father with a ransom threat too. He told me my father was flying into Mariba this afternoon to discuss terms for my release."

Serena moistened her lips. "I see." She could feel Gideon's gaze on her face, but she didn't look at him. It wasn't over for her, either, then. Dane had his battle and she was going to have her own confrontation.

"I'll handle it," Dane said quickly. "You don't even have to see him. I'll just show him that his son and heir is no longer a prisoner and the Marlbrent line is in no immediately danger of being stomped into oblivion. That's all he wants to know anyway. You go on back to Santa Isabella."

She shook her head. "No, I'll do it." She turned to Julio. "Can you arrange for one of your men to pick him up at the airport and bring him here?" No, that wouldn't do, not- here in the rain forest. She wanted to get Gideon away as quickly as possible. "That fishing village that you mentioned. Is there a place we can meet there?"

Julio nodded. "It shouldn't be a problem. This end of the island is practically uninhabited, and I have a friend who has a small cottage on the beach that should be safe." His lips curled. "Manuel won't be using it today. He's Consuela's brother, and you can bet he's going to want to be in on the kill in Mariba. Jeffrey can show you where the cottage is."

"Serena, I don't want you to-" Dane stopped. "Dammit, you swore you'd never see him again. I know what he did to you, and there's no reason why you should have to face him."

"I can deal with it." Serena turned to Gideon. "You don't have to stay with me. I can meet you on Santa Isabella."

He slowly shook his head, his eyes narrowed on her face. "A bushwhacker?"

"The biggest bushwhacker of them all," she said softly. "And you can't help me with this one."

"What about your promise? We were going to share everything, remember?"

"I'll let you share and comfort." She smiled with an effort. "Later. I've got to face the bogeyman and convince myself that he never existed, or, if he did, that I created him."

"I'll have him delivered to Consuela's cottage." Julio turned away. "What's his name?"

"The Honorable Edwin Marlbrent." Serena's voice was laden with irony. "Or so Burke's Peerage refers to him. Personally, I don't agree with their opinion of my stepfather as 'honorable' in any way."

"We could arrange to have him brought to Santa Isabella," Gideon suggested.

"No. Santa Isabella is special for me. I don't want him to set foot there. Let it end where it began, here on Castellano." She glanced inquiringly at Julio. "If it won't endanger Gideon or Jeffrey?"

"In a few hours there won't be a guardia or a government," Julio said with a shrug. "And then no one will care less what you're doing here on Castellano."

"Well, that puts everything in perspective," Serena said wryly. "And it certainly deflates any idea I might have of my own importance in the scheme of things." She stepped back and waved. "Go on, don't let me keep you. We all have our own fish to fry." She smiled involuntarily at the accidental play on words. "And where could I choose a better spot to cook mine than your fishing village?"

Dane hesitated, and then climbed into the passenger seat, his expression still worried. "I'll see you tonight."

A few minutes later Gideon and Serena watched the helicopter lift off and then circle above the trees before turning toward Mariba.

The wind was warm and scented with salt as it brushed Serena's cheeks in a soft caress. She kicked off her high-heeled sandals and padded barefoot down to the surf. Her footprints in the wet sand immediately filled with water and then disappeared as if they had never been. Time was like that, she thought, it rushed in, covering, healing, and, if you were very lucky, taking away the scar entirely.

Gideon was watching her, his eyes intent, yet gentle. He sat down on an overturned rowboat drawn up out of reach of the tides. "He should be here soon."

"Yes." She gazed far down the deserted beach toward the tiny palmetto-thatched cottage. "I asked Jeffrey to send him as soon as he could." Her smile was bitter. "He won't like it. He prefers people to come to him."

He looked out over the horizon. "You hate him?"

"I did once. Now… I don't know. He's a terrible man, and I'll never understand how he can do the things he does, but he has some qualities I admire. He's brilliant, you know. He's one of the foremost financial advisers and bankers in England and, as far as I know, his business deals are entirely honest. It's only in personal relationships that he's completely ruthless. What he can't control, he has to destroy. He has to own the people in his world." She turned and came back to stand before him. "I cut the strings, but he made me pay the price. I didn't know until I came back to you how high that price had been. I thought I'd shot my bushwhacker, but I hadn't, I'd only run away from him."