Midnight rainbow

"Mr. Hamilton, I need to talk to her. When she calls again, would you find out where she is and tell her to stay put until I get in touch?"

"That could be a couple of weeks. Jane doesn’t call regularly. But if it’s urgent, you may know someone who knows exactly where she is. She did mention that she’s talked to a friend of yours… let’s see, what was his name?"

"Sabin," Grant supplied, grinding his teeth in rage.

"Yes, that’s it. Sabin. Why don’t you give him a call? It may save you a lot of time."

Grant didn’t want to call Kell; he wanted to see him face to face and strangle him. Damn him! If he’d recruited Jane into that gray network…!

He was wasting time and money chasing over the country after her, and his temper was short when he reached Virginia. He didn’t have the clearance to go in, so he called Kell directly. "Sullivan. Clear me through. I’ll be there in five minutes."

"Grant–"

Grant hung up, not wanting to hear it over the phone.

Ten minutes later he was leaning over Kell’s desk. "Where is she?"

"Monte Carlo."

"Damn it!" he yelled, pounding his fist on the desk. "How could you drag her into this?"

"I didn’t drag her," Kell said coolly, his dark eyes watchful."She calledme. She said she’d noticed something funny and thought I might like to know. She was right; I was highly interested."

"How could she call you? Your number isn’t exactly listed."

"I asked her the same thing. It seems she was standing beside you when you called me from Dallas."

Grant swore, rubbing his eyes. "I should have known. I should have been expecting it after she hot-wired that truck. She watched me do it, just once, then did it herself the next time."

"If it’s any consolation, she didn’t get it exactly right. She remembered the numbers, but not the right order. She told me I was the fifth call she’d placed."

"Oh, hell. What kind of situation is she in?"

"A pretty explosive one. She’s stumbled across a high rolling counterfeiter. He has some high quality plates of the pound, the franc and several denominations of our currency. He’s setting up the deal now. Some of our comrades are very interested."

"I can imagine. Just what does she think she can do?"

"She’s going to try to steal the plates."

Grant went white. "And you were going to let her?"

"Damn it, Grant!" Kell exploded. "It’s not a matter of letting her and you know it! The problem is stopping her without tipping the guy off and sending him so deep underground we can’t find him. I’ve got agents tiptoeing all around her, but the guy thinks he’s in love with her, and his buyer has watchdogs sniffing around, and we simply can’t snatch her without blowing the whole thing sky high!"

"All right, all right. I’ll get her out of it."

"How?" Kell demanded.

"I’ll get the plates myself, then jerk her out of there and make damned certain she never calls you again!"

"I would deeply appreciate it," Kell said. "What are you going to do with her?"

"Marry her."

Something lightened in Kell’s dark face, and he leaned back in his chair, looping his hands behind his head. "Well, I’ll be damned. Do you know what you’re getting into? That woman doesn’t think like most people."

That was a polite way of saying it, but Kell wasn’t telling him anything he didn’t already know. Within moments of meeting her, Grant had realized that Jane was just a little unorthodox. But he loved her, and she couldn’t get into too much trouble on the farm.

"Yeah, I know. By the way, you’re invited to the wedding."

Jane smiled at Felix, her eyes twinkling at him. He was such a funny little guy; she really liked him, despite the fact that he was a counterfeiter and was planning to do something that could really damage her country. He was slightly built, with shy eyes and a faint stutter. He loved to gamble, but had atrocious luck; that is, he’d had atrocious luck until Jane had started sitting beside him. Since then he’d been winning regularly, and he was now devoted to her.

Despite everything she was having fun in Monte Carlo. Grant was being slow coming around, but she hadn’t been bored. If she had trouble sleeping, if she sometimes woke to find her cheeks wet, that was something she had to accept. She missed him. It was as if part of herself were gone. Without him there was no one she could trust, no one in whose arms she could rest.

It was a dangerous tightrope she was walking, and the excitement of it helped keep her from settling into depression. The only thing was, how much longer was it going to last? If she saw that Felix was finally going to make up his mind who to sell to, she would be forced to do something–fast–before the plates got into the wrong hands.

Felix was winning again, as he had every night since he’d met Jane. The elegant casino was buzzing, and the chandeliers rivaled in brilliance the diamonds that were roped about necks and dripping from ears. The men in their formal evening wear, the women in their gowns and jewels, casually wagering fortunes on the roll of the dice or the turn of a card, all created an atmosphere that was unequaled anywhere in the world. Jane fit into it easily, slim and graceful in her black silk gown, her shoulders and back bare. Jet earrings dangled to her shoulders, and her hair was piled on top of her head in a careless, becoming twist. She wore no necklace, no bracelets, only the earrings that touched the glowing gold of her skin.

Across the table Bruno was watching them closely. He was becoming impatient with Felix’s dithering, and his impatience was likely to force her hand.

Well, why not? She’d really waited as long as she could. If Grant had been interested, he’d have shown up before now.