Raven’s Prey(12)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

“I think,” he said softly, “that it’s time you started feeding me the great fairy tale. I’m ready to listen now.”

Honor stiffened resentfully and then reminded herself to take it one step at a time. After all, by rights she should have been stuffed into the Cessna this morning and halfway back to Arizona by now. One step at a time.

“It’s not a long story, really, but the basic fact, the one I can’t prove here in this village, is that the two men who hired you aren’t related to me in any way. Their names are Leo Garrison and Nick Prager and they want me back so that they can silence me.”

“You’re going to stick by the paranoia theme?” Judd asked caustically, finishing his tortilla and egg combination.

“You said you’d listen with an open mind!”

“Have you got the makings for coffee?”

Honor subsided with a groan. “Yes. Instant. Be sure to boil the water well first. I’ve been lucky so far. I’d just as soon not get any intestinal problems now.”

“Don’t worry.” He ran water from the bathroom sink, the only source, into a pot and set it on the burner. “Go on with the story. I promise not to interrupt again.” But please don’t make it totally impossible for me to believe, he found himself pleading silently as he put the water on to boil. Hell. Why was he thinking along those lines? He had no real intention of believing her in the first place. She was merely a job and he badly needed the two grand she would bring. Think of her as a couple of thousand on the hoof, he instructed himself bleakly. A pretty little mare he’d roped and was going to sell.

No, not a mare. That analogy reminded him too vividly of the advice of one of the Mexicans he had talked to during the search. “Treat her as you would a gentle, spirited mare, son, and you won’t go wrong.”

Did gentle, spirited mares ever point guns at people?

Honor sat for a moment, moodily gathering her thoughts into the most logical sequence. Two days wasn’t much time to convince a man like this of anything, let alone to talk him into leaving her behind in Mexico when he’d contracted to take her back to the States.

“All right,” she began grimly, “here it is in a nutshell. Leo Garrison is undoubtedly the one who told you he was my father. I can see how he’d be very convincing. Used to be in the foreign service, you know. An embassy type. And he looks the part, too. Tall, distinguished, with all that snowy white hair and those wise blue eyes. And all that charm he honed to a fine point on the embassy cocktail circuit. He’s the kind of man people like and trust on sight. I can’t blame you for believing everything he told you. I once believed in him implicitly, myself. He assumed a fatherly role toward me right from the start…”

“From the start of what?” Judd asked dryly, watching the pot.

Honor frowned uneasily. “From the time I first went to work for him, of course. That was a year ago. He runs a very sophisticated, very expensive service for U.S. companies who want to do business in Asia and who don’t know their way around that part of the world. Garrison served in Asia and southeast Asia when he was working for the government. He spent twenty years as a respected embassy official, and during that time he made countless contacts with local businessmen and politicians. It was part of his job,” Honor explained with a shrug.

“And after he left the foreign service he capitalized on those contacts?”

At least he didn’t look too skeptical yet, Honor assured herself as she surveyed Judd from beneath her lashes. Of course, she hadn’t yet told him anything unbelievable.

“That’s right. U.S. companies operating abroad often don’t know the first thing about doing business in a foreign country, especially an Asian or Southeast Asian country. Customs, politics, ways of doing business are all radically different and if you accidentally offend someone you can screw up a multimillion-dollar deal in thirty seconds. It pays to hire someone like Garrison to smooth the way and to advise on how to tiptoe through the masses of foreign red tape. It’s a legitimate line of work, you understand,” Honor added quickly. “There are several small, exclusive firms that offer that kind of service in various areas of the world.”

“You’re telling me you worked for Garrison?”

Honor nodded. “At the time I thought it had to be the most fabulous job I’d ever get. I was an assistant in the home office in Phoenix handling clients, acting as a liaison between Garrison and Prager. Nick was Garrison’s partner.” She paused, remembering in dismay how excited she had been at the prospect of working in such an exotic, romantic sort of business. The possibility of world travel and the opportunity to meet fascinating people had seemed so wonderful.

“Go on,” Judd prompted softly, pouring the water into two cracked cups. He didn’t look at her. Honor wondered desperately how much of her tale he was buying.

“Well, as I said, I worked in the home office, coordinating things between Garrison and Prager and the clients. Nick and, Leo were constantly traveling. About three months ago Nick said he’d talked Garrison into letting me accompany them on some of the trips. I was thrilled! Couldn’t believe my good luck. The first trip was to Taiwan and the second—” She broke off, remembering the second trip all too clearly.

“The second?” Judd prompted in a depressingly neutral tone as he handed her a cup.

“The second was to Hong Kong,” she explained dully. She had left [_on that _]trip with such a romanticized view of both Nick and the business. The shattering of the illusion had been acutely painful, physically and emotionally.

“Why did Prager convince Garrison to take you along?”

She glanced at him sharply and then looked away. [_”Nick _]and I were seeing each other whenever he was in Phoenix. He wanted me with him.” How much of this was Judd going to believe?

“A long-distance romance?” Judd asked derisively.

“Damn it! You said you wouldn’t interrupt!”

“Just trying to get the story straight.” But that hard, unreadable expression in his eyes didn’t give Honor any clue as to whether or not he really was buying a single sentence of her tale. “Were you sleeping with him, then?”

“No, as a matter of fact, I was not sleeping with Nick,” she told him tightly. “But we were becoming very close… Never mind. At any rate, I was elated at the idea of traveling. Taiwan was a fantastic experience and I got a chance to see how Garrison and Prager worked abroad. They’re both consummate businessmen. They know the ins and outs of doing business in that part of the world like the back of their hands. And they have an incredible number of friends and contacts. I was very impressed. Then came Hong Kong.”