Page 50 of Just My Luck

“Well, that’s unfair, if you ask me. Whose fault is it?” She lifted a hand. “Let me guess. The staff.”

In her experience, rich people loved to blame the staff.

“Yes. My security staff fucked up. It’s unfair of my father to point the finger at me. But he can’t be argued with.”

Her ears perked up at the mention of his security staff. She’d seen them around the resort with their black outfits. Luckily, she hadn’t seen the guard from hale twelve, who might have recognized her.

“No wonder you’re upset,” she said, pouring soft sympathy into her voice. “You shouldn’t take the blame for someone else’s mistake.”

“That’s it, exactly. I did nothing wrong. I did exactly what my father requested. My idiot guard is the one who lost—” He broke off and poured another shot down his throat.

His guard had lost something? She waited, holding her breath so as not to interrupt his flow.

“Now everyone’s worried that someone else got their hands on it.” His words were slurring now. “And if that happens, I’m a dead man. My father will strangle me himself with his own bare hands.”

“Oh come now. Whatever it is, it can’t be that important. I lost a twenty-carat diamond ring once, and my husband forgave me and simply bought me another one. Now I have two.” She smiled impishly. “It was like a miracle when the first one turned up in my old Chanel makeup bag.”

“You don’t understand,” he said through gritted teeth. “Your trivial problems are nothing compared to this.”

“Did you miss the part about the twenty carats?”

“This item is worth a million of those. Maybe more.”

She widened her eyes with a soft gasp. “Oh my. And you lost it?”

“I didn’t lose it.” He looked like his head might explode. “My guard did. And not all of it, but just enough to cause a huge problem.”

“You’re not making any sense.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lincoln emerge from the door into the pool area, framed by the soft fronds of ferns overflowing from their planters. But she was onto something here, and she wanted to keep Nathan talking. So she ignored Lincoln’s signal to join him at the pool. “How many diamonds did you lose?”

“I didn’t lose anything. It wasn’t me. And it’s not diamonds, it’s…” He leaned forward and lowered his voice to an ominous whisper. “It’s a weapon this world has never seen before. Whoever owns it will control the nation, control any nation they want. I asked for Spain because I like the bullfighting. And tapas. I love tapas.”

She made herself laugh as if chills weren’t running up and down her spine. Had he lost his mind? Why was he talking about a weapon? Lincoln hadn’t said anything about the crystal being used that way. She didn’t want to be in the middle of a battle over some insane nation-controlling weapon.

“You say the craziest things when you drink tequila,” she cooed. “I’m going to forget I heard a word of it. Bartender, can we have some coffee over here?”

Nathan startled as if he just now realized he’d done something very stupid. “Coffee. Yes, please. A big pot for me.” He clamped his mouth shut as if to stop any more words from coming out.

A few moments later, she told Nathan that it was time for her son to get out of the sun, and slid off the barstool. Nathan was still guzzling coffee, looking green around the edges. Should she have grilled him more about this mysterious weapon?

No. Crouching at the edge of the pool, she beckoned to Eddie to get out.

“Jim, will you make sure Eddie gets all that nasty chlorine off him?” she said to Lincoln. “He gets that rash sometimes, and I don’t want a visit to the ER interrupting my vacation.”

Play the spoiled, flaky divorcée who’d already forgotten Nathan’s drunken rambling, that was her strategy.

She didn’t know who was listening, and if his goons thought Zaharina Morgan knew anything about this alleged weapon, she might become a target herself.

24

“A weapon?” Lincoln frowned as he listened to Zara’s word-for-word account of her conversation with Tanaka’s alcoholic younger son. “He must have been talking about something else. The CHUM isn’t a weapon.”

“Didn’t you say it knocked all the power out?” Zara paced around their suite. Eddie had crashed out for a nap and was snoozing away in his room, while Mia was hanging out at Juicy Java with a friend. “That sounds like a weapon to me.”

“A very limited one. Nothing like what Nathan was describing. Nothing that could conquer Spain.” Lincoln felt a pit in his stomach. “Are you sure he wasn’t just talking out of his ass to impress you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. But I don’t want to take a chance, not with the kids involved.”

“Agreed. Absolutely. We’ll check out tomorrow.” The quickness of his agreement made her stop pacing. Her maxi dress flowed around her body, emphasizing every curve. All this would be easier if she wasn’t so freaking sexy.