Hot Ice by nora roberts

Author:nora roberts
Language: eng
Format: azw
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9780553386462
Publisher: Bantam
Published: 1987-07-01T00:00:00+00:00

Whitney positioned herself next to a window and prepared to

watch Madagascar roll by. As he had off and on since the

previous day, Doug had his face buried in a guidebook.

“There are at least thirty-nine species of lemur in Madagascar

and more than eight hundred species of butterflies.”

“Fascinating. I had no idea you were so interested in fauna.”

He looked over the top of the book. “All the snakes are

harmless,” he added. “Little things like that are important to me when I’m sleeping in a tent. I always like to know something

about the territory. Like the rivers here are full of crocks.”

“I guess that kills the idea of skinny dipping.”

“We’re bound to run into some of the natives. There are several

distinct tribes, and according to this everybody’s friendly.”

“That’s good news. Do you have a projection as to how long it

should be before we get to where ‘X’ marks the spot?”

“A week, maybe two.” Leaning back, he lit a cigarette. “How do

you say diamond in French?”

“Diamant.” Narrowing her eyes, she studied him. “Did this Dimitri have anything to do with stealing diamonds out of

France and smuggling them here?”

Doug smiled at her. She was close, but not close enough. “No.

Dimitri’s good, but he didn’t have anything to do with this

particular heist.”

“So it is diamonds and they were stolen.”

Doug thought of the papers. “Depends on your point of view.”

“Just a thought,” Whitney began, plucking the cigarette from

him for a drag. “But have you ever considered what you’d do if

there was nothing there?”

“It’s there.” He blew out smoke and watched her with his clear,

green eyes. “It’s there.”

As always she found herself believing him. It was impossible

not to. “What are you going to do with your share?”

He stretched his legs onto the seat beside her and grinned.

“Wallow in it.”

Reaching in the bag, she plucked out a mango and tossed it to

him. “What about Dimitri?”

“Once I have the treasure, he can fry in hell.”

“You’re a cocky sonofabitch, Douglas.”

He bit into the mango. “I’m going to be a rich cocky

sonofabitch.”

Interested, she took the mango for a bite of her own. She found

it sweet and satisfying. “Being rich’s important?”

“Damn right.”

“Why?”

He shot her a look. “You’re speaking from the comfort of

several billion gallons of fudge ripple.”

She shrugged. “Let’s just say I’m interested in your outlook on

wealth.”

“When you’re rich and you play the horses and lose, you get

ticked off because you lost, not because you blew the rent

money.”

“And that’s what it comes down to?”

“Ever worried about where you were going to sleep at night,

sugar?”

She took another bite of fruit before handing it back to him.

Something in his voice had made her feel foolish. “No.”

She lapsed into silence for a time as the train rumbled on,

stopping at stations while people filed on or filed off. It was

already hot, almost airless inside. Sweat, fruit, dust, and grime hung heavily. A man in a white panama a few seats forward

mopped at his face with a large bandana. Because she thought

she recognized him from the zoma, Whitney smiled. He only

pocketed the bandana and went back to his newspaper.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.