Ice Blue - Anne Stuart [101]
She felt herself falling, and something was placed over her head, closing out the light, closing out everything, and her last thought was, Wasn’t this how the whole damn thing started?
“What are you going to do about her?” his cousin asked. “Not that it’s any of my business, but your grandfather will want to know.”
“Send her back to America as soon as this is over,” Taka said grimly, putting Hitoshi Komoru’s credit card down on the pile of outdoor clothing he was buying.
“And you’ll be going with her?”
“No. She’ll go back to her own life. I’ll go on to my next assignment.”
“With the Committee? You still think you can save the world, cousin?”
“It’s worth trying,” Taka replied.
“I’m not convinced of that.”
“You’re young,” Taka said. He was in a foul mood. Considering he’d spent the night fucking his brains out, he ought be feeling a little more even tempered, but right now he wanted to hit something, anything. In a pinch, Reno would do.
“Five years younger than you, you old fart. That just makes you stuffier, not smarter.”
Taka stared at Reno haughtily. “And you’re so happy working for your grandfather? Overseeing gambling parlors and the sex trade?”
Reno shrugged. “What are you suggesting—that I join your shadow organization and try to save the world, as well? Not exactly my style. Don’t you have enough heroes?”
“There’s a lot of turnover. It’s a little too easy to get killed in my line of work.”
Reno grinned. “You tempt me, cousin. Almost. But as long as you’re around I’ll just concentrate on sex and gambling. Better to stick to the simpler pleasures in life. Besides, Grandfather wouldn’t be happy if you lured me away.”
“He’d let you go. I asked him.”
Reno pushed his sunglasses up, fixing his cousin with a sharp stare. “You can mind your own fucking business,” he said in a low, dangerous voice. “You’re the one who’s busy screwing up his world by screwing the gaijin.”
“You’re forgetting, I’m half-gaijin myself.”
“I try to overlook that particular failing.”
“And you’re—”
“Don’t even say it,” Reno warned.
Takashi had said enough. The cashier handed him the tray with his credit card and receipt, and he took it, shoving it in his back pocket before turning back to the bristling Reno. “Just think about it,” he said. Madame Lambert would make mincemeat of his little cousin—something he’d pay good money to see. And with Reno complicating his life, he’d have less time to think about mistakes living in L.A.
Reno responded with an epithet vulgar enough to make the cashier blush, and Taka punched him in the arm. “Behave yourself, cousin.”
Reno just snorted, stalking out of the store into the wintry morning air. “I noticed you didn’t get any clothes for your girlfriend.”
“She’s not coming with me.”
“She’s not staying with me,” Reno warned. “I put up with her for your sake, but if you’re not around I’d probably strangle her.”
“She’s harder to kill than you might think,” he said.
Reno just looked at him. “Holy motherfucker,” he said. “You’re in love with the gaijin.”
“In love?” Taka echoed, managing a derisive laugh. “You’re crazy.”
“What’s that got to do with anything? And if you’ve fallen in love with her, then you’re the crazy one. Love’s a waste of time. Love’s like a knife—it’ll cut your balls off and stab you in the back.”
“And what, little cousin, would you know about love?” he countered softly.
“I keep as far away from it as I can, which I thought you’d be smart enough to do as well. Grandfather found a woman willing to marry you, and sooner or later you could become the good salaryman he always wanted. He could almost forget your parentage, and while he wouldn’t leave the company to someone of impure blood, he’d at least leave you a shitload of money and his fancy houses. And Mitsuko has a very nice ass, if you ask me.”
“She has a very nice ass,” Taka agreed. “But I don’t want it. Or the houses, or the company.”
“Don’t tell me you want the American?”
“No,” Taka said, not even considering whether it was a lie or not. “Sooner or later she’d drive me crazy.”
“Probably sooner,” Reno said. “So where