Ice Blue - Anne Stuart [93]
“Getting rid of the body?” she countered, rallying.
He shook his head. “I have plenty of people to help me with that kind of work. No, the problem is that Taka wouldn’t like it.”
“You sound disappointed.”
“I am. I don’t like you. I don’t like what you’ve done to my cousin, and I’d be very happy to hurt you because of it.”
“I haven’t done anything to your cousin!”
He poured the beer into the glass and held it toward her in a mocking toast. “Kampei,” he said. “And you’ve fucked him.” He laughed. “Don’t look so shocked. I don’t mean literally. Of course he fucked you—you’re pretty enough in a conventional American way, and Taka has a soft heart.”
“A soft heart? Do you even know your cousin?”
“A softer heart than mine,” he amended. “If he hadn’t been squeamish he probably could have found out what he needed to know from you days ago.”
“I don’t know where the temple is.”
Reno rose from the table, pushing the chair away. “Let me see if I can help you remember,” he said, starting toward her.
“Get away from her!” Taka’s sharp voice stopped him.
Reno turned, smiling innocently, answering in Japanese. Taka was standing in the doorway, and suddenly Reno looked like a naughty child compared to the chilling menace in his older cousin.
“You can speak English, since you already have,” he snapped. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Trying to scare her into telling us what she knows. Time is running out, cousin, and you’ve tried everything else, haven’t you?”
“She doesn’t know.”
“How can you be sure of that?”
“Sex can be as good a way of finding out information as torture, little cousin,” Taka said briefly, kicking off his shoes and closing the door behind him.
“Hey!” Summer protested weakly.
“Then maybe we should both have a go at her, just to see if there’s something she’s forgotten. She’s not my type, but I can put aside my standards…”
Taka hit him. The blow was so fast, so shocking that Reno had no time to duck. The rage in the room was palpable, and Summer dived to cover the urn, afraid the room was about to erupt into violence.
But Reno just stood there, blood dripping from his split lip. “Okay, cousin, she’s yours,” he said easily. “I’ve never known you to be so possessive before. You want some beer?”
Taka was breathing heavily, and for a moment Summer wondered whether he’d hit Reno again. And wondered why her reaction to the sudden violence had been so visceral. It had been primal, possessive. And incredibly erotic. And then his shoulders relaxed. “Yes. What about you, Su-chan?”
For a moment the entire room froze. Taka’s use of the affectionate name had been instinctive, shocking all three of them. Reno went to the cupboard and brought out two more glasses. He sat down and poured the drinks, one for Taka, one for Summer, and set the bottle back down.
Summer rose from the futon, holding the kimono around as she walked to the table. Instead of taking the glass of beer Taka held out for her, she picked up the bottle instead, handing Reno his glass and then refilling it for him. He blinked those extraordinary fake green eyes, and then a faint smile curved his mouth. “Kampei,” he said again, toasting her. And this time most of the mockery was gone.
She took her glass of beer and turned back to the futon, when Taka’s sudden hiss of breath stopped her. “Holy motherfucker!” Reno said in a tone of wonder.
She whirled around, almost splashing some of the beer on her kimono. “What’s wrong?”
Taka handed her glass to Reno, took her shoulders in his strong hands and turned her around again. “I’m an idiot,” he said in a low voice. “It was the wrong kimono.”
“What are you talking about?”
His hands were on her, impersonal, tracing the painting on the back of the garment. “It’s been there all the time.” His touch followed the curve of her hip, and