Bride of the Tiger by Heather Graham (big screen ebook reader txt) 📕

too old to handle the situation. And he was indignant that they had been removed from the hotel in laundry baskets, along with a ton of dirty sheets.

“I’m so sorry,” Tara murmured.

“Would you quit that!” Jimmy insisted, a protective arm around Tanya, as usual. “Tara, I started this whole thing. No, I didn’t. Elliott started it all.”

“Can’t we just give him the stinking mask?” Ashley asked.

“That’s the plan, I assume,” Jimmy murmured, trying to sound cheerful. But his eyes met Tara’s, and she knew that he was wondering, just as she was, how ruthless Tine was. Was he capable of killing them all?

She’d come to know too much about him to hope for much in their favor now.

“What do you think our chances are for escape?” she asked Sam.

“The man right outside the door is carrying a submachine gun. He could—” Sam cleared his throat. “It’s a dangerous weapon.”

“He could wipe us all out in thirty seconds,” Ashley said bluntly.

“Then—”

The door reopened. The man from the lobby looked in. He pointed at Tara. “You, come on.”

“She will not!” Ashley protested.

He ignored Ashley and grasped Tara’s arm. Sam leaped to his feet; the submachine gun was whirled toward him.

“Sam, sit down. I’m sure I’ll be right back. Don’t forget, I knew Tine well once,” Tara said, trying to sound assured. Yes, she knew Tine, and she was terrified! But she couldn’t let it show; someone would wind up dead.

“Tara, don’t—” Jimmy began.

“I’ll be fine.”

She wouldn’t be, but she had to convince them. Oh, God. Now more than ever, thoughts of Rafe were crowding in on her, and her knees began to wobble as she was led back along the hallway. She thought of when she had looked up, that first time at the museum. Seeing the tiger, seeing Rafe. Feeling from that very first moment the sense of utter excitement. Wondering what it would be like…

And then knowing what it was like to be held by him. Loved by him. Touched…

She thought that if Tine were to touch her now, she would just as soon die. She’d known real tenderness, real care. Passion, beauty.

She swallowed sharply; surely Rafe figured somewhere in this. Tine would be coercing him as he had coerced her. He wanted both the Tylers, because he wanted the mask. He wanted them both stopped from hounding him. It had become an obsession. Tine was obsessive. He had never loved her, but had simply been obsessed.

She was scared that he would touch her. Scared that he would get Rafe. Rafe would do anything to prevent harm from befalling the rest of them. God, she wanted him. She wanted to be in his arms. She wanted…

Don’t think! she warned herself. Don’t think that Tine could trick him, could get him here—could shoot him. Kill him. In cold blood.

Deal with it moment by moment! she pleaded with herself. And she tried to convince herself that Rafe was no fool, that someone would miss them very soon, that maybe the police were combing the mountain at this very minute. Maybe she could even reason with Tine, convince him that he could never get away with it this time, that he would be found, that he would—

“Tara. I’ve waited a long, long time for today.”

She stopped walking because he was standing there. At the end of the hallway, waiting for her. She didn’t say anything; she was too wary of his next move.

“Let’s go, Tara.”

“Where?”

“A walk in the moonlight.”

“I won’t go.”

“The hell you won’t.”

A second later she screamed, because he strode straight toward her, grim-faced, wrenched her arm behind her back and prodded her forward. Stay calm! she told herself desperately, and then she wondered, what good would it do?

He opened the door and pushed her out into the night. All she could see was darkness, though he seemed to know where he was going. The night had grown cool; she could see her breath in the dark. Under her feet, the ground grew rockier. Suddenly he yanked her back. She started to scream again, but he cut her off sharply.

“The ledge, you idiot. Another step and you’ll be over it.”

She saw it then, the point where the cliff ended. Below the city lights twinkled. So tiny, so far away.

“Sit down, Tara.”

There was a tree with a clear space beneath it. Tara sat. He stood behind her and lit a cigarette.

“Tine,” she murmured, when the silence became unendurable, “this is idiotic. You should have disappeared into the South American rain forest. You have to be crazy. If the authorities get hold of you this time—”

“I want that mask.”

“Why?”

“Why?” He laughed shortly. “Simple. Money. I know the right channels. I could spend the rest of my life in outrageous prosperity with that thing.”

“But you made good money!” Tara cried out.

“With Galliard, you mean?” he asked, amused. She felt the skin at her nape prickle. He had stooped down behind her. She could feel his breath touching her skin, and she tried not to shiver. The longer she could talk…

“I could have made a fortune with you, love. I would have known how to package you just right. But you didn’t want me. And now you think you’re going to marry Rafael Tyler. Hah! That’s a laugh. I’m the one who dragged you out of the refuse, out of the gutter. And you betrayed me, you little bitch.”

“You didn’t pull me out of the gutter, Tine—you tried to drag me down into it. I knew some poor, poor people, Tine, but not one of them would have stooped as low as you—for anything. They were all rich in something called pride.”

“I’m impressed, Tara. But it’s a pity you feel that way. I might have taken you with me. ‘Cause it’ll all be over tonight, you know. I’ll meet lover boy at midnight, he and boy wonder will get the mask—and take a tragic fall down the mountain.”

“You wouldn’t!” Tara almost choked on the words. “Tine, don’t be foolish! So far, no one can get you