Dangerous Allies (The Ruby Danger Series Book 1) Read Free

ensuite. As a caring aunt, she had been a bit of a letdown. Perhaps a shower would help wash away the scent of failure.
    Ten minutes later, she tucked a bath towel around her chest, wiped a swath of condensation from the mirror with her forearm and frowned at the dark circles under her eyes. Five more languid days at sea might be boring, but at least she would lose those bags.
    Rubbing her hair with another towel, Ruby walked into the bedroom and retrieved a large leather tote bag from the floor. She flung the second towel over the back of the vanity chair and sat with the bulging tote bag on her lap. Unzipping the top, she peered in and made a face. As usual, her ‘go-see’ bag was long overdue for a clean-out. Why on earth did she carry so much stuff? She was no longer a model, lugging spare heels and hairspray to jobs and auditions, so why did she still haul this shoulder-wrenching burden everywhere?
    As she rummaged through the leather tote bag for a concealer stick, her fingers closed on something soft and rubbery. Ruby pulled out a pink bracelet with a ‘Hello Kitty’ logo on the front and a USB stick in the clasp. She had intended to give it to computer-crazy Naomi on her visit to Vancouver. The visit she had cancelled to be with her husband.
    So where was he, then? Ruby placed a hand over her heart and closed her eyes, picturing the scene. Antony would walk in and flash that crooked grin that always melted her heart. She would put one hand on her hip and pout. He would shrug sheepishly and apologize. They would laugh and tumble together onto the brocaded bedspread—
    She opened her eyes. Right. Which rom-com script was that from?
    She returned her attention to the tote bag, packed with essentials for her trip to Vancouver: tiny jars of theatrical makeup, spirit gum, and liquid latex; wigs for her and the girls; even gelatin capsules of fake blood. Her nieces loved to put on plays for their dad, Quentin, whenever Aunt Ruby visited. Naomi had wanted to be a vampire this time. So had four-year-old Sarah, who believed vampires ate peanut butter.
    Ruby slipped her hand into a zippered side pocket and drew out a tiny velvet bag. One tug on the frayed drawstring and a polished green malachite pebble fell onto her outstretched hand. She clasped her fingers around its cool stone surface, remembering the day she and Lily had found it on the shore. She picked up her cellphone, rolled back the girls’ video and froze the screen. Sarah looked more like her mother every day. The same vivid blue eyes, the same soft smile.
    With a sigh, Ruby tucked the pebble back into its velvet bag and resumed her search. When she reached the bottom, the concealer stick rolled into her hand. She swept the theatrical supplies and the Hello Kitty bracelet back into the bag, but as she replaced it on the floor a metallic gleam on the carpet caught her eye. Ruby bent over for a closer look. Plucking a pair of sapphire and platinum earrings from the carpet, she held them up to the light and stared at the sparkling stones. Antony would be furious they weren’t in the safe.
    Why weren’t they in the safe, though? She frowned. Had she worn them last night? Her frown deepened. She couldn’t remember. Oh, dear God. She couldn’t remember wearing earrings worth as much as a small car less than twenty-four hours earlier. What else had she forgotten? Drawing a sharp breath, she placed the earrings on the vanity. No harm done. Just put them back in the safe.
    The earrings’ velvet-lined box was wedged between the vanity mirror and a bottle of hand lotion. Ruby tucked the earrings into it and then padded down the hall to the bedroom at the suite’s far end, beyond the main living area. There, she stopped at the wall safe and stared at the keypad, her plan thwarted because she had no idea what code Antony had used to program the lock.
    Hari Bhatt—Antony’s CFO and best man at their wedding—was always ribbing him about his easily guessed passwords.