Everlasting Read Free Page B

about. Suppose you clarify matters by telling me just why you've decided to pay me a visit at this unusual hour.”
    “Well, I couldn't be sure of being able to contact you at any other time or place, I figured since you were in Tucson, you'd stay a day or two to conduct business.” She gestured vaguely. “You have gold mining interests or something here, don't you?”
    He wondered what the board members of thegigantic Shaman Copper Company would say to such an offhand reference. “Or something. It seems you've done a little research on my humble enterprises.”
    She gave a distinctly unladylike snort at that blatant understatement. “I looked you up in the library. I had to find some way of tracking you down. You're an elusive man, Mr. Damon. And Marna was no help at all.”
    He went still. “Marna?”
    She gave a sigh of relief. “You remember Marna? I was afraid you'd forgotten her, and that would have blown everything. It's been so many years.”
    “No. I remember Marna Debuk very well.”
    “She said you would, but then she clammed up on me.” She ran her fingers distractedly through her curls. “I've seen her be maddeningly inscrutable with other people, but never with me.”
    There was hurt as well as bewilderment in her expression and Zack had a sudden impulse to cross the space between them and take her in his arms to comfort her. His hands on the arms of the chair tightened until his knuckles showed white.Not yet. “She loves you very much. I'm sure if she thought it best to—”
    She impatiently held up her hand. “I know. I know. It's just that I'm so worried about her. I need all the help I can get, and she picks a time like this to become mysterious.”
    “I think you'd better start at the beginning.”
    “Am I being incoherent?” She grimaced. “It's one of my worst faults. Verbal chaos.” She bit her lower lip. “The beginning. I don't have any idea how much you already know. Blast Marna, anyway.”
    “The beginning,” he repeated softly.
    “Well, you do know Marna is a Gypsy and a member of one of the largest tribes in Tamrovia. It's a long-established custom for a member of her tribe to serve in the royal household in each generation. Marna became my nursemaid when I was born and has been with me ever since.” Her expression softened. “My parents and Stefan never had much time for me and Lance was in Sedikhan, so there was really only Marna. She was everything I needed or wanted.”
    “That's quite an accolade.”
    “She's quite a woman.” Uneasy, Kira hesitated. “Quite an unusual woman. She has certain…”
    “Powers,” he suggested softly.
    Her breath came out in a little rush. “You know about that?”
    “I know that she told me she could work spells and sometimes see what others could not.”
    “And you believed her?”
    “My grandfather was a shaman and I spent a good deal of my childhood alone with him in the hills. I know that power exists.”
    “That simplifies things a bit. I could see myself quite futilely trying to explain about Marna's powers. Well, anyway, my brother Stefan is a bit of a
chitka.”
    “Chitka?”
    “Sorry. It's a Tamrovian word. It means fool or idiot. Stefan decided when I was sixteen that I should make a marriage of state, and he tossed me to the lions, or rather to the title hunters. He forced me into contact with every head of state and powerful tycoon in the world.”
    “Not every tycoon,” Zack corrected quietly.
    “If you hadn't been hiding in the mountainsplaying Howard Hughes, I can assure you that you would have topped Stefan's list. Stefan was very determined.” Her lips tightened. “But so was I.”
    “Hence, the Corfu dock incident?”
    She nodded. “Marna and I managed very well at first. Sometimes it was almost amusing. Then, last year, Stefan got impatient with the game and decided to end it. He imprisoned Marna to pressure me to give in.”
    “Rather a drastic solution. Don't you have a habeas corpus law in