Pearl Cove Read Free

seven years, are you selling your
     unique Pearl Cove gems?
    He looked at the radiant black gem, but it had no answers for him except the one he
     already knew seven years ago, his half brother, Len McGarry, had mixed the undercover
     life with one too many shady deals. It had nearly killed him. It had certainly maimed him.
    Archer was one of three people on earth who knew that Len had discovered the secret of how
     to culture extraordinary black pearls from Australias South Sea oysters. But Len had
     refused to sell even one of the thousands upon thousands of black gems Pearl Cove must
     have produced in seven years.
    Yet here was one of those gems: beautiful black ghost of the past.
    Part of Archer, the part that stubbornly refused to bow to bleak reality, whispered that
     maybe Teddys pearl was a sign that something had gone right, not wrong. Maybe Len was
     finally healing in his mind, if not his body. Maybe he was beginning to understand that no
     matter how many glorious South Sea pearls he hoarded, he was still the same man.
    Linked with the thought of Len came unwelcome memories of Hannah McGarry, Lens once
     innocent, always alluring wife. Alluring to Archer, at least. Too much so. He had seen her
     only twice in ten years. He could recall each moment with brutal clarity.
    She was like the black pearl, unique. And like the pearl, she hadnt the least idea of her
     own beauty, her own worth.
    When he had showed up with her broken, bleeding husband in his arms and told her she had
     two minutes to pack, she didnt faint or argue. She simply grabbed blankets, medicine, and
     her purse. It had taken less than ninety seconds. Their flight out of hell had taken a lot
     longer. He was bleeding over the
    controls of the small plane he flew and seeing double from the concussion he got fighting
     his way through to Len.
    Hannah hadnt said a word the whole time. She sat in the copilot seat and mopped blood out
     of his eyes, ignoring the blood that welled from her lower lip where she had bitten
     through skin to keep from screaming her own fear.
    Automatically Archer shoved Hannah McGarry from his mind. He wasnt the kind to yearn for
     what he would never have. Hannah was married. For Archer, marriage family was one of the
     few things left in the modern world that had meaning. Old-fashioned of him, even mulish,
     but there it was. The twenty-first century was big enough to have room for everyone, even
     unfashionable throwbacks.
    So you dont think this is a Tahitian pearl? Archer asked almost idly.
    What makes you say that?
    Youre asking questions in Seattle, not Tahiti. Either you ran into a dead end there, or
     you already know where the pearl came from and want to know if I know, too.
    Teddy sighed. If I knew where it came from and how to get more, I wouldnt be wasting time
     talking to you. Im here because Im tired of banging my head into walls. As for Tahiti,
     none of the suppliers and farmers Ive talked with admit to seeing this pearl or one like
     it before. Ever. And its not the type of gem a man would forget.
    Unique, fascinating, never the same twice. Like Hannah McGarry. The thought came and went
     from Archers mind with the quickness of the colors sliding just beneath the surface of
     Teddys amazing black pearl.
    What are you asking for it? Archer said, surprising both of them.
    Whatll you give me?
    Not as much as you want. You cant match the pearls color, so the usual kinds of jewelry
     wont work. Maybe one of my sisters Faith, most likely could design an interesting
     setting for it as a brooch or a pendant, but then the artistry and workmanship rather than
     the pearl would become the true value. I d be paying Faith, not you.
    Teddy didnt argue the point. Though cultured by man, pearls werent mechanically produced:
     it still took an oyster to make a pearl. Being a natural, organic product, relatively few
     pearls matched well enough to be combined in jewelry. Lining up pearls for