Undertow Read Free

info after checking out some of Nick·s haul «
    Sorry, Diego.µ Logan·s lips quirked. ´We have an embarrassment of riches today, you·l have to wait your turn.µ
    ´ No hay problema, amigo. I·m happy to sit here with the sun on my face, and a pretty girl by my side.µ
    Brian rushed in, clearly eager to get to his report. ´ Prelim being the operative word. Two such enormous finds coming in at the same time³We·ve had less than twelve hours, but³µ
    Outnumbered by al the testosterone in the room, Teal quietly gave in to exhaustion. Sam had wanted her here? She couldn·t even wrap her tired brain around the concept. She was physical y, emotional y wrung dry. In no way had she been prepared to meet with Zane and the Cutter crew the moment she arrived.
    Emeralds as big as her fist? That would cover Sam·s medical costs, which were bound to be high, not that he·d discussed it with her. Nope, sh e·d had to pry the truth of his il ness from him after Logan cal ed to ask her if she wanted to fil in for Sam while he recuperated. Teal rubbed at her eyes.
    This meeting with Zane hadn·t been the cool, professional encounter she·d rehearsed in her mirror for the last few weeks. He pressed al her buttons and then some. He·d always been good at that.

    Zane. Ace. Or better yet, Casanova of the Caribbean. She gave a mental snort. He·d probably given himself the nicknames. She wished she were in China right no w. She·d made a huge freaking mistake coming here.
    Brian waved a paper around as he talked, which took Zane·s focus away from her and gave her some thinking time. Logan, damn him too, hadn·t even given her a chance to take a shower and drag a brush through her hair before he·d brought her to the Counting House an hour ago. None of them was familiar with the word no.
    Fighting the lure of sleep, she studied Brian Donahue. Skinny. About forty. He was the resident archeologist who cataloged and sorted the found treasure. He talked as if words were about to be rationed at any second. He had thinning red hair, thick black -rimmed glasses, and waved his hands excitedly to describe the haul they·d just brought in. She·d give anything for some of his energy.
    To Teal·s right sat a hot guy who looked like Antonio Banderas in his day.
    Diego Zamora apparently worked for, or was partner with, the brothers in their vast salvage operations around the world. She knew from various vacations on the island that the Cutters owned a dozen or more salvage boats.
    This guy had apparently returned to the island the night before from a successful salvage near Greece. Same as Nick, who·d been gone for a year, Logan had told her. He·d just returned from a salvage in the waters off Vietnam, the Scorpion, his magnificent megayacht, loaded with a fortune in ceramics and china from a wreck in Ca Mau province.
    Brian discussed Nick·s treasure, his voice rising and fal ing with enthusiasm. It was al ámazing examples of eighteenth-century chinaµ and the ´definitive ceramic find of the century.µ
    Śaw it earlier,µ Zane told his brother as Brian paused to drink from his soda can. Ít·s great.
    And of course, Brian cal ed the investors the second he got a look at what you brought in.
    Gave them just a taste, so they·re already going ape-shit.µ
    Zane had the kind of smile people responded to without realizing they were smiling back. A shark·s smile. Teal bit her lower lip as Zane broke into one of his trademark lazy, cocky grins and caught her eye by accident as he was looking at Nick.
    ´ Spectacular pottery and chinaware,µ he toasted his brother with his Coke, his smile slipping a bit when she gave him a blank look in return.
    ´Yeah. Stunning.µ Nick·s smile was white and self-satisfied. But it didn·t make her pulse skip like Zane·s did. ´Made at the kilns in Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces in China during the Qing dynasty, around 1723 to 1735.µ His blue eyes glittered with triumph. Éven after giving the Vietnam History Museum