Pearl Cove Read Online Free PDF Page B

his charming personality Im
     talking about. Its pearls and double crosses. He buggered one too many big players.
    How?
    Dont waste my time. Youre his wife.
    Yes. His wife. Not his business partner. I run the house, keep the payroll, collect rent
     from the workers who live on site, order equipment for the farming operations, and have
     the final say on color matching the harvest. Thats it.
    What about the black pearls?
    What about them? The big players you mentioned know how to make silver-lipped oysters
     produce black-toned pearls or gold-toned or pink or all three in the same oyster. Members
     of the South Sea Consortium developed the technology. And they kept it to themselves. It
     has nothing to do with Pearl Cove.
    Im not talking about the normal run of black pearls. Im talking about the rainbows.
    Stillness crept through Hannahs blood like ice forming on an autumn pond. Though no one
     was supposed to know about the extraordinary pearls, word had inevitably leaked out.
     Rumors thrived like termites in the emptiness of Western Australia. Yet no one had
     actually seen those special pearls, except Len and herself. And his killer. Len had died
     because he knew the secret of producing extraordinary black pearls. People assumed she
     knew the secret, too. But she didnt.
    Her husband had trusted no one. He always opened the experimental oysters himself. And he
     was careful to have ordinary oysters in among the special ones, just to have some pearly
     junk to show the curious. He never would have told her about the rainbows at all if he
     hadnt needed her hyperacute color perception to find the best matches among the
     iridescent, seductively colorful black gems.
    Despite all Lens care, despite his paranoia, in the past few years, some of the special
     black pearls had been stolen and found their way to the marketplace. Yet Len wouldnt share
     the secret of producing the black rainbows.
    He had been killed for it. As soon as the murderer discovered that she knew nothing about
     producing them, her life would be worthless. She would be all that stood between the
     killer and ownership of Pearl Cove, home of the oysters that produced fabulous, unique
     black pearls.
    Rainbows? she asked through stiff lips. Weve had some lovely peacock blue
    No, Chang cut in. Theyre not the same.
    If your family is buying in to Pearl Cove for these so-called rainbows, youll be
     disappointed. I dont have any for you. That, at least, was the truth. Most of the special
     pearls had been destroyed as unworthy. The rest had been kept in the vault.
    And the vault lay like a cracked steel egg inside the ruined shed. Chang watched her with
     clear black eyes and formidable intelligence. Think about our offer. You dont believe me.
    I believe that the cyclone season is coming.
    Is that a threat?
    Its a fact. Sell Pearl Cove to the Changs. Were big enough to weather the coming storm.
     You aren t. Dont follow Len into the grave.
    For a breath Hannah wished she owned all of Pearl Cove and could turn it over to the
     Changs. Then she would run. The Stone Age villages in the rain forests of Brazil had never
     looked so good to her. So safe.
    But that was cowardice whispering seductively in her ear. She couldnt sell, had no money
     to run, and was damned if she would be again what she had been at nineteen a runaway
     stranded in a strange city with night coming on and no assets to sell but her newly
     unvirginal body.
    I cant sell Pearl Cove, she said evenly. You mean you wont. No. I mean I cant. Why?
    Half of it belongs to Archer Donovan.
    What? Chang demanded, too shocked to hide it.
    Archer Mr. Donovan was Lens silent partner.
    For how long?
    Seven years.
    Bloody hell. No wonder Len is dead. He finally buggered the wrong man.
    What are you saying?
    Chang laughed curtly. They dont come any more ruthless than Archer Donovan.
    I didnt think the Chang family would back up for anyone.
    A man who can tangle with the Red Phoenix