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up like a silent shark out of the depths and taking a big bite unexpectedly. At that moment he was eternally grateful for the Drake curse of weakness after using their powers.
    “That’s impossible,” Jonas said.
    Aleksandr held Abbey’s blazing stare with one of his own. He wasn’t about to back down, wanting her to know there was more than one reason for his being in Sea Haven and he wasn’t going to go away. “I assure you, it is not.”
    Abigail shook her head and closed her eyes again, groaning softly.
    Aleksandr looked down at her face. He remembered every curve, the feel of her skin, the laughter in her eyes. The love. He wasn’t going to let her get away from him a second time. He didn’t want to fight with, or frighten her, but he was angry with her. Angry that she hadn’t given him a second chance, angry that she’d nearly gotten herself killed. Angry that her American boyfriend would be sitting in the front seat telling him what he could or couldn’t do. That she would even have an American boyfriend. Any boyfriend at all. Her heart should have been locked up, devastated without him, the way his had been without her. He had the sudden urge to shake her and he knew that wasn’t a good sign. His control was slipping and that was a dangerous thing.
    “How strange that she wouldn’t have said a word to me about an engagement,” Jonas said. “Or to any of her sisters.” He didn’t bother to keep the note of disbelief out of his voice.
    “Very strange,” Aleksandr agreed. Abigail tensed in his arms, but the effort to fight him was apparently too exhausting and she relaxed again, her expression stubborn. If she kept that look on her face he might be tempted to take advantage of her weakness and kiss her right in front of her new lover. He shoved the thought away, feeling murderous. It was enough to have lost Danilov without discovering that another man had taken his woman from him.
    “What happened tonight, Volstov?” Jonas made a point of staring at him in the rearview mirror. “Is Abbey a part of this?”
    “No.” Aleksandr was grateful for the interruption of his thoughts. “I was as shocked to find Abbey on the scene as you were.” He bent over her, rubbing at what he hoped was a smudge and not a bruise forming between her eyes.
    She managed to bring up her hand to slap at his arm. He waited until she settled down and went right back to rubbing with the pad of his finger. Small, round caresses. Gentle. Stroking. Telling her with his touch that he wasn’t going anywhere. The faint mark wouldn’t go away. She had pale, almost alabaster skin and he remembered she bruised easily. It was a hell of a way to announce his return, but like the mark, he was back in her life to stay and she was going to have to deal with their past whether she liked it or not.
    “So what are you and your partner doing in my county?” Jonas asked. “You introduced yourself to me, but you neglected to say you were going to leave dead bodies in our harbor.”
    “We’ve been working this case for some time and we’ve traced three shipments in the past two and a half years to this coast. There’s been a steady stream of stolen antiquities, including an impressive collection of jewelry, going out of Russia. My partner, Andre Danilov, managed to get a job on a fishing boat out of the harbor and was keeping an eye out for any suspicious activity. We’ve known for some time that artifacts have been smuggled through a route here, but this was the first time we knew the actual freighter and when it would arrive.”
    Jonas was silent for a moment and then he sighed. “Gene Dockins came to me a few months ago and said he was concerned something was happening out at sea with one of the boats—the Treasure Chest . The captain is a man named John Fergus and I’ve known him several years. He’s never given us any trouble. Several local businessmen own the boat and all of them have lived in the area most of their lives.