Rafferty's Wife by Kay Hooper

Rafferty, but he was almost instantly grim again. “Now I know how he felt when we butted into
his
business. Look guys, go home.”
    “And miss the opportunity to fish off the shores of Kadeira?” Lucas asked, his tone ironic.
    Sarah giggled, but hastily straightened her face when Rafferty gave her an offended glance. She was enjoying this immensely, and had the sneaking suspicion that Rafferty wasn’t quite as angry as he seemed. From the sound of it, these three made it a habit to watch out for one another, and she liked that. Their kind of friendship was rare in her experience.
    Still striving for patience, Rafferty told his friends, “You’ve both helped enough. Besides, this is a difficult situation. You two can’t possibly get into Kadeira without attracting just the kind of attention we’re trying to avoid.”
    “You couldn’t pass for a native,” Zach observed. “Neither could Sarah.”
    Hearing her name, Lucas looked up long enough to charmingly introduce himself. Sarah responded gravely, trying not to laugh in the face of Rafferty’s comical despair.
    “Hagen arranged—”
    “Oh,
Hagen
did,” Zach said in a surprised but somehow odd tone, as if he were implying something.
    Rafferty gritted his teeth. “All right, so he’ssneaky as hell and prone to keep certain things to himself. I
know
that. And I’m none too happy about this scheme, but—” He glanced at Sarah, then swore under his breath.
    He wouldn’t tell them, Sarah realized, because it was her assignment too. So she told them, trusting them because he did, and because she liked them. She told them the plan, explaining everything—except one tiny detail even Rafferty didn’t know yet, and which she couldn’t tell him until they were on the island.
    She told herself that it was hardly professional to disclose so many particulars of their assignment—let alone to strangers—but she was following instinct. She was also half-consciously rebelling against Hagen’s secretive orders, plans, and general disposition.
    Zach looked at her, then at Lucas, who had also listened intently to the story. “That seems to let us out,” he commented.
    The blond man made a faint grimace of agreement. “Seems to. Too many nosy Americans on the island could gum up the works nicely, I’d say.”
    “Let’s have lunch,” Zach suggested.
    Rafferty regarded him suspiciously, and it was Sarah who responded. “Harry packed enough.” She measured Zach’s huge frame with a musing gaze, adding, “I think.”
    Zach’s smile was surprisingly gentle. “Oh, I don’t eat much.”
    Lucas, who was examining the bottle of wine with a critical eye, did an exaggerated double take and stared at the big man incredulously. “You don’t what?”
    “Luc, would you care to swim to the nearest country that’ll have you?”
    “He eats like a bird,” Lucas told Sarah somewhat hastily.
    Sarah was trying not to giggle, and Rafferty seemed resigned to the situation. But he wasn’t nearly as glum as he appeared, because he winked at Sarah when neither of the other two was looking.
    Lunch was enjoyable, even though there weren’t enough plates or glasses to go around, and Zach and Lucas took turns drinking from the wine bottle. Sarah was fascinated by thefriendship of the three men. They were utterly comfortable with each other, and with her, and though rude remarks and cheerful insults seemed the order of the day, there was also an obvious closeness among them.
    And there was, she learned not entirely to her surprise, a fourth friend present in spirit.
    “Is Josh really back at the helm?” Rafferty asked the other two.
    “He got in touch this morning,” Zach affirmed. “Told us very politely that since we’d all decided to be idiots, he thought he should come home.”
    “Heard Raven laughing in the background,” Lucas added.
    Rafferty frowned a little. “Wait a minute. Got in touch
how
?”
    Zach was intently studying what remained of a drumstick. “By