Page 28 of What Doesn't Kill You…

With a shake of his head, he slipped on his sunglasses. "Come on, my little assassin, time to go kayaking." He held out a hand for her.

She swatted it away. All the while wondering how mad Rochelle would be if she drowned their client.

CHAPTER TEN

"Are you sure somebody searched your room while you were kayaking?" Katrina asked.

Violet's face was expressionless. She also seemed have run out of words. The morning had been too much for her. First the wedding planner, then the kayaking. It appeared she had a limit on how long she could be polite to people before she snapped. Max figured they’d made it back to the bungalow with about half an hour to spare.

Max cleared his throat. "Things were moved. Violet posted the Do Not Disturb sign on the door when we left this morning, and all the curtains were closed, so there was no reason for anyone to come in here. Housekeeping definitely hasn't been in, but somebody else has."

They were sitting in the rattan sofas, on the patio outside Max and Violet's bungalow. The private sitting area afforded them an undisturbed view of the ocean, far from prying eyes or curious ears. They'd decided to meet there for lunch, instead of at one of the restaurants, because Violet had declared she needed a break from all the happy plastic people. Coming back to find their room had been rifled through had not improved her mood.

"Did you check for listening devices?" Rodrigo said.

Again, Max spoke for his fake fiancée, who seemed too busy scowling to talk. "Violet used her magic bug scanner and the place is clean."

"What about your laptop?" Rodrigo said. "Is there anything on there that could have compromised us?"

"Wedding plans," Max said. "Nothing more. Any dangerous information I have is stored in a secure online location."

"Well, that's something." Rodrigo rested one ankle on his other knee. Anyone passing by on the beach would assume he was relaxed and enjoying his holiday. His expression said otherwise. "Looks like you really did raise Damien's suspicions last night."

There were only so many times a man could apologize for screwing up, which meant Max kept his mouth shut on the topic. "I'm worried whoever was in here will have spotted that one of us slept on the sofa last night," he said. "It won't be good for our cover."

"It definitely won't help matters," Rodrigo said. "Violet, do better. You know everything hinges on Damien believing you two are in love. If they're going to search your room, they need to see evidence that you're a couple."

Violet turned her head toward him in a slow motion move that reminded Max of a predator sensing prey. "What do you want me to do? Scatter condom packets on the floor?"

Wait? What? Should he have prepared for something like this? Was it spy 101 to make the room look like it'd been used by a couple?

"I don't have any condoms with me," Max said. "Should I get some?" When nobody answered, he nodded. "I'll get some." Then he caught sight of Violet's death glare. "Purely for staging purposes." He assured her.

"No kidding," she said through clenched teeth.

"You don't need to go that far," Rodrigo said, "but at least make it look like you share a bed. We can't fix what happened last night, so let's move on to what we've uncovered today. Katrina and I checked, and you definitely can't get to Poole's private estate from the golf course."

"We had a good look," Katrina added, handing out bottles of icy cold water from the bungalow's mini bar. "There's a tall, wire fence separating the estate from the resort. It's completely exposed on both sides, meaning security on the estate side would easily see anyone who approached it."

"And there are regular guard patrols on the estate side." Rodrigo accepted the water with a nod of thanks.

Violet grunted when Katrina handed the water to her. She was curled up in one of the armchairs, folded in on herself, with a frown on her face. There may as well have been a sign over her head saying, Keep Away.

"The waterfront was a no-go too." Max lounged back into the sofa. "There's a floating barrier rigged up to stop kayakers getting anywhere near his beach. The barrier went out too far to sea for us to get past it. We had to turn back. When we asked the guy running the kayaking if it was always there, he said the barrier was to stop people from straying into dangerous currents."

Violet snorted. "Watchtower. Eyes on beach. You wouldn't get near the shore, with or without the water barrier."

Max took it as a good sign that she was using her words again and not just growling and pointing to stuff, but he'd feel happier once she reached the stage of decompression where she only used full sentences.

Katrina had settled into one of the armchairs, wearing a wide brimmed sunhat that shaded her face. "We need to see what the entrance to the estate looks like. Tonight, when the sun sets, we can all take a stroll and get lost. Tourists must wander up that way all the time."

"My guess is they don't get very far when they do," Rodrigo said. "Not sure that's the best idea. If we wander anywhere near Damien's estate, we'll make him more suspicious, and he could kick us off the island."

The doorbell to the bungalow chimed.

"That will be room service." Max got to his feet.

Violet growled. Great, they were back to that again.