Orchid

'What makes you so certain Rafe and I might not be a good match?'

'Give me a break, Ms. Adams. I'm not a fool. My cousin is a strat-talent.'

'So?'

'He's an exotic. A high-class one at that. The agencies don't have much luck matching people like him. Even if you were told that you might be a halfway reasonable match, I'm surprised you'd considered it at all. Very few intelligent women want to risk marriage to a hunter. Too many unknowns. Marriage is a life sentence, Ms. Adams.'

'I'm well aware of that. But Rafe's grandfather is a strat-talent and from what I saw last night he appears to be happily married.'

'Uncle Alfred G. is only a class-four strat-talent. Rafe is a six. I suspect he may even be much higher.' Selby's eyes narrowed. 'Furthermore, I'll let you in on a little family secret. Uncle Alfred G. and Aunt Ellen were not introduced through an agency.'

'Is that true?'

'It was a marriage of convenience that took place over fifty years ago. Aunt Ellen's father owned a company that Uncle Alfred G. wanted. Ellen's father wanted his daughter to marry into the Stonebraker family. They struck a deal. Aunt Ellen went along with it.'

'It looked like a good match to me.'

Selby dismissed that with a casual hit of one shoulder. 'Occasionally unmatched arrangements do work out. Hell, if legend is to be believed, that's the way marriages were routinely handled back on Earth in the old days before colonization. They say divorce was routine, also.'

'And families were routinely destroyed because of the system. Fortunately our Founders were smart enough to establish a different way of doing things here on St. Helens,' she murmured piously.

'Exactly my point, Ms. Adams.' Selby leaned back in his chair and gave her a meaningful look. 'The risk factor is huge in an unmatched marriage. And there is no escape through divorce here on St. Helens.'

'Everyone knows that.'

'You'd better think twice about a low-probability match, too, Ms. Adams. Even if your prospective groom is rich.'

'You're so sure that Rafe and I are a bad match.'

'You may think it's worth the risk. Maybe you're assuming that if things don't work out after the wedding, you and my cousin can live separate lives. Maybe you think you can have it all, the Stonebraker money, social position, and a few discreet affairs on the side. But it won't work that way.'

'Why not?'

Selby smiled grimly. 'Because my cousin is a strat-talent. Take it from me, strat-talents aren't real sophisticated and modern-thinking when it comes to matters of wifely fidelity. There's a reason they're called throw-backs, Ms. Adams.'

'I beg your pardon?'

'I would have thought you'd know all this. You're a trained, professional prism, after all. Strat-talents are primitive in more than just the paranormal sense. If you're planning on a marriage of convenience, think again.'

'Is this a warning?'

'Yes, Ms. Adams, it is.' Selby leaned forward. 'I've got nothing against you, personally, but I've worked too hard and planned too long to let you or anyone else get in my way. I'm going to destroy Stonebraker. If you don't step aside, you'll get hurt.'

'Tell me,' Orchid said gently, 'why are you so determined to destroy the company? You're part of the family, after all.'

'My reasons are none of your business.'

'I disagree. I think I've got a right to know why I'm being threatened by a rich and powerful man such as yourself.'

Selby frowned. 'I'm not threatening you. I'm simply telling you how things are.'

'I feel threatened. I want to know why before I make any decisions.'

Selby drew back, scowling. 'I'm sure as hell not going to tell you a lot of private family information.'

Orchid stirred her latte with a tiny stick. 'Tell me, Selby, what did Rafe's side of the family do to your side to make you so angry?'

It was as if she had pulled a sandbag out of a dike that held back a wall of flood water. Selby's face contorted with sudden fury. Sharp, short bursts of energy came and went quickly on the psychic plane. A sure sign of paranormal power not under firm control. Orchid recalled Rafe telling her that his cousin was a tech-talent.

'Maybe I should tell you what happened,' Selby said. 'Maybe the truth will convince you of just how dangerous a strat-talent can be, especially if he also happens to be very wealthy and powerful.'

'I'm listening.'

'Uncle Alfred G. is responsible for my father's death. That's what the Stonebraker side of the family did to my side. Satisfied, Ms. Adams?'

Orchid's hand froze on the latte stick. 'That's a very serious accusation.'

'Unfortunately it's one I can't make in a court of law because there is no evidence. Alfred G. saw to that. But I have crafted my own justice, Ms. Adams. Don't get in the way.'

'What makes you think your father was deliberately killed?'

Selby hesitated. Orchid watched him as he visibly reasserted his self-control. She sensed that he already regretted the fierce outburst.

'My mother told me the whole story when I was a child.'

'What did she say? What happened to your father?'

Selby shook his head once, as though ridding himself of the last remnants of a spell. 'This is none of your affair. You don't need to know the details. All you need to know is that men like Rafe and Alfred G. Stonebraker are dangerous.'

'I only want to understand.'

'You don't need to understand anything except that if you don't get out of this thing while the getting is good, you'll be hurt.' He pushed back his chair with an abrupt movement and surged to his feet. 'There won't be any more warnings, Ms. Adams.'

'Wait, please.'

Selby had himself back in hand now. The seething emotion that had blazed briefly in his face was gone. He looked down at her with cool speculation. 'You appear to be a smart woman. I would have thought you'd know better than to get involved with a strat-talent. If you're in this for the money, I sympathize. But there are other ways to get rich without risking marriage to my cousin.'

'What are you talking about?'

'I'm a wealthy man now, but I'm going to be far richer after I carry out my plans for Stonebraker. I'll make it worth your while to drop out of the picture.'

'Oh, wow.' She opened her eyes very wide. 'No one's ever tried to buy me off before.'

Selby's jaw jerked. 'Think about my offer, Ms. Adams. Think about it very carefully. Because one way or another, I'm going to win.'

He turned and walked out of the espresso bar without another word. An invisible wake of old rage and pain churned in the air behind him. Orchid picked up traces of it on both the physical and the metaphysical planes.

Chapter 13

Rafe grabbed the phone before it had a chance to ring a second time. 'Orchid, where the hell are you?'

There was a short, baffled pause on the other end.

'Uh, it's me, Whistler, Mr. Stonebraker. Here at the hospital guarding Mr. Lambert, remember?'

Rafe closed his eyes briefly and willed patience and control. This was insane. He was getting downright jumpy where Orchid was concerned. She was only a few minutes late, after all. She'd probably stopped to do some