Aim For Love (17 page)

“Want to tell me what that was about?”

Roberto picked up the gun and shoved it into his belt. “Come in. We can talk over a beer.”

Kaz shook his head. “Tell me about those two. And the meth labs.” The adrenaline spiking in him made it hard to control the demand in his voice.

“It is better to leave them alone.”

“I saw Martin Erickson with Ortega at Hallie’s Place. Stacy Kingston was with them.” Why he added the bit about Stacy, he didn’t know.

Stacy might not be his responsibility, but he wouldn’t let her walk blindly into trouble.

Roberto frowned. “Señor Erickson may not know about those men’s activities.”

“But you do.” Kaz felt his temper rising. Roberto knew more than he wanted to tell.

“I told you, they will not come near Tokugawa land again.”

“I want to help, Roberto. If I have to organize every landowner in the county to help me do it, I will see them run out. I reported the lab find to the sheriff. They’re looking into it.”

Roberto’s eyes widened. He picked up the small garden spade that Yolanda had left behind. “You must be careful. Their world and our world, they do not mix.” He shoved the spade into his belt next to the gun. “They have no respect for lives. Only money.”

“Why were they here?”

Roberto rubbed at his jaw and let out a breath. “They collect money. Protection money.”

Protection. It was the worst sort of extortion. But it explained Roberto’s unwillingness to talk. And Kaz hadn’t helped matters any by escalating the encounter.

“From other families too?”

Roberto nodded.

“Look, I have to be in LA for a couple of days. Nariko has a gallery opening of her newest works, and I swore I’d be there. When I return, I’d like you to go with me to talk to Sheriff Midland. He tells me they’re close to nailing the leaders behind the drug ring. Likely Ortega and the others extorting payments from you are in on it. You could help put them away.” He saw Roberto’s hesitation. “They can keep you and your family out of it. They just need information. Reliable information.”

“We can try.” Roberto rubbed the fingers of his hand against the back of his wrist, a gesture that told Kaz he was nervous. “Please tell your sister we send our best wishes. I’ll watch over the farm while you’re gone.”

“It’ll be in good hands.”

As Kaz drove back to his farm, he thought over what he’d asked Roberto to do. It hadn’t surprised him that Roberto was nervous; informing on a drug ring was a risky business. But it stung that Roberto hadn’t told him about the extortion. Surely he’d known Kaz would help. And maybe that was the problem. Paying Ortega for his so-called protection was likely less terrifying than the violence he threatened. But Ortega couldn’t know that the scheme he was running was exactly the sort of dishonorable activity that the samurai system had been founded to root out and destroy. Kaz made a silent vow to stop Ortega and his gang. Living in fear was a prison no family should suffer.

Chapter Fifteen

Kaz had never seen his sister so nervous. Nariko toyed with the silk cord dangling beside her painting.

“Thank you for coming, Kazi. I know with everyone away and your spring training about to start, fitting this in wasn’t easy.”

“I’d never just fit you in, Nari.”

She grinned. “Maybe it was my twentieth email reminding you that did the trick?” But her grin faded, and she fingered the cord again. “I’m not sure the LA scene is ready for samurai paintings.”

“The
LA Times
wouldn’t have run an article on you if that were true. Maybe you got a different edition of the
Times
than I did. Mine said: ‘Her work is an exploration of the duality of metal and the fleetingness of light,’ and I quote directly.”

Nari blushed and lowered her eyes. “We’ll see.”

The first guests filtered in and headed for the gallery owner, a tanned, thin woman in a silver sheath.

“Show time, sis.”

Kaz glanced back to the door.

“Will I meet Sabrina tonight?” Nari asked as she followed the path of his gaze.

“Why would you ask that?”

“Maybe because you’re staring at the door with the same hopefulness I heard in your voice the couple of times you mentioned her to me. Maybe because I’ve never seen or heard that expression from you before. Maybe because we’re in LA, and I saw in one of the tabloids that she was here getting ready to start shooting
Exigent Two
or whatever they’re calling it. Or maybe it’s because I dearly hope to meet the woman who has rattled my unflappable brother so I can seek some pointers.”

Kaz turned from the door and simply stared at Nariko. He didn’t know whether to be frightened or awed by her insights.

He’d mentioned the show to Sabrina when she’d asked about the art at the farmhouse. Each piece she’d specifically mentioned had been created by Nari. Because of her questions, many of which he couldn’t answer, he’d guessed she’d enjoy the gallery showing.

“Maybe she’ll come.” He shifted his feet. “But I don’t know. The last time I saw her, we… It didn’t end well. But I did call her.” More than that, he’d asked Alex to do what he could to make sure she’d come.

“I need to give
you
some pointers,” Nari said with a smile that said she wasn’t going to let the subject drop. He shouldn’t have told her what little he had about his time with Sabrina.

“And you get points if she comes, Kazi—major points. It’d be a coup to have Sabrina Tavonesi at my opening. You
do
know she’s about the hottest thing in Hollywood right now?”

Nari crossed her arms, holding a powerful stance, a stance honed from years of training with his grandfather, with his father, with him and their brother. She was samurai, and she wasn’t about to be brushed off. Only the approach of a group of well-wishing gallery patrons saved him from being grilled.

He slipped away and started a tour of the gallery, stopping to examine the largest of Nari’s paintings. Only his sister could’ve coaxed life out of steel to create a painting that seemed to breathe off the wall.

“I imagine you’re just the guy to tell me what I’m seeing.”

Matt Darrington’s voice surprised Kaz. What the Giants’ star shortstop was doing in LA a week before spring training baffled him.

“And me too,” a lovely woman said as she looped her arm through Matt’s. “Although even without words, I can feel the power of your sister’s work. Sabrina was right.”

“May I introduce my wife, Alana Tavonesi,” Matt said. Kaz shook his head and looked from Matt to his wife. “As in Sabrina and Alex Tavonesi,” Matt said with a smile.

“We’re cousins,” Alana said as Kaz shook her hand. “One big crazy family of cousins.” She turned to Nari’s painting. “Your sister’s work puts a whole new spin on art—metal and paint in one medium. See how the light spills from one color to the next in that subtle ripple effect? It’s stunning.”

The flash of cameras outside the gallery door told Kaz that someone noteworthy had arrived. When his heart sped up, he forced it to slow. Perhaps it wasn’t her. Perhaps it was some art-loving celebrity who liked to make a splash at galleries.

His heart both settled and raced when Sabrina stepped through the door.

Kaz wasn’t pleased to see Derrick Ainsley enter with her. Two of the gallery staff blocked the fawning photographers when they tried to enter behind them.

“Good thing it’s the B-team paparazzi, or they’d need bigger guys than the two staffers guarding the door,” Alana said.

Sabrina saw him talking with her cousin and Matt and aimed straight for them.

“I hope your sister won’t mind that I extended your invitation to my gang,” Sabrina said.

Just seeing Sabrina’s face sent spikes of conflicting emotions rushing through Kaz. The bluish-purple circles under her eyes blasted a message: she hadn’t been sleeping any better than he had.

“I’m sure she’ll be delighted,” he said, wishing he could come up with something more eloquent. Sometimes words fled, leaving him with only images, especially where Sabrina was concerned.

He could’ve done without Derrick. The terse greetings from Alana and Matt told him that Derrick wasn’t a favorite of the extended family either.

“I was just pointing out the rippling, almost breath-driven effect that Nariko has accomplished with this painting,” Alana said, breaking the tension. “It’s as though clouds are rising from the metal to float across the wall.”

“It’s called
hamon
,” Kaz said. Just saying the word took him back to the long nights he’d spent at the side of the katana swordsmith. “It’s a traditional process of hardening steel. The same technique is used to form Bizen samurai swords.”

“Peach farmer, ballplayer and now metallurgy expert. You astonish me,” Derrick said as he slid his arm around Sabrina’s waist.

Kaz kept his eyes on the painting and bit back the urge to skewer Derrick.

“You might remember that Kaz knows something about swords,” Sabrina said. She pulled away from Derrick and turned to Kaz. “I’ve discovered that he also knows how to wield them.”

“Showing off for the ladies again, dear brother?” Nari said as she approached and extended her hand to Sabrina. “I’m Nariko.”

“Sabrina Tavonesi,” Sabrina said.

It charmed Kaz that though it was obvious to him that Nari knew who she was, that fact didn’t register with Sabrina.

“And this is my cousin Alana, her husband, Matt, and my friend Derrick. I hope you don’t mind that I brought them along.”

Nari shook her head and smiled. If most of his family had a hundred smiles, Nari had twice that many, and Kaz had learned to read most of them. The one now on her face told him she was scheming—matchmaking was written all over her.

“Alana is an accomplished painter,” Sabrina said with a nod to her cousin.

Kaz appreciated the effort she was making to develop the conversation. Nari might be a schemer, but she was also quite shy.

“Your painting is like an ever-changing horizon,” Alana said, moving closer to inspect Nari’s work.

Nari blushed at the compliment.

“How do you get the fine gradations of color?” Sabrina asked.

“I layer dye, pigments and lacquer, sometimes resins. It all depends on the final properties of the metal.” Nari was beaming now. She knew how to talk about her art. “The colors play with the reflection of the light.”

“Speaking of light reflection, how do you like your new bungalow, Sabrina?” Alana asked.

“Sea. Miles and miles of sea every morning from the deck. I don’t even care that the place is a bit ramshackle.” She smiled at her cousin and then looked at Kaz’s sister. “I hope you’ll visit, Nariko. The front room has perfect light for painting.”

She didn’t extend an invitation to him. He shouldn’t have expected her to. He shouldn’t be wanting her to. Oh, but he did.

The gallery owner motioned to Nari from across the room.

“Would you excuse me?” she said, bowing as she left them.

“I’m going for a drink,” Derrick said as he headed to the back of the gallery, where waiters were pouring champagne.

Matt and Alana had moved down to another painting, with Alana gesturing and talking in animated tones. Matt appeared mesmerized, but not by the painting. From the look on his face, he had eyes only for Alana.

Kaz studied Sabrina. If he was going to speak his mind, now would likely be his only chance.

Sabrina scanned the room. The luminous art and chattering crowd was a stark contrast to her mood. Derrick had shown up at the bungalow for a tour of her new home less than an hour after Alana and Matt had arrived. He’d inserted himself into her family group, and she hadn’t had the strength to resist him. And seeing Kaz had stirred her up more than she’d anticipated. When she’d accepted the invitation, she told herself it was just to support a fellow artist’s debut and she swore she wouldn’t get wrapped up in any more fantasies about Kaz. So much for her good intentions.

“I’m glad you came,” Kaz said in a low tone, as if the walls might take issue with his words.

“Wouldn’t miss such an occasion,” she said, feigning a light tone. “You must be proud of your sister.” She felt Kaz’s eyes on her. And wished she didn’t know him well enough to know that she might fool family but she wasn’t fooling him.

“I am, but I think you know that’s not why I invited you here.”

She nodded. It was useless to pretend.

“Let’s talk over there,” he said. She followed him to a dimly lit section of the gallery.

“I have no right to ask you this,” he said, “but as you were leaving the farm, you made a comment about the script, about the character you play.”

Okay, that wasn’t the conversation opener she’d anticipated. “For just one night, I’d like to forget about the film project,” she said. But she couldn’t forget. Yet maybe she could avoid obsessing over it.

Kaz shifted his weight and clasped his hands behind his back. In that moment, in the dim light and dressed in somber colors, he reminded her of the monks she’d seen in the temples in Japan. But those men hadn’t been as tall as Kaz, not within a foot of his height. And Kaz was no monk. His kisses and his body had told her that.