“All right.” She linked her fingers with his. “And I’ll tell you how, out of the goodness of her heart, Linda Glass is going to help us make contact with a lawyer. About a private adoption.”

“We do work well together.”

“Yes, we do, Donovan.” Pleased with herself, she strolled beside him. “We certainly do.”

*  *  *

From the presidential suite on the top floor of the Silver Palace, Gumm watched through the window. “A charming couple,” he commented to Linda.

“They’re certainly loopy for each other.” She sipped champagne as Sebastian and Mel walked off hand in hand. “The way she looks when she says his name almost makes me wonder if they’re really married.”

“I’ve had copies of the marriage certificate and other papers faxed in. It all seems in order.” He tapped his fingers to his lips. “If they were a plant, I can’t imagine they’d be so easily intimate.”

“Plant?” Linda gave him a worried look. “Come on, Jasper, why would you even consider it? There’s no way back to us.”

“The business with the Frosts concerns me.”

“Well, it’s too bad they lost the kid. But we got our fee, and we didn’t leave a trail.”

“We left Parkland. I haven’t been able to locate him.”

“So he dropped off the edge of the world.” Linda shrugged and moved over to press her body to Gumm’s. “You’ve got nothing to worry about there. You held his note, and it was legit.”

“He saw you.”

“He wasn’t seeing much of anything, as panicked as he was. Plus, it was dark, and I was wearing a scarf. Parkland doesn’t worry me.” She touched her lips to his. “We’ve got the touch, babe. Being in an organization like this, we’ve got so many covers and trapdoors, they’ll never come close to us. And the money …” She loosened his tie. “Just think how that money keeps pouring in.”

“You do like the money, don’t you?” He tugged down the zipper of her dress. “We’ve got that in common.”

“We’ve got lots in common. This could be a big one for us. We pass the Ryans along, there will be a nice fat commission in it. I guarantee they’ll pay the maximum for a kid. The woman’s desperate to be a mommy.”

“I’ll do a little more checking.” Still calculating, he sank with her onto the couch.

“No harm in that, but I’m telling you, Jasper, these two are primed. No way we can lose. No way.”

*  *  *

Mel and Sebastian became a convivial foursome with Gumm and Linda. They dined out, enjoyed the casino, lunched at the club and indulged in rousing doubles matches at tennis.

Ten days of the high life was making Mel edgy. Several times she ventured to ask Linda about the lawyer she had spoken of and was told, kindly, to be patient.