“Fretting?” He made a face. “You make me sound like your grandmother.”

“I don’t know if I have a living grandmother. Maria made no effort to contact her parents after everything that happened to her. They wouldn’t have understood. She thought it would only hurt them.”

“It might be time to take another look,” he said gently. “I think they’d be proud of both of you.”

“That will be up to Maria.” She took his hand. “We’re proud of each other, and I’m proud of you. So that may be enough.” She leaned her head against his shoulder. “But a grandmother might be nice…” She chuckled. “If she didn’t fret.” Then she sat up straight. “But now if you’re through with that nonsense, you can fill me in on what’s going to happen tonight. I know you’ve had Rennell and Mallory both out here. I know there will be a poker game, but no real details.”

“It’s better that way, much more entertaining. Much more dazzle. We’ll just play everything by ear.”

She looked at him suspiciously. “But you won’t do that.”

“Maybe a few things. It’s more fun for me if I set a few traps along the way.” He tilted his head. “But what should you know? That this mountain is full of deceptions of one kind or the other. Both Volkov’s and Rennell’s. That beyond that ridge is a canyon where they’ve hidden the helicopter in which Anton brought his thugs from Russia. That Volkov had a considerable force here before he yanked them out to keep his word to me. He lied, of course. There are probably some of them out there in those rocks watching us now.”

“Comforting.”

“It doesn’t matter. Unless you want to do something with me that you don’t want them to see. In which case I’ll have to go up there in the rocks and forcibly remove them. It would be entirely worth it.”

She started to laugh. “Tanner.”

“No? Just a thought.” He was rubbing the back of her neck. “Relax. We have a little time before we have to go face the dragons. Close your eyes and think of Maria and fretting grandmothers and Tchaikovsky.”