Excerpt: The Oyster Cove Chalet

Two months later, he called Kristi out onto the deck and presented her with the head of the rebel leader set into an antique lacquered Japanese head box. To the surprise of everyone but Josh and his friend Phil, who had delivered the head, she took it and danced with it, the way Salomé was said to have danced with the head of John the Baptist. But she did not kiss it. Carrying it on its lacquered platter, she danced down the steps with it to the very edge of the water and tossed it in. Then she washed the platter in the brine and walked back up.

“I thought the crabs might enjoy the unusual meal,” she said.

Phil stared at her. “What a magnificent woman!” he whispered to Josh. A year later, he married her.