“I looked everywhere, but it seems Xander has disappeared. We will have to follow through with our plan without him and Damien.”
“I thought that’s what we were doing anyway,” Annabelle said, lifting the piece of jewellery and admiring her work. “My, this is beautiful. I can hardly wait to have the real thing in my hands again.”
“We were going to. But then we made a deal with them. Only now, I cannot find him anywhere, so I’m not sure which plan we should follow. I forgot how frustrating it is to work with men.”
Annabelle snorted. “That is the truth. Now come, try this on. Tell me what you think.”
Juliet couldn’t help but agree, knowing how hard Annabelle had worked on the necklace, and she crossed over to the mirror as Annabelle stood behind her and slid it around her neck. As she considered that they had done a decent job in covering her bruise, Juliet placed her fingers on the necklace’s center stone, which, if she didn’t know better that it was paste, she would have sworn was a diamond.
“You have outdone yourself,” she praised her friend, who beamed knowingly.
“Thank you,” Annabelle said. “As have you. You have brought us this far, and now we have one more night before we can take our grand prize and be away from here, never looking back. How does that sound?”
If Annabelle had asked her such a thing two weeks ago, she would have said it sounded perfect. But that was before. Before Xander had returned to her life and had changed everything — most importantly, her expectations on how she wanted the rest of her life to look.
“It sounds wonderful,” she said with a forced smile for Annabelle, understanding how much it would mean to hear her say it. They had started this together and would finish it together — with or without Xander and Damien. As much as it hurt to think so. “What is the plan, then? I shall have to wear the real necklace to dinner if this dealer is going to be there, as chances are he will immediately know the difference.”
“And then after dinner, you will have to make an excuse at some point, when we will switch it out.”
“As long as the dealer doesn’t take it with him,” Juliet said grimly.
“Then I suppose we’ll have to run,” Annabelle said, as composed as ever. “I’ll have everything ready.”
“And then we must disappear,” Juliet said with a nod and a heavy heart. Disappear, never to see Xander again. “Very well.”
Annabelle eyed her knowingly. “Best you try to find that thief of yours and talk to him first, or you’ll spend the rest of your days mooning after his memory.”
“I do not moon,” Juliet said indignantly.
Annabelle snorted. “I saw you moon for months on end. See what he wants for the future, Juliet. You’ll be happier for it if you do.”
“Very well,” she said. “But first, I have to find him.”
* * *
Juliet had accepted the true necklace from Annabelle after its delivery from the valet, and she couldn’t stop herself from continuing to glide her fingers along the jewels. She might have sold everything she had ever stolen, but she couldn’t help her love for such beautiful pieces. It was foolish, she knew, and quite vain, especially for a woman who had grown up with practically nothing, but she couldn’t help her admiration for them.
But she had much more important things to worry about.
Tonight, the necklace was like a coat of armor slung around her shoulders, as her hand glided along the banister while she descended the staircase. As usual, no one was there to meet her, one of the other footmen, a man she hardly recognized, pointing her toward the drawing room, where apparently the baron and his guest awaited. She heard murmurs beyond the door as she neared, and she took a breath, steeling herself before pushing open the door.
Then freezing in shock.
Juliet was not one to often lose herself in the moment, but she could hardly believe who she saw standing in front of her.
“There she is,” the baron muttered in a tone that told Juliet he was not pleased with her tardiness, even though she could only be a couple of minutes later than expected. He walked to the door, his ill health still evident in the pallor of his skin and the unsteadiness of his gait, before he roughly took her arm and practically pulled her inside the room. “You’re lucky that looks good on you,” he muttered as Juliet winced at the surprisingly strong grasp he kept on her arm. “Our guest has been waiting.”
The man was standing at the sideboard now, his back turned to them as he poured himself another drink. Juliet could feel her feet practically grounding into the plush Aubusson rug beneath her as they drew closer, as though her body was telling her to run and avoid this meeting.
But it wasn’t to be.
The man turned around, his eyes catching her, assessing her, their darkening into a cool glint the only sign that he recognized her or had any surprise at finding her here.
“Well, well,” he said, smiling just wide enough to show his teeth, although somehow the expression was much more menacing than it was welcoming. “Who do we have here?”
“This is Juliet,” the baron said, his words, however, making it obvious that it didn’t much matter who she was. “As you can see, she is wearing the priceless diamond necklace I was telling you about.”
“Yes, I recall,” he said. “How… fitting. I’m sure she quite enjoys wearing such invaluable beauty.”
He smirked, the words obviously for Juliet, and she recalled the last conversation she had had with this man.
Arie Hondros. Xander’s brother. The man who had made it clear that she was nothing but a burden on their family, and that Xander’s life would be much better without her in it.
“I am most grateful,” she said, holding her head high, refusing to allow him to rattle her. She was most curious about what he was doing here, and whether Xander knew of his presence. Had this been part of their plan all along? And if so, why wouldn’t Xander have shared that with her?
With Arie’s eyes on her, the door opened once more, this time admitting Mr. Shiplack. Wonderful. Dinner with the three men she hated most in the world, with Xander nowhere in sight. Had he left? Or had the baron ordered him gone? Juliet felt she was going to go mad with the uncertainty around her. If only she knew what was happening, then she would be able to handle this evening with much more alacrity.
“Shiplack!” Lord Wilington greeted his old friend, whose eyes went to just above Juliet’s bosom and although she shivered, she was well aware that as interested as Shiplack might be in her, he was far more interested in the jewels. “I’m glad to see you are well, my friend.”
“Have you injured your nose recently?” Arie asked, never a man to miss anything, although one would have to be without sight to miss the purple swelling in the middle of Shiplack’s face. “I’ve seen a nose like that before, and it looks like one that has recently been broken.”
Shiplack cleared his throat as he straightened, accepting his glass of brandy. “I’m fine. Nothing to speak of.”
Juliet couldn’t help the small curl of a smile that hit her lips, a smile that Arie obviously didn’t miss as he studied her assessingly.
“Shiplack here knows a good deal about jewels himself,” the baron said. “It is how the two of us met — our affinity for beautiful things.”
He laughed at his joke before continuing. “I am sorry to hear that Mrs. Shiplack had to take her leave.”
“Yes, she was feeling rather ill and longed for the comforts of home,” Shiplack said with a shrug. “Perhaps we were near to overstaying our welcome, anyway.”
“Never!” Lord Wilington said, already having finished a few glasses of whisky and obviously feeling the effects. “Now, please allow me to introduce Mr. Sotherby. He purchases nearly priceless pieces of jewellery and finds buyers for them.”
“I see,” Shiplack said somewhat suspiciously. “And have you anyone interested in Lord Wilington’s collection?”
“I was most intrigued when I heard that some pieces might be for sale,” A
rie said, not answering Shiplack’s question. “I had to come see them for myself. I am told they are not to be missed.”
While Juliet was all too aware of what colored the undertones of this conversation, she was also slightly irked that not one of them seemed to consider that she was anything more than a model for the necklace they were so intrigued with. How compelled would they be when it was finally purchased by the new owner, who just might discover it was made of paste?
“Will you be purchasing them shortly, to take back to London?” Shiplack asked, obviously trying to mask his interest in the answer.
“No,” Arie said smoothly, although Juliet could tell from his expression that he had also noticed Shiplack’s apparent interest, beyond what a friend or even colleague of the baron might wonder about. “I shall meet Lord Wilington in London when he returns.”
“If you really like the model so much,” the baron said, following and misunderstanding Arie’s gaze, “you’re welcome to keep her if that sweetens the deal.”
Juliet’s face filled with the heat of her ire, and she wished that, at some point, she would have the opportunity to tell the baron just exactly what she thought of him and the way he treated her. She had to remind herself that she was more than making up for it by stealing his jewels.
“That’s all right,” Arie said, taking a sip of his brandy before staring at her over the top of it. “She’s not my type.”
And just at that moment, Xander walked in.
Chapter 16
Xander had not been particularly enjoying playing the part of the footman, catering to the every desire of a man who had no care for the people who worked for him.
But never more so than in this moment did he wish he could shed the livery and walk across the room to join in the conversation.
The look on Juliet’s face made it quite clear that she was not enjoying whatever banter the men around her exchanged, and he had a feeling that Arie was not making it any easier for her.
It was not that Arie didn’t like Juliet. As far as Xander was aware, he liked Juliet as much as he liked anyone who wasn’t part of his family. What he had never liked was how, as he put it, she had distracted Xander, taken his focus away.
Now when Arie looked across the room at where Xander had taken up his place near the door, his gaze told Xander that he had quickly ascertained just what had been “taking him so long,” as he had put it when they had met outside of the gamekeeper’s cottage.
He knew Arie was going to have plenty to say the next time they spoke alone — most likely regarding just why he and Damien hadn’t mentioned Juliet’s presence — but at the moment all Xander cared about was extricating Juliet from this dinner as soon as he could.
She was a woman who could navigate most situations with ease, who wasn’t necessarily duplicitous, but capable, adaptable.
Tonight, however, she seemed lost at sea, and he wanted nothing more than to walk over and steer her through.
But even he didn’t have a map for this. Not when Arie was involved — the seas became far too volatile. What concerned Xander the most was that, instead of considering Arie as her one potential ally, she was looking at him as though he was her worst enemy. But why?
“I see our footmen have finally decided to join us,” the baron said with exasperation. “Shall we go in to dinner? When we are finished then Juliet will leave us and the real negotiations shall begin.”
He spoke as though Juliet was a burden, a bother, and yet when Arie held out his elbow to escort her in to dinner, the look she gave him was so venomous, one would have thought he had been the one to make such a statement. Before Xander could give it any further consideration, however, they were walking past him, and he caught Juliet’s glance for only a moment, although he could tell it was filled with question.
Questions that he had no answers for.
Damien glanced at him sympathetically out of the corner of his eye, but there was nothing Damien could do to help.
There was nothing anyone could do. For Xander could foresee no way out of this with everyone getting what they wanted. No way at all.
* * *
Arie stopped Juliet for a moment before they left the drawing room, passing his glass over to Xander, who eyed them both with an unease that Juliet felt right down to the pit of her stomach.
“I hope you have both enjoyed playing house here together,” Arie murmured, “because it is going to have some dire consequences.”
With his threat, he pulled Juliet away, although he kept them back several paces behind the baron.
“It is so interesting to find you here, Juliet.”
“I was about to say the same regarding you,” she said breezily, not wanting him to become aware of just how much she wanted to be away from him. “I was here long before you — or your brothers.”
Arie turned toward her, his dark eyes flashing.
“I told you years ago to stay away from Xander. Imagine my surprise to find you here with him again.”
“As it happens, my involvement here had nothing to do with Xander or Damien. We were equally surprised to find one another here at Lochrich.”
“But since they arrived, let me guess, you’ve been using Xander to further your own plans?”
Juliet scowled. “It is nothing like that. We each had our own plans and decided to work together.”
“Oh, is that what he told you?” Arie asked, lifting a brow, apparently no longer caring that the baron and Shiplack had continued into the dining room without them. “I spoke with Xander this afternoon and he made no mention of sharing any of the treasures with you or anyone else. He assured me that all was well and that we would have them within a day.”
“How interesting,” Juliet murmured, considering the number of jewels she and Annabelle had already carefully and safely stowed away. Xander knew of what they had done, although he didn’t know their whereabouts.
“Listen, Juliet,” Arie said, his face softening and Juliet knew that he was about to change tactics. “It doesn’t have to be like this. You shouldn’t be living this life. When you and Xander left one another last time, it was for the best. We all knew that. Don’t slip back into the past. You should go on, continue to live your life without this trouble, and be happy.”
She turned to him now, the last pieces of control beginning to ebb away.
“First of all, we did not leave each other, as you well know. He left me, and I am beginning to think that you might have had something to do with that. Secondly, you have no say in what I do with my life. Not then, not now, not ever. And finally, if this life is so troublesome, then why were your own sisters a part of it for so many years? Or were they too valuable for you to give up?”
As his jaw clenched, she knew she had struck a blow, but she followed his gaze toward the door leading to the dining room, catching Shiplack looking inquiringly out at the pair of them.
“We’ll speak of this later,” he said, his teeth gritted.
Juliet rubbed her forehead as she turned around, looking for Xander, but he was nowhere to be found. What was he doing and were they going to get out of this mess together — or separately?
* * *
Xander and Damien were currently filling trays with courses to serve the four people in the dining room — two people Xander cared for and two he hated in nearly equal measure.
“Arie did not seem particularly pleased,” Damien noted as though it was just a passing thought, causing Xander to shoot him an annoyed glance.
“That would be putting it mildly.”
“I never did understand why he didn’t support you and Juliet,” Damien said with a shrug. “If there was ever a woman who fit with our family, it would be she.”
“I know,” Xander said quietly, looking around to make sure that none of the other servants were listening in. “I think that was part of the problem. He thought she caused me to lack focus, and he was always worried that she was just using me, that in the end she would only look out for what
was best for herself.”
Damien paused before looking at Xander out of the corner of his eye. “Do you think there is any truth to that?”
Xander sighed. “I’m not sure what to believe. I’d like to say no, but at the same time, we found her hiding away half the jewellery with no apparent intention to tell us of it.”
“Trust is easily broken yet difficult to both build and repair,” Damien mused, causing Xander to grin despite all of the turmoil winding around his mind.
“I didn’t realize you were such a philosopher.”
Damien chuckled as he shrugged one shoulder. “I have my moments. But it’s the truth. It probably didn’t help that you disappeared all afternoon.”
“What was I supposed to do?” Xander asked as he hefted the tray. “It’s not as though I could tell Arie that I had to go talk to Juliet.”
“You could have mentioned her.”
“Likely should have,” he agreed.
After Arie had surprised them near the cottage, they had retreated farther into the trees surrounding the grounds to discuss all that had occurred. Arie had not been pleased at the time it was taking them to complete their mission, and told them he had decided that he had no choice but to come see what was taking so long.
“The jewels are hidden away through a secret passageway that is only accessible through Wilington’s bedroom, where he has been convalescing, and even then through a set of locks that are nearly impossible to pick,” Xander had tried to explain, but Arie wasn’t hearing it — he said that Xander could pick any lock he put his mind to.
“These are different, and you never did send me the tools I requested,” Xander had protested, but Arie told him that he couldn’t always rely on him for help, and that they needed to work faster.
“I can keep the baron occupied,” Arie had said. “Tomorrow I will ask him to take me on a tour of the land. In the meantime, the two of you must get into that room, get the jewellery, and then we will be gone.”
A Jewel for the Taking: Thieves of Desire Book 2 Page 12
