Juliet took a breath. She wasn’t built to trust — no one but herself. And even that sometimes was shaky.
“Very well,” she said slowly. “I will tell you where the rest of the jewels are hidden, and we will find them together before we prepare for tomorrow.”
* * *
So far, everything had gone to plan.
In fact, it had gone to plan so well that Xander was somewhat worried.
Juliet had agreed that they would go find the jewels this morning, upon which they would tuck them away in the hidden compartment of the carriage that Arie had arrived in.
And Wilington had agreed to tour Arie around the property later that afternoon.
Xander donned his cap before telling Damien where he was going, asking his brother to cover for him if he was required for any duty.
“Where shall I say you are?”
“Say I went to town to buy something.”
“It’s not your day off.”
“It doesn’t matter, Damien,” Xander said with some exasperation. “What are they going to do — get rid of me? I shall be leaving anyway.”
“Very well,” Damien said with a shrug before continuing on as Xander walked across the grounds, thankfully finding Juliet on the other side of the trees as they had planned. Annabelle accompanied her, and together the three of them trudged along until Juliet suddenly stopped.
“Here. We buried them here,” she said, crouching to take a closer look before moving the leaves. “We buried them here… where there is now a huge hole in the ground.”
She looked up at Annabelle and Xander, her eyes wild as she looked between them. “Where did they go?”
“The last I saw them, they were right here,” Annabelle said, biting her lip as she looked around, as though the jewels might come jumping out of one of the trees. “Could someone have found them?”
“How?” Juliet said, lifting her arms to the side. “No one else knew they were here. No one else knew we were hiding them. No one else would have any reason to believe that the proper jewels are not all sitting within the baron’s safe.” Her head slowly turned, until her eyes rested upon Xander. “Until I told you last night.”
“Yes, when we made a plan to come find them together,” Xander said, not pleased at the way Juliet’s eyes began to narrow as she looked at him. “You don’t really think that I would come here first and take them, then return with you — do you?”
Juliet stared at him a moment more, before lifting her hands. “I don’t know what to think. You didn’t tell anyone about them — did you?”
Xander shifted from one foot to the other. “I told Damien what we were doing.”
“You told Damien — who likely told Arie. The man who wants me long gone from here — and from you — and is determined to prevent me from having any piece of this?”
“I don’t know, Juliet, I really don’t, but I promise you that I didn’t think Damien would tell him. Perhaps he overheard us, I—” Xander tossed his hands up, holding out one toward her. “I have to trust Damien. I really don’t think he would have come here behind my back and—”
Juliet groaned aloud, her frustration evident.
“Why are you so obstinately loyal? Ask them, Xander. See what they have to say. I’m sure Arie has them hidden away somewhere. And I’m fairly certain — now more than ever — that he has no intentions of allowing me to have any of it.”
“But that’s the thing,” Xander said, turning to her, lifting her hands again, hoping she would understand. “It doesn’t matter. Because you will be with me, so what I have is yours.”
“And I will be reliant on you once again.”
“What do you mean?” Xander asked, his brows furrowing as Annabelle silently watched their exchange.
“I told you that we would work together, and I trusted you to see this through with me. But at the end of this, we are still splitting everything as discussed. I am not going to simply trust in your benevolence. Because at the end of the day, we know it is all tied to Arie’s, and he doesn’t have any for me.”
Xander’s chest tightened at her words. “I thought you trusted me.”
“I did. I do. But I don’t trust Arie. And you need to understand why I don’t. He told me himself that he thinks the two of us are better off alone. That I only keep you from your calling and that my life is better without you. But that is not true. Not at all. I need you to understand that.”
Xander nodded slowly, backing away as though he needed to put some distance between them. “I have to go talk to him before he leaves on his tour with Wilington. But please, Juliet, be ready to go — to come with me — to trust me? Please?”
“Decide what you want, Xander,” she said, her expression troubled, “and we will go from there.”
As arranged, they walked back separately so as not to arouse suspicion, but Xander could practically feel the tension radiating away from her back toward him, and he didn’t like it — not one bit. Something was wrong. He could feel it deep within. He only wished he knew whether it was Juliet, Arie, or the entire plan itself.
Chapter 19
“Juliet!”
Juliet looked up from where she was packing her dresses to see Annabelle at the door, motioning frantically for her to come out.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, immediately concerned, but Annabelle was already down the corridor and out of hearing, leaving Juliet no choice but to follow. Annabelle crouched down in front of one of the other bedroom doors, kneeling before it.
“What are you doing?” Juliet whispered as she crouched down next to her, but Annabelle kept a finger on her lips as she tilted her head toward the door. Juliet looked at her in concern, but she had always trusted Annabelle, and she wasn’t about to stop now.
“Where are they?”
Xander’s voice rang out from within, and she and Annabelle exchanged a glance. So this must be Arie’s room.
“They’re hidden,” Arie said, his voice as devoid of emotion as ever.
“I told Damien that Juliet and I would be digging them up. Never did I ask Damien — and most especially you — to do so.”
“Yes, but I told you that we wouldn’t be sharing anything with Juliet.”
“We’ve been over this, Arie,” Xander said, and Juliet could hear the exasperation in his voice. “I’m not leaving Juliet with nothing. Not again.”
There was a pause before Arie answered.
“Fine. Choose a bauble or two and let her keep them. As long as you’ll be leaving her, that’s all that matters. This time, though, make sure she actually gets your parting gift. Don’t trust her little friend.”
Annabelle gasped in annoyance at that, but Juliet’s heart was already speeding up at everything else Arie had to say. She waited for Xander to refute Arie, to tell him that, in fact, Juliet would be coming with them as they were beginning their life together — the life that should have started five years ago — but no objection was apparently forthcoming.
“Does she still think that you are going to be leaving together?” A third voice. Damien’s. A ball of panic began to form within Juliet’s stomach. Xander may lie to Arie in order for them to leave with the plan intact, but he would never lie to Damien — would he?
“She does,” Xander confirmed, and Annabelle placed a hand on Juliet’s bent knee. “I told her that she could ride in the carriage back to London. In the meantime, as long as she stays, she will not give us away.”
“Good,” Arie said. “You’ve done well, Xander, and I’m happy that you now understand I did what I had to do in the past. I know it isn’t easy, when you have feelings for another, but your family will always come first, and I’m glad you’ve finally come to understand that. Now. You best get yourself prepared, as I must get ready for this abysmal ride around Wilington’s grounds.”
Juliet and Annabelle exchanged a look of alarm before they began to scramble backwards, Juliet stumbling as she found she had placed too much weight on her right foot and now sh
e could barely feel it as she hurried after Annabelle. She cringed as the feeling began to rush back to her foot but pushed it aside as she continued before she fell into her room after Annabelle.
Her friend immediately turned around and placed her hands on Juliet’s shoulders.
“Juliet. I’m so sorry. I heard them talking and I thought it best to listen. I never knew that you would have to hear such things—”
Juliet closed her eyes and shook her head. “There is nothing for you to apologize for. Xander was the one who lied, who continued to go behind my back again.”
The melancholy began to drift away, to be replaced by a slow-burning rage deep within her. “Do you know, just last night he stood there in that garden gazebo and told me how much he cared for me, how we were going to begin a life together. I knew that he could be duplicitous, but I never knew he could outright lie so blatantly and be so uncaring that he could leave me like this again. What is wrong with the man? And more to that, what is wrong with me that I have allowed him to do this twice?”
“I know you care for him, Juliet, I do,” Annabelle said, her pity nearly breaking Juliet. “But he’s shown his true self far too many times now.”
She dropped her arms, her eyes narrowing as she stared at Juliet determinately.
“You are stronger than this, Juliet. We are done with this. What we are going to do now is make a life for ourselves. One which requires no men. One in which we will not be betrayed. Do you understand? We have to find those jewels. We have to leave this place. And we have to never think about Xander Murphy again.”
Even as Juliet’s heart began to break deep within her, she swallowed the tears and nodded, knowing that what Annabelle said was true.
“But we don’t have the necklace. And we have no way of getting it,” she said with exasperation, rubbing the back of her neck as she thought on it, before she looked toward Annabelle. “Who says that we can’t use them in turn?”
“What do you mean?”
“They said they were going to steal the jewels. They said they were going to offer us a ride back to London. Why don’t we take it? Then we can steal it all back and escape from them before we make it there.”
Annabelle’s lips began to curl into a smile. “I like it. It’s perfect.”
“Very good,” she said, her words belying the heartbreak within her. She had thought that she and Xander had everything resolved. Yes, there had been some hesitancy, some mistrust, but she had been sure that beneath it all, there was still a love strong enough to bind them together, no matter what came their way. But in the end, he had once again put his family first. She had nothing against them, and would never want to cause a rift between them — but she had hoped that Xander would have stood up to Arie, would have made him realize that their family now included her as well. How wrong she had been.
Juliet squared her shoulders. “Let’s prepare to leave. And then, we put our plan into action.”
* * *
Xander and Damien decided that they would first check on the gamekeeper’s cottage and see if Mrs. Shiplack was still within so that they would not be surprised when they attempted their own recovery of the jewels. Peeking through the windows, they saw she was nowhere to be found, but decided they were safest to enter the passageway through the study. They gathered their tools, hoping they wouldn’t see anyone on their way — guest or servant, for both would be well aware who they were and where they were supposed to be — and where they shouldn’t be.
Fortunately, no one noticed them, and Xander breathed a sigh of relief when he rounded the door of the passageway and the darkness encompassed them until Damien turned and the light from his lantern brightened the wall before them.
In silence they moved together through the corridor, before stopping in front of the one door that had thus far eluded them.
“Here we are,” Damien said. “Time for you to go to work.”
Xander nodded even though Damien couldn’t see him before kneeling before the door. He found his familiar tools by feel inside the bag, then easily turned the first lock before coming to the other two. He had studied these locks far too many times now, and had finally — he hoped — solved their puzzle. He placed one instrument within before closing his eyes and he turned the other part of the lock by feel, murmuring to it as he hoped that it would listen to him and turn on its own. He was beginning to swear in frustration when he heard the click, and he nearly cried out in exaltation and relief when the lock started to turn.
“Got it,” he exclaimed, causing Damien to slap him on the shoulder in congratulations, and then he asked Damien to shed his light on the final lock, the highest one.
He groaned aloud.
“Someone has been here,” he murmured, “and nearly destroyed the lock. There is no way I can pick this one. Not in the state that it’s currently in.”
Damien bent himself to look at it, his sigh a reflection of Xander’s own mood.
“So what now?”
“This is why I brought multiple tools,” he said grimly. “The others show no signs of us being here. This lock, however, will ensure that if anyone inspects this door, they will know that there was a thief.”
“Too late for that,” Damien said. “Do you think they’ve already been within?”
“No, they tried to force the first lock but couldn’t get through,” Xander said. “The only way would be from the other side.”
He picked up his chisel and hammer before looking up at Damien.
“If anyone is within the room, they will certainly know what we are doing.”
“Good thing everyone is out riding.”
“Good thing.”
He picked up the hammer, driving it down on the chisel again and again, until the lock finally began to come loose. He continued until finally it broke free entirely, falling to the floor below them with a loud bang. With every noise, Xander flinched, but there was nothing to be done.
He stood, exchanged a look of acceptance with Damien for whatever was to come, and then pushed open the door, ready for what awaited them within.
* * *
Juliet paced back and forth in the front parlor.
It had been far too long.
Far too long since she knew Xander and Damien had gone into the tunnel.
Far too long since Lord Wilington, Arie, and Shiplack had gone on their ride around the estate.
Far too long since she had been left with her packing and her worries.
She didn’t like not being in control, having to rely on someone else. Especially someone who was currently betraying her.
She also didn’t like this constant state of worry for someone who she loved — even if he obviously didn’t feel the same for her. She had no idea what she was supposed to do besides wait, but she didn’t like it. Not one bit.
Suddenly the parlor doors burst open, and Juliet whirled around, surprised to find the baron striding through, dressed in his travelling clothes.
“There you are. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
“I thought you were touring the estate?”
“Plans have changed. We are leaving.”
“Leaving?”
He stepped up toward her, finger raised in front of him and pointed at her chest.
“Does it matter? Prepare yourself to leave, woman.”
“For tomorrow?” she asked, using her façade of an unintelligent woman to feign ignorance.
“For tonight.”
“Tonight?” she echoed him, this time her surprise evident. “We couldn’t possibly. It will be dark. I can never get my things packed in time. I—”
“If I say we are leaving tonight, we are leaving tonight,” the baron practically snarled. “Tell your lady’s maid to prepare you. Now come with me. I need your help.”
She picked up one side of her skirts and began to follow him. What could he possibly need her help with? He had someone to help him with everything, and she could hardly—
When he began t
o climb the stairs toward his bedchamber, however, she was already shaking her head, even before he said anything. “I’m sorry, my lord, but I must see to something, I—”
“You have to come because I have a drawer of sorts that I cannot open alone,” he snapped, but his eyes glinting his frustration. “Now, come, before I have to do something to convince you otherwise.”
Juliet gripped the banister and reluctantly followed him up.
“Where are Mr. Shiplack and the jewellery appraiser?”
“That’s none of your concern.”
Juliet pursed her lips together. She was aware that most women were content with listening to what the men in their lives told them to do, but she was not one of those women.
It was one of the reasons she had always been so grateful for Xander, who never treated her in such a way, but instead had always been quite respectful.
To her face, at least.
The baron led her into his bedroom, and she looked around for the ever-present valet.
“Where is Grant?” she asked.
“He has other responsibilities,” he said. “Now, come into the closet and help me open this.”
Juliet’s heart began to quicken. The place he pointed to was the closet where Xander guessed he hid all of his jewels. Was she about to see all of them? Or had Xander and Damien already escaped with them all?
Lord Wilington pressed on a hook overhead. While he was holding it, he nodded to Juliet. “As I push this, pull the door open.”
“Where is the handle?”
“Beneath the shelf.”
She crouched below, finally finding what she was looking for and nodded. It was an intricate set-up, and she could see why Xander and Damien hadn’t been able to get in, besides the fact that it would always require two people to open.
“Pull, woman!”
That was one way to ask for help, Juliet thought grimly as she pulled with all of her might. She almost fell over backward when the shelf eventually flung out toward her, nearly pinning her against the wall on the other side.
A Jewel for the Taking: Thieves of Desire Book 2 Page 14
