Rake Most Likely to Seduce

by Bronwyn Scott

  Staying also increased the chances the count would find her. He could not be far behind, she felt it in her bones with frightening assurance. The consequences would not be pleasant, they might even be deadly—in fact, they most likely would be. She was under no illusion what her resistance to his marriage proposal had done to her cause. Time was running out for the count.

  The situation between them had become a zero-sum game. The hidden location of the diamonds had protected her this long. The count couldn’t harm her without losing his access point to the diamonds, but once they were in her possession and he found her, there would be nothing stopping him.

  If she could just get the jewellery, she could go. Leaving was the best way to protect herself and protect Nolan. If the count found her, it would be because he’d found Nolan, too. Staying any longer put Nolan in danger, and that was unfair. He was a bystander in this drama, sucked in as the result of a ‘lucky’ hand of cards.

  The jeweller returned at last from the back room with a triumphant smile, and Gianna breathed a sigh of relief. ‘I have the box here. It was hiding. I apologise for the delay. It’s been in storage for a very long time. Shall we take a look, signorina?’ He blew a layer of dust off the brown-velvet lid of the long slim box. ‘So much dust, I’ll be just a moment, let me get a rag.’

  ‘No, that will not be necessary,’ Gianna said quickly. She had no more time to spare. Some sixth sense had her neck prickling. She needed to get back to the sanctuary of the hotel. It had been beyond dangerous to come out into the city alone.

  He looked at her queerly and lifted the lid. ‘We’ll just take a look inside and make sure this is what should be in there before you sign the receipt.’

  Gianna smiled at the jeweller to hide her impatience. He was simply doing his job, but even this little courtesy to vouch for the contents was too much. What if he was stalling on purpose? What if he’d sent a messenger to the count? But that was foolishness. The count didn’t even know the jewels were here or he would have been here long ago and she would have been dead, the count no longer having need of her knowledge.

  The jeweller lifted the lid and pulled back the pink wool protecting the gems. Finally a piece of luck! The stones were all there. The necklace was intact. Tears stung at her eyes as Gianna reached out a hand to search beneath the padding for the provenance, a square thick card. It was there. She didn’t need to read it. She knew it by rote, had been required, in fact, to memorise it.

  For a day just like today. In spite of her fear, her heart sang.

  The Marchetti Diamonds: a necklace of eight perfect cushion-cut diamonds, originally from the mines of Kashmir, brought to the Venetian republic in the seventeenth century.

  A gift to her mother from her besotted merchant lover in the days before her mother’s mad bid to be ‘respectable’ and her daughter came of age.

  ‘Yes, this is all correct. Everything is here. Where can I sign?’ Gianna took possession of the box. She slid it into the folds of her cloak as the jeweller’s eyes moved to a point over her shoulder. The bell above the door jingled and she tensed. She’d been so close to leaving.

  ‘Buongiorno, signor, please look around the shop. I will be with you in just a moment.’ The jeweller was all obsequious courtesy.

  ‘No need, I’ve already found what I’m looking for,’ the voice behind her drawled, arrogant and confident. ‘Gianna, you’ve been very reckless.’ Nolan. She swallowed, relief making her knees weak. She’d heard the anger beneath his words, but she didn’t care. If anyone was going to find her, Nolan was a far better choice. She felt him come up behind her, his presence reassuring even in his displeasure. ‘If you’re done here, I’ve come to walk you home. I trust you got what you came for?’ He gave her a thin smile.

  He waited until her business was concluded and they were outside to scold, his grip firm on her arm. ‘What in blazes did you think you were doing, traipsing around the city alone? The count could have had you at any point.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘Unless any danger he poses is merely a figment of your imagination?’

  Gianna tugged her arm free. Calling her a liar about the count was beyond the pale. ‘He is dangerous. You have no idea. That’s why I had to come today.’ She hissed, ‘If I wait any longer, it will be too late.’

  Nolan took her arm again, this time to manoeuvre her through the crowd on the bridge, and she let him. She felt safer in the crowd, knowing he was close. ‘Too late for what?’

  She spied a place on the other side of the bridge where they might stand in some privacy. When they reached it, she faced him, her answer ready. ‘Too late to leave, Nolan.’ Too late to live, too late to save Giovanni, too late for everything. ‘I am trying to hold up my end of the bargain, here. I promised to leave once you helped me retrieve the jewel case. You’ve done that and more. Let me do my part.’

  * * *

  He should take the deal. The gambler in Nolan knew this was a good offer. Little Miss Trouble was actually leaving and that meant he was free to pursue his project, free to continue with his Grand Tour. But looking at Gianna’s earnest face, her eyes begging him to agree with her, he simply couldn’t. She wanted this too badly. That alerted him, awoke his moral conscience. Up to this point, she’d been so intent on pulling him in to get what she wanted, now she was intent on pushing him away. One reason suggested itself for such an about-turn, but he wanted to hear her say it, admit to it.

  He gave her a cynical smile. ‘Do you think it’s that easy, Gianna? You’ve got what you wanted from me and now you can just cast me off?’

  ‘No!’ Her green eyes flashed in indignation. In that single word, he had the truth he wanted.

  ‘No, it’s not. I agree. You’re in danger and you’re trying to protect me by simply disappearing. If you really want to protect me, tell me what’s going on. Let me help you.’ He ushered her back into the flow of the crowd. ‘We have to keep moving. If anyone is looking for us, we’ll be harder to spot.’

  ‘If anyone is looking for me,’ she corrected.

  ‘Us.’ Nolan let his hand rest possessively at her back. ‘Don’t think I can escape involvement at this late date. You have implicated me by association.’ He’d guilt her into talking if he had to.

  Nolan led her into a quieter side street of San Polo, the water of the canal lapping sluggishly against the brick banks. There was a church up ahead he knew from his many walks through the city. This was one of his favourite neighbourhoods with its fish markets and smells, but today he was only concerned about sanctuary for her. He’d been worried sick for her as he’d made his way to the jeweller’s, his mind reeling with all types of gruesome scenarios in which he arrived too late to divert disaster. But there’d been no disaster, not yet. There’d just been her standing in the shop, admiring a box of jewels as if she had all the time in the world.

  The church was empty and would be until vespers. They stopped in front of a series of paintings—Tintoretto’s, Nolan thought vaguely. ‘You were going to leave without saying goodbye.’ It had occurred to him that while he was racing across the city to her aid, she had been thinking of leaving. It didn’t speak highly of her impression of what had passed between them last night or on other occasions.

  ‘I was going back to the hotel.’ She didn’t look at him, he noted. Her gaze never left the painting.

  ‘In the hopes I wouldn’t be there, perhaps?’ Nolan supplied. ‘Your dresses came. They look lovely.’ What would she say if he told her he was looking forward to seeing her in them?

  ‘You found the hidden compartment and read my mother’s notes.’ It was her turn to level an accusation.

  ‘I was worried. I couldn’t just sit there and wait for you to return. If you had waited, I would have come with you. How much trouble are you in, Gianna? You might as well tell me. I’ve already figured out the jewel case wasn’t the end of anything, but the beginning.�
� He’d also come to the conclusion that all this garnering of jewels and protecting of wealth wasn’t an end in itself either, but for something larger, for someone. ‘For all that you’ve told me, there is still quite a lot you’re hiding.’

  Then again, he’d made himself an easy mark. He’d demanded to know very little. He’d been content to see this scenario as nothing more than a young woman wrongfully oppressed by her guardian. But the longer he was with her, the more clear it became this situation ran far deeper than a man with a gambling debt who’d wagered his ward’s virginity to cover it. He couldn’t possibly leave her now. His conscience demanded it.

  Even if his conscience hadn’t, other parts of him would. In a short time, she’d become more than just someone in need of help, more than a potential affaire. He never wanted to feel again the way he felt when he’d entered the bedroom and known she was gone. Not only because she’d put herself in danger, but because he was not ready to be without her.

  Gianna took a seat on a nearby pew, hesitating for a moment, holding an internal debate with herself. Nolan waited, letting her decide. Eventually, she drew out the box hidden beneath her cloak. ‘This is what the count is really after.’ She lifted the lid, and Nolan let out a low whistle of appreciation.

  He’d seen diamonds before, he’d bought diamonds before, but nothing like this. Eight large princess-cut diamonds made up the centre while the rest of the necklace was strung with tiny, perfectly cut miniature versions. ‘Not quite a king’s ransom, but close,’ Nolan complimented. ‘These will ensure your security for life.’ Or not. They might also sign her death warrant. Had she thought of that? Now that he’d seen them, Nolan doubted the count would rest until he found her. Where would the freedom be in that; always looking over her shoulder, always on the move?

  Gianna replaced the lid. ‘My mother willed them to me. They are mine, but until I am twenty-two, the count is considered my guardian. All my mother left me is under his purview. He can’t stop me from redeeming these diamonds, but he can control what I do with them. I can’t sell them without his permission. He doesn’t even know where they were hidden, only that they’re mine.’

  ‘An insurance policy, then,’ Nolan said grimly. If the count decided to do away with Gianna, he would lose any link he had to the diamonds.

  ‘Yes,’ Gianna admitted matter-of-factly, her weary tone giving evidence that this was a chess game she’d played for years. His admiration for her rose. It was no wonder she did not trust easily.

  Gianna continued. ‘The count took her jewel case and hid it away after her death before I even thought to take it. He might have taken it before then, I don’t know. My mother was desperately ill, and I was too focused on other things in those days to pay attention to what the count did. We were stalemated. I could not run without the diamonds, and he could not do away with me and claim the prize for himself. I was his prisoner, but he was mine, too, in a way.’

  Gianna looked at her hands. ‘It didn’t mean I didn’t try to leave. Once he’d sent Giovanni away, I was more willing to take my chances without the diamonds than he was.’ Her voice trailed off, and Nolan waited. Silence was often a more powerful prompt than a question.

  ‘He caught me. A girl of seventeen can’t get very far on her own, especially when she lives on an island.’ She tried to slough it off with a laugh, but Nolan wasn’t fooled. There had been consequences. ‘I didn’t try again.’

  ‘That bad?’ Nolan asked quietly.

  Gianna shrugged. ‘It wasn’t so much what he did to me that mattered. It was what he did to Giovanni because of me.’ She looked at her hands. ‘I was naïve. Giovanni had already been sent away by then. I thought it was the worst the count could do, but I was wrong. The count locked me in my room without any clothes and a diet of bread and water for a week. But I still wouldn’t promise not to run again. I was too proud. It wasn’t until he sent word to where Giovanni was held that he should be punished, too, that I broke down.’ She gave a shrug. ‘As you can see, my life is something of a mess. You should walk away right now. The count is a monster and Romano Lippi encourages the worst in him.’

  ‘Lippi?’ Nolan hadn’t heard that name before.

  ‘The count’s paramour.’ Gianna cringed as she said it. ‘I know what you’re thinking, everything just gets weirder and me with it. You were right to want to set me aside that first night.’ He heard her voice catch. ‘Who would want me, Nolan? The daughter of a once-popular courtesan who married a corrupt count? That alone is an enormous mark against me. I tried so hard to stay apart from it, to not let my life become a pattern card of hers. The glamour and the drama suited her, but I didn’t want that for me. I just wanted normality and I ended so far from it.’

  Nolan closed his hand over hers, feeling her pain. It was eerily close to the pain he’d once grappled with. ‘We all want normality. We don’t all get it. You’re wrong about one thing, though. I want you. I am glad you didn’t go.’ How he wanted her! He wanted her safe, in his bed, in his arms, in his life.

  He had to tread carefully. Like last night, he suspected she would come, she would take that offering because she was alone, scared, desperate. He didn’t want her that way. He didn’t want to be a temporary escape from her fears. She would regret coming to him on those terms. She would see her choice as weakness. He could only have her when she was safe and able to make the decision on her own. So he would see to it that she was. He would see her safe. His mind started to plan. He would take her to En­g­land. He could protect her there...

  ‘We’ll go back to the hotel, pack our things and go,’ Nolan said out loud, unwilling to disclose the entirety of his thoughts for fear that Gianna would balk. She was not used to taking help. She’d have to be led along in small steps. In his mind, he kept a running checklist of things that needed doing. He’d have to tell Brennan, perhaps even encourage Brennan to come with them in case the count learned he had a travelling companion.

  ‘We can go to Siena. I have friends there.’ He thought of Archer’s villa in the countryside, of Archer’s uncle’s home in the city. There would be plenty of protection there, and Archer’s new wife, Elisabeta, would welcome Gianna openly, would understand even what Gianna had been through.

  ‘No.’ She gripped his arm with no small amount of alarm. ‘We can’t go south. We have to go to Padua.’

  ‘Padua? As in Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew?’ It took him a moment before he remembered. Giovanni. Of course she wouldn’t leave without him. The jewel case, the diamonds, they were not the most valuable things she needed to collect before she could flee the count entirely. ‘Is that where your brother is? Then by all means, we’ll go to Padua.’

  ‘Tonight? We’ll still leave tonight?’ Worry flickered in her eyes. ‘We have to get there ahead of the count. Giovanni will never see trouble coming.’ She bit her lip, and Nolan yearned to run his finger along her mouth and erase the worry marks left by her teeth, yearned to kiss away her fears.

  ‘How old is he?’ Was Giovanni a young child? He couldn’t be younger than seven or he’d be the count’s own son.

  ‘He’s seventeen.’ Gianna shook her head. ‘It’s not that he’s unaware. He knows very well the treachery of the count. It’s that he literally won’t see the count coming. Giovanni is blind.’

  Nolan blew out a breath. The surprises just kept coming. He was to elude the count while guiding Gianna, her blind brother and a fortune in diamonds across Europe. Gianna smiled. ‘What? What’s so funny?’

  She laughed, some of her anxiety leaving her for the moment. ‘You are. The look on your face. I finally surprised you. You’ve known so much, guessed so much about me that it’s eerie. But you didn’t bargain on this.’

  ‘As I tell my friends, I am a student of human nature. It does not make me psychic.’ Nolan grinned. The task might seem impossible, but he’d take it one obstacle at a time. For now, he s
hould celebrate the fact that she’d accepted his help. He knew what a big step that was for her. ‘Let’s get to the hotel and then let’s go to Padua.’

  Gianna put a hand on his arm. ‘You’re a good man to go get my brother. I won’t forget this.’ The brother was nothing. Padua was nothing. He’d go to hell and back for her, to see her safe and free. No one should be bound to another by the chains the count had imposed. Wasn’t this the very reason he had sent the money to his brother, bought the deed to the property? So that people like him, like his brother, like Gianna, children in untenable situations, had somewhere to go?

  He squeezed her hand. ‘I have a younger brother, too, remember. I know a little something about how important they are.’

  ‘Well, anyway, th—’

  Nolan pressed a finger to her lips. ‘Don’t thank me, it’s bad luck for us. You should know better by now.’

  ‘Then let me kiss you,’ Gianna whispered softly, stretching up to reach him, twining her hands about his neck. He let himself be drawn close.

  Brennan would have a fit over him leaving Venice with a questionable woman. To hell with what Brennan thought. Right now, Nolan didn’t care. He grinned. ‘Now that, I can allow.’

  Chapter Eighteen

  This was the kiss that changed everything. Gianna drew him to her, letting her mouth linger on his, savouring this moment suspended in time. For her, time would be divided into ‘life until this kiss’ and ‘life after this kiss’.

  Nolan hadn’t thrown her aside, hadn’t been disgusted with her life, with her. Instead, he’d offered his help. He’d offered his help before, but that had been with the express purpose of getting rid of her. The want made it different. It made her different. He’d offered to help in order to keep her with him. He didn’t want to let her go. This wasn’t about what he needed to do or what she needed to do, it wasn’t about dependence, about not having the choice to accept help. It was about choosing to accept the help offered. The knowledge of that thought made her heart beat faster.