Unflinching, she met his eyes. “If you can do it, so can I.”
Relief made him smile. “Then let’s go.”
Silent, she paced beside him to his Ferrari and opened the passenger door before he had the chance.
He glanced at her profile. Her perfect nose, long lashes, high cheekbones, lush lips, all the Smith sisters’ undeniable beauty etched in the stonelike clenching of her jaw. Her defiance brought a rush of concern.
Damn it, here I go again feeling like I need to protect her from her own stubbornness.
“Venus, we need to talk if we’re planning to work together.”
At last she turned toward him. “So talk.”
“I believe we can reach an equitable agreement about how to proceed with this problem if we can negotiate a compromise.”
“For heaven’s sake, Connor, stop talking like a lawyer.” She glared at him. “Just tell me what you have in mind.”
“We can’t rush into anything before we first start an investigation into the original robbery and other thefts at Clayworth’s that may implicate Tony. His father’s company had recently installed a new security system when the famous heist took place. Tony has updated and maintained it since he took over the business years ago.”
“I understand how that could look bad for him.” She stroked the pendant visible at her throat between the open buttons of her blouse. He forced his eyes back on the road.
“I bought this brooch in good faith. But is it really mine? Or does it belong to the insurance company, which must have paid Clayworth’s claim years ago?”
He glanced at her softer profile. “I should immediately notify Ed of the situation. He needs to contact the insurance company that the brooch they paid us for has been found. However, I’m willing to go gray instead of my usual black and white and hold off telling anyone for now.”
The fact that his feeble attempt to lighten the tension made her lips curl slightly in amusement gave him a kick of pleasure.
“Is there some statute of limitations or something on it?”
“Or something. That’s a negotiation Ed and I will get into later.” He was much more interested in his present negotiations with her. “Now we need to decide what our next step should be.”
“I’ll wear the brooch to the Service Club Gala on Friday night at the Four Seasons. If we don’t get a bite I’ll wear it again at the Dress for Success benefit at the Drake Hotel the following week. There’ll be lots of media there plus Rebecca’s doing a segment on the charity. I’ll make sure I mention I’m adding this to my personal collection I keep at home.”
“Hell no, Venus! I said we need to take it slow, not give every damn thief in the city carte blanche to break into your town house.”
“I have a state-of-the-art security system your uncle Tony installed. Stop worrying so much. I’ll be perfectly safe at home and at both parties.” She patted his arm and her smile dazzled him.
His pulse pounded. He tried not to think about the feel and taste of Venus in his arms. The way he’d reacted to her was like the feeling of lightning about to strike he’d once experienced with Drew while sailing. He’d felt the electricity along every inch of his skin and every instinct registered danger and the need to escape.
Now he didn’t want to escape. “One compromise. Don’t wear the brooch on Friday. Give us more time to set our plan into place. Hold off until the Dress for Success benefit. I’ll accompany you to be sure you’re safe.”
She hesitated, watching him. Finally she nodded. “Okay. Just to prove I’m reasonable, I’ll agree not to wear the brooch on Friday. But you don’t need to escort me to the Dress for Success benefit. I may have a date. If he’s in town, which he may or may not be.”
Jealousy wasn’t an emotion he often felt. It came hot and sharp and hard to control. He’d been stupid to think a kiss had changed the fact that she hated his guts. “Then I’ll attend alone to be there if you need me.”
“It will probably be all right if you want to go with me as part of our plan.” She twisted another curl of hair and flicked him a smile. “My date probably won’t make it. Meet me at the Drake in the Palm Court for cocktails at six-thirty on that Saturday. If anything changes I’ll let you know.” She stretched out her hand toward him. “I think it’s best if we keep this whole plan our little secret. Deal?”
He touched her cool fingers in a quick handshake. “Deal. But with conditions. Here’s my phone to get my number. From now on if anything suspicious occurs, or if anyone even looks questionable, you call me day or night.”
Before he could get her promise, and sooner than he liked, he pulled up in front of her town house on Schiller.
Needing one more answer, again he grabbed her fingers, tighter this time, keeping her from sliding out of the car.
She became still but her eyes blazed, watching him.
He didn’t flinch. “Venus, why are you so intent on helping to clear Tony?”
She stared at him so long the heat in his gut rose slowly to fill his chest. Still silent, she pulled out of his grasp and he let her go.
“I want to clear Tony because I feel partially responsible for all the pain he’s going through. And Bridget. My finding the mermaid brooch started this whole chain of events. I need to finish it by proving Tony innocent despite the evidence against him. Then even someone as pigheaded as you will have to admit it’s possible my father is innocent, too, despite the evidence. Then you’ll know I’m right. Once you let go of your preconceived notions, anything can happen.”
Confused by his desire to believe her and his iron-clad belief she was wrong about her father, Connor watched her walk away from him into her town house.
Venus glanced out her living-room window for the fourth time. What she’d never believed possible stared her in the face.
Connor Clayworth O’Flynn was standing guard outside her door.
Well, sitting in his car, being her knight in a shiny red Ferrari.
To her it had always seemed out of character for someone as controlled as Connor to drive such a sleek, fast car.
Remembering his kiss, the taste and feel of him, she understood how wrong she’d been. She rubbed the goose bumps on her arms.
His kiss had been so expert, so sensuous, his fingers combing through her hair to rest at her throat as if he wanted to feel the changing rhythm of her pulse.
What would happen if he ever let go of the tight leash he holds on his emotions?
Her imagination sent hot erotic images through her head of Connor letting go completely. Taking their kiss to the next level… then the next… then…
Stop it! This is crazy!
Trying to rid herself of Connor, she soothed herself with chocolate-covered orange peel. The endorphins will be good for me.
Munching on a second piece of chocolate, she wandered into her jewelry bower, hoping her passion for design would completely banish him from her head.
She stared at all her favorite jewelry pieces and felt no thrill, no desire to create.
I can’t concentrate.
She went back out, too restless to sit down. Sure Connor would have given up by now and left, she rushed to a window.
Oh, my God, he’s still here.
She peered out, watching him rest his head back on his seat.
Confusion and an odd tension drove her away from the window and to her bathroom. She ran a hot bath and threw in scented oils. Surely her ultimate panacea for stress would finally help her to fall asleep.
Sipping at an icy cold flute of champagne, she lazed in the hot bubble bath until her fingertips looked as puckered as prunes.
Limp as a noodle, her eyelids drooping with exhaustion, she wandered back into the living room to look out the window one last time.
He’s still here protecting me.
Her heart banged against her ribs and she felt so weak she dropped down on the padded window seat with the oddest warm feeling in her chest.
Should I go offer him coffee, tea, a d
rink, a bed?
The last idea reminded her again how her body had tingled and burned during his expert kiss.
No. Definitely not offering him a bed in the guest room.
She stared out the window until the sky seemed a little lighter toward Lake Michigan. A police car cruised slowly down the street and stopped at Connor’s car. She watched him and the policeman chat through their open windows.
She heard her morning paper hit the front door before she saw the delivery guy. As the city stirred to life, Connor pulled away in his Ferrari.
Falling back against the window, she closed her eyes, telling herself it must be fatigue and champagne making her forget why she disliked him, why she didn’t trust him.
Pulling herself together, she sat up. Every woman admitted it was possible to feel physical attraction to a gorgeous guy even if she thought him a jerk.
But what she’d never thought possible before this moment was that, jerk or not, she felt sad when Connor left.
Chapter 11
The next morning, groggy, admittedly not on his game, Connor sat at his office desk staring down at a pile of memos and appointments.
The first one of the day had been demanded by Diana.
Closing his eyes, he leaned back in his chair.
Hell, I feel like I’ve been on a week-long bender.
Sure, he’d been out all night carousing with his cousins more times than he cared to count, but those tense hours sitting in his Ferrari waiting to do battle with some thief if necessary had been a first.
Why in the hell did I do it?
Hearing his office door open, he blinked several times trying to wake himself up to confront Diana.
Carrying a steaming mug of coffee, his Aunt Bridget strolled in.
Surprised, he stood at his desk and took the cup from her outstretched hand. “How did you know I needed caffeine? To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure? I usually get you coffee.”
Her face inscrutable, Bridget marched to the disc player. “You’ll need a jolt of somethin’ stronger than caffeine when you see this.”
The security camera had caught Venus coming in the employee entrance.
The steely glint in her magnificent eyes and the determined set of her jaw made him smile.
Lady on a mission.
Desire shot through him, as it had last night.
Then he saw himself on tape, barring Venus’s furious attempts to leave.
Last night he’d felt the hot energy between them. Now, seeing their body language and the expressions on their faces brought an even more powerful confusion about her effect on him.
“Seen enough?” Bridget pushed stop and turned to look at him. “Don’t worry. I removed this before any of the security guards saw it. You know, you and Venus look like lovers havin’ a hot and heavy quarrel. Are you lovers?”
The question should have shocked him. It didn’t, because the thought had planted itself in his head from the moment they kissed. “You know Venus hates my guts.”
Bridget shrugged. “So? They say there’s a fine line between love and hate. Are you and Venus an item and you didn’t want the rest of us to know because of the problems between our families?”
He’d never been more grateful that no security camera existed in his office to record their kiss. If we were two other people, last night would have ended differently.
“No, Aunt Bridget, we are not lovers. Situations are not always what they appear to be.”
“She came to talk to you about Tony and me, didn’t she?” Bridget dropped down into a deep brown leather chair.
He leaned against his desk to watch her face. He needed answers. “Aunt Bridget, Venus is concerned. So am I.”
“I know. She came to the penthouse lookin’ for you. Diana help her get into the store?”
He nodded.
“Those Smith sisters were always a handful.” She chuckled. “Venus means well. Got a heart bigger than the outdoors.” Bridget straightened her shoulders and slowly pushed herself up. “I do not want the two of you worryin’ yourselves sick. I’m doin’ enough of it for all of us.”
From childhood he’d seen this strength in his aunt. He understood she didn’t want him to comfort her, but it took all his willpower not to do it today.
Worried about her stark paleness and the fragility in her eyes, he chose his words carefully. “Will you at least talk to me about your feelings? About Tony?”
“What do you want me to say? My heart is broken.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe Tony stole the mermaid brooch or knew it was real when it was supposedly given to him. I’m all mixed up inside tryin’ to figure out how it truly came into his possession and why. And why he went down to Taylor Street that night. And why he continued to go and keep it from me. And why I let it go on for all these years.”
Bridget took such a deep sigh her entire body shuddered.
Unable to stop himself, he reached out to her.
She stepped back. “No mollycoddling me, Connor. I understand the implications of that brooch being the real Mermaid stolen from Clayworth’s and Tony’s admission that he gave it to me and his flimsy story of how it came into his possession. I know there were other gems stolen that night of the heist. What do you plan to do with the evidence you have against him?”
After a lifetime of being honest with his aunt, lying to her now felt strangely right.
“I’m taking the situation under advisement.”
She cocked her head, squinted, and studied him as she’d done when he was a kid and she wanted to know what trouble he was planning to get into so she could stop it. “Best to tell me what’s going on. Your inflated sense of justice and need to right wrongs is part of who you are, Connor. This isn’t like you, not to take immediate action.”
He forced himself to remain impassive even though he saw the pain in her eyes and it twisted his gut.
“I’m sorry if I appeared to rush to judgment on Tony last night.” He heard himself repeat Venus’s words. “I don’t want to believe he’s guilty of stealing the brooch. I will eventually begin a thorough but quiet investigation for Clayworth’s, but first I’m laying some necessary groundwork of my own. Have you talked to Tony today, Aunt Bridget?”
She shook her head. “Fair enough, Connor. I get you won’t tell me what you’ll be doin’. And I don’t want to talk about it now. Certainly I’m not ready to talk to Tony. All I can do is keep movin’ forward until somethin’ changes with the facts as they look now.” Again she cocked her head to study him. “You’re the handsomest young man I know, but this mornin’ you’re lookin’ the worse for wear. Did you get any sleep last night?”
Remembering where and why he’d stayed awake watching over Venus, he smiled. “Not much.”
“Me either. I’ll make a fresh pot of coffee for both of us.”
The door had barely closed behind her when Bridget opened it again. “Brace yourself, Connor. Another Smith sister is comin’ down the hall to accost you.”
Diana glided into the room with her angelic smile, dressed in cream and the ballet slippers she liked when working in the windows and carrying a black portfolio nearly as big as she was.
He instantly went on alert.
They’d all learned as kids never to be fooled by her ethereal beauty. Angels had tempers.
“Relax, Connor,” she said softly, seemingly gauging his reaction. “I’m here to say mea culpa. Last night I know I broke every rule in the book by giving Venus access to the store.”
Wanting to reassure her, he shrugged and took the portfolio to lay it on his desk. “I understand there were extenuating circumstances.”
She widened her eyes and put her hands on her hips. “Since when do you so easily disregard your own iron-clad rule?”
“Since last night.” Again, he leaned against his desk. This time he folded his arms across his chest in a classic protective gesture. His gut told him he’d need it. “Diana, do you think I’m pigheaded?”
Her laugh
ter sounded like melodious chimes.
“Now I understand why you’re on red alert. Here I am, another Smith sister come to cause you trouble.”
The portfolio between them, she perched beside him. Her angelic smile should have made him feel less tense. Today it didn’t.
“I would have chosen a different term than Venus did. Yes, Connor, you are rigid in your beliefs. But I’ve also found you to be extremely fair and to have a deep desire to right wrongs. Something you share with Venus.”
An instinct of self-preservation warned him he shouldn’t be discussing last night but his desire to talk about Venus overrode his normal good sense.
“Did she tell you why she came here or anything about what happened when we talked?”
Diana lowered her eyes, the sweep of dark lashes hiding her expression. When she looked up she seemed to be peering through him.
“Hell, Diana, why is it sometimes I feel like you know what I’m thinking before I do?” He laughed, but part of him believed she was doing just that.
“I can’t read your mind or anyone else’s. All I read are nuances.”
She slid off the desk and opened the portfolio. “Like now. You want to talk about Venus but whatever you’ve decided to do together is secret. So you can’t really discuss her. I’ll put you out of your misery and change the subject. Here are my sketches for the holiday windows.”
Glad to have something to focus on besides Venus and their deal, he spread out the sketches across his desk.
Each detailed drawing built on the others to create an artist’s mural of the joys of the holidays.
He picked up a drawing of a woman dressed in a short, glittering gold evening dress, stirring a pot on the stove with one hand and opening her black leather briefcase with the other, while watching two small children reading on a plush cream carpet.
“I agree with Grey and Ric, your imagination and grasp of what will draw in shoppers is always on target.”
All I Want Is You Page 11
