by Cassie Miles
Well, then…he’d have to change her mind. Somehow, he’d convince her that she couldn’t steal the rubies. Why should she? She seemed happy in the flower shop. Her artistic talents were well exercised in creating arrangements. Surely a steady, responsible, law-abiding life was a far better reward than a million-dollar payoff.
Yeah? David had to laugh at his own naivete. How the hell was he going to convince this beautiful burglar that a life of hard work was better than stealing the rubies? It was more likely that he could slip into a red cape and Superman tights, fly into the stratosphere and heal the hole in the ozone.
He placed his coffee mug on the table, turned off the light and eased down into the bed.
Her hand rested upon his chest. Her slender legs fitted against his. She nuzzled him gently in her sleep, and his body responded. Her nearness was like liquid electricity flowing through his veins. He fought to resist, and tension tightened every muscle in his body. There was an aching heaviness in his groin. God, he wanted to make love to her. It would be so natural. It would be so right.
Or was he lying to himself? Was he willing to ditch a lifetime of lawful restraint for one night with her?
Calling upon every shred of his willpower, David turned in the bed so his back would be to her. Still, she curled around his shoulders. It was going to be hell to ignore her.
DAVID MANAGED to sleep in fitful snatches until the morning light filtered around the edges of the window curtain in her bedroom. As soon as she wakened, he was aware of the change in her breathing, the slight alertness in her body. And yet, she didn’t move away from him. With a sigh, she tightened her embrace.
“David,” she whispered. Her breath tickled the back of his neck. “I’m so glad you came back to me.”
“You’re awake,” he said.
Immediately, she released him and moved away, putting a space between them on the bed. “Good morning.”
Her voice was still husky from sleep.
“Good morning.” He rolled over and faced her. During the night, he’d stripped down to his undershirt and shorts. He avoided touching her. All it would take was one caress and his self-control would snap like a frayed thread.
Her dark eyes seemed to ask a question, and he tried to answer. “You don’t need to worry, Tasha. Nothing happened between us last night. I didn’t, you know, take advantage.”
“I know.”
“How come you’re so sure?”
“First, because you’re a gentleman. Second…” She reached toward him and traced the rough morning stubble on his chin. “I would have remembered.”
She was incredible! So sexy. So willing. At this moment, she was everything he had ever wanted. After a night of tortured resistance, he couldn’t hold back any longer.
He grasped her supple body and pulled her close. Her slender body fit perfectly against his chest. He kissed her hard, with all the pent-up frustration from a night of unfulfilled passion. He needed to make love to her.
He grasped her breast. His thumb flicked the taut bud of her nipple, exciting him beyond reason. Desire consumed him, devouring his common sense.
When she squirmed against him, rubbing his hard arousal, David knew he wouldn’t stop. He couldn’t.
And yet…He ended their kiss. Groaning, he forced himself away from her. My God, this was the most difficult thing he’d done in his life.
He climbed out of bed and stood. Slowly. Painfully. “I’ll make fresh coffee.”
“Yes,” she said quietly. “That would be best.”
It was killing him to walk away from their warm nest, but he had to do it. Making love to a client went against all his principles as a bodyguard. Making love to a cat burglar was insane.
“David,” she called to him.
He paused in the bedroom doorway. “Yes?”
“Thank you for last night.”
She watched him leave the bedroom. He looked fantastic in his underwear. Most men seemed kind of silly in shorts and a sleeveless T-shirt, like paper dolls waiting to be dressed in cutout clothes. But David had a magnificent, broad-shouldered body with firm torso and narrow hips. His morning erection filled her with desire. His was a butt to die for.
To die for? Tasha frowned at the phrase that had popped innocently into her mind. Death and dying weren’t jokes. She glanced over at the headboard where David had hung his shoulder holster. A gun in the bedroom. She couldn’t allow herself to relax and feel safe while danger pressed all around. The presence of Green made her future uncertain.
Throwing off the covers, she padded into the bathroom. Why couldn’t she have met David in some other way? Why couldn’t they be off on a desert island with no horrible distractions? Together they could find perfect contentment with the sun and the surf and stars overhead at night. Dammit, why did life have to be so complicated?
When she emerged from the bathroom, Tasha was wrapped in her old flannel robe. Though she’d managed to splash water on her face and tidy herself up, her mind roiled in chaos. She didn’t know how much to tell David. This conversation would be a cautious balancing act, giving him enough information so that he would stay with her as a bodyguard, but not enough for him to go to the police.
He’d slipped into his trousers, but still looked sexy as could be in his bare feet and sleeveless T-shirt that exposed the crisp, curling hair on his chest. She longed to rub her fingers through that hair, to feel the shivering tension of his flesh, to experience the moment when he would abandon restraint and make love to her. He was all man. Looking at him excited the womanly passion within her.
And yet, he set the coffee mugs on the table with the air of someone who was ready to do business. He said, “I guess you’re wondering why I came back.”
“I try to never look a gift horse in the mouth.” She looked away from him, forcing herself to forget her natural yearnings and desires. “I’m just glad that you’re here.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m in over my head.” She sat primly at the table and crossed her ankles. “David, I’m scared.”
“Tell me about it.”
Slowly, she tasted the coffee. Her habitual wanness kept her from spilling the whole terrifying story. Last night, when he’d driven her home from the hospital, he’d threatened to go to Inspector Henning, and that would be disastrous.
David sat, resting his elbows on the table, and picked up his mug. “I’ll start. Yesterday, when Green took you to the capitol, you met a woman. She was dressed in red and called herself Cerise. The two of you put your heads together and started making plans for how you would steal the Sheikh’s Rubies.”
She gulped and the coffee burned her throat. How did he know? “I suppose that’s what our conversation must have looked like.”
“That’s what it was. I overheard enough to know that.”
“You were spying on me?”
“Yes.”
“I’m astounded, David. I didn’t notice you at all”
“It’s my job to be inconspicuous,” he reminded her. “I’m not a master of disguise, but I am capable of blending into the local scenery.” He frowned. “And don’t change the subject. Listen, Tasha, I’ve got to know what’s going on. All the details. Otherwise, I can’t protect you.”
“But you aren’t going to leave me again, are you?”
“If you lie to me? I’ll leave in a heartbeat.”
She set down her mug and glared at him. She didn’t like ultimatums. Her typical response to authority was to flaunt it, but she desperately needed David to stay with her. Without him, she’d be lost. “What do you want to know?”
“Why did Cerise contact you?”
“Because of my brilliant reputation as an international cat burglar who specializes in safecracking. How does that strike you, David?”
His jaw tightened. “Go on.”
“The problem is that I’m really not a cat burglar.” She exhaled a deep breath. “But my sister is.”
“Stacey.” David nodded. From the
moment he’d spied the photograph on her desk, he’d known that her twin sister was involved in this strange conspiracy. Now, finally, they were taking baby steps toward the truth. “Cerise thinks you’re Stacey.”
“She’s sure of it.”
“Why?”
“We’re identical.”
He leaned back in the chair at her kitchen table and tried to imagine two of her. Double the energy of Tasha. Double the sassy attitude. Double the charm.
David shuddered. Double the trouble.
“It’s not an uncommon mistake,” she said. “We look exactly alike. Our voices sound the same. I’ve been told that we share the same gestures and mannerisms. The only difference is here.” She tapped her temple. “We don’t think the same way.”
“I really hope, Tasha, that you’re not going to tell me you’re the logical one.”
“I’m the patient twin,” she said. “I don’t mind building my castle in the sky with one brick at a time.”
“And Stacey?”
“She loves adventure. Fast cars and skydiving Designer outfits and fashion shows.”
“And jewelry?” He remembered her visceral response to the viewing of the rubies, her expertise in discussing the diamonds with the clerk in Pola and Tweed. “Do you share a passion for precious gems?”
“I guess so.”
“You’re not complete opposites “
Abruptly, she left her seat and went into her bedroom. Quickly, she returned with a large cedar box and flipped open the lid. The shimmer was blinding. “These are my jewels. Crystal, glitter and paste. There’s not a real gem among them.”
He ran his fingers across the fake rings and necklaces. “Bitter?”
“Don’t get me wrong, David. I love precious stones. In my life, I’ve owned some lovely pieces. Once, there was a man who gave me flawless diamonds and pearls. I treasured them. They were magnificent.” Her lips curled into a frown. “When I sold them, I thought they were the ugliest rocks I had ever seen.”
“Why?”
“Because of what they stood for.” She sighed. When she looked at him, her eyes were troubled. “I understand the difference between surface beauty and the fire within. The tiniest chip of a diamond, given and accepted in love, is more splendid than the Sheikh’s Rubies.”
Tasha closed the lid on her jewelry box. “I don’t know if Stacey feels the same way. I haven’t seen her in five years, but I know she’s lived in Europe and New Zealand and New York, for a while.”
“It sounds like she has a glamorous life-style.”
“I suppose it does, but it’s not for me.” Tasha shook her head. “That’s all I can say about Stacey. I won’t give you details about anything she’s done. No matter what, she’s my sister. My twin. It wouldn’t be right to betray her.”
“Loyalty is an admirable trait,” he said. And, often, a fatal one. “Tell me about what’s happening right now. Here. In Denver.”
“When Cerise and her gang decided to steal the rubies, they checked out all the places where the necklace and earrings would be displayed. Apparently, they zeroed in on Pola and Tweed because their security system is dreadfully old-fashioned. When they did photo surveillance on the jewelry store, they noticed me in one of the shots.”
“And they thought you were your sister.”
“Correct. Cerise thinks I set up Bloom’s as a front, using Tasha’s name, so I could be located next door to Pola and Tweed and could heist the Sheikh’s Rubies. Which is, of course, ridiculous.”
“Not really,” David said.
“Why would I go to all the trouble of setting up a shop as a front?”
“The rubies are worth millions. Even if you’d invested a hundred thousand in opening your shop, you would make a tidy profit.”
“But I’m the first person the police would investigate if the rubies were stolen. You saw how Inspector Henning treated me. He’d like nothing more than to lock me up and throw away the key.”
“Does he think you’re Stacey?”
“No.” Her voice got small, and she stared down into her coffee as if searching for answers in the depths of her ceramic blue mug. “It doesn’t matter to Henning which of the Lancer twins I am. Though my sister has the better rep among criminals in the know, Henning thinks we’re both thieves.”
David wasn’t sure that he wanted to know, but still he asked, “Was this because of Miami?”
“Because of Paris. And the sapphires.”
He squinted across the table at her. The more he learned about Tasha, the more her résumé sounded like a high-class training ground for a cat burglar.
“So,” he said. “There were sapphires in Paris, emeralds in Miami and rubies in Denver. I presume there were also precious gems involved in SoHo.”
“I think it was diamonds.”
“Excuse the pun, but you’re a multifaceted woman.”
When she tossed back her head and laughed, David thought he had never heard such a lovely, clear, pealing sound. Like wind chimes in the breeze. The tension that had been building between them shattered.
So easily, she charmed him, enchanted him. This was why he’d returned. Though David could pretend he’d come back to fulfill his professional obligations and set Tasha back on the straight and narrow, the real reason was that he needed to be with her again. He wanted to hear her laughter and to see her million-dollar smile.
The merriment lingered in her eyes. “Oh, David, I needed that. As long as I can laugh at my problems, they don’t seem quite so huge and horrible.”
“But the problems don’t go away.” He reached across the table and took her hand. He held tightly to her fingers, not letting her pull away, not accepting her quicksilver evasiveness. “Tell me about the plan to steal the rubies. When are they going to do it? How?”
“I don’t know that yet. We’ll make contact later.”
Did he believe her? “When’s the next contact?”
“Before I say anything else, David, I’ve got to know if I can trust you, too. Can you guarantee that you won’t go to the police?”
He hesitated, knowing that he couldn’t allow her to actually steal the rubies. He wanted to yank her out of this connection with Cerise, even if that wasn’t what Tasha wanted.
“David? I need to know. Can I trust you?”
“I would never do anything to hurt you.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Tasha gently released his hand. She had her answer. Though she desperately wished it could be otherwise, she couldn’t tell David everything. Perhaps she’d already said too much.
As her fingertips drew away from his, she leaned back in her chair, putting more physical distance between them. Emotional distance would be more difficult and infinitely more agonizing. Even now, as she gazed at him, she felt the beginning pain of separation.
She was so confused. More than anything, she wanted him with her. But he’d as much as admitted that he would betray her. His good intentions, she feared, would literally be the death of her. If Green found out.
“Talk to me, Tasha.”
“There’s nothing else to say.”
“Tell me about Green and Brown.”
She shook her head. The smart thing would be to simply tell him to leave, to slap his handsome bottom and send him on his way.
She glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall. “Look at the time. I have a lot to do today. First, I want to run over to the hospital to see Mandy and darling little Ruby. Then I have to rush back over to Bloom’s. Leaving early yesterday puts me behind. And I need to place an ad in the paper for a new assistant.”
“Quite a schedule,” he said dryly. “Whenever will you find time to steal the gold off the capitol dome?”
“Lunch break,” she said.
Tasha pushed away from the kitchen table. Though she would have loved to have David as close as possible, protecting her night and day, she simply couldn’t trust him. He might prove to be more of a liability than a help. After all, things
hadn’t worked out too well with Jenson as a bodyguard. “Tell you what, David. You stay here at my apartment and I’ll keep you posted on developments.”
He gaped at her. “Excuse me? You want me to stay here and keep the home fires burning while you go out and wrestle with the bad guys?”
“Well, I wouldn’t put it that way, but. yes.”
“Honey, I’m not that kind of man.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
“I’ll protect you, Tasha, not the other way around.”
“Right now, they think you’re my boyfriend. If Green finds out you’re a bodyguard, it’ll blow the whole thing.” She pivoted and headed toward the shower. “You’re not coming to the shop today. I can handle it.”
Firmly resolved, she rushed through her shower, washed and blew dry her hair and slapped on makeup. By the time she was dressed in a long mauve skirt with matching turtleneck and a sequined vest, David was also ready.
“I’ll follow your car to the hospital,” he said.
“That really isn’t necessary. I’m sure I’ll be safe.”
“I wasn’t thinking of you, Tasha. I was hoping Mandy would let me hold the baby again.”
SINCE EIGHT-THIRTY in the morning was well before the regular hospital visiting hours, Tasha blithely lied to the nurse on duty at the floor desk. “I know it’s early,” she said, “but we’re immediate family.”
The nurse raised her eyebrows and peered over the top of eyeglasses that had slipped to the tip of her long nose. “Both of you?”
Tasha nodded.
The nurse scowled at David. “Are you the father?”
“No, ma’am.” His response was immediate as was the sudden frantic blush that reddened his face. “Not the father. No.”
“A brother,” Tasha said smoothly. “And I’m a sister.”
“Not much of a family resemblance, is there?”
“We’re all adopted,” Tasha explained.
