“They were stolen in 1907.” Her body perked with interest. History was the one area that always appealed to her.
She sipped her wine and waited for him to share the rest.
Dane immediately leaned forward. “How do you know that?”
Right. The girl he’d known had talked about getting her MBA and starting her own company, but in the end had retreated before the real world—Emily, the woman, needed to make money to survive. Michael and her sister had deposited a nice sum in her bank account, in her name, but she couldn’t very well live off their generosity forever.
In college, history had been the one thing she’d really enjoyed learning. Emily put her glass down on the small table to her right and folded her hands in her lap. “I have my doctorate in history and want to be a professor at some point. I’ve been applying for post doctorate positions and faculty positions everywhere.”
He didn’t move as he studied her in disbelief.
She pressed her hand to her heart and ignored the heat in her face. “For my masters, I wrote a paper on that particular theft and how the Church was hiding the vicar’s homosexuality, and that mattered more to the officials than retrieving the jewels which is why they delayed reporting the theft until 1907 when officials from England intended to visit Ireland.” She thought back to her research and surmised, “The jewels were either taken to Amsterdam, or Paris, and sold there.”
“If they still exist, it will be a surprise.” Dane positioned his glass beside hers as he leaned into his head rest and turned to face her. “Either way, Ted tried to break into my father’s safety deposit box to help himself to the Irish Crown Jewels, or whatever is there.”
The older but not older man from the club. So the jewels were important…she’d known her own Egalantine necklace, unique in style, with diamonds and emeralds set in gold blossoms, was worth a lot and also from the same time period. She’d written papers on jewelry like hers and missing sets of the Victorian age because of her own attachment to hers, as this was her only tie to Dane. “And you’re going to give them back to the royal family?”
Dane gazed at her neck, and lower, and she had the distinct impression it wasn’t her necklace that interested him. Aware of her blue party dress and the low cleavage, she reached for his coat jacket he’d slung over the chair and put it on. His woodsy cologne enveloped her—but he’d rebuffed her kiss so she’d be smart to shield herself. He looked away. “Why not? It’s not like I want them.”
If he hadn’t shown up at the nightclub, she’d have just assumed he was out in the world, causing trouble, but the smell, this jacket, his saving her from being shot and being all noble about returning the missing jewels, well…she sucked in her bottom lip and tried to deny that he still made her body tingle, perhaps even more now that he was all hard muscles and not the boy she’d given her virginity to back on prom night. “What do you do now, Dane?”
“Uriel.” He shifted on the leather seat.
His scent washed over her as she tugged his coat around her body. “Okay. Uriel—though it’s going to be hard for me to think of you that way. When I dreamed about you, your name was Dane.”
His eyes widened. “You dream about me, Emily?”
“Dreamed. Past tense.” She sat up, alert against revealing how sappy he made her. She’d been fine on her own and didn’t need him or anyone. Emily uncrossed her legs and her knee accidentally touched his. “That doesn’t answer my question.”
He gulped his drink and put the empty glass down as he stared at the lights on the ceiling of the plane. “What question was that?”
So, he didn’t want to tell her about himself? She reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pocket watch, like he was an old man and not twenty-eight. She put it back and asked, “What do you do? You mentioned digs, so are you an archeologist?”
A huge smile grew on his face like she’d just decoded a mystery. “Yes. I don’t just read books about the past, like you do. I want to discover history for myself.”
Dane must have seen too many adventure movies as a boy, which was probably better than getting too close to his stepfather, as that man had been a psycho. She relaxed in her seat and stared at Dane’s broad shoulders that seemed stronger and sturdier than the last time they’d seen each other. She smiled and said, “I assumed you were gambling and drinking your way around the world. No one heard from you in years.”
The plane began its descent. Hours with Dane into the night yet she didn’t feel tired at all.
He shrugged and pressed his head into the headrest. “Sorry to disappoint.”
Emily allowed herself to touch his chin and cheek. He’d also grown more facial hair and it seemed he hadn’t shaved in a few days. In school he’d been all about brand names and clean cut. The boy and the man collided in her eyes. “Just the opposite. I’m impressed Dane… I mean, Uriel. You walked away from me and your family.”
He kissed her palm. “Michael is more your family than mine.”
And her skin was jumpy and achy for him as she took her hand back. She lowered her lashes and said, “He was good to me and my sisters.”
The plane landed in the airport. Dane, she couldn’t think of him as Uriel, held the armrests as the plane slowed from its high speeds to cruise toward a stop. “Which is more than I can say about my mother and I.”
“That’s not fair.” Fog around London puffed outside the window behind him, masking the night that just made the darkness seem gray and dreary.
She hadn’t been here in years and that was when her sister and Michael had taken the family on a trip to see history and not just read about it in books, as Dane had just said. Dane hadn’t been there. He’d left too soon and spent most of that time at boarding school.
The plane came to a complete stop. “It’s probably not, but it’s how I feel.”
“I get it. I was there.” She refused to relive those moments where bullets flew past her head, though both times that had happened she’d been with Dane.
As they disembarked, he took her elbow and stopped her, midway down the metal stairs. “You saved my life, which is why I should send you home right now.”
She winked at him and shook her hips a little as she took her hand back. “I’m not going anywhere but with you.”
They stepped off the plane to the tarmac and his two cohorts followed. A limo waited a few feet away. Dane opened the rear passenger door for her but stopped her from heading inside. ”Swear you’ll stay away from anything dangerous.”
Dane was sweet when he worried, but thanks to Michael, she could take care of herself. She patted his stomach and sailed past him into the seat. “I will be careful.”
The moon and stars weren’t visible in the night due to thick clouds around London that made visibility hard two feet in front of her nose. Dane told the driver the name of a fancy hotel, and despite her efforts to stay awake she dozed in the car. He guided her inside the hotel, but her head was fuzzy as they checked in—separate rooms.
So much had happened in the past few hours! She focused on the red carpet under her feet as they walked to their rooms. Dane stayed next to her as his men went into one room, mumbling goodnight. He escorted her to the next one. As she slipped her electronic card into the reader and the door opened she said, “I’d like to see the jewels just once.”
“Why?” He made no sign of moving from her doorway.
She patted his face again as she liked the ruggedness of his scruff under her touch. “It’s the right thing, you’re doing. It makes me proud of you.”
He stepped into the hall and placed his hand on his heart. “You are too much, Emily.”
For what? She flipped on the light, holding the door open as she watched him. “Which is exactly why you like me. Good night, Dane.”
“Uriel.” He countered and returned to her side.
Butterflies grew in her stomach as her eyes closed and her lips pursed.
A moment later, she was still the girl she’d been and he was
still that boy who’d kissed her and made her forget the rest of the world existed.
His arms around her made her feel alive and able to be herself.
No one else had a kiss that came close to his.
As his hard lips left hers slightly bruised and trembling mouth, she whispered, “You still kiss like Dane.”
He backed up and into the hall. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it.
Dane Pearce or Uriel Delligatti or whatever he called himself now… he’d filled her childish dreams of happily-ever-afters once. Clearly he still had something that rocked her to her core.
Chapter Four
Uriel tucked his pocket watch into the front pocket of his indigo designer jeans—the bank opened in an hour, and they needed to be there before Ted. He slipped on his lightweight jacket as he imagined how the meeting might go. As soon as it was done, he’d send Emily home, where she belonged.
The last thing either of them needed was more complication—they were far too deeply intertwined, and on paper, related. She’d be better off alone, the same as he was.
He listened from the hallway outside her door and heard the shower running. The necklace he’d given her had looked like it belonged around her neck, but he needed to right the wrongs of the Pearce line. Torn, he used his extra key and let himself in.
If he could leave her out completely, they’d both be better off.
The shower behind the closed bathroom door ran and he quickly checked the safe in her closet—open and empty—then the drawers of her room.
The necklace was nowhere.
He closed the last drawer as the shower turned off and glanced up—Emily leaned against the open bathroom door fully dressed in dark blue pants and a coordinating light blue and green blouse, with a flash of the diamond and emerald necklace under her collar. She crossed her arms and grinned knowingly at him. “Dane… Uriel, what are you doing in my room?”
His eyes widened in surprise at being caught and heat rose to his cheeks. “You’re wearing the necklace in the shower?”
She sauntered over, tapping his shoulder as she took her phone off her charger and added them both to her pocketbook that perfectly matched her outfit. How she’d shopped was a mystery but he didn’t ask as she closed the bag and said, “I didn’t trust you to be honest. It seems I was right.”
A smile grew on his face. She’d called him out. No one else had ever talked to him like she did, even though it didn’t go in his favor. He opened the door and held it for her. “Emily, I like being with you again.”
She stood in the hallway and waited for him to close her door and then brushed her hand against the necklace as she lifted her brow. “Because I won’t let you get away with trying to steal my necklace?”
Emily sashayed before him and he stared at her every curve. No other woman in these years had tasted anything as sweet as Emily. Her kiss had packed a punch when he was still just a boy and the sway of her hips now made him think she might be the only woman to get under his skin. “The bank could be dangerous and I want you to stay here.”
She hit the elevator button and stepped in front of him. “I’m going, Dane.”
The doors opened and he had no answer to how alive she made him feel. She was like a wind that just swept in and woke him up as he followed her into the elevator. “It was worth a try. Let’s go…”
The elevator smelled like Emily’s perfume, soft and floral, as they rode down in silence. The doors opened and he briefly brushed against her arm, but she didn’t wait.
Brady and Henry rose from their seats in the lobby and Emily walked over with her hand out in greeting. “Hi. I’m Emily Mira. Thank you for helping me get out of the club yesterday. I appreciate it.” She then turned toward him and asked, “Who is who of your associates?”
Right. If she was staying, then she needed to know everyone. He tapped his friend on the back. “Emily, this is Doctor Brady Booker.”
She smiled at Brady, who grinned back, his metal-framed glasses reflecting the light. . Emily turned toward his closest ally and nodded at Henry, who had a slight scar on his cheek like he’d lost a bar fight once. “That makes you, Henry Kavanah. It’s nice to meet you both officially.”
Brady offered his arm to leave the hotel. Emily accepted and continued to walk in front of him as they headed toward the limo waiting outside. Brady said, “Uriel doesn’t usually bring women on our adventures.”
She flipped her bobbed blonde hair and winked at Uriel as she stood near the limo. “Adventures. When was the last one you boys had?”
“Cairo,” Brady answered. In the same moment, Henry said, “Hong Kong.” Shaking his head, Uriel claimed, “Nowhere.”
“Interesting.” She ducked inside and the three men followed. Once Henry closed the door, she met Uriel’s gaze and said, “This morning at the bank will also be interesting.”
Brady and Henry kept quiet, as if staying out of what was happening between him and Emily. His plan was simple. London police and security were top notch at the exclusive bank. So, they’d go in, retrieve whatever he had in the box, and leave. Once he saw the jewels to see what they actually were, he’d call the CIA and fly out of London within the hour. Not that Emily knew that.
Undaunted, Emily watched confidently out the window as if she belonged here, with him.
With Emily, and only her really, could he remember being just Dane and not hating his life.
Most of his teen years had been pure torture that he’d rather forget. All except the moments with her.
The limo stopped and her shoulders bounced as they parked in front of the bank. She said, “And we’re here.” She exited without waiting for the driver.
Was she nervous? Excited? A cold wind brushed against him as he stepped out and studied Emily, who stood on the sidewalk already. She somehow glowed like the embodiment of life itself. He pressed his hand on her lower back and quietly said, “Emily, give me the necklace now. I’ll give it back once we’re in.”
Her hands trembled but she unhooked the clasp and met his gaze. Her lips were full as she said, “Dane…”
“Stay with Henry.” He clutched the necklace, unable to believe it was finally in his grasp.
Now he needed to ensure she was safe.
She brushed his hand off her back and walked toward the bank door with a simple word for him. “No.”
“Emily,” he said, while she reached for the door. He took the handle from her and held it open for him and the others.
“We don’t have time.” She motioned toward the desk behind a mahogany counter staffed with one man. Above him was a safety deposit box sign
The four of them headed over together, and he showed the necklace to the clerk, who asked him to sign in.
Behind him, he heard Brady ask Emily, “How do you two know each other?”
“Uriel took me to prom,” Emily answered. Uriel glanced backward and saw how Emily bounced up and down as she smiled at him.
His heart warmed as he signed his name in the ledger.
The banker then waved for him to follow and Uriel pressed his hand on Emily’s back, urging her forward.
Brady laughed and walked behind them as he said, “Ahh, so you’re why no other woman holds his interest for long.”
Emily made a sound with her tongue. The banker opened a private metal door with an electric access card and Emily turned toward Brady and said, “That probably has to do with his wish to not get involved with anyone he might have to leave.”
What was she talking about? He let her go as the banker swiped the box in question and handed it to him.
Brady asked Emily, as the banker left, “What do you mean?”
The door clicked and locked while Emily said, “After his mother died-”
Oh. “Emily, that’s enough. We’re in.” He opened the box.
She walked closer to him and looked down as he reached inside. Instead of jewels, he pulled out a piece of paper.
Emily peered over his shoulder
and said, “Let’s see this box.”
He flashed the paper her way as he unfolded it and read the written coordinates on a map, and another slip of paper with a different bank box number. Seemed they were going on a scavenger hunt.
This time they were heading to Paris, and a bank he remembered Edmond, the man he’d thought was his father, had gone to many times.
Henry glanced at his phone and the security camera above the door. “Ted Vet San is in the bank upstairs with his associates.”
The box also had another blossom impression, this one smaller. His heart beat faster but then he saw Emily’s earrings she wore that matched the necklace. He held out his palm. “Emily, I need the earrings to your set I gave you.”
“My earrings too?” She unfastened them.
He opened and closed his hand, aware of Ted too close. “Hurry.”
“Here.” She handed him the diamond and emerald flower mounted on platinum and gold.
The rose earring matched the latch and he turned the lock. Once it clicked, he opened it and another box appeared. He took it as Emily said the obvious, “It’s a box.”
“Grab it and let’s go.” Henry braced himself against the front door they’d come in. “We’re out of time.”
Emily held out her hand and did the same motion he’d done earlier. “Can I have my jewelry back?”
He returned her earring and necklace, clasping her hand. “Put it on in the car.”
She made sure that her pocketbook was at her side while they raced down the hall the way they’d come, but Henry directed them to the back door. As they raced up, their footsteps like a marching army departing a battle.
He stopped. On the top step, Ted pointed a gun at him. “Uriel.”
“Ted.” He slipped the small box in his back pocket, maneuvering in front. He’d give his life for Emily and his friends to escape.
Brady pushed Emily behind both of them as Ted said, “I won’t let you leave with those jewels.”
Henry nodded and stepped further back with both Emily and Brady but then Henry pulled out his hand gun and leveled it at Ted.
Heroes Duet Page 16
