Dane wrapped his arm around her waist and they walked together down the street, Henry on the other side of Dane.
The three of them headed toward the sunshine and brightly lit street.
This wasn’t over, but they’d survived, and she had the jewels.
It was a start.
And maybe she’d kiss Dane a few more times before this all ended.
She couldn’t deny whatever this was between her and Dane anymore. She’d always felt it—but tried to stay away because they could never be forever.
Chapter Eight
Uriel didn’t mind being Dane when Emily held his hand
While underground, she didn’t panic or scream at the sight of skulls. Not that he expected her to, but he’d never realized how similar they were. She was prepared, with those fake jewels, but that went back to Michael. He’d taught Emily to survive and he owed his biological father for that.
Emily made the world brighter, not that he’d say so, but having her here with him made everything better.
He let the thoughts that she shouldn’t be here at all return as he handed over his credit cards for three separate hotel rooms. Brady was at a hotel near the bank, as previously planned.
He signed the credit card statement and waited for the keys.
The front desk clerk wrote down the three rooms and handed them electronic keys with a folded paper including a map of the hotel. He immediately handed it over to Emily, in her dusty black t-shirt that matched his own. Her room was in the middle of the other two.
Emily accepted the key and smiled at him despite the soot on her cheek. She clutched her blue pocketbook.
Once they were out of earshot of the front desk, heading toward the elevator, he slipped an arm around her waist. “Tomorrow, we go to Paris and the bank.”
She turned and stared at his profile while they walked. He pressed the UP button as she asked, “Isn’t that giving Ted time to steal your box?”
“I hope so.” The three of them stepped into the elevator together.
No one said anything until the doors closed. Emily shook out dust from her short blonde hair—she’d lost her baseball hat in the tomb—and said, “It also gives him time to set a trap for us.”
Henry nodded like he agreed with her, that Ted might set a trap, but their plan was hopefully bulletproof.
They’d used their collective brains, sending Brady toward Paris first. If their idea worked, they’d turn the tables on Ted. They just needed to follow the plan.
Emily stretched like she was exhausted.
Uriel kept his lips sealed. As the elevators doors opened, they shuffled down the white halls toward their room numbers. He quickly talked to Henry, who had the room closest to the elevator, about checking in with Brady. Henry agreed and went into his room with a wave at Emily.
Uriel and Emily paused before her door. He wanted to make her proud, to earn her regard, and hopefully she wouldn’t always think he was a sucker who’d almost killed his real father because his fake father had tried to frame a murder on him. If Emily hadn’t stopped him, perhaps he’d have been successful in that tragedy, but he didn’t want that to define him in her eyes. The truth was that she was perfect and he didn’t want to let her go, not again. He held her lower back. “You need a shower and clean clothes.”
“That takes a half an hour, max.” She stalled near her door.
He glanced around the hall, needing to ensure they were alone as his friends didn’t need to see his weakness.
She turned from him and opened her door, waving for him to follow her inside.
His heart beat a little faster as she switched the light on, but he stayed near the door and spoke in a low voice, “Brady is at a hotel near the bank and he’s going to report to Henry everything he sees. The Paris authorities are alerted to Ted, with his photo. And the bank is now aware he has fake identities. You did great, you know.”
“Thank Michael for training me so well.” She took off her sneakers that were not her usual name-brand style.
And her face had a smudge of dirt on it that she’d freak out about.
Right. He reached for the door handle to leave and said, “Grab a shower, then we’ll have a nice dinner, just the two of us.”
“Like a date?” Her face lit up like Christmas morning.
He held still though adrenaline raced through him. “Is that a problem?”
She ran her hand down his shirt. “No, but we’ll order you a nice suit.”
Now that sounded like Emily. The twinkle in her blue eyes was the same twinkle she’d had the day she’d pulled him into her arms and kissed him, to save him from himself. “Why a suit?”
She crossed her arms in challenge. “Because I want to be wined and dined in style.”
Impressing her would be hard—how could he top the necklace from his mother? Neither one of them were wide-eyed innocents anymore. He didn’t move. “We need to be safe.”
She shrugged and pointed for him to leave as she said, “This is a five star hotel. I’m sure you’ll find a way to impress me. I’ll send clothes to your room while you make plans.”
He stepped into the hall and nodded his goodbye. “You’re still bossy as ever.”
She held the door frame and stared at him like he was a ghost. He froze as she asked, “Is that why you left years ago?”
Right. He’d high-tailed it after prom night.
In their hotel bed, he’d been alive and forgotten who he was, tainted by murder and lies. It had been wonderful and terrifying. Now, his fingers grazed hers on the frame. “I left because seeing your sister and Michael so happy all the time was a knife to my heart. My entire childhood was an orchestrated lie and I’d been used as a pawn. I needed to be my own man, Em.”
She intertwined her fingers with his and squeezed his palm. “How were you a pawn?”
“My mother’s death.” He pressed his forehead to hers.
Emily already knew how he’d been used because she’d seen it with her own eyes—nobody understood what had happened better than her. In taking off, he’d tried to forget his past, but denying his memories hadn’t given him any peace either.
The only true peace he’d had was her, safe, and in his arms.
She batted her eyes at him and her smile was brighter than the lights on the Eiffel Tower. “So, your leaving wasn’t anything to do with me?”
Seriously? He’d left because he couldn’t let himself stay. Her arms were like heaven and at the time, he hadn’t thought he’d deserved that. He gently wiped a smudge of dirt from the crypt from her cheekbone. “You were why I stayed as long as I did. You were always an umbrella in the thunderstorm of my life. I stayed until I couldn’t stay anymore.”
“Umbrella?” She laughed and brushed some of the dust off his black shirt, not that it would ever get clean, and straightened. “Okay. Come get me in an hour.” She shooed him out and shut her door.
A shower would be the first thing he’d do to impress her. He let himself in the room to her left and stripped as soon as the door closed behind him.
His clothes had an odor and it was probably a good idea to burn them. He dropped them on the floor and headed into the shower.
A knock sounded and he tensed, turning the water off. “Room service.”
He relaxed as he remembered Emily’s promise. He peeked through the peep hole and saw a man in a hotel uniform with a plastic bag. Dane let him in. “The suit.”
“Yes, sir.”
The Lacoste brand was one of his favorites, and Emily likely knew his size though he hadn’t told her. He tipped. “Thanks.” He’d almost closed the door but then stopped. “Hey—what’s the best place to impress a woman at this hotel?”
“We have a rooftop restaurant.” The man smoothly pocketed the tip.
“Thanks.” He closed the door and opened his bags. How thoughtful—Emily had sent more than just a suit, and he now had clothes for tomorrow. After his shower, he filled out the slip for the hotel to do his dry cleaning
and changed into new dark jeans and a black t-shirt.
A rooftop restaurant sounded romantic. He left the note for maid service and headed to the top of the hotel.
The staff was setting up for dinner, and Dane found the manager of the restaurant. “I’ll buy every table out for tonight.”
“It’s usually very busy,” the manager protested.
“That’s fine.” Dane handed over his black card. “I want to be alone with my colleague.”
“Very well, sir.” The man rang up a six figure number.
Normally Dane spent his paycheck on burgers and never touched the cash that kept accumulating from his supposed father, except when he wanted to solve a mystery that might right all the wrongs the Pearce name had done. The money he spent on this restaurant didn’t put a dent in his riches.
The manager handed him back the card as Dane said, “It will just be two of us. Could you possibly find a violin?”
“Yes, sir.” The manager put the receipt in the register. “I will personally take care of it.”
Dane smiled his thanks and hurried back toward his room when his phone rang. Ah, Brady. He answered quickly and hoped that nothing had gone wrong. “How are things in Paris?”
“Quiet,” Brady assured him. “I’m running online searches of the dark web to see if I can figure out who Ted’s buyer for the jewels might be.”
Right. If anyone was good at hacking, it was Brady. In Cairo, Brady’s scans had uncovered the hidden tombs in the Valley of Kings. He’d worked on his computer program for days, drinking only coffee in his hotel room. Brady often said he hung out with Uriel, because adventure followed him. That was probably true, but tonight he was just Dane, who wanted to charm his girl. “I appreciate it—make sure to enjoy the hotel room. Get room service, at least.”
He heard typing. “This might be interesting—so many times the thread disappears. I’ll tell you what I find tomorrow morning,” Brady said.
Dane glanced at Emily’s door. Soon they’d be together. He licked his lips and remembered her sweet kisses as he told his friend, “Good luck.”
He returned to his room and saw the floor lacked his dirty clothes. He would leave a big tip when they checked out.
Dane changed into his tailored gray suit and adjusted his thin blue tie—the hour almost over. He combed his clean hair in the bathroom and then slipped into the new shoes Emily had also bought for him for tonight.
Dressed to her specifications, Dane knocked on her door.
Emily answered, still in her bathrobe, though her blonde bob was shiny and smelled like jasmine. Her eyes lifted to his as she smiled. “Dane, there you are.”
Her skin glowed and she gestured for him to come inside. His heart beat faster, as if he should have brought flowers like he had on prom night. “You look like you spent all day in a spa.”
She checked her face in the hall mirror. “Is that a compliment?”
“Yes. I like your haircut—it suits you.” He remembered what Emily looked like naked underneath that robe and wondered if anything had changed.
She headed into the bathroom but kept the door open as she picked up a dress still encased in plastic wrap. “I wish I’d thought to write down the name of the person I took the clothes from on the train so I could send them back, cleaned and pressed.”
“They’d understand.” If she was him, he’d want to leave cash too. He saw her leg flash at the door and goosebumps grew on his body. “Are you ready?”
“Almost.” Yet her slender hand reached for lotion.
Either she was getting into that dress or she was about to walk out completely naked. His body hardened and he fixed his tie. “What are you doing?”
“I need to look perfect tonight,” she said in a sultry tone. “I’m almost done.”
He let go of his tie and took a deep breath. It was better not to get his hopes up. “Why? You’re just with me.”
“I don’t want you to leave me in the morning.” He heard the plastic of her bag rip.
He relaxed at her answer. They were heading out, but they’d be coming back. He poured water into a glass from the sink outside the bathroom. “That’s not going to happen.”
“Good to hear. I’m ready now.” Emily stepped out of the bathroom in a sparkly peach knee-length dress that made her skin glow and hugged her body perfectly.
It was like this dress had been made for her and only her. He instantly wanted to touch her. Dane realized his blue tie had the peach color of her dress embedded in it. Her eye for detail amazed him. “You’re beautiful, Emily.”
“Thanks.” She brushed her hand against her bare neck. “I didn’t want to wear the necklace—honestly my bra needs washing—yet I don’t want it out of my possession, so I’m doing my best with a regular bra. The jewels are scraping my skin. Does it look odd?” She turned to the side and gestured to her cleavage.
The necklace. At any point Ted might realize she’d faked him out. Dane had checked into the hotel with an alias and taken security precautions, though he was well aware they might be tracked down. His shoulders tightened and he took her hand. He would step in front of a bullet for her.
He eyed the smooth round of her chest. “I can’t tell from my view.” Changing the subject, he said, “You’re the only person in the world who never held my mother’s murder against me.”
Her blue eyes deepened with concern. “That’s not true-”
“I don’t want to talk about Michael,” he interrupted. Michael was his biological father but Dane didn’t know him. Michael had saved his life that day, but thinking of him as a father, that was something else.
His heart ripped as the memories replayed in his mind. He squeezed her hand a little tighter as Emily said, “He didn’t blame you though.”
This was not important right now. He directed them toward her door. She picked up her pocketbook as he said, “I like kissing you.”
Her cheeks turned bright red and she stroked his chin near the door. “I like that too, but after dinner. I’m hungry, Dane.”
“Nobody else calls me that.” He escorted her out to the hall.
She kissed his cheek. “You should have come to see me years ago, Dane. I’ve missed you.”
His skin burned from her touch. Emily Mira was a dangerous woman and nothing would keep him away from her internal fire. “I’ve missed you too. I hope you enjoy what I’ve got planned—it was short notice.”
“I’m sure I will.” She folded her hands in front of her like they were about to parade around as the royal couple or something.
He checked her door was locked and guided her toward the elevator.
Hopefully she would be impressed with a rooftop dinner just for her. They were keeping a low profile, but at least he could show her a good time, in style.
She deserved far more than roses before a dance—he’d known that then, when he’d given her the jewelry. She glowed like an angel. His angel.
Chapter Nine
Emily’s heart skipped just being near Dane, a man at ease in designer clothes or jeans. He’d pressed the rooftop button on the elevator, and she’d read in the hotel brochure that the restaurant there had a five-star rating. Awareness of his fingers, so close to hers, yet not touching, was heightened by the near-brush of their bodies as they stood next to one another. Light jazz music played. His strong profile made her want to be with him, always.
She knew better than to think forever with Dane. Dane wasn’t a forever guy.
He was the one who had left her. In response, she’d dived into learning and lost herself in history, which always seemed more interesting than the real world with him gone.
He’d said it wasn’t her fault. Was she holding onto the past like a shield? Emily stepped onto the rooftop, dazzled by string lights and sheer white curtains that created a romantic floating tent. A string quartet played in the corner. Above was the bright moon and below, the white boulevards. Emily turned toward Dane with amazement.
Dane stood proud in t
he suit she’d chosen, like his strong shoulders were holding up the world. She reached for his fingers. “This is beautiful Dane.”
He kissed the back of her hand. “I didn’t want to risk taking you out of the hotel tonight. We don’t need more trouble.”
“Agreed.” Her heart fluttered. Boy, she was falling hard for Dane—again. This magical rooftop was much nicer than prom had been. She let out a sigh as the maitre’d bowed and greeted them. “It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to just talk.”
Those stolen moments at Michael’s house where they’d snuck down to the beach—she, spellbound by Dane and without a clue as to what the future might bring, he, torn by guilt. Now she knew herself, and him, and she’d hate herself if she didn’t try. “This view is great.”
Dane directed them to follow the maitre’d to a table. A waiter asked her opinion on the wine and she chose a merlot. The waiter poured as she settled into her seat with a napkin on her lap. Once they were alone again, Dane asked her, “And the string quartet? Too much?”
“Not at all.” She leaned closer and inhaled the woodsy scent of Dane’s cologne. Being with him made her lips tingle. Heat rose to her face and she looked into her wine glass. “I’ve always had this crush on you and no other guy ever compared.”
He put his elbow on the small table. “Emily, no other woman could ever take your place. You shine brighter than any star.”
Emily glanced up at him and smiled. “Even your movie star?”
His big, sexy brown eyes narrowed. “My what?”
She reached for her earrings that weren’t on her ear as she said, “We were at the Oscars, and my sister Isabelle said she saw you—I ran into the room to find you but never did see you or your date.”
Now that she’d admitted her feelings, she sipped her wine with relief. Honesty was important—he had to know.
Dane picked up his glass too. “Isabelle was right. I was there, but with a fellow Harvard teacher—Natalie. Her research that evening was the basis for a documentary. We went as friends, that’s all. She isn’t half as lovely as you.”
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