Thousands

by Pepper Winters

  I shook his grip reluctantly. “You presume correctly. And you are?”

  “Sully Sinclair. Hawk told me you’re in the business of creating custom yachts?”

  I forced the urge to rip off the stranger’s mask. I’d tolerated Jethro’s black decoration because I’d seen photos of him and knew enough of his history to do business with him.

  This man I’d never heard of or met.

  A masquerade wasn’t an ideal place to discuss work or acquisitions and not because liquor was flowing and there were much better things to do than talk facts and figures but because I had no idea what this guy looked like.

  Was he good or bad?

  Enemy or trustworthy?

  About my height, he wore a mask that covered his entire head in smoky grey. A row of ivory beads decorated his forehead, forming into horns down his skull. His tux matched the smoke of his mask, turning him metallic, mysterious, and foreign.

  His blue eyes were the only thing visible along with his jaw.

  “Are you in the market?” I forced myself to ask, keeping up appearances when all I wanted to do was shove him aside and stalk after Pim.

  “As a matter of fact, yes. I own a few islands in the Pacific, and my clients are used to a certain level of luxury.” He flashed a shark-like smile. “Let’s just say...I like to keep them happy.”

  The level of darkness in his voice told me everything I needed to know.

  He dabbled in business I probably wouldn’t approve of. He was a typical client—a scoundrel of the underworld who hid in dark shadows and paid in blood money.

  A client I willingly sought because they paid better than white-collar billionaires, which meant I could clear my debt faster and fund my vengeance better.

  Hiding my disdain for his occupation, I faked interest. “So you’re after smaller vessels?”

  “I’m after quite a few. Large and small. If you have time to discuss.”

  Every inch of me wanted to tell him that, no, I didn’t have time. Not tonight. I wanted to tell him if he planned to do business it would be on my terms when my mind wasn’t on my woman.

  I’d set up another meeting—preferably online after I’d investigated who he was, what islands he owned, and what business he ran. I’d probably hack into his bank accounts to see if he had the funds before asking him to email me the shopping list he had in mind.

  But I’d come tonight for this very reason.

  And this gentleman might buy more than one—if he had money.

  It could be entirely worth my while.

  Hoping that Jethro Hawk had done enough vetting on his guests that I was safe to waste my time on Sully Sinclair, I kept my temper and smiled politely. “I can spare ten minutes.”

  Chapter Thirty

  ______________________________

  Pimlico

  I STOOD SURROUNDED by diamonds.

  All loose and ripe for the picking like strawberries nestled in straw. Only these berries were made of faceted age-pressured beauty and nestled in black velvet.

  Where was security? Why were there no locks and keys?

  For the past twenty minutes, I’d stood gobsmacked at the wealth just scattered around the trestle tables like cheap glitter. From tiny gems to large baubles, anyone could come in, pick up a diamond, and leave.

  It petrified me for some reason—how could the Hawks trust their guests not to pilfer? It horrified me at the lack of care, hinting at the amount of wealth they must have to write off this entire room if someone did get sticky fingers.

  How much were they worth if they could give up a room full of diamonds to masked men and women in their home? And how much did they put on a human life to justify mining so many stones? Did they practice ethical mining techniques or were these blood diamonds I’d heard so much about?

  You’re running out of time again.

  Just like at Elder’s warehouse deliberating over what to steal, I found myself leg locked in the centre of the room, entirely suspicious and not in the least willing to take something that didn’t belong to me.

  I’d been cured of that stupid calling.

  I’d made a promise to quit my unsuccessful career as a thief.

  So ignore him.

  My hands balled, and I nodded.

  I would do that.

  He’d requested a task, but for once, I wouldn’t obey.

  I wouldn’t steal anything. I refused to do it again.

  Turning in place, I held my chin higher, happy with my decision to ignore Elder even though I still struggled with outright insubordination.

  A figure captured my gaze, slamming my heart into a brick wall. I levitated for a second as every muscle jumped.

  Holy hell.

  The man in the door frame remained cloaked in shadow; a slight chuckle filled the space. “Sorry, I thought you saw me.”

  Instantly, biting needles and creepy crawly legs worked over my skin.

  Safe or dangerous?

  Nice or Nasty?

  Either way, I was alone with a strange man in an empty room in an unknown house surrounded by masked guests.

  No.

  My heart shook its head violently, deciding this scenario couldn’t be permitted. Not again.

  I would gladly accept my shortcomings about crowds and foreign spaces. I would work on my leftover flaws from my past.

  But not here.

  Not now.

  Backing up, I glanced quickly over my shoulder to another exit that led to somewhere I didn’t know. It would be somewhere in the hall at least—somewhere away from this stranger, sparkling diamonds, and potential threat. “I, eh...I was just leaving.”

  My feet sweated in my high heels, making me stumble. My hands clutched my voluptuous skirts, wishing I could tear them off and run.

  The man stepped forward, pushing his hands into his tux trousers. He shook his head, his mask quivering a little. “No need to worry. I mean you no harm.”

  I quit retreating.

  I recognised him now he’d stepped into the light. Diamonds painted tiny rainbows over his black attire making him seem almost dreamlike.

  The host of this masquerade.

  Jethro Hawk.

  I looped my fingers together to hide the residue shakes from his arrival. “Mr. Hawk, I’m sorry you startled me. I was just admiring—”

  He tilted his head with a sharp smile. “I know what you were doing.”

  He can’t possibly know.

  I giggled. I never giggled.

  I positively hated the way he made me nervous and jumpy and so aware every exchange was so much more. He wasn’t just here to discuss diamonds, just like he wasn’t just a man who’d inherited his family’s fortune.

  He was someone I didn’t trust.

  Even Elder, when he first stole me, didn’t make me this uncomfortable.

  Coming toward me, Jethro plucked a mid-size diamond from a tray and tossed it in his palm. “You’re not here to admire.” He gave me a dark look through his mask. “Are you?”

  I shrugged. “Of course, I am. That and hiding from the crowds.”

  “Ah, yes. I seem to remember you saying you’d return to the ball and listen to music—”

  “Am I not allowed to change my mind?” My fingers twitched in my skirts.

  “Everyone has the right to change their mind; although, you’d already changed yours while lying to Prest.”

  How could he possibly know that?

  I swallowed hard, determined not to let him see how rattled he made me.

  “Why would you voluntarily go back into something you hated?” He cocked his head. “You’re avoiding the ballroom just like I am, though for different reasons. There was no need to lie.”

  “Who said anything about lying?” I narrowed my eyes, desperate to turn this strange conversation onto him and ask what his reasons were for avoiding the very guests he’d invited. I couldn’t see him being afraid of anything—not with his title and majestic hall and incredible family.

  He didn�
��t move, watching me far too perceptively.

  The silence stretched on and on, adding more flutters to my belly. I couldn’t stand it. “Well...I suppose, despite my reluctance to mingle, I’ve been rude enough.” Moving toward the exit, I shot him a thin smile. “It was a pleasure to see you again. Thank you for your hospitality.”

  I needed to get away. I didn’t like the nervous bubbles in my blood. I didn’t like being watched as if he knew so much more than he should. And I definitely didn’t enjoy the way he came off so cultured while my instincts whispered he wasn’t always so well behaved.

  I had an indescribable need to find Elder and sail away on the Phantom.

  The salty waves of the sea had infected me just as they’d infected him. The steady firmness of soil beneath my feet was no longer comforting. I wanted the constant ebb and flow and freedom found from the movable sea.

  “He loves you, you know.”

  I slammed to a stop, scarcely breathing.

  “I think you know that, but I doubt it’s because he’s told you.”

  Turning slowly, I faced him with wide eyes. “How do you know he loves me? Did he talk to you about me?” How else could this stranger know the inner thoughts of the man I’d fallen for?

  Jethro shook his head with a languid elegance. “He spoke, yes, but not in the verbal sense.” Moving closer, he stopped a couple of feet away, giving me the sense of privacy while creating an intimate space between us. “I made a promise a long time ago not to eavesdrop on people. It’s bad for me and the person who catches my interest. However, I also can’t stand by and not tell the truth when neither party is doing so.”

  His lips quirked almost in apology. “Prest loves you as much as I love my wife. He’s wracked with it, tormented by it, so fucking twisted with it, he’s drowning in guilt for something he’s done.” He cocked his head. “I have no right to ask...but what has he done?”

  I bristled, standing up for Elder while this man believed he could be capable of harm. “He’s done nothing.”

  “Someone has done something.” He scanned me head to toe. “You speak, too. Fairly loudly, I might add.”

  I crossed my arms. “I’ve hardly said anything to you.”

  He merely smirked and looked at the diamond as he balanced it over his knuckles before capturing it in his palm. “If he wasn’t the one who hurt you, who did?”

  My heart stood still, poised like a deer ready to bound into the safety of bushes. “Why do you think anyone has hurt me?”

  His gaze hardened. “Are you saying they didn’t?”

  “I’m not in the habit of lying—even if you think I am. Nor am I in the habit of telling such things to strangers.”

  He nodded respectfully. “And I’m not in the usual habit of prying into people’s privacy. My apologies.”

  I huffed, unwilling to forgive him and this crazy conversation.

  Clearing his throat, he held out the diamond. “Please...take this.”

  I uncrossed my arms, letting them fall by my side. “What?”

  “Please,” he urged. “Take it.”

  My hand came up, accepting the gem before I could argue. I expected it to be warm from his touch, but it was just as cool as the others glittering on the table unloved. He’d given it to me but why? Perhaps it was to borrow, to hold, to put it back with its brothers and sisters.

  I turned toward a trestle, ready to drop the gemstone onto a tray.

  He shook his head. “Don’t. It’s for you.”

  “For me?” My mouth hung wide. “You’re giving me a diamond?”

  “The diamond is for him. The gift is for you.”

  My head ached trying to keep up with him. “What...what do you mean?”

  “I mean the task he set you.”

  My veins turned to solid ice. “How do you know about that?” My skin broke out in goosebumps, matching the ice in my blood. Was this man telepathic? There was no other explanation for his knowing about Elder’s sinful request of a robbery.

  What is going on here?

  He stepped back, placing his hands into his pockets. “I overhead him in the corridor. He told you to steal a diamond.”

  My cheeks flared with heat. “Oh, my God, of course.” My insides gushed with relief for a rational explanation. “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t going to...I swear. I was about to leave when you—” I dropped the diamond onto the closest tray, opening my hands wide in evidence of returning what wasn’t mine. “There, see...it’s back where it belongs.”

  Footsteps sounded behind Jethro. He didn’t turn to see our visitor, but his entire body relaxed, his mouth became less taut, his shoulders less tense. “Hello, Nila. I was just having a conversation with our guest here.”

  His wife glided into the room with her swan and raven dress. She could’ve been on a catwalk with how stunning and modelesque she appeared. I had no doubt she’d designed the dress she wore, just as she’d designed mine. She was a magician with cloth and organza. “Jethro, I thought we agreed you wouldn’t terrify anyone.”

  He chuckled as she slotted herself into him and kissed his cheek.

  “Not terrifying. Merely tormenting.” He tilted his chin at me. “Ms. Pimlico here won’t take the diamond I gave her.”

  “Ah yes, the one Mr. Prest told her to steal.”

  “You heard that, too?” I asked, mortified.

  Nila nodded. “Hard not to when a man’s voice carries as much pain as yours does.”

  The muscles in my back relaxed a little. So that was how Jethro had known things about us. He must be a dialect master or hidden body language expert.

  My God, what my mother would do to study him and learn his skills at reading people.

  Jethro wrapped an arm around Nila, his fingers sinking into her dress as if touching her wasn’t just about love but also about support.

  She glanced at him with such adoration in her eyes, I was uneasy at intruding.

  Tearing his gaze back to me, Jethro murmured, “Take the diamond, Pimlico. It’s yours. Trade it for the item Mr. Prest had my staff urgently create.” Guiding his wife toward the exit behind them, he added, “Also, my advice...if you love him back, I wouldn’t wait for him to screw up whatever you have. It’s been my experience that men overthink such things. Sometimes, all it takes is for a woman to show them that no matter how bad things are, forgiveness is easy if there is love.”

  Nila smiled at me, a mixture of excitement and understanding on her face. “Whatever it is my husband mentioned to you, trust him. Talk to your man, or if that doesn’t work...seduce him.”

  Laughing quietly with their heads bowed, they left the room leaving me alone once again with their priceless stones.

  Only now, I didn’t have the task of stealing. I had the momentous quest of accepting a diamond that’d been gifted.

  I truly didn’t want to claim it.

  But now I felt rude if I didn’t.

  Would they know if I left it?

  Would they care if I did?

  So many rainbow pebbles were scattered around the room, I doubted they’d even know.

  As I headed toward the exit, I scooped up the diamond and clutched it tight.

  Whatever Jethro meant about Elder loving me, whatever wrong he believed Elder had done...I couldn’t permit it to continue.

  Elder left me at the prison because he thought I hated him for making me speak. He’d heard what I’d said to my mother about Alrik wanting to control my mind and twisted it onto his own actions.

  He wasn’t innocent in that regard.

  He had forced me to talk.

  He had layered me with ultimatums and timelines.

  But he’d done it all while falling in love with me.

  He loves me...

  I drifted through the door in a trance.

  Was it wise to trust Jethro's declaration? How could a complete stranger know?

  But he was right—Elder was overthinking and ruining what was simple between us.

  Love was simple.
>
  It was life that made it complicated.

  And I was done waiting for him to figure it out.

  I’d find the courage to ask him if he loved me because I loved him, and it wasn’t some sort of platonic or patriotic or problematic kind of love.

  It was honest and true and completely entwined with lust.

  I loved him as my friend and protector.

  I loved him as my romantic partner.

  I loved him as any wife would love her husband.

  If I could stare him in the eyes and make him believe that...maybe then he’d be able to accept whatever he was running from.

  Jethro’s voice repeated as I floated down the corridor beneath massive gold-stitched tapestries: “He loves you, you know.”

  As much as I would love confirmation from Elder, I didn’t need it.

  I knew he loved me every time he touched me. I felt it in his stare, his touch, his voice, his kiss. Even in his refusal and rage.

  I knew he loved me every time he apologised or pushed me away or hurt my feelings by trying to protect me even when we both throbbed with barely restrained desire.

  I knew he loved me before he knew.

  He loved me.

  I loved him.

  I didn’t need anyone else to tell me.

  I know.

  I trust.

  It’s true.

  He loves me...

  And that was the most incredible thing of all.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  ______________________________

  Elder

  I FOUND PIM drifting down the corridor with her hand clutched tight and a faraway look upon her face. Her mask hid yet more of her secrets; her dress draping her in the many bruises she’d survived.

  Once again, the drive to know her thoughts ripped through me. Questions demanded to be asked. An interrogation whispered to be performed.

  Her crown mask drove me insane. I hated that it hid parts of her from me. I despised that her stunning face was barred.

  I knew my tension was due to my racing, complicated brain, but I couldn’t stop blaming her for doing this to me. For getting inside my heart where I had no defences left. For making me fall when I couldn’t afford to.