Desire Wears Diamonds (33 page)

Michael lifted her back onto her chair, but
held his place looking levelly into her eyes. “India changed so
many.”

“Tell me again that there is nothing—nothing
else between you and Sterling that you haven’t shared. I feel like
I’m blind and there’s a panther in the corner of the room. I can
sense it there but every time I ask you, you tell me we’re alone
and that there’s nothing!” She caught at his hands, and pressed
them against her heart. “You would tell me, wouldn’t you?”

“Grace. I would tell you. If I could.”

“If you could?” She dropped his hands. “In
the garden. Do you remember when you said you didn’t know this
version of yourself? As if I’d changed you…”

“You have.”

“For the better?” Grace’s hands dropped.
“You’ve done so much to protect my independence and to—allow me to
dream of embracing a better version of myself. But I want you to
reassure me that you are better and that I’ve not somehow made your
life worse or robbed you of—“

“Grace!” He pulled her into his arms. “My
life was nothing. I’d have thrown it away, it held that much value
to me…” And again, Michael had to stop as he’d gone far too close
to admitting the worst.
Truth be told, I was in the process of
laying it down when I met you, Grace. And I still will if it comes
to it.
“None of it matters. I am better for knowing you. I’m
sure of it.”

“Sterling—“

“I don’t want to talk about Sterling
anymore. He’s meddled and pushed for far too long and I won’t give
him any more of us. Not more than he’s already taken.”

“Michael, I know what he has taken from me.
Tell me what he has taken from you.”

Michael shook his head and led her toward
the sofa where they could sit together to talk. “Not yet. Please,
let me keep a few small mysteries for just a while longer.”

“Mysteries?”

“Grace, I’m asking you to trust me. We are
conspirators, are we not? My life is yours. And I won’t keep
secrets from you for much longer, I swear. But for now, if ever you
cared for me or hold out any affection for my worthless carcass,
I’m begging you to wait.”

“Michael,” she said carefully. “Do you…not
know?”

“Know what?” he asked, instantly wary.

“That I love you. That it is not a question
about holding affection for your carcass, which by the way, I don’t
believe is worthless! And that I…from the first moment I saw you,
have been quite affected.” She put her hands on either side of his
face, cradling him. “I love you, Michael Rutherford, and I trust
you without being asked.”

For a moment, he couldn’t breathe.
She
loves me. Just like that.

“Grace, I—should have said how I felt long
before now. But I’m not gifted with a knack for prose and how do
you tell your wife that you worship her, her every piece and part
and mostly, her every unpredictable thought?”

She smiled. “Just so!” She kissed him on the
cheek and stepped back, pressing her hands against her face to cool
herself. “We mustn’t start! Mrs. Clay will have noted your return
and she’ll be up any minute to make sure you’re not starving.”

He laughed and picked her up for a playful
turn about the room before dutifully putting her back down on her
feet. “Shall I tell her I intend to feast on my wife and live off
your kisses for sustenance?”

Grace struck him on the shoulder, “No!”

“I’ve been spending my days at my sports
club to give you privacy to work. Would you…like me to stay home
tomorrow?”

She shook her head. “No. You cannot be
tethered and I…I cannot think of wasting hours writing when you are
close enough to kiss.” She sighed. “Perhaps in time, do you think
I’ll grow used to you, Michael? Will I learn to think and work
without being so distracted by the scent of your skin?”

“That must be true. Although,” he kissed
along the line of her shoulder, savoring the peak and then working
his way to the sensitive valley where her neck rose in a proud and
inviting column, “I won’t rush to it. I like the idea of proving a
distraction to my wife—that you might want me.”

“Might?” She laughed, a sudden flurry of
movement and pushed him back until she was proudly astride him on
the couch, pinning him beneath her. “How can I relieve you of this
doubt, husband?”

“You already have,” he said as he looked
into her eyes. “I want to protect you, Grace.”

“You are the kindest, gentlest man in the
world.”

Michael closed his eyes.
No. Only in your
eyes, Grace, and I will spend whatever time I have on this earth
protecting the way you look at me.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

“The next time my wife asks you to leave,
may I suggest you obey her as quickly as you can?” Michael offered
and then enjoyed the sight of Sterling nearly falling out of his
chair in surprised terror. It had been frighteningly easy to get
over the garden wall and enter Porter’s house through the back
door. But he was tired of ringing doorbells and pretending to
follow the rules.

Time to make sure I’ve got the Jackal’s
complete attention and that he’s not going to waste any of that
fury on Grace or the Grove.

“How the hell did you get in my study?”
Sterling asked, rage and fear making him sound weak.

Michael knew better. Sterling wasn’t weak.
He was unpredictable and dangerous.

“I walked in. Perhaps your housekeeper is
too busy to answer the door?” Michael shrugged his shoulders. “I’m
amazed you didn’t expect me, Porter. After all, it’s common
courtesy to return a call, isn’t it?”

“You rang the bell?” Porter was still
struggling to accept Michael’s silent entry into his study. “Return
a call? Oh, that! As if you didn’t have everything to do with the
insulting mess of a—“

“You promised to leave us be.” Michael
leaned slowly against the window frame. “Don’t push me,
Sterling.”

“I’ll push where and when I wish.”
Sterling’s shoulders relaxed as he warmed to the subject, sure of
the solid ground beneath his feet. “Besides I said I wouldn’t
bother you. I never said I wouldn’t drop in to make sure my sister
was thriving in your loving hands.”

“You upset her and the staff at the inn. I
recall telling you that if you interfered or harmed any of mine
before the deadline, all bets would be off.” Michael crossed his
ankles. “Or did that slip your mind?”

Sterling’s lips pressed into a tight line.
“I didn’t think of it as interference. And the only one who was
hurt was me!”

Michael smiled. “You look unbruised. Mind
you don’t drop in again, Sterling. I already loathe our deal. Don’t
give me a reason not to play along.”

“Don’t threaten me, Rutherford. I still have
all the power and you know it.” Sterling deliberately put his feet
up on the corner of his desk. “Your presence here proves it! A
little demonstration of how easily I can access my sister and
you’ve come running to huff and puff and pound your chest to scare
me off. You’re the one who is frightened, Rutherford. It is you who
has everything to lose.”

Michael pushed away from the wall and took
one step toward the desk. “Look at me, Sterling. What do you
see?”

Sterling’s brow furrowed in confusion.
“Beyond a man outmatched by his betters?”

“Look again.” Michael smiled slowly,
deliberately summoning a demonic look to his eyes. It was a trick
he’d once used to make a man piss himself with fear and he reveled
in the slow crumbling of Sterling’s confidence. “I meant to tell
you but you were in such a hurry for the match, for the wedding,
for any chance you could engineer to draw us closer to that moment
when you could announce your intentions and crow like an idiot—I
didn’t want to spoil your fun.”

“To tell me what?”

“Let’s play a game first. Tell me what you
know about me, Sterling.”

“This is a pointless exercise! You were a
soldier in the East India Trading Company’s army. You live in an
inn. You…”

Michael sighed. “You know nothing that I
haven’t told you, which means you don’t know me at all.”

“I know enough! I know you’re one of the
Jaded! I know you can get me that diamond and that you
will
get me that diamond by midnight on Sunday! You love Grace and
unless any of that is untrue, I know everything I need to know!

“Oh, you’re crafty! And yes, I will do what
you ask to spare Grace’s life and give you the diamond but I don’t
think you’ve really weighed it out, dear
brother.
” Michael
subtly shifted his weight to the balls of his feet. “May I say,
with all due respect, you are a miserable tactician, Sterling.”

“To hell with you!”

“Yes. You’ve already kicked open the door.
The Jaded hate me for my betrayal of their interests to pursue this
marriage. And once we make the exchange, my banishment will be
permanent with no hope of forgiveness. I won’t have a friend in the
world.”

“Good!” Sterling blurted out like a
malicious child.

“Not good for you, Porter. You’ve made me
deadlier than ever I was before and seen to it that I have nowhere
to turn. And it gets worse.”

“Worse? For you perhaps but I fail to see
how your misery is any of my concern, Rutherford.”

“Because you have a tiger by the tail,
Porter.” Michael put his hands on the edge of the desk,
deliberately letting Sterling take in the disadvantages of his
position in the room, how mismatched they were physically and how
there was no chance of him reaching the doorway alive if Michael
didn’t want him to reach it. “I wasn’t a soldier, Porter. I was a
killer. I was the man the natives never saw and when my commanding
officer pointed out a target that he wished removed, I
never
missed.”

“Y-you exaggerate to—“

Michael shook his head. “I was the only man
in that dungeon who deserved to be there. I’d have accepted my
tortured end with a smile on my face but the innocence of the
others—I couldn’t live with another sacrifice for my sins. So I
vowed to protect those men at any cost with my last breath. They
inspired me to remake myself and when that wall broke away…
I
lived for the Jaded.
”

Sterling opened his mouth but no sounds came
out.

Michael continued. “Now thanks to you, I
don’t have their brotherhood and I’m deprived of that bond. But I
have Grace.” Michael stood up straight. “You mistook me for a man
of honor and chivalry, Porter, and decided it was a weakness you
could exploit. But those things died inside of me in India and the
only thing I have left of my humanity is my love for Grace. I am
honorable because Grace would have it so.”

“The treasure…”

“I’ll give you your diamond and when I walk
away, you will be grateful, Porter, grateful because my lovely wife
admires a man who keeps his word. But if you think to double back
later and trouble me again, I want you to remember
exactly
what kind of man I am.”

“Duly noted.” Sterling folded his hands
behind his back, as solemn as a priest.

Michael smiled. “Once you have the diamond,
you’ll have to let go of my tail, Porter, and then you’re going to
have to pray every day for Grace’s continued health and happiness.
Can you guess why?”

Sterling nodded. “I’m beginning to see the
way of it.”

“That’s right. Because if
anything
ever happens to my beloved Grace, then my last tether to reason and
the restrictions of a moral world are gone forever. Do you think
one more soul’s weight on my conscience will matter at the end of
that day? Do you think I wouldn’t kill you gleefully and laugh on
my way to the gallows?”

“Aren’t you afraid?” Sterling asked quietly,
fear threading through his words. “That I’ll take the diamond and
kill you? If you’re such a…threat?”

“Afraid? Aren’t you afraid I’ll leave
detailed notes with evidence of who I’ll be meeting and why so that
the police are on your doorstep within hours of my death?” Michael
crossed his arms. “We’ll meet late Sunday at a place of my
choosing. I’ll send you word an hour before and you’ll come to
retrieve your treasure. We shall both leave quite alive and
unharmed. For I have an appointment to keep later that night,
Porter. And if I miss it, how long will you last?”

“Unlike you,” Sterling stiffened his spine.
“I am a man of my word. You give me what I want and no one will be
harmed.”

Michael sighed. “You’re a villain, Porter. I
never had any hope of Heaven, and Hell? Hell is familiar ground.
Threaten Grace after our deadline, or anyone I care to claim as
family and your next lesson in tactics won’t involve a polite
outline of my skills or an explanation of my past.” Michael leaned
in and lowered his voice to a whisper. “You’ll get to Hades in
pieces, Porter.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Feint. Lunge. Strike. Feint. Lunge.
Strike.

It was the fluid dance of man and sword that
made Michael’s muscles sing in protest as he repeated the forms
over and over. He had no sparring partner and worked alone.
Apparently even in his sports club, rumors of his blackened
character still swirled around him and warned off any casual
acquaintances. No gentleman would seek out friendship with a man
with a damaged reputation—not without risk to his own good name. It
was a rule Michael understood and he’d made no effort to breach the
lines.

It’s all over soon anyway. Why drag another
soul into the mess or—

“Fighting ghosts?” Rowan asked, as he came
up the outside walk alongside the workout room. The brick gym was
open to the courtyard for air and a low wall with columns gave it
an almost Spartan feel. “Or a better question, are you
winning?”

Michael lowered the tip of his sword to the
sawdust-covered ground and turned to wave at Rowan in greeting. “If
I were losing, would I admit it?”

Rowan leaned through the opening and rested
on his elbows. “Weeks ago, I’d have answered that without a
thought. But now? You were always hard to read but lately you’ve
made me feel like a seer trying to read owl feathers and pigeon
bones.”