Diamonds (Den of Thieves Book 1) (2 page)

Daria glanced back over her shoulder. The man was still behind her but it was clear that he was making his way across the room in her general direction.

She smiled, turning back away from his direction. Men always had the bad habit of chasing after her. The only bad thing was she never enjoyed it when they did that. Nor did she enjoy chasing them. That left only a small amount of men who would interest her.

Most of them were married or hopelessly in love with some cause or another.

Still she couldn’t help but wonder who the man was. A businessman? A Nobel from another country?

She hoped not a reporter. She had met more than a few of those in her day and they never ceased to get under her skin.

She glanced back again and he smiled at her but then he was stopped by another man.

He was handsome no doubt about it. Longer hair, dark blond, slightly unkempt and not clean-shaven. So probably not a reporter. They tended to be a little more clean cut than this one appeared to be.

A businessman? Or the son of one.

That had to be it. He had to be a son of someone important.

Not exactly the sort of man she wanted either. Most of them were spoiled beyond belief and their idea of their own importance was so inflated that they became almost intolerable at times.

She watched him slide away from one of the many businessmen that wandered about the room. He moved like someone with a purpose, a man on a mission.

And he was coming straight towards her and her father.

Her mind raced. She tried to come up with some excuse to escape or reasoning why she did not want to talk to him. His deep blue eyes locked with hers as he closed the distance between them and her mind went blank.

“Hi,” he smiled.

Daria wanted to turn around and walk away. She had no use for this type of man but something held her grounded to the spot.

“Hi,” she breathed, her eyes still locked with his.

Her father cleared his throat.

“Hi. I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Petros Sotir and this is my daughter Daria.” He reached out a hand to the younger man. “And you are?”

“Peter Turcott.” He said returning the handshake, “Pleasure to meet you.”

“And Mr. Turcott, have you been enjoying the party?” Her father was giving him the standard lines she had heard all too many times.

Her father did not like this man at all and was eager to be rid of him.

“And what do you do?” her father asked.

The man, Peter, looked at her and she could feel the heat of his gaze.

“Do?” He replied absently tearing his eyes away from Daria.

“Yes. What do you do with yourself?”

“Oh, I’m in acquisitions.” His response was brief as if he did not want to continue conversing with her father.

Not a good sign for him.

“Really, what firm?”

“Private acquisitions.” The emphasis was clearly on the ‘private’, which only made Daria’s heart flutter again.

“Yes, I understand but with what firm?”  Her father pressed. She knew that he was hoping to trip up the stranger.

“My clients wish to keep their anonymity,” he answered smoothly with another one of those smiles.

“Of course they do.” Her father’s eyes were dark.

“I was wondering if I could trouble you for a moment of your daughter’s time.”

Daria felt the heat of irritation rise up.

“I’m sorry. I have things I need to do.” How dare they speak as if she wasn’t even standing there?

Peter went to protest but her father stepped in, putting his hand up to silence him.

“I think you have your answer.”

“Yes, of course.” He smiled and stepped back to let them pass.

Their eyes met again but she was too fired up for those eyes to have any effect on her.

As she followed her father, making her way past Peter he grabbed her arm.

“I’m sorry if I upset you in any way. It wasn’t my intention,” he said leaning in to speak quietly in her ear.

His breath was hot and his cologne had a subtle musky scent.

“I’m sure you didn’t,” she whispered back pulling her arm away and continuing after her father.

“He is hiding something,” her father said once they were out of earshot.

“Like what?” Daria sighed, he was suspicious of anyone who came near her but she was curious as to what he was thinking this man’s intentions were.

The conspiracy theories over the years were entertaining.

“Well for one he didn’t want to tell me who he worked for.” Her father shook his head, “People like that make me suspicious.”

“Anyone who talks to me for any undefined reason makes you suspicious.”

“Yes there is that too I suppose.” He smiled taking her hand, “You know how I feel...”

“Yes I know. You worry about me too much.”

“Some days I fear it’s not enough.”

Chapter Two

Getting close to Daria was going to be harder than he thought. Her father seemed to be the proverbial guard dog. Not that he blamed the man. His daughter was beautiful.

He watched her walk down a hallway with her father. The gentle sway of her long hair as she walked had him mesmerized.

Giving himself a mental shake he tried to refocus his thoughts on his game plan. As beautiful as she was he was here for a reason and admiring her beauty was not it.

Being careful to keep behind them and out of sight he followed Petros and Daria as they made their way away from the party towards the back of the house.

“I am starting to get tired,” he heard her say.

“Alright sweetheart. Why don’t you go lie down and I’ll go see our guests off. I’ll come and say goodnight once they have left.”

A glance around a corner showed him the end of a quick embrace between father and daughter before her father turned to head back the way he came.

Sebastian ducked into an open doorway just as Petros walked by.

He held his breath for a few moments not daring to make a sound. A little too close for comfort. He stepped out of the room after he was sure the other man had disappeared back across the house to tend to his guests.

It certainly was going to be interesting now that Daria had retired for the night and her father had dismissed him so openly. He was going to have to find another way to get a tour of the house.

It was his job to get a lay of the land and even after two hours of mingling with the other guests and a futile attempt to gain favor with Daria he was no further ahead in his quest than when he started out.

He glanced around; nobody to be seen. A maid or a butler, hired hand of some sort would really come in handy right about now.

Quietly he started walking down the hallway. He was going to have to take the tour of the place all on his own.

He hadn’t made it far when a woman’s voice came from behind him.

“Are you always in the habit of wandering around your hosts’ houses?”

He spun around to face the voice and came face to face with Daria.

Words stumbled out of his mouth as he fumbled to straighten the thoughts in his mind.

“I’m sorry, I was just looking for the bathroom.” He smiled

“You would have passed two on your way to get here.”

Sebastian tried to look innocent.

“Try again,” she said her eyes narrowing at him.

“Truthfully I wanted to speak to you.” He smiled taking a half step closer. He could smell the faint smell of her perfume. Roses and vanilla.

“Really? I thought you had already done that this evening.” She crossed her arms across her chest and leaned back.

“I did, didn’t I?” His mind raced. He needed to find a way to salvage this situation before he found himself escorted off the property.

“Yes you did. And I could swear I made it clear that I did not want to speak with you any further.”

“I know. I felt bad and wanted to apologize for my behavior.”

“So you thought it would be a good idea to follow me around my house and corner me?” Her eyes narrowed again.

“I don’t know what I was thinking. I just knew that I didn’t want to leave you with a bad impression of me.”

“And why would you care what I think of you?”

He was about to answer and then stopped. Why would he?

“I don’t really have an answer for you to be completely honest but I do know that I upset you and I wanted to apologize.”

“Great. You’ve apologized. You can leave now.” She turned away, effectively dismissing him.

“That’s it?” he asked before he even realized the words had come out of his mouth.

She turned back to him.

“What did you think would happen?”

“I don’t know, I--” he stumbled again on his words, not for a second liking the turn that this conversation was taking.

“Did you think that I would just simply accept your apology, swoon and fall into your arms?”

“I--”

“If that is what you thought then you are very much mistaken Mr. Turcott.”  The ire in her voice was clear. “I am simply not that kind of woman.”

“I never thought you were!”

“Good then it is settled. You have said what you needed to say. I have listened to you. You go your way and I’ll go mine. Have a nice evening Mr. Turcott.” She turned and left him standing there with his mouth open wondering what in the hell just happened.

He turned and started back towards the party, his mind still playing back the conversation he but he soon found himself face to face with Daria’s father.

“Can I help you?” the older man said putting his hand on Sebastian’s arm.

Lady Luck was certainly not on his side today.

“I’m sorry, I got lost looking for the bathroom.” He smiled weakly.

“Young man I am not a fool.”

“I am sorry sir. I did not wish to imply that you were anything of the sort.”

“I saw the way you looked at my daughter earlier.”

Sebastian sighed. Was it that bloody obvious? He was certainly not on his game tonight.

“She is very beautiful, sir.”

Petros smiled for the first time since Sebastian had met him.

“Yes she is that.”

“I just wanted to apologize to her for the way our conversation went earlier. I hadn’t meant to be rude to her in any way. I did not want her to think poorly of me.” He lowered his head avoiding the other mans gaze.

“She is a tough one - a force to be reckoned with for sure.”

“I gathered that sir.”

“She will not put up with any nonsense.”

“I understand.” He felt his stomach squirm. He was not used to being raked over the coals the way that both Daria and now her father were doing.

“Neither will I.”

Sebastian nodded.

“Good now that we are clear on that, I would like to know what your intentions are towards my daughter.”

“Sir?”

“I want to know what you think you are doing? Because if she is just going to be another conquest in your pursuit of life, you can forget it.”

“I can assure you that I --” His head was starting to pound. How on earth had things gotten so far out of his control in such a short time?

“Many men have tried to woo my daughter. All have failed. I can tell you right now by the way you stumbled that you will as well.”