Family Jewels Read online

  The waiter left. Trevor reached for a small carafe of maple syrup and drizzled a golden streak over his waffle with careful precision. “Tell me about the diamond Mr. Andrews gave you.”

  “No.”

  “Why not? We’ve already established that’s what it is, right?”

  “No, you assumed that’s what it is. I won’t tell you because my client hasn’t done anything wrong.” Cynthia cut into her omelet and watched melted Swiss cheese ooze out onto the plate. “Until I know differently I must protect his confidentiality and his property. To do anything less is unethical. Don’t think it’s because I don’t want to cooperate with you, Agent. I was very cooperative with the cops. But there’s a limit to what I can tell you. I’m not about to sabotage my career without a damned good reason.”

  “I certainly don’t expect you to.” Trevor quirked an eyebrow and picked up his knife and fork. “Did you notice anything unusual about the diamond?” He lifted a healthy bite of sausage to his mouth.

  She shook her head. “You have a one-track mind, Agent.”

  “Not true.” He speared a strawberry loaded with whipped cream and ate it. “Did you see a mark of any sort? Numbers, perhaps?”

  Cynthia chewed a mouthful of omelet, not really tasting her food. The quirky series of numbers she’d seen had excited Mr. Andrews too. What could they possibly mean? No matter. Ultimately her client had more right to that information than anyone else.

  “Do you mean was it GIA laser-engraved?”

  “That’s not what I meant. I asked if you saw a mark or numbers.”

  “I can’t say.” She cast him a challenging grin.

  His eyes narrowed to slits of blue. “Can’t? Or, won’t?”

  She shrugged. “Both.”

  After a bite of his waffle, Trevor’s posture suddenly changed from relaxed to rigid and alert. He stared over her shoulder, focused on something or someone in the crowd behind her. When she started to turn around to see what caught his attention, he grabbed her hand.

  “No, Cyn. Don’t turn around.” He spoke softly, just above whispering. “Are you finished with your meal?”

  “No. Why?”

  “We need to leave, darling.”

  “I’m not your darling.” She pushed her plate aside. “I’m not hungry anymore. I’ll take it home and heat it up for dinner.”

  “We’ll go out for dinner.” He opened his wallet and laid a crisp fifty-dollar bill on the edge of the table. He put his almost empty coffee cup on top of the money. “Let’s go. Straight to the car, no stops inside the lobby or for the ladies’ room.”

  “What’s the rush?”

  Trevor stood and took her elbow in a strong grip, urging her out of her chair. “Cynthia, I need you to trust me now. Just come along, quickly.”

  She started to argue, having sucked in a long breath for it but the urgency she felt in him through his touch and the dangerous look in his hard eyes made her pause. He took her hand, squeezing slightly. She grabbed her backpack and purse and walked with him.

  “Can you at least tell me where we’re going?”

  He leaned down to whisper in her ear. Her skin tingled where his breath touched her. To the casual observer it would look like a lover’s whisper. “Where we go depends on our tail. I’ll decide once we’re in the car.”

  “Tail? What kind of tail? Speaking of tails, I really need to go home now. My cat is still missing.”

  “I’m sorry about your cat. Your life is more valuable to me.”

  “What? Wait a freaking minute here!” She jerked her hand out of his. “My life? Am I still in danger?”

  Trevor stepped back and put his arm around her shoulders, forcefully guiding her forward again. “Not here, Cyn. I’ll explain in the car. Now move.”

  They exited the restaurant and hurried through the luxurious hotel lobby, across the polished marble floor, stopping only as long as it took to reclaim his jacket from a cheerful coat check girl. He wrapped the heavy leather around Cynthia’s shoulders and urged her out the doors to the valet parking station. Trevor gave the hotel valet attendant his claim ticket and then ushered Cynthia over to stand against the wall. He kept his arm around her shoulders and tucked her into the firm warm length of his body.

  Geez, the man feels good! He even smells good. Clean and woodsy.

  Outside it snowed. Light flakes floated down and quickly melted on contact with the well-trodden concrete sidewalk. Trevor’s rental car, a silver Ford Taurus, was pulled into the hotel driveway and stopped beside a taxi where another valet unloaded passengers and luggage.

  “Let’s go.” Trevor propelled her toward the car, glancing once over his shoulder at the hotel lobby. He yanked open the passenger side door. “Get in.”

  Puzzled, Cynthia moved woodenly, deciding to wait until he started driving to ask the questions humming in her brain. He shut the door as soon as she was inside and practically vaulted over the hood to get to the driver’s side. He slid behind the wheel, shifted the car into drive and sped off.

  Chapter Seven

  Cynthia had never been inside a car with a driver who actually squealed the tires in his haste to make a getaway. She scrambled into her seat belt and then grabbed the armrest for support.

  “You should buckle up, Trevor. It’s against the law here to drive without it.”

  He ignored her comments and pulled into traffic on West 57th Street without stopping, narrowly missing a furniture delivery truck and immediately merged into the far lane. He cut off a cab. The driver honked several times. Even though she couldn’t hear the words, the obscenities she saw coming out of the cabbie’s mouth incinerated the air.

  “Okay, I get the point.” Her voice wavered nervously. “We’re in a hurry. Can you just take a moment now to tell me what’s going on? You’re scaring me.”

  He kept looking in the rearview and side mirrors. “Someone is following us. I spotted one of them waiting outside the police precinct when we left. That same man came into the restaurant a few moments ago and he brought his hulking friend with him this time. My guess is they’re somehow related to the man who paid you an uninvited visit last night.”

  She sat, stunned. Her stomach flip-flopped. Then she spun around in her seat to look out the rear window. She didn’t notice anything unusual about the traffic behind them. “What? Where are they?”

  Sliding from lane to lane, taking risks even cabbies didn’t take, Trevor remained calm. “Dark gray sedan, two men,” he said. “One of them is Asian. Short on stature but he moves like a tiger on the hunt. The other is taller. Big blond, looks like he might have been one of your American football players. Know them?”

  “No. Do you?”

  He sent her a stern look. “They seem to know you.”

  She shrank down in her seat. Panic curled inside her stomach threatening the few meager bites of omelet she’d eaten. “Oh my God. Why? I don’t know anything.”

  He glanced at her again, his eyes narrowed with doubt. “Are you sure? There’s not some small thing you want to confess? I can help you, Cyn. But only if I know everything.”

  The wide back end of a slow-moving trash truck lumbered ahead of them. Trevor sped past it, dodging in front as soon as the car’s bumper cleared. That driver honked at them too. She squeezed her eyes shut for a second and then popped them open wide again when velocity pushed her back in her seat. Trevor sped up through an intersection just as the light turned red. Cynthia held her breath, fully expecting another car to hit them broadside.

  “Shit.” Her breath whistled out from between her clenched teeth. “Slow down! You’re gonna get us killed.”

  “Not bloody likely,” he murmured, expertly maneuvering around a stretch limousine. Without warning he swerved the car into a parking garage, barely waiting long enough for the automated ticket to spit out and raise the gate.

  “Why are we parking?”

  “We’re not. We’re losing our tail. And we need to finish our talk.”

  He drove around
the garage until he found a secluded parking space on the fourth level. He turned off the engine and slid his seat back. It gave him enough legroom to swivel sideways to face her.

  Cynthia unbuckled her seat belt. If she needed to get out of the car quickly, for whatever reason…

  “Relax. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  Her breath came quick and shallow. Her hands trembled. How foolish had she been to trust him to this point? What the hell did she know about Trevor St. James? Nothing. It didn’t matter now that Captain Hill had introduced them, practically insisted she speak to him. Trevor was a big, strong man and would easily be able to overpower her in such close confines. And she didn’t have the benefit of a golf club this time.

  He reached over to her shoulder and lifted the collar of his jacket up. “May I?”

  She leaned forward and let him take his coat, immediately missing the warmth and security it offered. He reached inside the pocket and produced a small key, then leaned over to unlock the glove compartment. She jerked when his hand brushed against her knee.

  “Please, just relax. I’m going to put my harness and gun back on, where they belong. If push comes to shove, I’d rather not be caught unprepared.”

  She watched warily when he shrugged into the leather harness, settling the big gun against his left side. He tugged his jacket back on, hiding his weapon from view.

  “Better?”

  Cynthia forced a smile, dimly aware that her whole body trembled. She took a deep breath, cringing when it warbled in her throat. Even her damned chin quivered.

  He raised his hand and stroked his knuckles across her cheek with the most feather-soft of touches. “You’re a very beautiful and brave woman, Cynthia Lyons. I won’t let them near you. I promise.”

  Her eyes blurred and prickled with tears. She swiped the annoying wetness away, knocking his hand away too. “Stop it! I don’t need coddling, Agent. I can and do take care of myself.”

  Trevor pulled back. “I don’t doubt that for a moment.”

  “Good. Tell me why they want me.”

  “It’s very complicated.” His voice dropped, husky and soothing inside the confines of the car. The warm British baritone made goose bumps dance across the skin of her arms.

  “Complicated?” She blinked through blurry vision. “Well, my life is complicated, too. Nothing makes sense to me anymore. I need to know why these guys want me.”

  “They want what you have, not specifically you, if that’s any consolation.”

  She laughed sarcastically. “No, it’s not. I’m trying to understand, Trevor. But you’re not giving me a single reason to break my code of ethics and ruin my career.”

  Trevor leaned his head back and closed his eyes for a moment. Despite her rising fear and confusion, the corded muscles in his neck and the sharp angle of his jaw fascinated her. When he opened his eyes, she jolted at the raw desperation in them.

  “I need your trust,” he said. “You must describe the diamond to me. Don’t leave out the tiniest detail.”

  “I need air.” Cynthia opened the car door and got out. She walked the few feet past the car’s bumper to the concrete wall and stared at the pale cracks that zigzagged through it like bolts of frozen lightning.

  The driver’s side door opened. She heard his steps come up behind her.

  “Are you all right?” he asked in a gentle, concerned voice.

  “Yeah. No. Not really.” She thought of her initial joy at first seeing the Russian white diamond. What a beautiful stone Mr. Andrews owned! But remembering her struggle with the man who broke into her apartment and threatened her with a knife interfered with that.

  The image of her brave cat flashed into her mind. Surely, he lay dead or horribly injured in an alley somewhere, with blood staining his beautiful white fur.

  “Oh God. Moses.” She clapped her hand over her mouth and fought back tears.

  Trevor turned her around and drew her against his chest. “No crying, Cyn, please. Talk to me. Tell me who Moses is?”

  “He’s my cat. My best friend.”

  “Ah. The cat who attacked your intruder?”

  She sniffled, afraid to rub her nose on his soft sweater. “Sorry. I’m usually pretty resilient in a crisis. The only thing that really makes me cry like a baby is to think something horrible has happened to Moses.”

  The heat from Trevor’s body felt so good. It enveloped her. His intoxicating male scent, a mixture of spice and woods, flooded her brain so that she couldn’t think clearly. She felt drawn to him—unable to resist snuggling closer.

  “I’m sure you’ll find him.” His deep voice rumbled in her ear.

  She swallowed the watery lump in her throat. “But I’m so worried about him. I can’t stop shaking and I can’t think straight.”

  “Your nerves are pumped with adrenaline. That’s what causes the shakes. And you haven’t had any sleep. It’s a normal reaction from someone who isn’t trained to handle dangerous situations on a regular basis. Quite understandable. Don’t be embarrassed, Cyn.” He rubbed his hands up and down her spine in firm, calming strokes, pressing her closer into the solid warmth of his body.

  A stuttering sigh of relief gusted from between her lips. “I’m scared, Trevor. That man last night, he wanted to kill me. I’m sure of it.”

  “Shh.” He brushed a wet spot from the corner of her eye with his thumb. “You fought him off. He’s not going to get another chance. I’ll protect you.”

  She couldn’t stop the moan from slipping out. His tender touch on her face and the heat from his body warmed her insides. Creamy heat settled into her belly and dampened the barely there crotch of her panties. She tipped her face up. His chin was just above her mouth. If he turned his face down, their lips would touch. “God, I shouldn’t be doing this. I want to believe you, Trevor. But I know this is too good to be true.”

  “You can trust me.”

  Cynthia stared at him for several seconds, trying to believe him, wanting it desperately. Sometimes the thin, blurry line between fantasy and reality was damned slippery to walk on. “I wish we’d met under different circumstances. Maybe then, I could.”

  “Cyn, let me be clear about one thing. My job and my duty are to protect you. But I’m also a man. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a beautiful woman in my arms. And you are quite a distraction.”

  She blinked. “I’m a distraction? Is that why you’re holding me?”

  His eyes narrowed. “I want you. I have since this morning when I first saw you.”

  Speechless, her gaze settled on his mouth, just inches away. His lips looked hard and soft at the same time. Masculine, yet so tender. She touched her tongue to her upper lip, yearning to taste him.

  “No, no. Don’t lose focus.” Trevor gave her a gentle shake. “Tell me what you know about the diamond? Did you see any marks or numbers on it?”

  She sobered. Was he just taking advantage of her vulnerability, her obvious interest in him physically, to get information?

  “I can’t tell you that.”

  His lips firmed. “All right. What can you tell me?”

  “Nothing.” She tried to squirm out of his arms but he held her tight.

  “You’re being unreasonably stubborn.”

  “My client’s interests come first until something changes that. And so far you haven’t given me a reason why I should tell you anything. So let’s start with this. Why don’t you tell me why this diamond is so important? If Mr. Andrews didn’t steal it, like you said, then why is Interpol looking for it?”

  “I can’t discuss that with you.”

  She laughed. “So, I guess that makes us even. I can’t tell you. You can’t tell me. Where does that leave us?”

  Trevor tipped her face up with one hand, holding her chin between his fingers and stared down into her eyes for a long moment.

  “We’ve reached an impasse, darling. Only one thing left to do.”

  “Wha—?”

  He captured her mouth, effec
tively stifling her words with a kiss. Cynthia stiffened, unprepared for the first full onslaught of his lips on hers. He teased her with tiny nips and licks until she softened and moaned against him. Her only reaction was to wrap her arms around his neck and pull him down harder. He offered comfort and safety. Passion to make her forget everything and so much more. His tongue slid past her lips and she welcomed his plundering of her mouth. He tasted like coffee and sweet cream, excitement and reassurance. Dark and light at the same time. Instantly, she wanted all of him, everything he was. She sucked his tongue deep inside and stroked him with hers.

  Trevor’s hands roamed over her body, following the curve of her hips, sneaking beneath the hem of her sweater and under the silky line of her bra straps. He touched her stomach, gently fingering the ticklish skin along her ribs until he found the swell of her breasts straining against her bra. When his thumbs whisked across her hard eager nipples she gasped at the sweet sensations that burst into her blood like champagne bubbles.

  “Oh God. Trevor,” she panted. “This is so crazy. Stupid, crazy. But I don’t want you to stop what you’re doing.”

  He sought her mouth again, capturing her lower lip between his teeth with a playful bite before letting go. “I’d love to do a lot more, darling. But not here. Not in a public parking garage. We’re too accessible.”

  She rubbed against him, pressing her breasts more firmly into his hands. She kissed his neck and the strong line of his jaw. He thrust his hips forward, letting her feel how hard he’d grown. She moaned at the thought of his cock buried deep inside her pussy. Judging by the impressive bulge in his pants now he wouldn’t disappoint her.

  Then his last words sank into her sex-fogged brain. With a heavy sigh, she pulled back and closed her eyes. “God, what am I doing? We’re not safe here, are we?”

  * * * * *

  Her kiss was a slice of pure heaven! Sweet and sultry, like the first mouthful of warm honey cake. Hungry licks of fire burned through Trevor’s blood. His cock throbbed with urgency. Cynthia’s body, her soft skin, everything about her was so responsive to his slightest touch. She wanted him to touch her, to take her. He couldn’t wait to suck the pert tips of her nipples deep into his mouth and find the silky wet slit between her legs. He wanted to explore her body with his tongue, his fingers and finally fill her with his straining cock.