LITMIR.BIZ

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      “How clever of you to install the lights,” she said finally. “I feel as if I’m walking through a fairyland.”

      “I had them installed because the temperatures are often so hot here in South Florida, and I wanted my guests to be able to enjoy the gardens once the heat of the day had passed.”

      The streetlamps also offered the perfect places to install video surveillance equipment. Natalie was certain she’d spotted a tiny camera beneath the ornate shade of the light they’d just passed. She bet there were microphones, too. Carlo Brancotti was a very suspicious and very careful man.

      Turning, she shot him a very steady look. “And yet you offer entertainment that keeps your guests otherwise occupied.”

      He smiled at her. “Sometimes I prefer to enjoy the gardens under less crowded conditions. Come, there’s a new orchid I want to show you over there.”

      Though she kept her pace slow and her attention focused on the varieties of blooms that Carlo was pointing out to her, Natalie was thinking about the man walking next to her. Not once since he’d told her that he admired loyalty had he tried to touch her in any kind of personal way. Yes, he’d made it clear he wanted to dance with her, but even when he’d tipped her chin up to study her face, his touch had been impersonal. He was being a charming host and very much the gentleman—a persona that was a far right turn from the man she’d read about in the file Chance had compiled.

      But there were reasons other than romance why he might want to separate her from Steven. There’d been that moment in the gallery and another when he’d bypassed his “workspace” that she’d felt something. Did he suspect that she and Steven weren’t who they pretended to be? She couldn’t rid her mind of the certainty that this whole tour was some kind of test.

      Natalie the cop would use this opportunity to pump him for information, so she didn’t. Instead, she yawned, then glanced guiltily at Carlo. “I’m sorry. It’s not the company. Steven woke me very early for the flight here.”

      “Come. I’ll take you inside.”

      “And Steven?”

      “Sometimes the poker games go on into the morning hours.”

      She allowed disappointment to show in her eyes before she glanced away. “Oh.”

      “If you wish, I’ll send him to you,” Carlo offered as he led her back along the path.

      She shook her head. “No. He loves the game. It’s his one vice.”

      When they reached the door that he’d escorted her through earlier, he opened it. “If you go in this way, you can avoid the others in the conservatory.”

      She met his eyes again. “Thank you. Your home is lovely.”

      Natalie walked down the hallway without a backward glance. And she made very sure not to glance at the door with the coded access pad that led to Carlo’s “workspace.”

      CHANCE FOUND himself glancing at his watch for the fourth time in two hours. Natalie had not reappeared on the patio, and neither had Carlo Brancotti. He’d managed to keep his mind on the game, and he’d even managed to win a few hands. But he hadn’t been able to shake off the urge he had to go to Natalie. The rational side of him told him that she was perfectly capable of handling a man like Brancotti.

      But each moment that ticked by made him feel less and less reasonable. Chance shoved a pile of chips into the center of the table and waited for the other bets to be placed. When Sir Arthur turned over his full house, Chance laid down his cards and pushed himself away from the table. “I’m finished, gentlemen.”

      There were a few grumbles. Chance paid them no heed as he let himself out of the screened gazebo and strode back toward the house. He might be making a mistake. He’d been weighing the odds of that for the past two hours. Logic told him that Steven Bradford would stay at the game. But gut instinct told him that he had to go to Natalie, and he hadn’t gotten where he was by ignoring his instincts.

      Let Carlo Brancotti make what he wanted of the fact that Steven Bradford was so besotted and so hot for Calli that not even a high-stakes poker game could keep him distracted for very long.

      The conservatory was empty when he moved through it. At another time, he might have paused to enjoy the orchids, but now he only quickened his stride. There were surveillance cameras everywhere. Not surprising since there were expensive pieces of pottery and sculpture on display even in the hallways. But then, Chance didn’t think that anyone Carlo invited to his estate would dare to steal from him.

      No. The state-of-the-art surveillance equipment was for keeping tabs on his guests’ movements. Chance took the stairs two at a time. If Carlo was watching, he would see a man who was desperate to get to his woman. And Chance was. He needed to see her, to satisfy himself that she was all right.

      He needed her. Chance felt himself rocked by the realization. Before he had time to absorb or reflect on that, he reached the door to the Venetian room. It was locked. As it should be, he told himself as he swore silently and searched in his pocket for the key.

      NATALIE PACED back and forth inside the suite. Since she’d come back to the room, she’d gone over everything that had happened that evening—from the time Carlo had appeared on the balcony to when he’d let her into the house, making sure she walked by his office again.

      He’d definitely wanted to know about her relationship with Steven Bradford. And she had to hope that it had rung true. She’d blushed, for heaven’s sake. And she was almost positive that it was Natalie’s cheeks that had heated, not Calli’s. When panic threatened to bubble up again, she ruthlessly pushed it down. She was not going to worry about that now.

      Natalie paused in front of a mirror and faced her reflection. She was playing a game. That was all. Calli was in love with Steven Bradford. But Natalie was not falling in love with Chance Mitchell. What she felt for Chance was lust. And professional respect. The emotions tumbling around inside of her had no relation to what Catherine Weston felt for Steven Bradford. She couldn’t afford to let the different roles she was playing merge. Giving herself a nod, she began to pace again.

      Gut instinct told her that Carlo Brancotti had not only been testing her, he’d also been playing some kind of a game with her. Her mind kept circling back to the fact that the tour had been his idea. He’d wanted her to see the layout of the house, his “workspace,” the salon and his gallery. Why?

      She stopped pacing and began to tap her foot. It was in the gallery that her neck had begun to prickle. She often got that feeling when something meshed for her on a case. She and Chance had assumed that the Ferrante diamond would be locked in a safe in his office. Could it be in the gallery?

      A quick glance at her watch told her it was midnight, the witching hour. There was no telling when the poker game would break up, and she needed to talk to Chance. Foot still tapping, she considered her options. As Natalie, she’d have to think of a plan. At the very least, Rachel would have to run through the possible repercussions. Thankfully, all Calli had to do was to go down to that poker game and tell Steven that she needed a walk on the beach before she could sleep.

      She was at the door when she heard the knob turn, and she opened it just as Chance was fishing out his key. What she saw stopped her short for a moment. His hair was mussed, his expression impatient and just a bit dangerous. Her mouth began to water. But it was what she saw in his eyes—the mix of frustration and desire that had her heart taking a tumble. For just a second, she couldn’t move, couldn’t even think.

      CARLO STUDIED the TV screens in the security room adjacent to his office. One of the security men had buzzed him the moment that Steven Bradford had left the poker game. And now Bradford was standing in the doorway to his room.

      “What do you think?” he asked Lisa.

      “He’s a man who prefers his woman to a poker game,” Lisa said.

      “But it’s well known that poker is his weakness. He plays twice

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