LITMIR.BIZ

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but he still wasn’t convinced. “What’s their motivation?”

      “Any one of them could be worried that Steven Bradford might outbid them.”

      Chance shook his head. “My money’s still on Brancotti.”

      “He’s a businessman. He wants Steven Bradford here as competition. You’ll drive the price up.”

      She had a sharp mind. Chance had to admit that, but she wasn’t aware of all of the facts. “I’ve gone up against him before.”

      “I read the file. You lost your partner.”

      Chance nodded. “He could have put us in the Venetian room to let me know that he suspects who I really am. And now he’s decided that the game is over.”

      Natalie thought for a minute. “I don’t think so. Wouldn’t he rather play the game out to the finish—let you get the diamond in your hand and then spring a trap?”

      Chance remained silent. She could almost see his mind at work.

      “Besides, if he kills Steven Bradford, he calls attention to this place. He can’t want the police wandering through, questioning his guests or even worse, wondering why all these people are gathered here. It’s too risky.”

      “But he didn’t kill me,” Chance pointed out. “He could still intend to play the game to the finish. Either way, it’s too risky for you to stay.”

      Natalie studied him in silence for a moment. Then she said, “I’m not going unless you come with me.”

      “I’m not leaving without the Ferrante diamond.”

      “Then I stay, too.”

      Chance grabbed her wrist as she started to rise. “Haven’t you heard a word I’ve said? It’s too dangerous for you to stay. It’s possible that Brancotti set this whole auction up to trap me because I came too close to catching him the last time.”

      She gave him a long, cool look, and when she spoke, her voice was just as chilly. “I’ve heard everything you said. But I don’t desert my partners.”

      When he opened his mouth, she raised a hand to silence him. “You haven’t convinced me yet that Carlo is on to us. Your history with him and the fact that you lost a partner may be clouding your judgment.”

      “You may be right, but—” He cut himself off as he looked into those cop’s eyes. He owed her the rest of the truth. “There’s more that I haven’t told you. Carlo and I go back a long way—all the way back to that orphanage I told you about. His name was Damien back then, and he was my best friend, my mentor. I trusted him until he betrayed me.”

      “How?” Natalie asked.

      “I was twelve and he was seventeen when I was placed there, and he took me under his wing right from the start. You’ve seen what he’s like. I came to worship him. The nuns at the orphanage trusted him, too. He could go anywhere without being questioned. He had a knack for opening locks and under his tutoring I found that I did, too. After lights-out at night, he’d come and get me, and we’d practice. Once a month they changed the combination on the safe in the headmistress’s office. Damien would finesse the lock on her office door and then we’d practice on the safe. It took a while, but eventually, I was able to open it. Each month after that we’d have competitions to see who could open it the fastest.”

      Natalie couldn’t help but recall that she and her father had had the same kind of competitions.

      “One night, Damien excused himself while I was working on the safe. He said he had a surprise for me. I don’t know how long he was gone. I was totally focused on listening to the tumblers fall. This particular night the safe was empty. I didn’t even have time to wonder about that when Damien returned with the headmistress and the police. There’d been over a hundred thousand dollars in the safe—money from the annual fund-raiser. Looking back, I can see that Damien had laid his plans far in advance.”

      “They didn’t suspect him?” Natalie asked.

      Chance laughed dryly. “Why would anyone suspect St. Damien? He looked as horrified as the headmistress to find me there. He told them that he’d heard something when he was making his rounds and he’d called the police immediately. They found me in front of the open safe, and then they found letters under my mattress—from my accomplice. In them, I was told just what to do and I was even given the combination of the safe. The police assumed that I had tossed the money out the open window of the office to my ‘partner’ and that, thanks to Damien, I hadn’t had time to make my escape. Looking back, I can see how stupid I was.”

      “You were twelve, a child. How could they have been so stupid to suspect you?”

      Chance glanced down to find that Natalie had slipped her hand into his. He couldn’t help wondering how his life might have turned out if someone at the orphanage had had even a little of that simple faith in him. “The nuns didn’t think that being twelve was an excuse. And they didn’t want to disbelieve Damien.”

      “What did they do with you?” she asked.

      “I was taken away to jail. Of course, my accomplice was never found. Later, I learned that Damien left the orphanage shortly after that.”

      “And no one suspected even then?”

      Chance shook his head, almost smiling at the vehemence in her tone. “He was close to eighteen, and he had a right to leave.”

      “What happened to you?” she asked.

      Chance smiled. “Don’t look so worried. The one thing I owed Damien for was that I’d become very good with locks. I spent one night in the town jail before I blew the place.”

      “You were twelve and alone on the streets?”

      Because he couldn’t resist her, he briefly touched his lips to hers. “The streets were a hell of a lot better than that jail. Now that you know what Carlo is really like, is there any chance that I can convince you to leave?”

      “No.”

      There were some battles you could win, Chance thought, and some you retreated from so that you could fight another day. Tipping up her chin, he met her eyes steadily. “We’re going to have to be very careful.”

      “Yes, we’ll need some kind of a plan.”

      Chance could almost hear the wheels inside her head turning.

      She glanced around. “I’ll be able to think better once we get out of this place. If there’s one creature that scares me more than alligators and snakes, it’s spiders.”

      Laughing, Chance tucked his gun away, then pulled her to her feet and said, “Follow me.”

      “HAVE YOU GOT IT?” Natalie asked.

      Chance glanced down at her as they stepped onto the circular drive that led to the house. There were smudges of dirt on her nose and cheeks, but she was totally focused on explaining the tack she thought they ought to take with Brancotti. It wasn’t bad as plans went, Chance supposed.

      “I’m going to be upset, angry, afraid,” she said. “Someone shot at us, and I’m going to want answers.”

      Natalie Gibbs was a woman who seldom lost her focus, except when he was making love with her. Then that line of concentration disappeared from her brow, and that incredible mist would fill her eyes and darken them.

      “Well?”

      He filed away the image that had filled his mind and glanced down at her.

      “And you’re going to be—?” she prompted.

      “I’m going to be upset and withdrawn. Let you take control. I don’t much like that part.”

      She shot him a grin. “Steven Bradford’s a bit of a weenie. That makes him very sexy to someone like me.”

      “I’ll

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