LITMIR.BIZ

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mentioned that you knew my father. But since you didn’t, I’ll fill in the blanks for you. Even though he did extensive research on it, I don’t know anything about this diamond. My father enjoyed theories, but he never actually went about trying to find the chocolate diamond. I think you need to leave, Mr. Murphy.”

      She started toward the door.

      Cullen grabbed his hat and bag and followed her. “Do you have another showcase? A hidden one? Or a safe where you keep the really good stuff?”

      She did. But she wasn’t about to open it up to the likes of him, especially when she didn’t have her assistant here to watch the shop and serve as a protector. Besides, this man was too demanding and nosy. He made her uncomfortable. Chills chased the cold sweat running up and down her backbone.

      “I don’t have the diamond you’re searching for,” she said, turning to hold the door open for him. “My father never mentioned finding it, so even if he did discover the diamond, as I said, I don’t have any information on it. I don’t even know if it’s real. I’m sorry you had to come all this way for nothing.”

      He didn’t move to leave. “I have some of your father’s letters in my bag. I thought you might like to have them.”

      Esther’s heart crashed and thumped. Her father, a faithful man and the only parent she’d ever known since her mother died during Esther’s birth, had made his living here in this dusty old shop, but he’d also had an adventurer’s soul. And yet he’d never traveled afar, because he couldn’t leave this shop or his daughter. Esther knew this, even if Jefferson Carlisle had never once said the words out loud.

      She cleared her throat. “He used to read to me every night, grand adventures. Gulliver’s Travels, Sinbad, Homer’s Odyssey, The Three Musketeers, and Treasure Island, of course.” She looked at the battered bag, remembering how he used to call her a princess. A princess who lived in the white swamp. She pushed away the memories. “I would imagine his letters, even if technical, would be very colorful.”

      “And very thorough,” Cullen replied. “I had to meet the daughter he loved so much.”

      And find a diamond worth millions.

      Maybe she had jumped to the wrong conclusion about him. Esther stood there, pondering what to do or say. She wasn’t used to a handsome stranger rushing into her shop, demanding rare fifty-carat diamonds. But she had heard her father mention the Levi-Lafitte Diamond over and over again. And always with that faraway look of adventure and intrigue in his eyes. He’d seemed frantic and obsessed with it in his last few months on earth. What if he had discovered something right before his death but hadn’t had a chance to tell her? Why had he never mentioned Cullen Murphy?

      “Maybe you can come back tomorrow. If my father had the diamond or even knowledge of where it might be, he never indicated it to me.” Jefferson Carlisle hadn’t talked much about anything else other than business. Not even to his daughter. Besides, this particular diamond would be worth millions. Why would her father keep something so significant from his only daughter?

      Cullen Murphy rocked on his worn boots. “I was hoping I could poke around tonight. If I find the diamond, I’m willing to make a deal with you regarding its worth.”

      “I don’t allow poking around in my shop after hours, Mr. Murphy. And if I did have that diamond, it wouldn’t be for sale.”

      His eyebrows dipped at that declaration. He put his hands on his hips, his gaze sweeping the shop with the sharpness of an eagle. “It is rather hard to see everything in this growing dusk. But you seem to have some wonderful collections. I’d like to go through those toy soldiers, too. And I see you also have a nice gun collection. I suppose I could come back tomorrow.”

      Glad he seemed reasonable, Esther nodded. “We keep the low lights on all night. And the alarm.”

      That made him grin. “Warning me against coming back later?”

      “Just letting you know I have several security measures.”

      He leaned close, his inky eyes swallowing her in a blue haze. “I’m well aware of your security measures.”

      He had his nerve. As if she’d let him take a huge hunk of an historical diamond, anyway. A gem that rare and large would be worthy of some serious negotiations. Esther could barter and bargain with the best of them, so if he thought he could fool her, he was badly mistaken.

      “Why don’t you come back tomorrow then? My assistant, Ted Dunbar, will be here, so I’ll be able to leave the front and help you. That way, you can spend all day ‘poking around,’ as you put it.”

      “Thank you,” Cullen said, a look of relief washing his features. His eyes turned smoky. “It was nice to finally meet you.” He turned to leave then pivoted and dug inside his bag. “Here, the letters. This isn’t all of them, but he mentions you a lot in this batch.” Pulling out a leather pouch tied with a string, he handed it to her. “Your father adored you, you know.”

      “I adored him, too.” Esther took the letters, her fingers touching on the leather. “Thank you.”

      The bundle smelled of leather and musk. Moved to tears at the thought of reading her father’s words, she stiffened and waited for Cullen to step out, then went to lock the door once again, her brief brush with mystery and intrigue over for now. “I’ll see you tomorrow, maybe.”

      But Cullen suddenly shoved his way back in and grabbed her so fast, she spun around like a ballerina in a music box.

      Giving him a push, she shouted, “What are you doing?”

      He balanced her against his chest. His warm, broad chest. “We have a bit of trouble, luv.”

      “Trouble?” Esther couldn’t comprehend what the man was talking about. She was too caught up in the worldly, earthy smell of him and his travel clothes. Heady stuff, this. Rich and dark and spicy—and dangerous.

      Cullen kept moving her ahead of him. “Men, two of them. Big, ugly, mean men, coming up the street. I’m pretty sure they have guns.”

      That got her attention. She pulled away and quickly locked the door.

      Cullen tugged her toward the back before she could set the alarm. “We need to hide.”

      “What? Why?” Her voice lifted with each tug of his hand. Clutching tightly to her father’s letters, she asked, “What do they want?”

      He shot a covert look over his shoulder. “Me.” Then he whispered close, “Oh, and they might be looking for that diamond, too.”

      TWO

      “What do you mean, you?” And the diamond? “I don’t have that diamond.”

      Esther glanced back and saw the shadows outside the door. Big, hulking shadows. Could this day get any worse?

      Cullen shoved her toward the back. “I’ll explain later.”

      She ground her loafers to a halt. “No, now. I can call the police, you know.” To prove that point, she reached inside the deep pocket of her flared skirt and pulled out her cell phone.

      “No police. Not a good idea,” Cullen replied, dragging her with him in spite of her feet being practically glued to the floor. “This is too big, too dangerous. We can’t trust anyone.”

      She had a finger on the Nine when the banging on the door started. “I won’t let them ruin my shop.”

      He pulled her into a dark hallway and tugged her close, his breath fanning her now-disheveled hair. “Darlin’, you won’t be able to stop them. And better a ruined shop than the alternative.”

      “But—”

      “Listen to me, Esther. Some very dangerous people know about the chocolate diamond and they think your father had it. If I hadn’t reached you first, it would be even worse, trust me. And you do need to trust me, understand?”

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