LITMIR.BIZ

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passed since the boat trip, each one slightly cooler and calmer as the fitful cyclone season waned and autumn woke up. Dani barely noticed the weather since she only left the workroom to finalise a few last-minute wedding arrangements for Ryan and Jessica or to make love with Quinn.

      She glanced over to where he sat at the desk, flicking through her portfolio. So far she’d shied away from badgering him on the intended recipient of the yellow diamond. He was an honourable man, despite the coercion he’d used at the start. She had to believe that. A loyal man who wouldn’t make promises and trifle with her feelings.

      It wasn’t her normal way of doing things, but she had to be grown-up about it. One disastrous relationship had only added to her lifelong feeling of not being good enough, firmly entrenched in second best. But that wasn’t Quinn’s problem. They were from different worlds. This wasn’t a “relationship” so much as a “situation”—and as far as situations went, it wasn’t a bad one to be in.

      So long as she didn’t try to make it into something else.

      Her phone rang and she put her torch down. It was Steve from the shop to say Matt Hammond was there to see her. She gave him the beach house address and prepared to meet her cousin for the first time, face-to-face. Several minutes later, understandably nervous, she let Quinn answer the door while she hovered a few steps back.

      “Danielle?” Matt Hammond looked from one to the other, a confused look on his handsome face. “I didn’t realise you knew each other,” he said, taking Quinn’s proffered hand.

      Quinn stepped back and motioned her forward with a reassuring smile. “Dani’s doing a little designing job for me.”

      She looked up into Matt’s face. He was nearly as tall as Quinn, leaner, with thick sandy hair and sharp grey eyes that reminded her of her mother’s.

      “Come in and sit down.” Quinn led the way to the living area, offered refreshments and then discreetly withdrew.

      Dani twisted her hands together, unsure of the reason for his visit, hoping it was a genuine overture to get to know the Australian side of his family. Her first tentative questions concerned Blake. It was a tricky subject after the months of speculation about his late wife’s infidelity and his son’s paternity. But when she asked if he had a photo, like any proud father, he produced several from his wallet.

      The snapshots showed a dark, rather serious-looking little boy. “Three and a half,” Matt responded to Dani’s query about his age. She dredged up the courage to ask if she could have one to send to her mother and Matt readily handed over a couple.

      “Are you here on holiday?”

      “I thought it was time we met,” he said simply. “I also wanted to talk to Quinn, but had no idea I’d find you together.”

      Dani felt her cheeks glow. “As he said,” she quickly inserted, “I’m helping him with a designing project.”

      “Good for you.” Matt smiled. “A recommendation from Quinn Everard is a valuable thing in this business. I saw the catalogue for the February launch, by the way. Your pieces were impressive.”

      Dani beamed. She’d had a lot of work as a direct result of the Blackstone launch, proving that Howard, who’d talked her into being the featured designer, had known his stuff.

      But best not to mention that name in this company, she thought.

      “And that is another reason I’m here,” Matt continued. “You’ve heard, I suppose, that four of the Heart of the Outback diamonds have been returned to me?”

      Dani nodded cautiously, noting his use of the Heart of the Outback—the Hammond diamond—as opposed to the Blackstone Rose diamonds.

      “I have an idea and I’d like you to be part of it.”

      Her response was measured. Was this a ploy to upset the Blackstones? “In what way?”

      “I want to make an heirloom necklace from the Heart of the Outback diamonds, to be kept in the Hammond family and worn by future Hammond brides.”

      Dani’s mouth dropped open. “Matt, that’s a wonderful idea!”

      “Hopefully my father will think so, too.”

      She nodded. Bringing the Heart of the Outback stones—Jeb’s legacy—together again for the next generation of Hammonds would surely ease the old man’s bitterness in his last years. “Matt, my mother would so love to restore some sort of relationship with Oliver and your mother, and you and Blake, too. Do you think there is any hope of that?”

      Matt’s silvery gaze was steady and open. “I have no problem with Sonya, Danielle. But there is a lot of water under that bridge and I can’t speak for Dad.” Then his voice softened. “Small steps? Starting with you designing the Bridal Rose necklace?”

      The Bridal Rose. Emotion almost overwhelmed her. “It would be an honour,” she mumbled, staring fixedly at Blake’s photos to hide a sheen of tears.

      Although she was close to her cousins Kim and Ryan, and had never doubted her mother’s love, finding a place she felt she belonged had always eluded her. To have found a new family and have a part in reuniting its members was a privilege. She and Matt seemed to click, just as she and Jarrod had.

      Then a more selfish elation sneaked up on her. First, the beautiful yellow diamond upstairs in the safe, and now the pink Blackstone Rose diamonds. What were the chances of being offered two commissions with stones of this calibre? And at only twenty-seven years old! “What a pity the fifth diamond hasn’t come to light.”

      “I’m working on that,” Matt said mysteriously. “In the meantime, I’d like you to design the necklace as if there were a fifth diamond—the centrepiece. Can you do that?”

      “Of course. Can you give me a couple more weeks to finish what I’m doing here?”

      He acquiesced. “I hadn’t thought further ahead than getting an answer from you.”

      “Well, you have it.” She smiled happily. “I would love to do it. And I’m rapt you thought of me.”

      Matt’s smile was slow to start but it lit up his face.

      “You are a very talented designer and a Hammond. The perfect choice.”

      They talked for an hour about the jewellery trade and little Blake, and ended on his brother Jarrod’s recent engagement to Briana. Dani thought it must be strange for Matt to see his brother marry his late wife’s sister, but Matt confided he’d always been fond of Briana. More relaxed now, she mentioned the rumours doing the rounds a few weeks ago, suggesting Jarrod Hammond was really the missing Blackstone heir. To her relief, Matt did not seem offended at hearing the Blackstone name.

      “Jarrod’s birth mother may have something to say about that,” he retorted.

      Dani was surprised. There had been no mention of Jarrod’s birth mother in the newspaper stories.

      Matt’s mouth tightened. “I’ve met her. She taps Jarrod up for money every so often, then disappears under whatever rock she crawled out from.”

      Her heart went out to Jarrod. Impossibly handsome, a successful lawyer, a beautiful new fiancée, and yet that suave exterior hid its own personal pain.

      But at least he knew who his mother was….

      As if her cousin had recognised her momentary sadness, he turned it on its head by agreeing to talk to his brother about a family get-together soon. “Briana has dragged him along on one of her modelling assignments overseas. Poor beggar.” He pulled an amused face. “But maybe when they get back, we can have a bit of a get-together.”

      It was tentative but, still, it was an overture. “And Blake?” she asked. “And my mother, too?”

      “Why not?”

      The three of them had a wonderful dinner at a famous outdoor restaurant in the middle

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