Lancelot (The Theriot Family 3)

“Please bring me the microscope.”

I did, and after he studied the necklace, he determined it was the real thing.

“Come on,” he said, rising from his seat. “We need to put everything back and leave no trace that we’ve been here tonight.”

“What are we going to do with the necklace?” He was still holding it. I didn’t know how he dared. I couldn’t have touched it without gloves on. Thirty million dollars. That was more money than I could imagine, but if his family was as rich as I guessed, maybe that didn’t sound like all that much to Lance.

Lance slipped the necklace into his jacket pocket. “It can stay right here. We need to wipe down every surface we touched, so get me something to do that with, then put the newspapers away.”

He obviously expected me to do whatever he said. Was I really going to let him walk out with that necklace? It belonged in a museum, not with the Theriot family. “We’re not doing this.”

He turned and held my gaze. Why did his smile have to be so fucking charming? “Yes, we are.”

“No. The necklace needs to be returned.”

I reached for my phone again, but he pulled me to him. I stumbled and ended up flush against his body. I tried to pull away, but he held my wrists behind my back. It was too much like what had happened in my fantasy. I’d been right, one of his hands was plenty large enough to hold me in place like this.

He wrapped his other hand around my waist and held me tightly. I absolutely refused to like it or to think about the solid wall of his chest or the hardness I felt against my hip. I also absolutely would not look at his full lips that I wanted on mine or really anywhere on my body.

This was crazy. If I got caught with this necklace, even as just an accessory to the theft, I would go to jail for years. The library would fall apart. My father’s legacy would turn to nothing, and… “Please don’t do this.”

Lance’s expression softened. “Stop fighting me, and I’ll let you go.”

“No.”

“You don’t want me to let you go? I do like having you close like this.”

“No. I’m not going to stop fighting for the necklace to be returned to the museum. I won’t help you with this. I won’t be part of whatever this is. I’m not a criminal.”

“Surely you break the law occasionally.”

I gave a mirthless laugh. “No, I really don’t.”

“You don’t speed or run through a stop sign in your neighborhood when there’s no one coming or—”

“Of course I do that, but this is a long way from a speeding ticket.”

He laughed. “Not too far in my world.”

“I don’t want to be part of your world.”

Something flashed in Lance’s eyes that almost made me think my words had hurt him, but that didn’t make any sense. What difference did it make to him if I wanted to be the goody-two-shoes librarian everyone expected me to be?

“Julian, I didn’t mean to involve you in this.”

“So that’s why you broke into my home? That’s why you tried to bribe me, and—”

“I needed your help to get into the archive, but if you’d let me in yesterday—”

“Don’t you dare blame me for this.” I struggled against his hold. I was not going to let this man seduce me.

“Stop fighting me, Julian. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Then let me go.”

“No, because no matter how angry you are right now, no matter how much you want to get away, if I let you run out of here and tell someone about this necklace, your life will be in danger. How much do you know about my family?”

Enough. “Fine. I won’t run away if you just—” He loosened his hold on my waist and let go of my wrists. He took each hand in turn and kissed the marks his fingers had left. “I’m sorry.”

I wasn’t really upset he’d been holding me. In a different context, like the one in my fantasy, I would’ve loved seeing the evidence of how he’d restrained me. But right now, I was scared, not of him hurting me, but of the consequences of coming here with him.

Our gazes met, and my breath caught. There was so much emotion in his eyes. He lifted my wrist toward his lips, and it seemed time had slowed.

I gasped when his lips brushed over the marks his fingers had made. I felt alive in a way I hadn’t in years, maybe ever. He lifted my other hand and kissed that wrist as well, flicking the tip of his tongue over my pulse point and making my cock react.

This was wrong, so wrong. I needed to get away from Lance. I needed to get away from this whole situation. What if someone else came looking for the necklace or if the man who’d been here returned?