Claimed (Diamond Tycoons 1)

They landed on the helipad right next to the main building and Marc climbed out first, before extending a hand to help her. She didn’t need his help, but she took his hand anyway. Out of politeness, she told herself as she moved past him. Not because she wanted to feel the brush of his warm skin against her own.

The general manager of the mine was obviously expecting them—he was waiting right next to the helipad, with a huge smile on his face as he greeted Marc. She’d been to this mine no less than five times and had never seen Kevin Hartford up close, let alone had him meet her helicopter. But then, she’d never traveled with the head of the largest responsibly sourced diamond corporation in the world, either.

Marc had obviously told Kevin what she would need, because after a few minutes of polite chitchat in the outer office, he took her directly into the lab, where technicians laser cut a serial number and the lab’s symbol—a small polar bear cub—directly onto each and every jewelry grade stone. It was the first step in a long series that enabled regulators, and consumers, to track a diamond from the mine through production all the way to the store where it was sold.

Kevin also handed her a large binder with printouts of every serial number given to every diamond that had gone from the Ekaori mine to Bijoux in the past three years.

There were a lot of numbers.

He then led them to the screening plant, where they watched as thousands of pounds of rock were screened by machines and then by people for kimberlite deposits, the substance that created most diamonds. After the kimberlite was separated out, a second, more involved screening took place to find the actual diamonds.

She took samples from the rock and the kimberlite so that she could map the mineral content when she got back to GIA. Part of her wondered if the sampling was superfluous—after all, she had mapped the mineral content of this mine, and all the mines up here, numerous times, as had any number of other diamond experts. But Marc’s business was depending on her doing this completely by the book, and so she would do just that. After nearly costing him his business once, she would be as careful as possible during this trip.

Though she would never admit it to him, especially after he’d blackmailed her into helping him, she did owe him for what he’d done for her father—and for the hit Marc had taken. The least she could do was make sure that her investigation of his diamond sourcing was beyond reproach.

By the time they were done with their tour of the lab and business facilities, it was too late to go down into the mine. Which was fine with her—she’d been in this diamond mine before and there was nothing new she needed to see. Besides, all the important documentation and identification work began once the stones were pulled from the rubble and tagged as either industrial or jewelry grade.

Marc hadn’t said much during their time at the lab, taking a backseat as she asked questions. But once they were back in the helicopter, he turned to her and said, “I know you didn’t want to do this, but I really appreciate you coming up here with me. I knew you were the right choice from the very beginning, but after watching you today, I’m so appreciative that you agreed to help me.”

He looked and sounded completely sincere, and though there was a part of her that couldn’t help wondering about his motives, she couldn’t help responding to the warmth in his voice—and his eyes.

“I’m just doing my job, Marc.”

“I know. With the way I coerced you into coming, a lot of people would consider you justified in using the opportunity to retaliate. You could destroy me if you wanted to and it would be no less than I deserved for how I’ve treated you.”

“I would never do that!” She was shocked that he’d even think it. “I don’t lie, especially not about something like this—”

“I know,” he said again. This t

ime, he was the one who covered her hand with his own. “What I’m trying to say, and obviously doing a crappy job of it, is thank you. I’m grateful for your help.”

She stared at him for several seconds, completely nonplussed. This Marc, humble and open and kind, was the Marc she’d fallen in love with all those years ago. The Marc who’d held her and laughed with her and made plans for a future with her. And though she’d promised herself just that morning that she would never let her guard down around him again, Isa could feel herself wavering. Could feel her resolve crumbling as quickly as her defenses.

Which was why, when the helicopter landed in the back parking lot of one of the two hotels in Kugluktuk, she quickly gathered her things and stepped outside. While Marc spoke with the pilot about picking them up in the morning, she made her way into the hotel and registered for their rooms.

By the time he made it in, she had the keys to both rooms in one hand and her overnight bag in the other. She held one key out to him. “I guess I’ll see you in the morning,” she told him with a forced brightness she was far from feeling.

He raised a brow and for a second, she forgot how to breathe. Why did he keep doing that? she asked herself furiously. He was always gorgeous, usually able to curl her toes with only a look or a touch. But from the very beginning, whenever he had raised that damn brow of his, looking half questioning and half amused, it had made her heart beat too fast and her breath catch in her throat. The fact that it was still doing that, even after all this time and everything that had happened between them, made her take a step back in a futile effort to put enough distance between them.

“I thought I’d buy you dinner,” he said. “The hotel has a pretty good restaurant, and the Coppermine Café across the street has great fried chicken.”

“Actually, I’m kind of tired. I didn’t get much sleep last—” She broke off in the middle of the familiar excuse as a wicked grin split his face. Of course he knew she hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before—he’d been the one who’d kept waking her up to make love, over and over again, until now, hours later and thousands of miles away from her small beach cottage, she still couldn’t get the scent of him off her skin.

“We can make it quick,” he suggested. “We’ll put our bags in the room and then—”

“No!” The word came out more forcefully—and more panicked—than she’d intended. But she wasn’t stupid. She knew her weaknesses, knew that if Marc kept smiling at her, kept touching her, she’d end up in bed with him despite her resolution to keep her distance. And no matter how good he was in bed, no matter how much she enjoyed making love to him, she just couldn’t go there again. Not if she wanted to come out of this situation with some semblance of her heart, and her life, intact.

Six years ago, she’d loved Marc desperately. She’d been caught between him and her father—between a rock and the hardest place possible—and she’d made the only choice she could make. But that didn’t mean she hadn’t loved Marc, didn’t mean she hadn’t grieved for him even after he’d ripped her out of his life without a backward glance.

She understood what last night was for him—a chance to exorcise her once and for all—and she needed to remember that. More, she needed to let the way he’d touched her and kissed her—the way he’d loved her—last night be enough.

It was enough, she told herself as she took another stumbling step backward. It had to be. She would pay her debt and then she would walk away, conscience clear and heart whole.

Or at least, that was the plan. A plan that would be totally derailed if she had dinner with him, followed by a glass of wine in his room and another night of the most amazing lovemaking a woman could imagine. Oh, he’d only asked her for dinner, but she knew him. She knew the look in his eyes, knew the way his mind worked, and she had no doubt that if she didn’t run now, she’d find herself flat on her back under him before the night was out.

“I think I’ll just get a snack from room service and then turn in,” she told him. “I’m beat.”

He didn’t look happy now, his eyes clouded with obvious displeasure. But short of wrestling her into the restaurant, there was nothing he could do.