Claimed (Diamond Tycoons 1)

She looked at hydrogen isotopes until her eyes crossed.

Memorized the mineral makeup of silt at all the mine levels Bijoux had bought stones from in the past eighteen months.

And she prayed, entirely too hard for a woman who shouldn’t care one way or another, that when she started combing through Bijoux’s vaults, everything would match up.

Because if it didn’t... If it didn’t, she would end up breaking a lot more than just Marc’s company. She was going to break his heart. And no matter what lies she fed herself to get through the day, if that happened she was very, very afraid that she would break her own heart, as well.

Fourteen

“Has Isa found anything yet?” Nic asked the second he hit Marc’s office on Monday afternoon.

“She’s only been here three hours,” he told his brother without looking up from his computer screen, where he was going through what felt like a never-ending string of

emails that had accumulated in the day and a half he’d been in Canada. “Give the woman a chance to do her job.”

“I’m giving her a chance. But we’re getting down to the wire here. We only have a few days before the LA Times runs that article and I want to debunk them well before their Thursday night deadline hits.”

“Believe me, you can’t possibly want that any more than I do. But that doesn’t mean we need to stick our noses in the vaults every five minutes and pressure Isa. She’s already working overtime—we only got back from Canada this morning and she has to be exhausted.” God knew, he was. “But she’s here and she’s doing her best to find the truth.”

“Wow.” Nic stopped pacing long enough to glance at his brother with raised eyebrows. “Since when did you start defending Isa Moreno?”

Since...since... He didn’t know when. “What does that matter? We should be worrying about finding whatever traitor planted a false story with the LA Times.”

“Believe me, I am worrying about that. But despite my seemingly carefree disposition, I’m actually quite good at worrying about more than one thing at a time.” Nic grinned. “So hit me, big brother. What’s going on with you and Isa?”

“Nothing’s going on between us!” Marc barked, suddenly uncomfortable with the turn the conversation had taken. He’d barely wrapped his head around the fact that he was back to sleeping with Isa. He sure as hell didn’t need anyone else—especially his smart-ass little brother—poking at their relationship right now.

“You sure about that? Because you seem awfully touchy for a man who’s got nothing going on. Then again, maybe that’s why you’re touchy—”

“I am not touchy! And if I were, it would be because I’m waiting, just like you, to hear something from the vault. I know three hours is nothing when it comes to the job Isa has to do, but that doesn’t mean I like the wait. And it sure as hell doesn’t mean I like the silence.”

“Amen to that, brother,” Nic said, plopping himself down in one of the chairs opposite Marc’s desk. Before Marc could blink, his brother had kicked his feet up onto the polished wood of his desk and leaned his very expensive antique chair back on its hind two legs.

“Could we say amen to you not killing yourself? And you not breaking my chair into fifty ridiculously small pieces?”

Nic just rolled his eyes. “You worry too much.”

“I’m CEO. It’s my job to worry too much.” Marc glanced at the clock for what had to be the tenth time in as many minutes. He was trying to keep his calm for his brother, but the truth was, he was a wreck inside. He knew that none of his stones were conflict diamonds. He knew that they all came from the Canadian diamond mines that were ecologically sound and paid high wages. But that didn’t keep him from wondering, or from worrying. Not when there was some traitor in their midst, slipping ridiculous stories to the LA Times. If they could make up a story about Bijoux dealing in conflict diamonds, what would stop them from bringing in a few of the blood-soaked diamonds to cement their case?

Just the thought made him sick. And had him pacing the same route back and forth across his office that his brother had just vacated.

“It’s going to be fine,” Nic said, sounding as if he was trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince Marc. “Besides, no news is good news. Right?”

“Right.” Marc forced himself to think through the worry. “Lisa is with Isa in the vault and I’m sure she’ll let us know the second Isa finds something that proves—or disproves—the article.”

“She isn’t going to find anything that proves the article,” Nic told him confidently. “Because there’s nothing to find. So what are we worried about?”

“Absolutely nothing,” Marc told him, even as he contemplated pacing another lap around his office.

Except Lisa chose that moment to stick her head in. “Any news?” she asked as both brothers came to attention.

“Why are you asking us?” Marc said in disbelief. “You’re the one who’s been hanging out in the vault with our expert for the last three hours.”

“Actually, I left her a couple hours ago. I had a meeting to go to and she was pretty much lost in her own world anyway.”

“A meeting? You left Isa alone in the diamond vault because you had a meeting to go to?”

“I left Dr. Moreno alone in the diamond vault.” She looked uncertain for the first time. “Is that a problem? It’s standard protocol with experts from the GIA—if anyone can be trusted, it’s them. Besides, what’s she going to do? There are fifty cameras in that vault, plus high-resolution imaging machines that record every single thing on your person as you enter and exit. Even if she wanted to steal something—which I’m sure she doesn’t—she couldn’t.”