The King Next Door

“Yeah, Garrett’s always got plenty of suggestions.” Griffin leaned back in his chair. “He’s usually the one putting these things together. I’m the on-the-ground guy, making sure it all holds together, that our men are where they’re supposed to be.” Sitting up straight again, he leaned forward and braced his forearms on the table top. “I think he did this on purpose. He knows I hate this kind of stuff.”

“I love it,” Nicole said. “There’s clarity in numbers. They don’t lie. They don’t change. You can count on them being exactly what they’re supposed to be.”

“Yeah. Annoying.”

She laughed a little and picked up the top sheet. “See, Garrett’s wrong about this.”

“Garrett? Wrong?” Grinning, he leaned in closer. “You’ve got my attention. What do you see?”

Here was her chance. To show him what she could do. “Do you and your brother compete on everything?”

“Absolutely.”

“All righty then,” she said, shaking her head. “Well, you’re going to love this.”

“Show me.”

She used a pen to point at a single line in Garrett’s notes. “Garrett’s suggested using four men around the sapphire collection.”

“Yeah, so?”

“The sapphires, while gorgeous, let me just say, aren’t exactly the centerpiece of the collection.”

He frowned, but he was watching her with a calculated gaze, as if seeing her in a whole new light. “What is, then?”

“There’s a brooch. A really old, really ugly brooch.” Nicole fought down the nerves jumping inside her and kept her voice cool as she tapped her finger on the grainy photo. The brooch was a swirl of small stones, set into a starburst pattern that then wrapped around a central piece made to look like a clutch of lilies. “It’s not pretty at all, but it was a gift from Marie Antoinette to the ancestor of the guy who’s loaning them to the museum.”

He looked like he wanted to argue and then he said, “But the sapphires are—”

“Gorgeous, and yes,” Nicole interrupted before he could speak up, “easily sold off on the black market. But Marie’s brooch would make most private collectors sit up and beg for a chance to own it.”

“Good point,” Griffin said. “I would have seen that eventually, of course...”

“Oh, of course.”

“I’m gonna ride Garrett, though, because he didn’t notice what you did. So, you see anything else?”

Pleased at the gleam of approval in his eyes, Nicole grabbed another sheet of paper and started to make a list. “The rubies should be shown near the sapphires, of course, because the color compositions will complement each other.”

“Naturally.”

“Two men on each display,” she continued, making notations as her ideas began to fly. “With four stationed around Marie’s brooch. Then you’ve got the diamond room.” She paused to sigh over the pictures that didn’t do the stones justice. “Tiaras, bracelets, a necklace with more than thirty-five carats of diamonds hanging by slender threads of gold...” She stopped and put a hand to her chest. “Excuse me, I’m having a personal moment here.”

He laughed. “I never would have guessed that you loved jewelry.” He picked up her left hand. “You don’t wear any, except for those tiny gold hoops at your ears.”

She pulled her hand free, embarrassed to be caught drooling over faxed images of priceless jewels. The only jewelry she’d ever worn had been her wedding ring. That thought brought up memories of the man who’d walked away without a glance backward. The man who’d been a player—as Griffin was—she reminded herself.

“I don’t exactly go places where jewelry is necessary. Doesn’t mean I can’t admire them.”

“You should be draped in diamonds,” he whispered, his eyes suddenly smoky and filled with a heat she recognized.

“I don’t want diamonds,” she whispered. But oh, God, she’d love to have the man who was right now staring at her as if he could eat her up.