A Prize Beyond Jewels

Rafe had waited another hour before telephoning security again. Only to be given the same answer.

At which time he had realised Nina wasn’t going to come to him tonight, after all.

But even then, remembering the seriousness of her tone when she had mentioned the conversation she needed to have with her father before she could join him at his apartment, Rafe had been more worried than annoyed. He didn’t at all like the possibility of Nina being upset and alone in her own apartment.

Although a call from her, telling him of her change of plans, might have been nice.

Even so, worry niggled at Rafe, until in desperation he had called her apartment building, asking the security guard on duty to put him through to Nina’s apartment, only to discover that she wasn’t in her apartment to answer his call. Nor would the security guard on the other end of the line reveal whether or not she had returned to the building with her father earlier, or whether or not she had gone out again.

And there was no way Rafe was going to call Dmitri’s apartment and ask him where his daughter was.

Instead Rafe had finally gone to bed. Alone. But not to sleep.

Because, no matter how much he punched and pummelled his pillows to get comfortable, sleep had eluded him. Rafe simply lay in the bed, wide-eyed, his brain working overtime as he went over and over the events of the rest of yesterday evening, trying to find some reason, something he might have done or said, to make Nina change her mind about spending the night with him.

The only thing he knew she had taken exception to was that remark he had made about her father, but even that didn’t make sense, because Nina had confirmed that she would come to his apartment after Rafe had made that foolish joke.

Which was the reason it was now ten o’clock on a Sunday morning, and he was pacing up and down the kitchen on bare feet, still wearing the black T-shirt and grey sweats he had slept in, his hair standing on end from where he had run his fingers through it so often in the past ten hours, while at the same time suffering Michael’s penetrating and knowing gaze.

‘I fully expected to see Nina here with you this morning,’ Michael prompted softly.

‘Well, obviously you expected wrong!’ Rafe scowled at him darkly.

Michael nodded. ‘Obviously. Rafe—’ He broke off as the telephone rang.

Rafe crossed the kitchen quickly to snatch up the receiver, hoping—praying—it was Nina. ‘Yes?’ he snapped impatiently.

‘There’s a visitor waiting down in Reception to see you, Mr D’Angelo,’ Jeffrey, the doorman informed, sounding slightly nervous.

‘Send her right up,’ Rafe barked sharply.

‘But—’

‘Now, Jeffrey.’ Rafe slammed down the receiver, his pacing restless now rather than angry, as he waited impatiently for Nina to ring the doorbell.

‘I think I’ll go shower and dress ready for leaving for the airport shortly—’ Michael rose to his feet ‘—and leave you two alone to talk and sort out whatever it is you need to.’

‘Thanks,’ Rafe answered distractedly, barely aware of his brother leaving as he strode out into the hallway to wait for Nina.

Whatever the reason for Nina’s no show last night, she was here now, and that was all that mattered.

The doorbell had hardly finished ringing when Rafe threw open the door, the welcoming smile freezing on his lips as he saw the two burly bodyguards standing shoulder to shoulder outside in the hallway, their eyes once again hidden behind those wrap-around sunglasses. That probably explained Jeffrey’s nervousness on the telephone just now.

Rafe couldn’t say he was particularly happy at seeing the two bodyguards either. ‘What—?’

‘I’m sorry for the intrusion, Rafe.’ The two bodyguards had parted to reveal Dmitri Palitov sitting in his wheelchair in the hallway behind them. ‘I wondered, if my daughter is here with you, if I might speak with her?’ His expression was hopeful rather than condemning.

That told Rafe that Dmitri Palitov had no more idea where Nina was than he did.

CHAPTER TEN

NINA HELD HER head confidently high as she walked into the Archangel gallery late on Monday morning, her smile conveying that same confidence to the receptionist, in her right to be here, as the other woman nodded in recognition as Nina walked towards the staircase that would take her up to Rafe’s office on the third floor of the building.

Rafe...

Nina had no doubt that he was going to be far from happy with her, for not having turned up at his apartment on Saturday night, and for not getting in touch with him since then to explain why she hadn’t.