Thief Of Hearts aka Stolen Read online

  “Did I say anything?” asked Richard.

  “I saw the look in your eye.”

  “On that note,” cut in Jordan, rising to his feet, “I think I’ll make my escape. Good night all.”

  “ Jordan!” called Beryl. “What about Diana?”

  “What about her?”

  “Aren’t you going to tell me what’s going on?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because,” he said wearily, “I haven’t the faintest idea.” He walked out of the library. He knew he owed Beryl an explanation, but he was too exhausted to repeat the story a second time. Richard would fill her in on the details.

  Jordan climbed the stairs and started up the hall toward his bedroom. Halfway there, he stopped. Some compulsion made him turn around and walk, instead, to the bedroom where Diana was staying. He lingered outside the closed door, debating whether he should walk away.

  He couldn’t help himself; he tapped on the door. “Diana?” he called.

  There was no answer. Quietly he entered the room.

  A corner lamp had been left on, and the glow spilled softly over the bed, illuminating its sleeping occupant. She lay curled up on her side, her arms wrapped protectively around her chest, her hair rippling in red-gold waves across the pillow. The linen nightgown she wore was Beryl’s, and a few sizes too big; the billowing sleeves almost engulfed her hands. He knew he should leave, but he found himself sinking into the chair beside the bed. There he watched her sleep and thought how very small she looked, how defenseless she truly was.

  “My little thief,” he murmured.

  A sigh suddenly escaped her throat and she stirred awake. She looked at him with unfocused eyes, then slowly seemed to comprehend where she was.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, and rose from the chair. “I didn’t mean to wake you. Go back to sleep.” He turned to leave.

  “ Jordan?”

  He glanced back at her. She seemed to be lost in a sea of white sheets and goose-down pillows and puffy nightgown linen, and he had the ridiculous urge to pull her out of there before she drowned.

  “I…have to tell you something,” she whispered.

  “It can wait till tomorrow.”

  “No, I have to tell you now. It’s not fair of me, pulling you into this. When you could get hurt.”

  Frowning, he moved back to the bed. “The bomb. In the car. Was it meant for Guy?”

  “I don’t know.” She blinked, and he saw the sparkle of tears on her lashes. “Maybe. Or maybe it was meant for me. I can’t be sure. That-that’s what makes this so confusing. Not knowing if I’m the one who was supposed to die. I keep thinking…” She looked at him, her eyes full of torment. “I keep thinking it’s my fault, what happened to Guy. He never really did anything wrong. I mean, not seriously wrong. He just got caught up in a bit of greed. But he didn’t deserve…” She swallowed and looked down at the sheets. “He didn’t deserve to die,” she whispered.

  “There’s a chance he might live.”

  “You saw the explosion! Do you really think anyone could survive it?”

  After a pause Jordan admitted, “No. To be honest, I don’t think he’ll survive.”

  They fell silent for a moment. Had she cared at all for Delancey? he wondered. Or are her tears purely from guilt? He couldn’t help but feel a little guilty himself. After all, he’d invaded the man’s house. He’d never really liked Delancey, had thought him laughable. But now the man was at death’s door. No one, not even Guy Delancey, deserved such a terrible end.

  “Why do you think you might have been the target?” he asked.

  “Because…” She let out a deep breath. “Because it’s happened before.”

  “Bombs?”

  “No. Other things. Accidents.”

  “When?”

  “A few weeks ago, in London, I was almost run down by a taxi.”

  “In London,” he noted dryly, “that could happen to anyone.”

  “It wasn’t the only time.”

  “You mean there was another accident?”

  She nodded. “In the Underground. I was standing on the train platform. And someone pushed me.”

  He stared at her skeptically. “Are you positive, Diana? Isn’t it more likely that someone just bumped into you?”

  “Do you think I’m stupid?” she cried. “Wouldn’t I know it if someone pushed me?” With a sob of frustration she buried her face in her hands.

  Her unexpected outburst left him stunned. For a moment he could think of nothing to say. Then, gently, he reached for her shoulder. With that one touch, something seemed to leap between them. A longing. Through the flimsy nightgown fabric he felt the warmth of her skin, and with sudden vividness he remembered the taste of her mouth, the sweetness of her kisses earlier that night.

  Ruthlessly he suppressed all those inconvenient urges now threatening to overwhelm his sense of reason. He sat beside her on the bed. “Tell me,” he said. “Tell me again what happened in the Underground.”

  “You won’t believe me.”

  “Give me a chance. Please.”

  She raised her head and looked at him, her gaze moist and uncertain. “I-I fell onto the tracks. The train was just pulling in. If it hadn’t been for a man who saw me…”

  “A man? Then someone pulled you out?”

  She nodded. “I never even learned his name. All I remember is that he reached down and yanked me back onto the platform. I tried to thank him, but he just-just told me to be more careful. And then he was gone.” She shook her head in bewilderment. “My guardian angel.”

  He looked into those glistening brown eyes and wondered if any of this was possible. Wondered how anyone could be cold-blooded enough to push this woman under a train.

  “Why would anyone want you dead?” he asked. “Is it something you’ve done?”

  Instantly she stiffened, as though he’d struck her. “What do you mean, is it something I’ve done?”

  “I’m just trying to understand-”

  “Do you think I deserve this somehow? That I must be guilty of something?”

  “Diana, I’m not accusing you of anything. It’s just that murder-attempted murder-generally involves a motive. And you haven’t told me what it is.”

  He waited for an answer, but he realized that he’d somehow lost her. She was huddled in a self-protective embrace, as though to ward off any further attacks he might launch against her.

  “Diana,” he said gently, “you have to trust me.”

  “I don’t have to trust anyone.”

  “It would make it easier. If I’m to help you at all-”

  “You’ve already helped me. I can’t really ask you for anything more.”

  “The least you can do is tell me what I’ve gotten involved in. If bombs are going to be blowing up around here, I’d like to know why.”

  She sat stubbornly huddled, not responding. In frustration he rose from the bed, paced to the door, then paced back. Damn it all, she was going to tell him. Even if he had to use the threat of last resort.

  “If you don’t tell me,” he said, “I really shall have to call the police.”

  She looked up in astonishment and gave a disbelieving laugh. “The police? I’d think they’re the last people you’d want to call. Considering.”

  “Considering what?”

  “Delancey’s bedroom. The minor matter of a little burglary.”

  Sighing, he clawed his hair back. “The time has come to set you straight on that. The truth is, I broke into Guy’s house as a favor to a lady.”

  “What favor?”

  “She’d written a few…indiscreet letters to him. She wanted the letters back.”

  “You’re saying it was all a gentleman’s errand?”

  “You could call it that.”

  “You didn’t mention any lady before.”

  “That’s because I’d promised her I’d stay silent. For the sake of her rather tenuous marriage. But now Delancey’s been
hurt and bombs are exploding. I think it’s time to start telling the truth.” He gave her a pointed look. “Don’t you agree?”

  She thought it over for a moment. Then her gaze slid away from his and she said, “All right. I guess it’s confession time.” She took a deep breath. “I’m not a thief, either.”

  “Why were you in Delancey’s bedroom?”

  “I was doing my job. We’re trying to collect evidence. An insurance fraud case.”

  This time Jordan burst out laughing. “You’re claiming to be with the police?”

  Red faced, she looked up defiantly. “Why is that funny?”

  “Which branch do you work for? The local constabulary? Scotland Yard? Interpol, perhaps?”

  “I…I work for a private investigator. Not the police.”

  “Which investigator?”

  “You wouldn’t know the company.”

  “I see. And who, may I ask, is the subject of your investigation?”

  “He’s not English. His name’s not important to you.”

  “How does Guy Delancey fit in?”

  Wearily she ran her hand through her hair. In a voice drained of emotion, she said, “A few weeks ago Guy purchased an antique dagger known as the Eye of Kashmir. It was one of several art pieces reportedly carried aboard the Max Havelaar last month. That ship later sank off the coast of Spain. Nothing was recovered. The man who owned the vessel-a Belgian-filed a thirty-two-million-dollar insurance claim for the loss of the ship. And for the artwork. He owned it all.”

  Jordan frowned. “But you say Delancey recently acquired this dagger. When?”

  “Three weeks ago. After the boat sank.”

  “Then…the dagger was never aboard the vessel.”

  “Obviously not. Since Delancey was able to buy it from some private seller.”

  “And that’s the case you’re trying to build? Against the owner of the boat? This Belgian fellow?”

  She nodded. “He gets reimbursed by the insurance company for the losses. And he keeps the art to resell. It works out as a sort of double indemnity.”

  “How did you know Delancey’d acquired the dagger?”

  Drained, she sank back against the pillows. “People brag.” She sighed. “Delancey did, anyway. He told friends about a seventeenth-century dagger he’d bought from a private source. A dagger with a star corundum-a sapphire-mounted in the hilt. Word got around in the antiques community. From the description, we knew it was the Eye of Kashmir.”

  “And that’s what you were trying to steal from Delancey?”

  “Not steal. Confirm its whereabouts. So it can later be confiscated as evidence.”

  Silently he mulled over this rush of new information. Or was it new fabrication? “You told me earlier tonight that you were stealing something once owned by your family.”

  She gave a regretful shrug. “I lied.”

  “Really?”

  “I didn’t know if I could trust you.”

  “And you trust me now?”

  “You’ve given me no reason not to.” She studied his face, as though looking for some betraying sign that he was not to be trusted, that she’d made a fatal mistake. Slowly she smiled. A coy, almost seductive smile. “And you’ve been so awfully kind to me. A true gentleman.”

  Kind? he thought with a silent groan. Was there anything that could dash a man’s hopes more brutally than to be called kind?

  “I can trust you,” she asked, “can’t I?”

  He began to pace again, feeling irritated at her, at himself, at how much he wanted to believe this latest outlandish story. He’d been gazing too long into those doe eyes of hers. It was turning his brain into gullible mush. “Why not trust me?” he muttered in exasperation. “Since I’ve been so awfully kind.”

  “Why are you angry? Is it because I lied to you before?”

  “Shouldn’t I be angry?”

  “Well, yes. I suppose so. But now that I’ve come clean-”

  “Have you?”

  Her jaw squared. It made her even prettier, damn it. He could kick himself for being so susceptible to this creature.

  “Yes,” she said, her gaze steady. “The Belgian, the Max Havelaar, the dagger-it’s all completely on the level.” She paused, then added quietly, “So is the danger.”

  The bomb is proof enough of that, he thought.

  That, and the sight of her curled up in that bed, gazing at him with those liquid brown eyes, was enough to make him accept everything she’d told him. Which meant he was either going out of his mind or he was too exhausted to think straight.

  They both needed to sleep.

  He knew he should simply say good-night and walk out of the room. But some irresistible compulsion made him lean down and place a kiss on her forehead. The scent of her hair, the sweetness of soap, was intoxicating.

  At once he backed away. “You’ll be absolutely safe here,” he said.

  “I believe you,” she said. “And I don’t know why I should.”

  “Of course you should. It’s the solemn word of a gentleman.” Smiling, he turned off the lamp and left the room.

  An hour later he still lay awake in bed, thinking about what she’d told him. All that babbling about insurance fraud and undercover investigations was rubbish and he knew it. But he did believe she was in danger. That much he could see in her eyes: the fear.

  He considered just how safe she was here. He knew the house was up-to-date when it came to locks and alarm systems. During the years Uncle Hugh had worked with British Intelligence, security had been a priority here at Chetwynd. The grounds had been monitored, the personnel screened, the rooms regularly swept for listening devices. But since his uncle’s retirement a few months ago, those precautions had gradually fallen by the wayside. Civilians, after all, did not need the trappings of a fortress. While Chetwynd was still fairly secure, anyone determined to break in could probably find a way.

  But first they’d have to learn that the woman was here.

  That last thought eased Jordan ’s fears. No one outside this house could possibly know the woman’s location. As long as that fact remained a secret, she was safe.

  Six

  Clea waited until the house had fallen completely silent before she climbed out of bed. Her head still pounded, and the floor seemed to wobble under her bare feet, but she forced herself to cross the room and crack open the door.

  The hallway was deserted. At the far end a small lamp burned, casting its glow across the carpet runner. Next to the lamp was a telephone.

  Noiselessly Clea crept down the hall and picked up the receiver. Shaking off a twinge of guilt, she punched in Tony’s number in Brussels. All right, so it was a long-distance call. This was an emergency, and the Tavistocks could surely afford the phone bill.

  Four rings and Tony answered. “Clea?”

  “I’m in trouble,” she whispered. “Somehow they’ve tracked me down.”

  “Where are you?”

  “Safe for the moment. Tony, Delancey’s been hurt. He’s in a hospital, not expected to live.”

  “What? How…”

  “A bomb went off in his car. Look, I don’t think I can reach the Eye. Not for a while. There’ll be hordes of police watching his house.”

  He didn’t answer. She thought for a moment the call had been cut off. Then Tony said, “What do you plan to do?”

  “I don’t know.” She glanced around at the sound of a creak, but saw no one. Just old house noises, she thought, her heart still hammering. She said softly, “If they found me, they could find you, too. Get out of Brussels. Go somewhere else.”

  “Clea, there’s something I have to tell you-”

  She spun around at another noise. It came from one of the bedrooms. Someone was awake! She hung up the phone and scurried away up the hall.

  Back in her room she stood by the door, listening. To her relief, she heard nothing more. At least she’d had a chance to warn Tony. Now it was time to think about herself. She locked the door and wedge
d a chair against it for good measure. Then she climbed back into bed.

  Her headache was starting to fade; perhaps by morning she’d be as good as new. In which case she’d leave Chetwynd and get the hell away before Van Weldon’s people tracked her down again. She’d been lucky up till now, but luck couldn’t hold, not against the sort of people she was facing. Another change of appearance was called for. A haircut and a reincarnation as a brunette. Glasses. Yes, that might do it, might allow her to slip unnoticed into the London crowd. Once she got out of England, Van Weldon might lose interest in her. She might have a chance of surviving to a ripe old age.

  Might.

  Tony dropped the receiver back in the cradle. “She hung up on me,” he said, and turned to the other man. “I couldn’t keep her on the line.”

  “It may have been long enough.”

  “Christ, she sounded scared out of her wits. Can’t you people call this off?”

  “Not yet. We don’t have enough. But we’re getting close.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because Van Weldon’s getting close to her. He’ll be making another move soon.”

  Tony watched the other man pull out a cigarette and tap it against his lighter. Why do people do that, tap their cigarettes? Just another annoying habit of this fellow. In the past week Tony had gotten to know Archie MacLeod’s every tic, every quirk, and he was well-nigh sick of the man. If only there was some other way.

  But there wasn’t. MacLeod knew all about Tony’s past, knew about the years he’d spent in prison. If Tony didn’t cooperate, MacLeod and Interpol would have that information broadcast to every antiques buyer in Europe. They’d ruin him. Tony had no choice but to go along with this crazy scheme. And pray that Clea didn’t get killed in the process.

  “You let Van Weldon get too close this time,” Tony observed. “Clea could’ve been blown up in that car.”

  “But she wasn’t.”

  “Your man slipped up. Admit it!”

  MacLeod exhaled a puff of cigarette smoke. “All right, so we were taken by surprise. But your cousin’s alive, isn’t she? We’re keeping an eye on her.”

  Tony laughed. “You don’t even know where she is!”