Lilah took in the posh surroundings of Diana Lange’s home and marveled at how warm and comfortable it all felt. The house had to be over eight thousand square feet, but instead of feeling cold and distant, it was warm and inviting.
Just like Diana.
The woman’s gray eyes were a match for her son’s, but that was where the resemblance stopped. For all Reed’s impressive size, his mother was a tiny little thing. But any thought that tiny meant weak vanished as his mother invited her into the sitting room, then summoned Reed to the hall.
“Reed Edward...” Lilah had heard a hiss as his mother dragged him out of the room. Although she hadn’t heard the rest, the tone and the addition of a middle name had Lilah convinced Reed was getting taken to task for bringing a woman home without calling first.
Served him right.
Especially since he hadn’t brought a woman into his mother’s house since high school.
When she stopped and thought about that fact, that persistent warmth filled her chest, spreading outward in a wave.
Who was this man?
And why did he keep catching her off guard?
He was a cop, for Pete’s sake. And the only reason he’d come into her life was because she and her business partners were in grave danger.
They’d worked hard to put that sense of imminent threat out of their minds, but it was there all the same. Violet had set the alarm behind her as she and Reed left Elegance and Lace. And she also knew Tucker was scheduled to come down to the shop and stay there as soon as he finished an afternoon meeting at a job site, his partner Max likely in tow.
Despite their best efforts to keep busy, they were on high alert. Her fight over the afternoon’s wedding consultation with Violet had been just one example in a string of many over the past few days.
While she hated the not knowing, she was having a hard time believing Reed’s mother held any answers. The woman seemed lovely, and even with an ear to the ground, Lilah had no idea how Diana could ever manage to help them figure out who was behind the attacks.
With one hand on her purse strap, she walked around the room, looking at one photo after another. Several photos of Reed through the years filled frames. A small baby with chubby hands was framed next to what had to be his first day of kindergarten. His smile was broad as he waved from the entrance to the school bus.
She continued through the room, stopping at his graduation photo as well as one of him in his dress blues.
Breath catching, she stilled as she took in the photo. No matter how she sliced it, the man cut an impressive figure. Tall, steady and sure. He couldn’t have been more than twenty-two or twenty-three in the picture, but it was evident, even then.
He was a protector.
Muted voices carried down the hall, drawing Lilah’s gaze away from the photo of Reed and onto one of Diana in a wedding gown. His mother stood next to what had to be her current husband.
They were a striking couple and Lilah took an extra moment to look at them both. Reed’s stepfather appeared to be well into his fifties at the time the photo was taken, and she could see the trim, fit strength of him. He was several inches taller than Diana, with a piercing gaze and that slight smile the elite were fond of giving the camera.
Too toothy makes one look too eager.
The words leaped up and slapped her, effectively ending her review of the photo.
Steven had given her that advice the first time they made the society pages. Even now, she could remember how excited she’d been to be photographed with him and mentioned by name.
And then he’d ruined it by admonishing her about having too wide a smile.
“Lilah?”
Reed’s voice was quiet at her ear, the warm, rich tone pulling her fully from the memory. “Yes?”
“Would you care to sit down?”
She turned to face him and didn’t miss the questions stamped in his gaze. She could see he warred with asking again how she was, but a quick glance at his mother had her smiling broadly.
“I’m sorry. I was caught up in the photos. So many good ones, Mrs. Lange.”
“Diana. Please.”
Reed’s mother waved them over to the seating area, where she busied herself with a pitcher of iced tea and a tray of cookies.
“Here. Let me,” Reed said as he reached for the pitcher, gesturing his mother to sit.
Again, Lilah was struck by the simplicity of his gesture. She knew—knew—that Steven DeWinter wasn’t the typical man. While spousal abuse wasn’t exactly uncommon, it wasn’t in the mainstream, either.
There were good men out there. Men like Cassidy’s Tucker and his partner, Max. Men who worked hard and who wanted to share their lives with the right woman.
But even despite knowing that, the simple sweetness in Reed’s gesture still caught her off guard.
“It’s good to see you again, Lilah.” Diana leaned forward. “I must admit I’ve thought about your petits fours more than once.”
“If they’re even half as good as her cream puffs, I know why.” Reed settled the heavy glass pitcher of iced tea on the table in a small dish to gather any moisture.
“Oh?” Diana’s gaze drifted to her son, along with a small smile. “Perhaps I need to put in an order for my next function.”
“We’d be happy to help you.” Lilah hated putting on the sales show—she normally left that to Violet—but it never hurt to present a pleasant front when an opportunity arose.
“Thank you. Now. First things first. Did you bring the ruby?”
“Mother!” Reed had just settled into one of the large wingback chairs that flanked the sofa.
Diana adopted an innocent expression, but Lilah didn’t miss the sly smile that accompanied the protest. “You can hardly blame me for asking.”
“We came here for help.”
“And to show off.” Lilah patted her purse. “I’m happy for you to see it.”
Although happy was a bit of a stretch, Lilah was anxious to gain another opinion on the rubies they’d discovered in the floor of the shop.
“Reed filled me in on much of the story. How your landlady’s father was the designer of the fake crown jewels during World War Two?”
“Exactly.” Lilah filled in the story’s gaps—namely, that the fake jewels were smuggled out of England with a trio of real rubies at the Queen’s request after the war.
“She thought the rubies were cursed?” Excitement rode high in Diana’s eyes as Lilah pulled out the small wrapped cloth from her purse. “We’re talking about the actual Queen here?”
“Based on the story we’ve been told, yes.”
The stone was heavy in her hands as she unwrapped the polishing cloth it nestled in. The stone—roughly the size of a small strawberry—winked bloodred as she lifted the last corner of material and Diana let out an audible gasp.
“Oh, my gosh! It’s really real.” Excitement telegraphed off her like a sparking live wire as her gaze stayed on the stone. “May I hold it?”
“Of course.”
Lilah handed it over and, not for the first time, felt slightly bereft to let it go.
Which was silly.
She wasn’t keeping the stone. No way, no how.
Diana lifted the ruby, the color winking in the late-afternoon sunlight that flooded the sitting room. Lilah knew hanging on to the stone bordered on stupidity, but unlike Cassidy and Violet, who were more than happy to stick theirs in safe-deposit boxes, she couldn’t quite hide the need to hang on to hers.
Not that they owned any of them, but they’d made the agreement to each keep one safe. And she took that responsibility seriously.
“It’s breathtaking. Look here.” Diana ran the pad of her little finger over the broad, flat surface of the ruby before she handed it over. “The lack of inclusions is incredible. See how perfect this facet is?”
Lilah leaned forward to look at the same time as Reed. His knee bumping hers as he extended himself toward the couch. “I don’t see anything.”
“That’s my point.” Diana tapped the edge of the ruby once more. “No stone is perfect, but this one is close. Especially for a piece this large, there are no obvious inclusions. No stress on the piece at all.”
Lilah wanted to disregard the shot of warmth where her leg connected with Reed’s as nothing more than lingering heat from their kiss but it was the electric hum beneath her skin that had her questioning if her thoughts were that casual. She hardly believed in love at first sight, but she couldn’t deny there was something about Reed Graystone that made a woman sit up and take some serious notice.
Forcing her attention and focus back onto the ruby, she concentrated on Diana’s comment. “We haven’t had them appraised, but we spent a fair amount of time looking at them. I’d say the other stones are comparable.”
“Oh my. Oh—” Diana broke off before she handed the stone back. “Give me a minute.”
Diana raced out of the room as if she had a demon on her heels, and Lilah didn’t miss Reed’s soft smile. “She does that.”
“Often?”
“Often enough.”
The ruby cut into the edge of her palm as she gripped it and Lilah made a concerted effort to loosen her fingers. His knee still brushed hers and she fought the twin urges to push him away and move closer.
Opting for the high road as memories of their kiss threatened to swamp her senses once again, she shifted into a new position on the couch, breaking contact.
“Why have you dismissed the idea of a curse?”
His gaze drifted to where their bodies had touched before she moved away, and she didn’t miss the distinct tightening of his shoulders. With stiff movements, he settled into his own seat and gave her a hard stare. “Why are you entertaining it?”
“You can’t deny these stones have brought us a heap of trouble.”
“And you can’t deny you’ve had no trouble until a week ago. Before that, they’d sat beneath your office floor, no one the wiser, as you three worked to build your business. A rather successful business by all accounts.”
“I guess.”
“Come on, Lilah. If there’s any curse, it’s shameless greed that has someone insistent on going after these jewels. And more than willing to hurt whoever gets in the way in the process.”
“Can’t it be both?”
Reed was prevented from saying anything when his mother scooted back into the room, three large books in her hands. She had her finger lodged in one and resumed her seat, flipping open to the page she’d marked. “Right here. I knew I’d seen this before.”
Lilah followed the bold chapter heading. “The Renaissance Stones?”
“Discovered by the British East India Company in the late seventeenth century.”
“But that’s one stone.” Reed’s natural curiosity had him leaning over her shoulder once more and Lilah finally gave up and moved over to give him room on the couch.
“Keep reading,” Diana urged them both, pushing the book so it lay between them.
Lilah scanned the passage about the actual discovery of the stone, her gaze skipping toward the bottom of the page. “It says here it generated several smaller stones after cutting.”
“And that there was considerable thievery between the Dutch and the British over who believed themselves rightful owner,” Reed added.
Lilah unwrapped the stone once more and held it up. “All three pieces came from a larger stone?”
“There’s more. These stones were steeped in drama even then.” Diana passed over one of the other books she’d carried down. “The stone and its subsequent cutting has a nasty history. The original jeweler in Antwerp who worked the stone was found murdered a week after the rubies left his possession.”
Lilah glanced at Reed, not entirely surprised to see the skepticism that painted his face in grim lines. “Really, Mom. Are you going down the curse route, too?”
“I’m just sharing what I know. I’ve not done a ton with jewels in my work, but I’ve often done Eastern-inspired homes or wings of homes. These jewels come up from time to time in any reading of the era.”
Lilah scanned the page once more, several words like bloodred and murder leaping out at her from the page like a scream. “If they ended up in Britain anyway after this discovery, then how were they gifted to the Queen? That’s been Mrs. B.’s story all along.”
“Maybe they were returned to their homeland at some point?” Reed offered up the guess, but it was Diana who pointed toward the closed books.
“You’re welcome to take these with you, but I suspect you’d be better off seeing what you can come up with on the internet. These books are old and I’m sure more’s been written since these were published.”
Diana ran a finger over the stone, her gaze distant. “It is incredible. But even if you trace its provenance and find out how it made its way back to its home, I still don’t see why the Queen gave them away. It seems like it would be easy enough to hide them in a wing of the castle or stick them in a museum and just be done with them.”
“That’s what we’ve not been able to figure out. Violet’s done a bit of research over the last week and has discovered that royalty is gifted things all the time. Most find their way into public displays or photo ops and then become a small footnote in the annals of history, never to be seen again.”
“Which only reinforces the idea of a curse. If the Queen wanted these out of Britain—”
“Mom—” Reed was kind but firm as he eyed his mother. “You’re a practical woman and you’ve spent more than enough time in people’s homes to know they put sentimental value on the dumbest things.”
“True, but a curse is a different matter altogether.”
“Fine. Call it sentiment or superstition. Either way, we’re not going there.”
“Wait.” Diana held up a hand. “Think about it, Reed. Something must have spooked the Queen if she wished to have these removed from her country. Smuggled out, as a matter of fact. And you can’t deny recent events sort of support the concept of the jewels having a poor effect on others.”
“Greed is greed, Mom.”
Lilah reached for her iced tea and gave his mother a knowing look. “He gets touchy when I push this angle, too.”
“My boy likes what he can see and touch. What’s real.”
“Exactly.” Reed nodded.
“Which only reinforces all my efforts to explain to him that sometimes it’s the things we refuse to believe that teach us the most.”
* * *
Reed was still turning his mother’s words over an hour later as he opened his passenger door for Lilah. His mother had been all too eager to discuss the stones and that damned imagined curse, which hadn’t been the point of their visit.
What had been the point of their visit—who she and Lilah knew in common—had produced little fruit.
“What’s with the grumpy attitude?”
Lilah’s question was as tart as ripe lemons and he toyed briefly with ignoring it. He was saved by a lifelong drubbing of manners that had him taking the question seriously. “I deal in facts. And as part of those facts I’ve got two dead bodies. Speculating on a bunch of hokum about the jewels at the center of this issue was a waste of time.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way.”
“Are you? Because you and my mother were awfully content to wax on and on about the jewels and spent little time discussing who might be involved.”
“Why does it matter? You’ve already put Steven on your short list. Just put someone on him to follow him and be done with it.”
“I can’t just have the man followed for no other reason other than he’s an ass.”
“Then go question him.”
Reed knew Lilah’s feelings on DeWinter ran deep and held a complete absence of warmth, but he couldn’t quite let the nonchalant comment slide. “On what grounds?”
“You’ve got a few questions. You’re investigating a case and two dead men he was acquainted with. It can’t be that hard.”
“It’s not hard.”
Her gaze never left the road as Reed navigated them onto the highway into downtown. “Then why not just go do it?”
“We don’t know how all the players are connected. If I go after him now and tip him off to the fact that I think he’s involved, he might rabbit.”
“Steven doesn’t rabbit. He cooks it, but he’s not a man to back down. Believe me.”
Although he was always aware of what Lilah had been through, it still amazed him—that visceral punch of anger that slammed into him every time he got a real sense of how the man had hurt her.
“That may be so, but I need to play this right.”
“Then use me.”
The urge to stare at her hit him hard, but the thick late-afternoon traffic kept him from turning his head. “Excuse me?”
“Use me. We’ll go to one of his restaurants and draw him out. It is Restaurant Week. He’s sure to be preening over his special menu.”
Reed took in Lilah’s words, still not quite believing what she had suggested. His gut had told him it was a bad idea to draw his mother into his case, but he’d needed the help and the extra pair of trusted eyes she provided. It was so damn hard to penetrate the upper echelons of society. He’d seen it firsthand as a civilian and he knew it to be even more so as a member of the police force.
But to use Lilah in the same way?
She was the victim in his case, not some piece of bait to be dangled in front of her jerk of an ex.
Only, he’d stopped seeing her as a victim from the very first.
And while he’d been equally against her involvement from the beginning, the uniqueness of the situation and the possible players involved had clouded his judgment.
That was all.
“I can’t do that. This is an official investigation.”
“An investigation into my life. You said yourself you didn’t have any leads.”
“I did no—”
“Fine. Call it a stuck case without a lead. I can help you. I may hate Steven but I hate this situation even more. The faster we can finish it the better. And if he knows something, we’ll mess with his head and draw him out.”
“I don’t want you going back there.”
“I’m not crazy about it, either. But you’ll be with me. There will be witnesses. And then we’ll leave.”
Something dark churned in his stomach. If he were a fanciful man, he’d say it was the taste of impending battle, but he wasn’t fanciful.
He was practical.
And there was no way he was letting Lilah get within fifty feet of Steven DeWinter.
* * *
Lilah saw the moment Reed shut down. To his credit, he wasn’t subtle about it. Oh no, his feelings were telegraphed loud and clear by the set of his jaw.
“I want this over, Reed. Let’s jump-start the process of doing just that.”
“No.”
“Excuse me?”
“What didn’t you understand?”
Lilah knew she had a stubborn streak a mile wide. Her partners teased her about it. Her mother had spent her formative years boring up under it. And it was the one personality trait she credited for keeping Steven from fully destroying her.
It also added a wee bit of irrationality to her personality every now and again.
“Fine, I’ll do it myself.”
Their exit came up on The Tollway and Lilah figured it was the quick turn—and the car that nearly sideswiped them for the exit first—that kept Reed from actually exploding in the driver’s seat.
“Are you threatening a Dallas PD investigation?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Because your flippant attitude toward my job and my responsibilities is beginning to grate.”
The proverbial red flag floated between them, but Lilah refused to acquiesce. She did respect his role, damn it. She knew what he was capable of and she respected the job he had to do.
But this was her life.
“I’m a civilian. And as I’m one who has the ability to move about freely, you don’t have a say.”
“I’ll tie you up myself. You’re not to go near DeWinter.”
“Ooh. Kinky.”
“Lilah—”
“Look. Hear me out.” She tugged on the small strand of hair that had come loose over her ear. It was obvious baiting him wasn’t the best approach, so it was time to plead with his sense of reason. “Please.”
He took the turn onto Dragon, the slowing of the car giving him a moment to look at her. She saw the banked fire in his gaze but heard the subtle willingness to hear her out. “Fine.”
“Steven isn’t a man who likes to put his brutality on display. He’s far more comfortable keeping to the shadows. Nothing will happen to me if we go to his restaurant.”
He pulled into a spot in front of Elegance and Lace and put the car in Park. When she saw he wasn’t going to respond, she pressed on.
“He’s also easily baited. I learned quickly what his cues and trigger points were. All I’m suggesting is that we bait the trap a bit tonight. See what he reacts to. You can ask all the questions and I’ll read the signs. If he’s not involved, his boredom will be more than evident. But if he is involved...”
She let the thought hang there, torn between hoping Steven DeWinter held the answers and fearful that all she was doing was poking a sleeping bear in his den.
“And if he’s not?”
“Then dinner’s on me.”