“No, it fastens from the inside.” As Ian reached inside the lapel, his fingers grazed her breast.
Her breath caught on a soft hiss.
He froze.
With one small motion, he could lean over and claim the kiss they should have shared eight years ago. The one that had consumed his dreams and his waking fantasies.
It would be sweet. Too sweet to stop at merely a kiss.
And if he acted on the impulse, it would make their impending separation unreservedly brutal.
He quickly fastened the inner clasp of the coat, and then the outer buttons, and stepped aside to lead her out the back door.
They darted through the dark street and took turns glancing behind them to ensure no one followed them. At the corner of the high street, Hepburn had a hack waiting. Diana threw the valet one of her dazzling smiles, and they climbed into the carriage.
As the taxi lurched forward, she remarked, “Hepburn is exceptionally talented. I hope you pay him well.”
“He’s undoubtedly the most overpaid valet in London.” Hepburn was also more than a valet. Which he suspected Diana knew.
“I left the dress in your guest room,” she said softly.
“Hepburn will see to it,” he assured her.
“There was one thing I thought you should look after.”
Diana took his hand. He hadn’t put on his gloves yet, and the bare touch of her fingers burned his skin as the cold weight of the emeralds filled his palm.
She folded his fingers over to cradle the gems. “Now I can be certain that you’re staring at me and not some shiny object.”
Chapter Eight
Theemeraldssatlikean anvil in Ian’s breast pocket.
Diana had handed them to him like they were a pair of gloves, or a reticule she’d borrowed from a friend.
Acquiring them with such little effort on his own part left him wanting. She couldn’t appreciate how important the necklace was to him, and this rubbed at him, even though he knew he should be grateful she’d never know what he’d planned on risking to possess it.
Defending the emeralds would require immersing himself in a world of orchestrated crime. Ian didn’t fool himself into believing he had even a slim chance of ever escaping. Once he left England with the necklace in hand, he could never risk seeing Diana again.
But he would send her off with a proper farewell.
At the docks, he followed Diana along the pier to the warehouse that housed Rives Shipping’s London offices. When Diana removed a key from her pocket and unlocked the door, they found the place deserted.
“Damn, we’ve missed them.” She wrinkled her nose at the clock mounted on the wall. “I was hoping to catch my head of engineering before he departed.”
“Why is he here in London if he’s your head engineer?” Ian asked. “Shouldn’t he oversee the building operations in the Bristol shipyard?”
“He goes back and forth. He’s training his deputy to oversee construction so he can focus on designing. And representing the business side of things. Contracts, suppliers, and such.”
“It sounds like a massive job.”
“It is.”
“Too big for one man alone.”
Her chin twisted over her shoulder. “My team are quite talented.”
“As are you.”