by Fiona Brand
One of the top West Coast financial firms, Burns-Stein Halliday, had recruited her. Just months later, her reputation in shreds, she had walked away from the firm and her career.
Almost six years of hard work and focused ambition gone, because she had, apparently, decided that sex was a priority.
He set his coffee down, suddenly annoyed. He didn’t think so.
To the best of his knowledge, Allegra had seldom dated at all. If she had one obsession, it was her business. And, in the two years she had been living in Miami, he only knew of one guy she had slept with, and that was him.
For the first time, he seriously considered that Allegra had been set up.
Tulley had made brief notes about the two men with whom she was supposed to have had wild extramarital affairs. They were both connected with the firm, one an executive who was married to the senior partner’s daughter, the other an executive who was the nephew of one of the other partners. That instantly raised a red flag.
Why would Allegra risk sleeping with either of them, when she had to have known it could cost her the career for which she had worked so hard?
Tulley had included pictures of the two men. They were both now in their forties and fifties with the typical lean, tanned look of players. One of them even sported a diamond stud in one lobe. Neither of them was married now, but they both had been when the alleged scandal had happened.
He sat back in his chair. Adrenaline was running through his veins. He was beginning to feel the way he had before he had gone on a mission, coldly focused, ticked off and on edge.
If it turned out that one, or both, of those men had lied, probably to protect their own reputations in business, he would make it his business to expose what they had done.
And, if they had cost Allegra her career, they could pay for it.
Pushing to his feet, he finished his coffee, rinsed the cup and put it in the dishwasher.
Retrieving his briefcase, he walked through to the garage. With any luck, since he would be at the Ocean Beach Resort today, moving in as manager, he might even run into Allegra.
But, he wasn’t betting on that happening.
Which was why he would make it a priority to be at the Atraeus Mall when she was supposed to be meeting with Callaghan.
Placing his briefcase on the passenger-side seat, he swung behind the wheel. But before he started the truck, he made a call to JT, who had connections in Hollywood, and instructed him to offer a large cash contribution to the production Callaghan had auditioned for, on the condition that they hired him today.
Forty minutes later, en route from his Hunt Security office to the Ocean Beach Resort, he took a call from JT. Callaghan had verbally accepted the contract offer.
Satisfaction eased some of the tension that gripped him.
When it came to Allegra, he was fiercely, uncompromisingly possessive. He’d spent six years trying to deny the attraction, because he just hadn’t seen her as relationship material. She was almost too gorgeous and terminally high maintenance, with a stream of guys constantly vying for her attention. Then, when Lindsay had miscarried, the guilt that had hit him had underlined that giving in to temptation where Allegra was concerned had been a serious mistake.
But, two years on, he was beginning to realize that he had misread Allegra, and how much he liked her: the sass and the challenge, her sharp business mind and fierce independence; the fact that she ran rings around most men, including him. And the more he uncovered about the real Allegra, the more strongly he was attracted to her.
The plain fact was, he didn’t just want her in his bed; he was beginning to want a whole lot more than that.
The thought of Callaghan placing an engagement ring on Allegra’s finger, even as a sham, made his jaw lock.
That would happen over his dead body.
Twelve
Allegra drove into the underground parking garage of the Atraeus mall at eleven thirty, which would give her plenty of time to pick up the ring from the jeweler’s before Mike arrived.
Hooking the strap of her tote over her shoulder, she took the elevator up to the ground floor and stepped out into the fabulous foyer, with its marble floors and glittering high-end boutiques.
Because she had wanted to avoid Tobias until she had the ring on her finger, she had deliberately absented herself from the spa. As it happened, she had put her time to good use, with meetings with her banker, then the real estate agent who had listed the property she was hoping would be her new spa. Now, all she needed was for Mike to turn up at twelve, as instructed.
She glanced around the mall, just in case Mike was early. He wasn’t, so she decided to use the time to get a bunch of roses from the florist. The plan was simple. Buy the flowers, get the ring and install it on her finger, then snap some pics of herself looking vibrant and happy with Mike looking like a handsome, devoted fiancé. When that was done, she would install the pic as a screen saver and go back to the resort.
The heady scent of flowers wafted around her as she walked past buckets of cut blooms and beautiful bunches of roses. Automatically, she chose a dozen red roses, because they shouted romance and they would look totally striking against the turquoise and white of her outfit. She paid for them and strolled back out into the mall. As she did so, she glimpsed a tall, dark guy in a suit as he disappeared into an elevator. She stopped dead, her heart pounding, because she had been almost certain that was Tobias, although it couldn’t be. She knew for a fact that he was spending the day at the resort with Marc, because she had checked.
She had a sudden flash of the annoyance on Tobias’s face as she had backed out of the garage. Happily, she had thought to put her sunglasses on, so she had been able to pretend that she hadn’t noticed him.
When she decided she had space in her day for him, he would see the ring and the flowers and understand that, just because they had slept together, that didn’t mean she was happy to fall in with his plans to have casual, uncommitted sex with her for the next month.
She checked her watch and studied the bustling traffic, which was predominantly female. Mike was tall and distinctive; he would be easy to spot. Her gaze snagged on a small guy with blond hair who was standing, quite still, amid the milling shoppers, a phone in his hand, and who, at that moment, just happened to be looking directly at her.
It was a little creepy, but she instantly dismissed him as a husband who had been abandoned in the mall, and who was probably waiting for his wife to emerge from a boutique.
Juggling the flowers, Allegra extracted her phone from her tote and checked to see if Mike had texted or called. He hadn’t. She tapped his number and waited while it rang. When he didn’t pick up, she left a voice message.
She decided there was no point hanging around waiting for him, so she strolled toward Ambrosi, a fabulous designer jeweler that had started out life as a pearl house on the Mediterranean island of Medinos. Ordinarily, she would be excited to just walk through those doors and breathe in the romance of a store that had started out life in antiquity and was gorgeously decorated to reflect that past. But, after last night, romance was off her list. Today was all about getting on track with her new agenda, which was to drive Tobias crazy with jealousy.
To that end, first thing that morning she had brought the ring in to be resized, and the other jewelry to be cleaned and assessed. The sales clerk had promised they would be ready by twelve.
As she strolled toward the glass doors, her reflection bounced back at her. With her hair piled up in a messy knot, the red roses against her white shirt, and the vivid turquoise mini and high heels, she definitely looked sharp. Just as she was about to step through the doors, she glimpsed the little man who had been looking at her before, directly behind her. This time his phone was up, and he was definitely taking a photo.
Her jaw tightened. Before she had left San Francisco, a guy who had probably been inspired
by the lies posted about her, had used to follow her around, take pictures and share them online. She had put the cops onto him, and he had been stopped. Since then, she had developed a zero tolerance for being stalked. If this creep was still hanging around when she left the store, she would take his picture and let him know that, if she ever saw him again, it would be sent to the police.
The store assistant, a young, beautifully groomed woman called Fleur, produced the ring, which now sparkled with an eye-catching brilliance. “Just wait one moment, and I’ll get the other jewelry you brought in. I think Clark has almost finished buffing it.”
Allegra set the bunch of roses down and picked the ring up off the black velvet pad the store assistant had placed it on. She slid the ring onto the third finger of her left hand, but, as she did so, her mood, which had been upbeat, bottomed out and a curious sense of disappointment assailed her. She had been so busy with her plans to ramp up the fake engagement, she hadn’t thought about how wearing the ring would make her feel.
Brought up with parents who had been in love and totally devoted to each other, she had always imagined that she was destined to experience the same kind of nurturing, protective love. That, when an engagement ring went onto her finger, it would be an emotionally loaded moment, shared with a man who would swear to love and honor her. That the ring on her finger would symbolize the beginning of their shared life of love and intimacy.
Instead, she had a fake engagement, a fake ring, a fake fiancé who would probably not even keep the appointment she had paid him to keep and a stubbornly addictive attraction to a man who only wanted her for sex.
Swallowing against a sudden tightness in her throat, she wrenched the ring off. As she did so, Fleur returned with a tall, gaunt man in a pristine suit, who looked more like an undertaker than a jeweler.
He placed the shabby pile of black velvet bags down on one side of the counter, then set down a large, signature Ambrosi box. He flicked the lid open with a flourish and extracted the necklace. A quick glance at Fleur and she scurried to produce a black velvet pad. With solemn, reverential movements, he arranged the necklace, which had developed a fiery glow beneath the dazzling LED lights.
Allegra’s breath caught, despite knowing that the necklace, like most of the other jewelry, had to be fakes. Why else would Esmae, who had loved wearing the Hunt diamonds, have shoved them in a box in a dusty attic?
Clark produced an envelope and extracted two sheets of paper, which he spread out on the counter. “I’ve done a quick assessment, but if you like I can get you a more detailed second opinion from someone who deals in antique jewelry for insurance purposes—”
“What do you mean, insurance purposes?”
Clark gave her a transfixed look. “You don’t have either the Faberge diamond necklace and earrings, or the Van Cleef and Arpels bracelet and brooch, insured?”
* * *
Feeling distinctly shell-shocked, Allegra walked out of Ambrosi with the roses and a small fortune in diamonds in her tote: rare, designer diamonds with the kind of provenance that would guarantee sky-high values. Jewelry that Esmae had never mentioned, and that Allegra’s own family knew nothing about.
Because she knew so little about the jewelry, she wasn’t prepared to call any of it hers. They could be Hunt jewels, perhaps belonging to Tobias’s natural grandmother. Although, if that was the case, why had Esmae possessed them? And why had she kept such fabulously expensive jewels separate from the Hunt diamonds, which were cataloged and stored in a bank vault?
The other thought that had occurred, and which was much more likely, was that they were some kind of second Mallory skeleton in their scandal-ridden closet; that they had been hidden because they were stolen.
Either way, before she did anything with them, and ended up in prison, she needed to know more. She needed to read Alexandra’s journal.
Lost in thought, Allegra made a beeline for the restaurant where she and Mike were supposed to have their engagement date. As she strolled, she checked her phone again. Mike hadn’t acknowledged her text, and he still hadn’t made any attempt to call her.
Keeping the phone in her hand on the off chance that he would actually call, she lengthened her stride. The café was just around the next corner. A split second later, just ahead, a familiar set of broad shoulders and the back of a well-shaped head registered.
Tobias.
He was casually striding, his phone held to one ear.
So, it had been him she had seen earlier. Shocked that he should turn up here, now, she spun on her heel and walked briskly back toward the main foyer. Mike wasn’t here, so why go to the café at all? The last thing she needed right now was to have to deal with Tobias.
Stepping past a beautifully dressed couple, she almost ran down the same little man she had seen taking her photo earlier. “You!”
Clearly, he wasn’t used to being confronted, because he froze like a deer in the headlights.
Holding up her phone and almost dropping the roses, which she now wished she had never bought, she snapped his photo. “There’s no point pretending you aren’t following me,” she said coolly. “Tell me your name, or I go straight to the police.”
“His name’s Tulley,” a deep, curt voice said, from behind her. “He works for me.”
Allegra spun, adrenaline pumping as her gaze clashed with Tobias’s. “Doing what?”
Although she already knew. Tulley who seemed to have an unhealthy zeal for sneaking around spying on people, probably belonged to Tobias’s over-priced detective agency.
“Tulley’s a PI.”
The confirmation that Tobias was having her watched, investigated, sent a searing dart of hurt through her. It meant that he hadn’t believed a word she’d said about her innocence, that he didn’t trust her, and that he had slept with her anyway.
But, if he thought she was going to crumble, he could think again. “At least spying is marginally better than stalking. But if you truly believe all of the lies that have been written about me online, then we’re done.”
Shoving her phone in her tote, she turned away, but Tobias stepped ahead, blocking her.
“I don’t believe them,” he said quietly. “Babe, the reason Tulley’s been following you is because I wanted him to keep an eye on you until I could get here. We need to talk.”
Her jaw tightened against her automatic delight that he had called her babe, and the utter relief that he had finally seen that she wasn’t a shallow party girl those social media accounts had made her out to be. But the fact that he had sicced Tulley on her meant that, at some level, he still didn’t trust her.
Deliberately, she checked her watch. “Will it take long?”
“I guess I deserved that.” He was silent for a beat. “After you ran out on me this morning—”
“I didn’t ‘run out’ on you. I drove to work.”
His gaze, the icy-hot one that set her on edge and turned her on all at once, drilled into her for long moments. “After you drove to work, I asked Tulley to keep an eye on you because the hell I was going to let Callaghan near you before we could have the conversation we should have had last night.”
Conversation? For a long drawn-out moment, it was difficult to absorb the heart-pounding possibility that Tobias might, finally, be falling for her. That her strategy had worked even faster than she could have imagined. “What conversation, exactly, would that be?”
“This, for a start.” Tobias produced a folded-up document she instantly recognized as the dating schedule she had given to Mike the previous day. “According to the schedule, you and Callaghan are getting a ring today.”
Cheeks warming, she snatched the paper out of his hand. “That doesn’t belong to you. Where did you get it from?”
“Callaghan dropped it on the drive yesterday.”
That figured. As of that moment, Callaghan—Mike—was fired as her
fiancé.
She dropped the crumpled schedule into her tote. “Last I heard, getting a ring is an entirely normal thing for an engaged couple to—”
“You can’t be engaged to Callaghan,” he said flatly. “Not when you’re sleeping with me.”
A heated surge of emotion practically welded her to the spot. Tobias’s statement that she was sleeping with him, the narrowed, glittering glance, as if he was Tarzan and she was Jane, was unequivocal and possessive enough to send chills down her spine.
Tobias definitely wanted her.
She registered that Tobias’s abrupt declaration—the alpha male equivalent of staking claim—was what she had wanted from him two years ago, and what she had absolutely needed from him last night.
It wasn’t flowery; it did not contain the word love, or anything at all about emotion or commitment. It was irritable and bad-tempered, even dictatorial, but that was what made her heart sing, because it was evidence that Tobias felt something real for her and that, finally, he was prepared to fight for her.
Then, she registered the ultimatum. Because she had slept with Tobias last night, she couldn’t be engaged to Callaghan—that is, Mike, she corrected herself, irritated that she was starting to think like Tobias. “You’re hardly in a position to give me an ultimatum when you’ve made it crystal clear that you’re not interested in a relationship.”
“I am now.”
Allegra stared at the visible pulse beating along the side of Tobias’s jaw. Dimly, she was aware of a cluster of teenage girls drifting past, giving him interested looks, and that, at some point, Tulley had left. Dimly, she registered that the bustling sounds of the mall, the hum of conversations, seemed to have fallen away. For long seconds, it was as if they were enclosed in an intimate bubble, where only the two of them existed.