“You have a knack for plotting. Are you sure you wouldn’t like to become a jewel thief?” he teased.
“You must be kidding. With all this material, I have enough research for my next three scripts.”
“Oh, I don’t think so.” Jason put aside his coffee cup, a glint she recognized in his eyes.
However, she played dumb to egg him on. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t believe you’ve done enough research for your love scenes.”
Perhaps it wasn’t quite time to say goodbye. Would her heart hurt any less later if they made love a few more times before she had to return to the States alone? Kimberly fought to keep her voice steady. “You know, I believe you’re correct. I should research making love first thing in the morning.”
“Absolutely,” he agreed.
“In a Welsh hotel room.”
“Want to try the bed?”
“Beds are boring.”
“Is that a challenge?” He reached for her and she scooted around the couch.
“Maybe. First, you have to catch me.”
When he moved around the couch, she raced toward the balcony. She never made it. His long legs narrowed the distance between them in seconds.
He clasped her wrist, tugged her to him, then using one of his hands, he held both her wrists behind her back, capturing her, keeping her exactly where she wanted to be.
She tossed her hair back. “Well, now you’ve caught me. What are you going to do about it?”
His hand closed over her breast and she gasped, looked down and then chuckled. He’d unbuttoned her blouse again—without her feeling a thing. However, she sure was feeling his hand now. Her breast tingled beneath his hand, responding immediately to his touch.
So much for resting, eating or planning. She much preferred making love.
Lifting her chin, she locked gazes with those mesmerizing blue eyes of his. “So, is that the best you can do?”
“THE QUEEN’S CROWN is the next item on my list,” Kimberly told Caroline and Alex, who sat in train seats opposite them. However, she spoke loudly enough for the professor and his wife, in the seats behind them, to hear, as well as the Barrs across the aisle.
Liam eyed her with interest. “Edinburgh is an elegant city of marvelous architecture that sits among rolling hills and ancient volcanoes.”
The professor’s wife sighed. “Enough with the tour guide stuff. Liam, tell us about the Queen’s Crown, please.”
Beside his wife the professor rolled his eyes. “You should have read up before the trip. Or I could have—”
“Please, Liam,” his wife interrupted her husband, a habit that caused the professor to frown. “Isn’t there some famous love story connected to that crown?”
Their guide smiled. “It’s more of a legend than history.”
“It’s pure fairy tale,” the professor muttered in exasperation.
Beside Kimberly, Jason sat reading a newspaper, seemingly paying no attention to the conversation. But Kimberly knew better.
Jason was always at his most dangerous when he was misdirecting other people, preventing them from noticing exactly what he was doing. He worked much like a magician, using distraction as his secret weapon.
He’d had her off balance and distracted since the moment they’d met. Even when she thought she knew her own mind, he had a way of altering her opinions to coincide with his own. She hadn’t intended to make love with him again. Why dig into a deeper emotional hole when it would only make climbing out more difficult? And yet, making love to him had been simply irresistible.
She wished she could talk to Maggie. Or Cate. Both of her friends were strong, independent women who would help her to see why she couldn’t seem ever to say no to Jason. Just because she loved the man didn’t mean all her self-protective instincts had been left behind in the United States. And yet, she’d never been in love before. She and Jason felt right together.
She glanced at Jason. At first look, he appeared calm. He sat slightly slouched in his seat with his long legs stretched into the aisle, his ankles crossed. He held the newspaper before him, but his eyes didn’t sweep back and forth as if he was reading, and she suspected he was covertly watching their fellow travelers.
Liam began his story and Kimberly leaned her head against Jason’s shoulder as she listened to the guide’s deep voice. “Benbrochie Castle was built by Black Angus McEwan in the thirteenth century. A strong and respected laird who guarded the border with a ferocious strength and the power of his sword arm, he needed sons to help protect the vast lands he’d won during the previous war.”
“Can you skip the war part and just get to the love story?” Trixie requested.
“If that’s all right with the gentlemen?” Liam asked.
At the nods of agreement, he went on, “Black Angus’s first wife died in childbirth along with the babe. His second wife took ill with the pox before she quickened with child. And his third wife threw herself off the rampart two weeks after the wedding. Legend has it that Black Angus wore her out in the bedroom, so desperate was the man to have sons.”
Kimberly wondered if that part of the legend was true. Obviously Black Angus didn’t have Jason’s bedroom skills. Her body still tingled from his earlier lovemaking. If they’d been alone, she would have been more than ready for another round right now.
Sitting snuggled against him, her thigh pressed to his had its own kind of stimulation. She recalled the strength of the muscles in those legs, the light dusting of hair, the cords that barely strained when he…
She had to stop daydreaming like a teenage girl.
Listen to the story.
Watch your fellow travelers. Were any of them overly interested?
“Deciding that ladies weren’t hardy enough for breeding, Black Angus wed the peasant girl, Morven. She gave him five sons and he was so pleased with her that he commissioned the Queen’s Crown. Although Morven wasn’t a queen, he was determined to treat her like one.”
“That’s so romantic,” Mrs. Barr sighed.
“Not exactly,” Liam told her. “Morven had a roving eye and when Black Angus caught her in the stable with a groom, he banished her from Argyle Castle, and she supposedly spent the rest of her life begging for alms. In truth, she probably became a prostitute. Black Angus kept the Queen’s Crown to remind him that no wife could be trusted. He never remarried. His oldest son took his lands away from him in a bloody war that lasted a decade and pitted brother against brother. It was rumored that the crown was cursed. Any woman who wore it would be unfaithful.”
“How is the crown connected to your movie?” Caroline asked Kimberly.
She didn’t bother explaining that her story was not yet a movie, but a screenplay. “My dying spy left a microchip on the crown, knowing that only the most skilled thief could recover the information.”
Trixie clapped her hands together. “Clever.”
The professor glared at her.
Alex rolled his eyes and Caroline sighed. “I’ll have to see if I can do a star chart on Black Angus and Morven. Obviously their marriage was ill-fated and poorly timed. Do we know their birthdays?”
Liam shook his head. “I would recommend that you all spend your first day at Edinburgh Castle and walk the Royal Mile, a historical…”
Kimberly let him go on telling them about the city. When he finished, she kept her tone casual. “We want to see Edinburgh Castle, too. But first, we’re going to Argyle Castle. The crown is not only a legend. It’s very valuable.”
“Really?” Alex asked.
Kimberly didn’t have to force enthusiasm into her voice. “The diamonds, rubies and pearls are merely a backdrop for the prized emerald.”
Jason finally made his contribution to the conversation. “The center stone is supposed to be as big as Morven’s right breast.”
His statement caught everyone’s attention.
“Just her right breast?” Alex asked. “Now that’s weird.”
“I have
never heard that interpretation,” the professor commented. “Would you mind telling us your source?”
The professor clearly wanted to challenge Jason’s knowledge. Who would ever remember the source of that kind of information?
However, Jason didn’t so much as bat one eyelash. “The International Guide to Royal Jewels and Gemstones.”
While the group went on talking about comparing a stone size to a breast, Kimberly grinned and whispered to Jason. “You sure put the professor in his place.”
“I couldn’t resist.”
She recognized that mischievous tone. “What?”
“There’s no such thing as the International Guide to Royal Jewels and Gemstones. I made it up.”
“All of it?”
“I have nipples on the brain lately. Your fault.”
Kimberly choked back a laugh. Jason was clearly enjoying himself and so was she. But the train ride into Edinburgh would end all too soon. Then they would be setting their trap and her nerves would string taut.
Although Jason had made his request to Logan Kincaid last night about another member of the Shey Group joining them to secretly tape their journey, Logan couldn’t guarantee the man’s arrival in time. Something about a no-fly zone due to bad weather in Africa. The pilot, Jack Donovan, had promised to do his best to deliver L.J. to back them up, and Logan had assured him that if Jack wouldn’t fly, it wasn’t doable.
Which, for now, meant that they were on their own. Jason had yet to hear from the pilot or his mysterious passenger, L.J., a man so well respected that he could turn over the tape to the British authorities and the tape’s veracity would be accepted—no questions asked.
Now all they had to do was hope that someone took the bait.
14
JASON HADN’T KNOWN Kimberly long enough to know if she was a moody person. However, since yesterday, she’d seemed a little down. And he didn’t understand it. He’d tried and failed to get her to talk to him. They’d made love. And they had probably figured out who was framing her. Now all they had to do was catch the professor. She had every reason to be up and excited but clearly she wasn’t.
He didn’t like not knowing what was going on in that head of hers. He didn’t like that she wouldn’t talk to him about it. Obviously, she trusted him enough to make love, but not enough to share all of her problems. Trust took time. He understood that and he was trying to be patient.
The distraction of traveling with the rest of the group and planning how to catch the person who had tried to frame her had helped to take his mind off more personal problems. Once they exited the train and headed toward Benbrochie Castle, he would slip into mission mode where he focused solely on successfully evading the authorities while carrying out their scheme.
Which didn’t mean his frustration would end. He’d never connected with another woman as he had with Kimberly. Usually after a lusty tumble or two in bed, his interest in a lady waned and he moved on. But with Kimberly, he wanted her more now than he had before the first time they’d made love.
He wished he could extend her vacation into a six-month tour of the continent. But their journey together would be over in just a few more days and saying a permanent goodbye didn’t sit well with him. However, with the train pulling into Waverley Station, he couldn’t dwell on the future.
They gathered their bags and Liam had a taxi lined up to haul the luggage ahead to the hotel. Meanwhile, he and Kimberly grabbed another cab and headed straight to Benbrochie Castle.
The moment they entered the taxi, Jason’s cell phone rang. “Hello?”
“I’ve got your six.”
Logan’s pilot had delivered L.J. who would be watching their backs. “Excellent. We appreciate the help.”
Jason placed an arm over Kimberly’s shoulders. She peered out the window with interest at the intersection of Market and Princess streets. He had been to the city many times before and enjoyed watching her eyes widening at the beauty of Waverley Bridge and her appreciation of the stone facades and the towering walls of the Old Town.
“We’re all set?” she asked him.
“Yeah. Kincaid runs an efficient organization.” Jason was impressed. The Shey Group had delivered information and backup as promised. Jason hadn’t been part of a team since his stint in the military, but he enjoyed working with other competent people.
While he didn’t like endangering Kimberly, he didn’t think there was much likelihood of danger. And with L.J. watching out for them, the mission should go down just the way they’d planned.
But Jason had been in business too long and had been too successful not to plan for contingencies. “If anything should go wrong, I want you to contact Logan Kincaid at the number I gave you.”
At his words, Kimberly turned from the window and looked at him. “Are you having second thoughts?”
“I’m just careful.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.” He stroked her bare shoulder. She was wearing shorts, a tight sleeveless tank top and sneakers and was toting a purse. With the camera around her neck and the sunglasses perched on her head, she looked the typical American tourist.
She was young and eager and stepped out of the cab with an exuberance he wished he could match. As he’d instructed, she didn’t look around for the professor, just took in the sights.
Jason didn’t spot L.J., but he didn’t expect to—especially since he had no idea what the man looked like. He bought tickets in the square outside that was full of vendors selling souvenirs, and then they entered the castle, walking over a bridge that spanned a moat that must have once been filled with water but was now all grass.
With the castle’s stone walls casting shadows, the temperature dropped. Goose bumps rose on Kimberly’s arms, but she didn’t complain. She was too busy looking at the polished silver armor. Guarding the entrance doors stood a six-foot-tall knight in full regalia. Beside him, a massive wooden horse with a heavy saddle showed how the animal was protected during battle.
Jason checked his watch. “We have time to wander around a bit but—”
“—you want to check out the Queen’s Crown first,” she finished his sentence for him. “So we have an escape route?”
“You know me too well,” he muttered, wondering if he was getting predictable, stale. In truth, stealing stones had begun to lose its glamour several years ago. Recently, he’d taken only enough jobs to keep his customers happy and his skills up-to-date.
But sharing the experience with Kimberly and seeing it anew in her eyes made him realize how much he loved every part of the job. Intense research. The challenge of fencing the stones. Setting a price. And of course the actual heist.
The only comparable experience that gave him as much pleasure as practicing his craft…was making love with Kimberly. He wished they had time for a little afternoon delight, but he wanted to give whoever was pursuing them every opportunity to spot them and follow.
When Alex and Caroline turned a corner and practically bumped into Jason and Kimberly, Kimberly greeted them warmly. “Glad to see you two made it.”
“We just saw the Queen’s Crown,” Caroline jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “She must have had a neck ache after carrying all that weight on her head.”
Jason believed he’d just seen the professor and his wife skulking down the hall and displayed some of his knowledge to make conversation. “That’s why in modern times the crowns became more delicate, the gold and silver less elaborate and the stones smaller in size.”
Alex tugged on Caroline’s arm. “Well we’re off to walk the Royal Mile, and then we hope to take a bus tour around the city. I hear the place is known for good architecture.”
Caroline dug her elbow into Alex’s ribs. “You just want to make out on the top of the double-decker.”
After they left, Kimberly kept her voice low. “Did it seem to you that Alex went out of his way to claim they were leaving the castle?”
“He could have meant it. I just saw the profess
or and Trixie head toward the room with the Queen’s Crown.”
“You still want to go that way?” Kimberly stopped to admire a twelfth-century exhibit of a peasant’s outfit.
“Why not?”
They hadn’t reached the room that kept a good portion of the Scottish Jewel Collection when they heard glass breaking. Then three gunshots. Lots of screaming.
“Something went wrong.” Jason yanked Kimberly out of the way of a mob of frantic people dashing past them toward the exits.
Kimberly tugged him toward the door, too. “Let’s go.”
“You go ahead. I need to find out what happened.”
“No, you don’t.” Kimberly followed the crowd of fleeing tourists, tugging him toward the exit, her strength surprisingly fierce. “You aren’t even armed.”
Jason hesitated whether to break Kimberly’s grip on his arm. Torn between making sure she got safely out of the building or checking to see what had happened, he peered over his shoulder. However, as important as completing his mission was to him, her safety came first.
“Fine. We’ll go together.”
“Good.”
“But you may be giving up the chance to clear your name.”
An alarm sounded and more people rushed by. They bumped into another couple fleeing the building. And the smoke from the gunshots left a bitter bite in the air.
Jason hoped the cops would arrive in time to catch the culprit. It was odd thinking of law enforcement as helpful, but his take on things had altered since he’d met Kimberly. But she was worth it.
Just then the professor charged around the corner with the Queen’s Crown in his hand. Jason hadn’t thought the old guy could move that fast. His eyes glimmered with triumph as he spied Jason and Kimberly and pounded straight for them.
When the professor flung the heavy crown at Kimberly’s head, Jason snagged it, his protective action instinctive. A moment later the police stormed into the room, and he still held the incriminating crown. In the confusion, Jason doubted anyone had witnessed what had really happened.
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