Emily had always been cool and confident with Dane, and somehow, her sassy side came right back. For the past few years her studious side, the one that didn’t retort with an opinion that wasn’t fully researched, was the Emily everyone saw.
Even her friends.
Maybe it was her sparkling blue nightclub dress that boosted her ego? She normally wore jeans and a t-shirt, with a cardigan, while she studied at the library.
Dane poured the wine at the bar and she had a nice view of his tight backside—she knew for a fact he had them tailored. His black t-shirt seemed simple, but it was no doubt designer.
He turned toward her and handed her a glass and her heart raced.
Dane’s dimples hit her like a sudden earthquake and made her body tremble. Holding the stem of her wineglass, Emily leaned closer to Dane as he took the seat beside her. He still smelled like warm nights on the beach where they’d watched the sunrise.
She ignored the stirrings in her body, sipped the wine and watched the tarmac whiz by as the plane gained speed. “Who are the men you’re with?”
He put his glass down on the table in front of them without touching a drop as the plane soared in the air. Casual and relaxed, Dane tugged on his t-shirt like the collar was suddenly too tight., then nodded toward the cockpit. “Doctor Brady Booker, who works with me, and my butler, body guard, pilot, and all-around handyman, Henry Kavanah.”
The three men had worked like a well-trained unit in the club, so she sensed they’d worked together for a while. Her heart sped fast near him, but she honestly had no idea where he’d been. His dark hair with thick curls had been cut super short, though she remembered his longer hair like it was just yesterday—she used to run her fingers through it when she’d kissed him. She gripped the armrests of her soft leather chair, and then gestured with her head to the wings of the private plane visible through the open windows.
Clearly, Dane used his money he’d inherited, and his close proximity caused a small jolt inside her that she’d never admit to. Michael also employed a loyal man who’d taken a bullet for him. Emily smiled and asked, “When did you get your own Jack?”
“Right after my first dig.” Dane picked up his glass and drank before admitting, “Michael might have influenced my decision to seek out someone loyal to have around. Bad people know I’m rich.”
Had he been hurt? Not only had he inherited his stepfather’s money, but he’d benefited from his real father’s vast wealth too. Emily sighed and sipped her wine. “That you are, Dane.”
She’d earned her scholarships, though Michael had helped her financially throughout her years of education. Now she needed to earn an income and prove her worth. His nose curled like she’d insulted him. “Don’t call me that.”
As they soared over the ocean, the craft bounced with turbulence until the plane steadied. She crossed her arms. “But it’s your name.”
He took another sip and lowered his glass between his legs. “I changed it to Uriel when I left home.”
Out of all the names in the world, he’d chosen a strange one. She fluffed her short blonde bob, l sighed, and scooted closer as she lowered her voice, “Where are we going?”
He didn’t move and for one moment, she could feel his skin on hers though they didn’t touch. His eyes dilated—was his heart beating faster, too? She licked her lips and closed her eyes but he sat up like he’d been scolded. “London. You don’t have your passport so we’ll send you home right away.”
She’d left her passport at home, not thinking she’d need it for dancing. Knowing it was a stupid idea, Emily wished they’d had that kiss. She tugged her short dress down a little. “You can get my passport ordered, just like your father can.”
Dane looked over her shoulder, like he saw a ghost out the window when he said, “He’s not my father, not really.”
Emily blinked and her entire body stilled as she recalled their first meeting so many years ago, as teenagers. She and her sisters had been hiding in the barn where Dane’s mother had been shot by his stepfather, Edmond Pearce, who had sent Dane into the barn with the same gun to set him up as his mother’s murderer. Emily had kissed Dane to distract him from shooting either her sisters, or Michael. She’d held Dane’s hand while the truth was unveiled and he’d dropped the gun in his own hand like it was a hot potato.
The memory surged through her and she shook her head. “So you want to consider the man who shot your mother a father?”
Dane held the glass between his legs so tight she wondered if he’d break it. “Edmond raised me until I was sixteen. He’s who I see when I close my eyes as the one that raised me, but father… I prefer to believe I never had one.”
Fair enough. Emily remembered her mom and never considered her older sister as anything other than that, though their two younger siblings more thought of Sophie as their second mother. Emily patted his arm, thick with muscle now. “Interesting. I won’t push on that one.” His eyes flickered. “Why does this Ted person want the necklace you gave me?”
He stared unabashed at the gold blossoms at her throat. “I told you to hold it for me.”
She fingered it and lowered her head. “You never took it back.”
He brushed his hand against her skin at the collarbone. “I need it now.”
Wow. Every part of her body became aware of him. She pushed his hand away. “Why? And give me specifics.”
He sat way back in his seat like he needed to escape from her. “Apparently Edmond Pearce possesses the Irish Crown Jewels in a bank box. I’m going to retrieve it and give it back to the throne.”
“They were stolen in 1907.” Her body perked with interest. History was the one area that always appealed to her.
She sipped her wine and waited for him to share the rest.
Dane immediately leaned forward. “How do you know that?”
Right. The girl he’d known had talked about getting her MBA and starting her own company, but in the end had retreated before the real world—Emily, the woman, needed to make money to survive. Michael and her sister had deposited a nice sum in her bank account, in her name, but she couldn’t very well live off their generosity forever.
In college, history had been the one thing she’d really enjoyed learning. Emily put her glass down on the small table to her right and folded her hands in her lap. “I have my doctorate in history and want to be a professor at some point. I’ve been applying for post doctorate positions and faculty positions everywhere.”
He didn’t move as he studied her in disbelief.
She pressed her hand to her heart and ignored the heat in her face. “For my masters, I wrote a paper on that particular theft and how the Church was hiding the vicar’s homosexuality, and that mattered more to the officials than retrieving the jewels which is why they delayed reporting the theft until 1907 when officials from England intended to visit Ireland.” She thought back to her research and surmised, “The jewels were either taken to Amsterdam, or Paris, and sold there.”
“If they still exist, it will be a surprise.” Dane positioned his glass beside hers as he leaned into his head rest and turned to face her. “Either way, Ted tried to break into my father’s safety deposit box to help himself to the Irish Crown Jewels, or whatever is there.”
The older but not older man from the club. So the jewels were important…she’d known her own Egalantine necklace, unique in style, with diamonds and emeralds set in gold blossoms, was worth a lot and also from the same time period. She’d written papers on jewelry like hers and missing sets of the Victorian age because of her own attachment to hers, as this was her only tie to Dane. “And you’re going to give them back to the royal family?”
Dane gazed at her neck, and lower, and she had the distinct impression it wasn’t her necklace that interested him. Aware of her blue party dress and the low cleavage, she reached for his coat jacket he’d slung over the chair and put it on. His woodsy cologne enveloped her—but he’d rebuffed her kiss so she’d be smart to shi
eld herself. He looked away. “Why not? It’s not like I want them.”
If he hadn’t shown up at the nightclub, she’d have just assumed he was out in the world, causing trouble, but the smell, this jacket, his saving her from being shot and being all noble about returning the missing jewels, well…she sucked in her bottom lip and tried to deny that he still made her body tingle, perhaps even more now that he was all hard muscles and not the boy she’d given her virginity to back on prom night. “What do you do now, Dane?”
“Uriel.” He shifted on the leather seat.
His scent washed over her as she tugged his coat around her body. “Okay. Uriel—though it’s going to be hard for me to think of you that way. When I dreamed about you, your name was Dane.”
His eyes widened. “You dream about me, Emily?”
“Dreamed. Past tense.” She sat up, alert against revealing how sappy he made her. She’d been fine on her own and didn’t need him or anyone. Emily uncrossed her legs and her knee accidentally touched his. “That doesn’t answer my question.”
He gulped his drink and put the empty glass down as he stared at the lights on the ceiling of the plane. “What question was that?”
So, he didn’t want to tell her about himself? She reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pocket watch, like he was an old man and not twenty-eight. She put it back and asked, “What do you do? You mentioned digs, so are you an archeologist?”
A huge smile grew on his face like she’d just decoded a mystery. “Yes. I don’t just read books about the past, like you do. I want to discover history for myself.”
Dane must have seen too many adventure movies as a boy, which was probably better than getting too close to his stepfather, as that man had been a psycho. She relaxed in her seat and stared at Dane’s broad shoulders that seemed stronger and sturdier than the last time they’d seen each other. She smiled and said, “I assumed you were gambling and drinking your way around the world. No one heard from you in years.”
The plane began its descent. Hours with Dane into the night yet she didn’t feel tired at all.
He shrugged and pressed his head into the headrest. “Sorry to disappoint.”
Emily allowed herself to touch his chin and cheek. He’d also grown more facial hair and it seemed he hadn’t shaved in a few days. In school he’d been all about brand names and clean cut. The boy and the man collided in her eyes. “Just the opposite. I’m impressed Dane… I mean, Uriel. You walked away from me and your family.”
He kissed her palm. “Michael is more your family than mine.”
And her skin was jumpy and achy for him as she took her hand back. She lowered her lashes and said, “He was good to me and my sisters.”
The plane landed in the airport. Dane, she couldn’t think of him as Uriel, held the armrests as the plane slowed from its high speeds to cruise toward a stop. “Which is more than I can say about my mother and I.”
“That’s not fair.” Fog around London puffed outside the window behind him, masking the night that just made the darkness seem gray and dreary.
She hadn’t been here in years and that was when her sister and Michael had taken the family on a trip to see history and not just read about it in books, as Dane had just said. Dane hadn’t been there. He’d left too soon and spent most of that time at boarding school.
The plane came to a complete stop. “It’s probably not, but it’s how I feel.”
“I get it. I was there.” She refused to relive those moments where bullets flew past her head, though both times that had happened she’d been with Dane.
As they disembarked, he took her elbow and stopped her, midway down the metal stairs. “You saved my life, which is why I should send you home right now.”
She winked at him and shook her hips a little as she took her hand back. “I’m not going anywhere but with you.”
They stepped off the plane to the tarmac and his two cohorts followed. A limo waited a few feet away. Dane opened the rear passenger door for her but stopped her from heading inside. ”Swear you’ll stay away from anything dangerous.”
Dane was sweet when he worried, but thanks to Michael, she could take care of herself. She patted his stomach and sailed past him into the seat. “I will be careful.”
The moon and stars weren’t visible in the night due to thick clouds around London that made visibility hard two feet in front of her nose. Dane told the driver the name of a fancy hotel, and despite her efforts to stay awake she dozed in the car. He guided her inside the hotel, but her head was fuzzy as they checked in—separate rooms.
So much had happened in the past few hours! She focused on the red carpet under her feet as they walked to their rooms. Dane stayed next to her as his men went into one room, mumbling goodnight. He escorted her to the next one. As she slipped her electronic card into the reader and the door opened she said, “I’d like to see the jewels just once.”
“Why?” He made no sign of moving from her doorway.
She patted his face again as she liked the ruggedness of his scruff under her touch. “It’s the right thing, you’re doing. It makes me proud of you.”
He stepped into the hall and placed his hand on his heart. “You are too much, Emily.”
For what? She flipped on the light, holding the door open as she watched him. “Which is exactly why you like me. Good night, Dane.”
“Uriel.” He countered and returned to her side.
Butterflies grew in her stomach as her eyes closed and her lips pursed.
A moment later, she was still the girl she’d been and he was still that boy who’d kissed her and made her forget the rest of the world existed.
His arms around her made her feel alive and able to be herself.
No one else had a kiss that came close to his.
As his hard lips left hers slightly bruised and trembling mouth, she whispered, “You still kiss like Dane.”
He backed up and into the hall. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it.
Dane Pearce or Uriel Delligatti or whatever he called himself now… he’d filled her childish dreams of happily-ever-afters once. Clearly he still had something that rocked her to her core.
Chapter 4
Uriel tucked his pocket watch into the front pocket of his indigo designer jeans—the bank opened in an hour, and they needed to be there before Ted. He slipped on his lightweight jacket as he imagined how the meeting might go. As soon as it was done, he’d send Emily home, where she belonged.
The last thing either of them needed was more complication—they were far too deeply intertwined, and on paper, related. She’d be better off alone, the same as he was.
He listened from the hallway outside her door and heard the shower running. The necklace he’d given her had looked like it belonged around her neck, but he needed to right the wrongs of the Pearce line. Torn, he used his extra key and let himself in.
If he could leave her out completely, they’d both be better off.
The shower behind the closed bathroom door ran and he quickly checked the safe in her closet—open and empty—then the drawers of her room.
The necklace was nowhere.
He closed the last drawer as the shower turned off and glanced up—Emily leaned against the open bathroom door fully dressed in dark blue pants and a coordinating light blue and green blouse, with a flash of the diamond and emerald necklace under her collar. She crossed her arms and grinned knowingly at him. “Dane… Uriel, what are you doing in my room?”
His eyes widened in surprise at being caught and heat rose to his cheeks. “You’re wearing the necklace in the shower?”
She sauntered over, tapping his shoulder as she took her phone off her charger and added them both to her pocketbook that perfectly matched her outfit. How she’d shopped was a mystery but he didn’t ask as she closed the bag and said, “I didn’t trust you to be honest. It seems I was right.”
A smile grew on his face. She’d called him out. No one else had
ever talked to him like she did, even though it didn’t go in his favor. He opened the door and held it for her. “Emily, I like being with you again.”
She stood in the hallway and waited for him to close her door and then brushed her hand against the necklace as she lifted her brow. “Because I won’t let you get away with trying to steal my necklace?”
Emily sashayed before him and he stared at her every curve. No other woman in these years had tasted anything as sweet as Emily. Her kiss had packed a punch when he was still just a boy and the sway of her hips now made him think she might be the only woman to get under his skin. “The bank could be dangerous and I want you to stay here.”
She hit the elevator button and stepped in front of him. “I’m going, Dane.”
The doors opened and he had no answer to how alive she made him feel. She was like a wind that just swept in and woke him up as he followed her into the elevator. “It was worth a try. Let’s go…”
The elevator smelled like Emily’s perfume, soft and floral, as they rode down in silence. The doors opened and he briefly brushed against her arm, but she didn’t wait.
Brady and Henry rose from their seats in the lobby and Emily walked over with her hand out in greeting. “Hi. I’m Emily Mira. Thank you for helping me get out of the club yesterday. I appreciate it.” She then turned toward him and asked, “Who is who of your associates?”
Right. If she was staying, then she needed to know everyone. He tapped his friend on the back. “Emily, this is Doctor Brady Booker.”
She smiled at Brady, who grinned back, his metal-framed glasses reflecting the light. . Emily turned toward his closest ally and nodded at Henry, who had a slight scar on his cheek like he’d lost a bar fight once. “That makes you, Henry Kavanah. It’s nice to meet you both officially.”
Brady offered his arm to leave the hotel. Emily accepted and continued to walk in front of him as they headed toward the limo waiting outside. Brady said, “Uriel doesn’t usually bring women on our adventures.”
Hidden Dane (Hidden Alphas Book 4) Page 3