damn mice, but she couldn’t begrudge them their perch on this lovely morning.
A harsh scrape overhead made her start. Mice couldn’t make a sound that loud. She sat up in bed. Where on earth were her clothes?
She found her shorts on the floor beside the bed, and scrambled into her old room for a clean T-shirt. As she stood on the landing at the top of the stairs, another sound, like a piece of furniture being dragged, chilled her blood.
“Hey!” The aggressive sound of her voice hid her fear. The scraping stopped. “What’s going on up there?” Were there workers on the roof?
She shrieked as a hatch lifted almost directly over her head.
Naldo’s head appeared in the black square. “I found the jewels.”
Five
“How the hell did you get up there?” Anna’s heart pounded.
“Pulled up with my arms. Here, take this.” Naldo lowered a thickly muscled arm down through the hole and held out a plain wooden box about ten inches square.
She took it and lifted the lid. A tangle of gems in various settings winked at her from the velvet-lined interior. Her breath stuck at the bottom of her lungs. There were so many of them.
She jumped as Naldo swung down through the hole. Dust clung to his dark jeans and bare chest. He grabbed the box from her hand.
“Hey! Those are my mom’s. What are you doing?”
“They’re part of the estate.”
“But you said your dad gave them to her. That makes them hers.”
Naldo tucked the box under his arm. “I told you I’ll reimburse you their full value.” He lifted an arm and shifted the hatch lid back into position. The ceiling was so low he didn’t even have to stretch to do it.
A horrible realization dawned on her. Naldo only came over here to find the jewels.
Her rib cage suddenly felt too tight for her heart. He’d seduced her, screwed her, lulled her into a deep, contented sleep…
All so he could sneak up into the attic and steal her mother’s property.
“Give that back!” Pain rushed through her.
One of Naldo’s black brows lifted slightly. “I said I’ll give you money for them.”
“How will I know it’s a fair amount? I need to get them appraised.”
“I’ll get them appraised.”
“No. I don’t trust you.”
Naldo’s lips parted as if she’d slapped him.
“You know I’m a man of honor.”
“Oh, do I? I let you sleep with me, and then I wake up in the morning to find you rooting around my house!” Her voice had risen to an ungracious shriek. “I don’t trust you as far as I could throw you. Thief!”
Naldo held out the box.
She snatched it and stood there, heart pounding.
Towering and regal despite the dust on his skin, Naldo looked down at her. “I’m no thief. Get them appraised. Tell me their value, and you shall receive it in cash.” His black eyes flashed.
“I will.” She struggled to hold her chin high. Suddenly, challenging Naldo’s honor seemed like a very bad idea.
He turned and left without another word, ducking his head to descend the cramped staircase. Her arms tightened around the wooden box and its sharp edges dug into her skin.
Her dream come true had morphed into a nightmare.
“Good grief. Those Victorians did get creative, didn’t they?” The jeweler, an older man with a bald head and a large belly, held up yet another ornate monstrosity. “Someone right around 1880 had very inventive taste, I’ll say. Where did you say these are from?”
“Family heirlooms,” Anna murmured.
“Can’t say I recognize any of the work. Your family must have worked with a jeweler who isn’t a known name. A few of these pieces are older, though. This one, for example…” He held up a brooch. A yellow gem ringed with blue stones in a heavy, golden setting. Ugly as all the others.
“This one could be eighteenth century, if I’m not mistaken. There’s no wear on it, but that’s not so unusual with jewelry. It wasn’t made to be worn every day. And this ring-” He picked up a simple gold band with a red stone poking out of it. “It could be a good reproduction. In fact, it must be, let’s face it, but it’s in the style of, well, the Elizabethan era.” He raised his eyebrows and chuckled. “Any actors or actresses in your family?”
“Their value. What are they worth?” Anna spoke between gritted teeth. Naldo’s family treasures, sprawled on the worn black velvet of the appraiser’s desk, looked naked, tragic, shamefully exposed to the mocking eyes of someone never meant to see them.
“Jeez. Hard to say without knowing the provenance. You don’t have any paperwork to go along with them?”
“No.”
“I’ll be frank. There isn’t much of a market for this high-Victorian costume-type stuff, but at least some of the gems are real, so I’ll give you a hundred and fifty thousand for the lot.”
Anna gasped.
“Cashier’s check okay?” He put down his magnifying glass.
Money that didn’t come from Naldo. More than enough, too. Her skin prickled with temptation.
But she knew she couldn’t take it. And she didn’t trust this guy, either.
“How much do I owe you for the appraisal?” She reached into her bag for her checkbook, knowing she probably didn’t have enough left in the account.
“It wasn’t much of an appraisal since I didn’t give you a real value for anything, so it’s on the house. And, you know what? I’ll give you a hundred and seventy-five because you seem like a sweet girl.” He leaned toward her, his patchouli aftershave stealing through the air to stifle her.
Anna leapt to her feet, grasped the jewels in untidy handfuls and heaped them back in the crude wooden box. She should never have brought them here. “They’re not mine to sell. They belong to the family. I’ll talk to them about it.” She sped out of the store before he made any more tempting offers.
Could she sell Naldo’s family heirlooms away from the estate while he was willing to pay for them? He certainly deserved it.
“You took them to the jeweler right on Main Street?” Irritation made Naldo’s hands curl into fists as he stood in the doorway of the cottage. He’d seen her return and come over right away.
“It was the closest place, and it had a sign saying ‘appraisals’ in the window.” Anna held her trim chin high.
“That dump is practically a pawn shop. I’m surprised he didn’t offer you cash for them.”
Her head kicked back a little. Her pale hair was pulled into a knot that revealed her lovely slim neck, which right now he was tempted to strangle. Did she want everyone in town to know his father gave the family jewels to his lover?
Why was she so damn quiet? “He did offer cash, didn’t he?”
“Yes. A hundred and seventy-five thousand.” She licked her pale pink lips.
He snorted. “Pathetic. They’re worth five times that. Thank God you weren’t fool enough to take it.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Are they really?”
“What?” Naldo was using every ounce of self-control not to charge into the cottage and seize the box, where it lay right on the kitchen table for all to see.
“Worth nearly a million.”
He hesitated. “At least. Some of them are as old as…Where did you tell him they came from?”
“Family.” She narrowed those penetrating blue eyes and crossed her arms over her perky chest. The action
