Make Her Pay (26 page)
EPILOGUE. One Year Later
“LIGHTS OUT, LIZZIE?”
From the back of the cavernous hotel ballroom of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, Con stood at the wall, his voice as anxious as the hand on the light switch.
“Not yet,” she said, crossing the room, eyeing each display, making sure the treasures were laid out just the way she wanted them to be. “This is the calm before the storm, and I want to enjoy it.”
“This is the last night we’re going to be together for a week and a half,” he said pointedly. “And I want to enjoy it.”
She laughed lightly. “I do, too. But I’m not quite ready to give up this moment. It’s been a long year getting here.”
He flipped a switch, leaving only a few halogen spotlights on the most important pieces of the exhibit.
Tomorrow, when the television crews and journalists from around the world arrive for the launch of
El Falcone: The Life and Times of Captain Aramis Dare,
these will be the lights that come on first, with music and narration and all the drama befitting the most important salvage effort in the history of Paxton Treasures.
“I have to say,” she mused, looking at the gold chains that winked under one light, “Old Judd kept his half of the bargain, giving generously to the exhibit.”
“He’s smart enough to know he’s swimming in good press,” Con said, walking slowly toward her in the middle of the room. “And you’ve done the same, sweetheart. You’ve given him quite a year.”
“It was quite a dive,” she agreed. “With Sam as my divemaster, Brianna as my lead diver, and all of my father’s closest friends and colleagues on board, I can honestly say it was the best dive of my life.” She reached for his hand. “The best
year
of my life.”
“I personally liked the weekends when you let visitors on board.” He threaded her fingers into his, pulling her knuckles to his mouth for a kiss. “And after this exhibit opening, we’ll have a year where we never have to leave each other.”
“Yep. There’s another amazing year ahead.” He’d arranged to travel with her as the security expert on the exhibit. And when they’d gone to New York to celebrate the birth of Lucy and Jack’s baby girl, Dan Gallagher, the new Director of Global Operations, had suggested that Lizzie consider consulting for the Bullet Catchers as an underwater treasure expert.
She hadn’t taken the offer yet, but a future with Con seemed possible and real, and so very right.
“You know, a year ago, this was a pipe dream-a reason for Brianna and me to keep my father’s memory alive.” She swept a hand toward the massive oil painting that Lucy had commissioned for the exhibit as the Bullet Catchers’ donation. “Every time I look at that, I smile, because we did this for him.”
Once they had all the documentation and most of the treasure recovered, they were able to fill in the historical blanks. Aramis Dare had been cheated and run down by the real thief, Carlos Bettencourt, and killed when his enemy sank
El Falcone
with cannon shot.
The painting recreated the battle at sea, with both captains at the helms of their ships. The image of Aramis was devilishly handsome, a perfect portrait of Malcolm Dare.
Lizzie and Brianna had cried when it was unveiled.
“
You
did this for him,” Con corrected. “I’m not taking any credit, except to be smart enough to follow you into the lab and risk a nitric acid bath to see you naked.”
She slid her arm around his waist and dropped her head to his powerful shoulder, the one she’d gotten so used to sleeping on, and leaning on. “I’m sorry I almost blinded you. You know it was an accident, and that I love you.”
“I love you, too.” He kissed the top of her head tenderly. “Though I bet you’d love me more if I hadn’t lost the other Bombay Blue.”
She
couldn’t
love him more. “You saved my life, Con.”
He held her gaze. “Then we’re even, honey.” He put his lips over hers and whispered into her mouth, “ ’Cause you saved mine.”
Her heart swelled with the familiar sensation of wholeness she had with him, and the growing belief that they could stay together forever and the whole world would just keep getting better.
Then she pulled him to the centerpiece of the exhibit where the scepters were propped up next to each other, the lone blue diamond on a sea of black velvet between them. “I’m used to the asymmetry now, and I like the presentation the curator came up with. It’s still a remarkable recovery, and that beauty”-she nodded toward the diamond-“is getting a lot of press coverage all by itself.”
The halogen light above the display had been placed to highlight the facets in the jewel, reflecting a million blue prisms that would always remind Lizzie of the color of Con’s eyes.
“It would look better if there were two,” he maintained. “They should be together for eternity-not separated by an ocean.”
She smiled at him, getting his double entendre, warmed by the romantic notion. “I admit, it
would
be nice to see them together. We never did, you know. We’ve seen them both separately, but never together.”
“Until now.”
He reached into the pocket of his sports coat, then held out a large, misshapen diamond, part of one side chopped away.
“It’s not perfect,” he said, moving it closer to her. “But then, one of any set is sometimes flawed.”
She blinked at it, afraid to believe what was right in front of her. “Is it… is it… the other Bombay Blue?”
“It is.”
“I know you had some leads through some Corvo locals, but I thought they all came up empty. I gave up hope.”
“Big mistake, with me.”
She laughed softly, reality settling on her. “I guess so.” She finally touched the stone, warm from his body and hand, and definitely smaller than it had been. “Broken in the fall?” she asked.
“Blue diamonds are slightly softer, and lava rock is unforgiving.” He showed her the jagged edge where a piece had chipped off, ruining the perfect sphere. “We only lost a carat or two.” He opened the display case and slid it into the four prongs on one of the scepters. “It washed up on shore like this, and a local fisherman found it.”
“How long have you had it?” she asked as he picked up the other diamond and worked it into its place.
“Long enough to make sure Paxton didn’t change his mind.” He smiled. “A year.”
“A
year
? Did you really have to keep it a secret that long?”
“I had to do something else first,” he said, closing the case and stepping back to admire his work. “And I had to be sure you’d understand… and agree.”
“To what?”
He turned to her, this time reaching into his other pocket. “Since it was already chipped, I thought we might get something good out of a flawed stone. So I borrowed a little bit of that one… to make this one.”
“Ohhh.” The sound was no more than a sigh, one that couldn’t begin to let out her happiness at the sight of a classic black ring box.
Opening it, he revealed a blue diamond solitaire ring. “I’m flawed, Lizzie, just like that diamond.” His voice cracked just enough to break her heart. “But you took a piece of me, and made me exactly what I’m supposed to be. So that’s what I did with that chipped diamond. I hope you don’t mind.”
She looked up at him, not even fighting her tears. “I don’t mind, and you’re
not
flawed. You’re perfect, Con. And so is this ring.”
“I’m not even close to perfect. But life could be, if you’ll say yes.”
“Yes, yes,
yes
!” She laughed as he slid the ring onto her shaking finger. “And yes again.”
He drew her fingers to his mouth and kissed the ring, then pulled her into him, but she saw the glistening in his eyes before he buried his face in her hair. “You’re the steal of a lifetime, Lizzie,” he said, his voice husky with emotion.
She put her head on his shoulder and sighed. “And you are the greatest treasure I’ve ever found.”
Roxanne St.Claire
Roxanne St. Claire is the national bestselling author of the popular Bullet Catchers series from Pocket Books, which includes Thrill Me to Death and Take Me Tonight, as well as the story in this anthology and First You Run, coming soon from Pocket Books. A three-time nominee for the prestigious RITA Award, and a winner of the 2005 Maggie Award and the 2006 Booksellers Best Award, Roxanne lives in Florida with her husband and children.
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Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
EPILOGUE. One Year Later
Roxanne St.Claire