The Diamond Affair (19 page)

"He's never
given me a second thought when I needed him so why the hell should I look after
him now he needs me? It works both ways, Ruby."

"What happened?"
If she'd already gone too far, it wouldn't matter if she went one step further.
Besides, she wanted to help him, wanted him to open up to her. "You can
tell me, Jake. I care about you. Tell me your story."

Instead of
answering, he pushed off from the edge and swam away. She sighed and part of
her wished she hadn't interfered. But she'd come from a loving family and she
wanted him to have a crack at having one too, or at least to open up to the
possibility that his father loved him despite whatever had happened between
them in the past.

He reached the
end in what seemed like an Olympic record, turned and swam back. He repeated
the laps twice more then stopped and rested his arms on the side of the pool in
front of her again.

"He left my
mother when I was a kid," he said, his gaze fixed on her with a
frightening intensity. "He didn't even say goodbye. My mother couldn't
cope and she turned to drink. We were dirt poor because she couldn't hold down
a job and she finally died when I was eighteen. Dad got in touch with me after her
funeral but we argued. He said he left for my own good. Like not having a
father was a good thing for a teenage boy. I told him to get out of my life and
then I joined up to the army. We've hardly spoken since. Not civil words
anyway." He spoke flatly, without inflection, as if he was reading from a
newspaper.

Ruby pressed a
hand to her lips to stop the sympathetic comments. She didn't think Jake was
the sort of man who'd want to hear them.

"Now that
you know," he said, "I don't want my dad mentioned again. Understand?"
He pushed off and continued doing laps.

Yeah, she
understood. She just wished she knew how to help him.

***

The ringing phone
got Jake out of the pool. The water hadn't cooled his temper nor eased the
aches from his bruised joints but at least it had hidden any emotions that
might have shown up on his face. Dismay that Ruby could think he wasn't capable
of love being foremost.

No, not dismay. That
wasn't a strong enough word. More like despair. He'd thought they'd made a
connection. He felt he could trust her, that's why he told her about his
father. But maybe he'd got her all wrong. Maybe she didn't get him at all.

He picked up the
phone from the wooden table she'd been sitting at and answered the call. "'Lo."

"Put Mizz
Jones on." Fat Frankie. How'd he get Damien's number?

Jake's heart
kicked into top gear. "What the hell do you want, Fatoros?"

"Put. Mizz. Jones.
On."

"No. You
talk to me."

"I won't
talk to anyone unless it's Mizz Jones."

"She's not
interested in anything you have to say, Fatoros."

"That's for her
to decide, not you." There was a laugh in Frankie's voice.

Jake didn't like
it. Didn't like this. The sonofabitch was up to something.

But Ruby was safe.
He'd seen her go inside moments before, and Frankie wouldn't be asking to speak
to her if he had her.

Even so, the bad
feeling wouldn't go away.

What the hell was
going on?

"Anything
you have to say to Ruby goes through me," Jake said into the phone. "You
don't speak to her, you don't go anywhere near her, you don't look sideways at
her. Got that?"

Ruby came out, a
deep frown scoring her forehead. He hated seeing her in any mood but a happy
one, and he hated even more that he was partly responsible for making her happy
moods few and far between.

The man on the
line was the other one responsible for it. He and his boss.

"Who?"
she mouthed.

He shook his head
to discourage her questions. No way was he going to let Frankie speak to her. She
crossed her arms and perched on the table, close enough that he could feel her
warmth, smell the delicious scent of her. One slight movement of his elbow and he
would brush the plump breast outlined beneath her thin top.

"Listen to
me, Forrester," Frankie's voice bellowed down the line. Jake had to hold
the phone away from his ear he was so loud. Ruby's eyes widened. She must have
heard Frankie too. "If you don't put Mizz Jones on, you're going to be
very sorry. Put her on, or you'll regret—."

Jake didn't hear
anything else because Ruby snatched the phone off him. That's what happened
when she was around—he let his guard down. Another reason why she was going to
remain at the house that evening while he did some more investigating.

"It's Ruby,"
she said into the phone. She stood up and walked to the far side of the table,
facing Jake, probably to keep her eye on him and make sure he didn't try to
take the phone back. It didn't matter. He'd let her speak to Frankie. She'd
tell him everything afterwards anyway. Of that, he was sure.

Her face darkened
and began to crumble and he regretted letting Frankie talk. Something was
wrong. Very wrong. He went to her, folded her into his arms and gently removed
the phone. He listened but Frankie had hung up.

Ruby started
shaking and all he could do was hold her tighter. He stared at the phone. Wanted
to break it, break Frankie. What had that bastard said to her?

He wouldn't get a
sensible answer out of her yet. She was shaking too hard and crying and trying
to breathe at the same time. So he rubbed her back in smooth, circular strokes
and waited. His heart hammered like mad, but there was nothing else he could
do.

When she was no
longer breathing in gasps, she pressed her forehead to his chest. "Evie,"
she said on a loud sob. "He's got Evie."

CHAPTER 16

Ruby pulled away
and looked up at Jake. What he saw in her face tore at his heart, ripping it to
shreds.

Dread.

"He's going
to kill her." She gripped his arms, her nails digging into his skin. Her
watery eyes stared at him but he wasn't sure if she really saw him.

"No. No he's
not," he said with far more certainty than he felt.

Her lip quivered
and she bit it. She was trying hard to hold it together. He wanted to tell her
how much he admired her bravery, her sheer determination, but he didn't think
his words would be appreciated right now. Instead, he rubbed her shoulders and
pulled her close, hoping his actions said enough.

"How can you
be so sure?" she asked, voice wobbling against his chest. Her palms
pressed against his back, holding onto him as much as he was holding onto her.

"Because he
needs her alive to get to you," he said, stroking her hair. "That is
what he said isn't it? That he wants to exchange Evie for you?"

She pulled away again
and nodded numbly. "I have to go to her."

"No! No way.
Ruby, that's crazy. You—"

"But you
said yourself, she's safe as long as he needs her to get me. If I don't give
myself up, Frankie'll..." A short, sharp sob erupted from her throat
before she took back control.

"And as soon
as you give yourself up in exchange for Evie, what's to say he won't kill both
of you?"

Ruby felt sick. If
it wasn't for Jake's solid presence, she would have thrown up already. Just
simply having him near was comforting, but being held by him, caressed by him,
made her believe that everything would be all right.

For a moment.

Then reality
slammed back into her, knocking her under water and holding her down with a
knee to her chest. She couldn't breathe through her choking tears, couldn't see
past the awful images dogging her ever since she hung up from that scumbag.

Beauvoir's man. She
had to remember that
he
was the one pulling the strings. It was Beauvoir
who'd ordered the capture of Evie to bargain for Ruby. Fat Frankie was the one
enjoying it.

If you want to
see your friend alive again, go to the cabin. If you don't come by midnight,
she'll be dead.

Frankie's threat
still echoed in her brain. The snarl in his voice still grated along her
nerves. He meant every word of what he'd said. Evie would die unless Ruby
turned herself over to him.

"You're not
going," Jake said.

"I have to,"
she said weakly, turning away from him.

But he caught her
chin and made her look at him. She lifted her gaze, briefly, and saw brutal
determination in his eyes. The kind that made small men laugh nervously and big
men keep their mouths shut. Ruby got the feeling not too many women got to see
this look. It was ugly and scary and not something she wanted to see again.

It was exactly
why her brother said Jake wasn't a man to be crossed. She could understand why
no one in his unit dared go against him when he got in this mood. It was like
waiting for a bomb to explode.

She looked away
again and pulled her chin free. "Jake—."

"No!" He
swore under his breath and shoved his hands onto his hips. You're not going
anywhere near Frankie." He paced across the pool deck, naked from the
waist up, his hair curling at the ends where it was drying. It was like
watching a caged lion—a magnificent, powerfully formed animal desperate to save
a member of its pride. Snarling. Trapped.

Alone.

Ruby stopped him
with a gentle hand to his arm. He stared at her, his chest rising and falling
with deep breaths, his eyes simmering with barely controlled anger.

Her throat closed
around her words. What could she possibly say to make it better when she didn't
believe it
could
get better? Tears welled again but she sucked them back
before they spilled.

He pressed his
palm gently to her cheek with surprising softness. "I can't let you do it,
Ruby. Do you understand? It would destroy...your brother."

She drew in a
deep breath to steady herself. "But Evie..."

He pushed her
hair off her forehead, his fingers twisting the ends as if he saw something
worth studying in the strands. "Evie will be fine." His voice rumbled
deep in his chest, low and filled with confidence. "I'll sort this out. You
have to trust me, Ruby."

"I do,"
she said. And she meant it. She really did.

It was Fat
Frankie she didn't trust.

"Good."
He dropped his hands to her shoulders and lowered his head to look into her
eyes. "I'm going to see Beauvoir." He held up a hand when she began
to protest. "It's time to sort this out. I'm going to make him see that
you're not responsible for the theft of the diamond. I'll tell him about his
wife and Sinestri, put the idea into his head that they're not simply having an
affair."

"At least
let me come with you," she said. "I'll go crazy here worrying about
you and Evie."

"No,"
he said. "I work alone and I'll work better knowing you're safe. No one
knows about this place except us. You'll be okay here."

Safe but out of
her mind.

Jake towel dried
his hair and strode into the house. "Where and when did Frankie say the
exchange would take place?"

Ruby watched his
back, the dark bruises from his accident still prominent, the muscles working
as he toweled himself while he walked. He didn't stop to look at her. It seemed
the time for comfort was over. He was all action. It was what Jake excelled at.

But he couldn't
make it right. She knew it in her heart. Frankie had warned her that if she didn't
go alone to the cabin, he'd kill Evie. If there was so much as a bugging device
planted on her, Evie would die.

Jake couldn't
save Evie. Only Ruby could.

"He didn't,"
she said quickly.

Jake stopped and
turned around. He was a magnificent sight, a seething tower of anger and power.
Ruby would hate to have those twin weapons turned on her, but it was the lesser
of two evils at that moment, and she chose it over Frankie's threat.

"He said he'd
call me back in an hour to see if I've made up my mind, then give me
instructions."

Jake scowled then
turned away again and kept striding down the hallway to his bedroom. "I'll
be back in an hour then."

Within moments he
came out, dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt. He grabbed the keys off the
kitchen bench and made for the front door. He stopped with his hand on the
doorknob.

"You wouldn't
do anything stupid while I'm gone," he said. It was more statement than
question and she wasn't sure it required an answer. "I'll be back by the
time Frankie calls. I'll know what to do by then." He cupped her face with
one hand and kissed her forehead. His mouth lingered, as if he didn't want to
stop. "It'll be all right. Trust me."

He left, and when
the car turned the corner, Ruby went into the garage. Jake had said he didn't
want to drive his mate's expensive cars when there was a high risk of damaging them.
It didn't matter if Damien's car got trashed, he claimed, and it was
inconspicuous. There was nothing inconspicuous about the big SUV and sports car
in the garage.