Green Fire by Stephanie James Page A

You can still send me away. But someday it won't be this easy. You know that, don't you?"
    Easy
, she thought wretchedly as he walked out the door. It would never be easy. But it was certainly necessary.
    Zipp meowed plaintively at her feet. Rani glanced down at him as the back door closed behind Flint. "Don't look at me like that, cat. I'm in charge around here. I decide who stays and who goes."
    Zipp looked unconvinced.
     
    Rani awoke the next morning with an uneasy feeling that refused to recede. Restlessly she showered, then dressed in a pair of comfortable jeans and a black sweater that had big starbursts of yellow on the front and back. When she opened the refrigerator door to get a carton of skim milk for her cereal, the sunlight glanced sharply off the green stone in her ring. The gleam caught her eye, and she paused to look at the piece of jewelry.
    It couldn't be valuable. Charles Dewhurst was a professional with years of experience. He couldn't have made a mistake about the stone in the ring. She wiggled her finger and watched the play of light on the surface of the green gem. It looked like nicely cut green glass to her. It had to be glass.
    But if it were real that fact would change everything.
    Rani chewed on her lower lip as she considered the ramifications of that thought. If the stone was genuine she had a problem. For one thing, she would have to stop viewing Flint Cottrell as an annoying, intriguing, unsettling male to whom she was attracted. She would have to view him as dangerous, just as Mike had suggested the night before.
    It couldn't be real. Dewhurst couldn't have made a mistake.
    Lost in thought, Rani closed the refrigerator door and went into the living room to stare at the phone. A phone call might reassure her, and heaven knew she could use some reassurance right now.
    She didn't have Dewhurst's number, but it was easy enough to get it from information. Rani sat nervously on the edge of the sofa as the phone rang in Dewhurst's elegant little shop near Union Square in San Francisco. She could visualize him behind the counter, surrounded by the delicate tools of his trade, his balding head with its gray fringe bent over a fine ruby or a diamond necklace. Rani had only met him on the occasion when she had taken Ambrose's collection of jewelry in to be evaluated, but she had liked the short, stout Dewhurst. He had been cordial and helpful, happy to share the knowledge of her uncle's idiosyncracies. When he came on the line, Rani smiled in relief.
    "Mr. Dewhurst, this is Rani Garroway. Ambrose Garroway's niece?"
    "Of course, of course, Miss Garroway. How are you? Good to hear from you again. Are you enjoying your uncle's fine creations?"
    "Very much. I get a kick out of wearing them, especially the green ring. You remember the ring?"
    "Naturally. An excellent example of your uncle's art. Do take care of the setting, though. It's rather old, I'm afraid, and fragile. One of these days you're going to have to have the stone reset."
    "Actually I'm calling about the stone, Mr. Dewhurst."
    "Has it come loose already? I was sure that with care it was good for a while yet."
    Rani idly touched the green stone with her finger. "It feels solid enough in the setting. That's not why I called."
    "Then how can I help you, Miss Garroway?"
    She hesitated and then took the plunge. "Mr. Dewhurst, there's no possibility that there's been a… mistake, is there?"
    "A mistake?"
    "I mean in the identification of the stone. It really is paste, isn't it?"
    "Definitely." Dewhurst sounded regretful but absolutely positive. "Your uncle did a fine job on it, Miss Garroway, but it's definitely not an emerald. Ambrose wouldn't have been interested in a real emerald. He was a unique craftsman. He saw his skill as a talent for imitation and, you will excuse the term, deception. He took pride in his ability to make the false appear genuine."
    "I know, it's just that lately I've had some questions from some acquaintances."
    "Questions