The Family Jewels by Christine Bell

in his side.
    But as he watched her through half-lowered lids, he wondered if that was the reason for this bizarre, insane attraction. He'd never liked easy, preferring women who challenged him mentally, gave him a run for his money. Those women seemed few and far between. But this one? She intrigued him, trouble or no. He liked to listen to her talk, see how her mind worked, watch her move.
    If he wasn't careful, he was going to find himself nursing a serious case of infatuation. And if he thought she was causing him trouble now? She’d wreak havoc if they took this attraction further.
    “What is it that you really want, Jake?”
    What did he want? He couldn’t tell her the whole truth. That, since the first day he'd seen her at the restaurant, he'd wanted to see her sprawled out naked on his bed while he did all number of wicked things to her with his mouth. That he wanted to see Alistair Hannigan with his life and reputation in ruins around him because the need for vengeance had kept him from a decent night sleep for years.
    She might be a slick little cat burglar, but she obviously wasn't in the business of ruining lives and who knew at what point she'd balk. She'd done nothing but show herself to be immoral and a compulsive liar, but his instinct told him different. Common sense told him that she stole and conned people out of money because she liked nice things, but he eyed her cheap purse and her well-worn clothes with a practiced eye. He'd been around women who liked to shop and spend money, and she wasn't one of them. And her real hair, while amazing, was due to good genes. Color like that didn't come from a bottle. She was a natural beauty, he'd stake his considerable fortune on it. So what was she spending all her ill-gotten gains on?
    He tucked that question into his pocket for another day and focused on the most immediate problem.
    Time to cut to the chase.
    "I want you to give me the things you snatched from Alistair’s room,” He hadn't even gotten the words out before she started to shake her head. "Let me finish. If you give me what you've got, I will pay you the equivalent of the value in cash. It's a win-win. You'd save yourself the trouble of having to find a fence, and I'd get back the jewels. You can keep your job here if you want, and move on to another mark. I promise I won’t get in your way."
    She stared at him, her liquid brown eyes stirring all sorts of thoughts up in his head that he shouldn't be thinking.
    “Why?” Her smooth brow wrinkled. “What’s so special about the items I took?”
    "Nothing except that you took them and I need to put them back."
    She squinted at him suspiciously, and he could practically hear the gears grinding as she tried to work out his angle. “If you think he’s as bad as I do, why do we have to give the stuff back?”
    “When he finds out he was robbed, best case, he’ll tighten up his security, which doesn’t work for me. Worst case, he's going to suspect it was one of us at the card game. I'm the only one who left the room for any period of time,” he said, lowering his voice as Petra walked past. “I can’t have him looking too hard at me." He had covered his past well, but he didn’t want his business or identity under that kind of scrutiny. It was an unnecessary risk.
    “Even if I agree --which I haven’t-- how would you get the stuff back into his bedroom before he noticed it was missing?”
    “He’s going to the Hamptons to golf tomorrow and then heading straight back to Manhattan for the rest of the weekend for some art show. He’ll spend his week in the city like always, so he won’t be back at the Long Island estate until the next poker game, which is a week away. Unless he noticed already, it’s unlikely that he will before Friday. You give me the stuff, and I’ll worry about putting it back then.”
    She crossed one leg over the other and closed her white teeth over the plump maraschino cherry she’d plucked from her glass. Some