Touched by a Thief by Jana Mercy Page B

diamond, Ian.”
    She needed him, too, but wouldn’t let her mind go there. Couldn’t let her mind go there. Ian was so bad for her. So bad.
    “Why?” His dark brow quirked high, skimming beneath a loose strand of silky black hair.
    “I just do.”
    “Do you have any idea what the Degassi is, Monty?”
    “All I know is that it’s a very valuable diamond and I want it.”
    He shrugged. “The diamond really isn’t that spectacular.”
    “Keep talking, big boy, but you’re not going to convince me of anything. I want to see it, Ian. If I have to cut you open to do so, then so be it.”
    He laughed again. “Always full of spunk.”
    “Even when kidnapped.”
    “I didn’t kidnap you,” he reminded. “Actually, I was your special guest upon your lover’s jet.”
    Ian had arranged the private jet to be waiting for her under the guise that she’d been the one to want him to do so. Gerard would think she stole the diamond, that she’d left him, that she’d run off with another man.
    A smidge of regret settled into her belly. Whatever his flaws, he had been good to her. Because she wasn’t convinced that Gerard had hired Ian to send her to prison. Ian had set her up on that too, planted a seed of doubt regarding Gerard’s intentions. Lord, why had she ever trusted this man?
    “You don’t work for Gerard, but you do work for someone, don’t you, Ian? You set me up intentionally, sent me to jail intentionally, but not because Gerard had hired you to do so.”
    His grin was cocksure. “You always were too smart for your own good.”
    “Who? Who would want you to send me to prison?” Because no matter how much she racked her brain she couldn’t come up with anyone she’d pissed off that much in the past. Even thinking that Gerard had set her up just to have sex with her again had been pushing her suspension of belief. That someone would manipulate her life to this level was unthinkable. She was a jewel thief. A good jewel thief. Not an assassin.
    But once upon a time when she’d worked for the government…No, she wouldn’t let her mind go there. She wouldn’t. She robbed from the rich and gave to the poor.
    “You’re just a pawn in a game much bigger than you or me, Monty.”
    She curled her fingers into his t-shirt, making a fist against his chest. “Don’t speak to me in riddles! Tell me the truth.”
    He regarded her for long moments, seem to come to some kind of a conclusion. He held out his hand. Just looking at his fingers, knowing the power he wielded at the slightest stroke of his fingertip against her skin had Monty shivering.
    “Give me your bag,” he ordered.
    “What?” No, she wasn’t giving him her bag. Those jewels would go a long way to helping her cause, to helping needy children.
    “Give me the bag where you stowed all the trinkets Gerard gave you.”
    “Hell no. You’re not taking my jewels. I’ve given you enough of my trinkets in the past.”
    His face remained impassive, his hand remaining outstretched. “Give me your bag.”
    She didn’t move, didn’t budge. “No.”
    He sighed, shook his head and mumbled something about stubborn women before reaching for her bag. She struggled against him, trying to fight him off, but his brute strength won out and without much effort he clutched her bag, prying open the top and dumping the contents into her lap.
    Monty grasped at the jewels, trying to retrieve them prior to Ian taking them all. It had been so long since she’d been able to make a donation to the charity fund. She needed these jewels. She wouldn’t let him take them.
    “I only want the necklace, Monty.”
    She stopped scrambling for jewels. “The necklace?”
    “The sapphire and diamond necklace Gerard gave you.”
    “Why?”
    His grin was devilish. “Hand it to me, and I’ll show you.”
    Reluctantly, Monty handed him the necklace. If the bastard wanted it badly enough it wasn’t as if she could stop him anyway.
    Ian reached into a black briefcase that had