Grave Danger by Katy Lee

Author:Katy Lee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-10-15T04:00:00+00:00

EIGHT

Lydia faced a wall with an unidentified abstract painting hanging on it. She squinted to read its title on the card below, but without her glasses the letters all merged together.

“Lovely. Just lovely,” came a man’s voice from beside her.

She straightened to attention. “Really? You think it’s lovely? I can’t even tell what it is.”

“Well, to be honest, I don’t know what it is, either,” the man responded with a deep chuckle. “You care to take a guess?”

Lydia eyed the painting with her better eye. “Let’s see, how about a DNA double helix?” She cringed. Why did her mind always go to science? If she could see the guy clearly, his eyes were probably glazed over already.

“Interesting. I was going to say a spiral-like structure that looks like a twisted ladder.”

“Yeah, that, too. Sorry. I’m an anthropologist. You can take the girl out of the lab, but you can’t take the lab out of the girl.”

He laughed again. “An anthropologist. Sounds...exciting?”

“What you meant to say is boring and tedious, right?”

A woman server dressed in black and white and balancing a tray of fluted glasses passed by. The man snaked out a hand for a glass. “How about some champagne?” He avoided Lydia’s question with ease.

“No, thank you.” She smiled. “So, tell me, what did you think was so lovely about this painting? Do ladders thrill you for some reason?”

He peered over his glass. “Actually, I wasn’t speaking about the painting.”

Heat flushed Lydia’s cheeks as her breath caught in her throat. The man was talking about her?

“I was noticing your ruby pendant. It looks quite rare.”

The flush turned to a scorcher of embarrassment. “Oh, oh, yes, it is.” Her hand went to her throat, where her fingers toyed with the piece that was lovelier than her. “I don’t really know how rare, though.”

“Did you buy it at auction?” He leaned in, raising his hand to shield his next words. “Or black market?”

An uneasy feeling made her squirm and take a step away. “It’s not mine. It’s on loan to me right now.”

He pulled back, a shocked look spreading over his clean but imperfect face. A faint scar lined his right cheek. “Really?” he said. “I have to admit that would be a hard treasure to give back. The unique color of the stone tells me it’s of the highest quality. It must be worth a million dollars if not more.”

“A million dollars?” Had the woman it was buried with known the value? If she had swallowed it, then most likely yes? Had she swallowed it to protect it, only to get herself killed for it? But from whom?

“Everything all right here?” Wesley, the bulldog, was back. His stance and tone of voice caught her off guard. Now what was he mad about?

Lydia studied the territorial look in his eyes. The man wasn’t even on Stepping Stones. What was he protecting now?

“Certainly,” the man answered. “Why wouldn’t it be? We were only having a little chat.”

A little chat. Lydia smiled outside and within.

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