Radiance (Diamonds of the First Water #3)

Chapter Seven

“ P reposterous! I collected it from Mr. Hope myself.” Edward was quick to take the velvet pouch from a drawer in his cabinet.

“Did you examine the diamond at that time?” she asked.

He shook his head. “You sound like a police inspector. But no is my answer. I had no reason to. I doubt Mr. Hope would dupe me with his own stone.”

“I cannot think why he would,” she agreed. “And it has been in no one else’s possession?”

Edward answered without hesitation. “Absolutely not.”

Except for Monty. He recalled the cat’s interest in the big stone before realizing he was letting his fancy take over.

“What is this about?”

Lady Radiance took a deep breath. “I had read it was a perfect stone. I’ve seen it myself at the exhibition, although never before close up as at your lecture. And you have just confirmed that it is flawless.”

It was difficult to concentrate on her words now that he was watching her mouth. She had soft, plump lips of a pretty rose quartz color. He could easily imagine covering them with his own before taking the lush lower one gently between his teeth.

“Thus, I was surprised to see a fissure in the stone.”

Suddenly, she had all Edward’s attention.

“A fissure!” He tore open the velvet and grabbed for one of the magnifying spectacles he had on his table, which he quickly thrust onto his nose, tucking the arms behind his ears.

“Yes,” she said, coming to stand beside him. “Small, a hairsbreadth is all. Or perhaps it was merely a hair. That is my expectation, and why I wished to see it again.”

Edward didn’t answer. Instead, he did something he almost never did. He held the gem with his bare hands and walked over to the window. An unusually cloudless London day gave him a good view as he held the Hope diamond up to the light.

“Are you speaking of an inclusion?” he asked, looking at it from underneath. “For the notion that you had spotted one no other person has ever seen before is impossible.”

“Perhaps an inclusion,” she said, “or merely a surface crack.”

“Merely,” he muttered. “There is nothing ‘mere’ about a flaw appearing in or even on the Hope Diamond.” And yet, he knew she was right. While delaying looking at the diamond from the top down, he could already see something that could not possibly be there.

Suddenly, her warmth seeped through the sleeve of his coat, and he realized she had followed to stand close beside him. She was leaning against his arm to better see, and he caught the aroma of a delicate floral scent.

Neither lavender nor rose. He lowered the diamond as he tried to identify the soft aroma.

“There!” she exclaimed.

Edward looked at her, not at the diamond, and through the magnifying lenses, her eyes were enormous emeralds. Pulling off the spectacles, he locked his gaze upon her once more, knowing the insane urge to kiss her.

“I saw it again!” Lady Radiance declared.

“Did you?” What had she seen? Then he recalled what they’d been looking at.

“Sadly, yes,” she said. “Even without magnification. And I hate to be correct in this particular instance.”

With abject dread, Edward tore his glance away from the lovely woman filling his senses and put it back where it belonged. She was correct. Not a surface crack but a flaw, an inclusion deep in the heart of the Hope Diamond. How extraordinary and utterly impossible!

“What a shame,” she murmured, peering at the diamond while leaning on him, distracting him with her lush curves.

“Does such a thing ever occur spontaneously?” she asked while Edward peered at the gem again through his magnifying glasses despite being able to see the flaw with his naked eyes.

Finally, he lowered the stone, knowing it was not the real Hope Diamond. It couldn’t be.

“May I?” she asked.

Wordlessly, he handed her both the gem and the magnifying spectacles. As she put them on and looked, he walked away. He was ruined.

“What do you make of it?” she asked.

Edward sat down at his desk as if he were alone. Resting his head in his hands, wondering if he would end up in leg irons, he comforted himself with the notion that he’d wanted to see Australia and find his own opal, like the German geologist, Johannes Menge.

A moment later, Monty brushed his furry cheek against Edward’s forehead.

“Stop it.” Who would look after Monty? Would he be allowed to take him on the convict ship?

Then Edward heard footsteps and looked up. Barely a foot away, Lady Radiance had rested her ruffled rear against the large-grain oak top, leaning directly beside him. She observed him as keenly as she’d been studying the diamond.

Edward blinked. His reputation would be shattered. His livelihood gone. Had someone in the audience at the lecture managed to make the switch? Or had it happened before he’d even taken it to Somerset House?

She placed the stone back onto the black velvet and laid the glasses beside it. While her face was solemn, he doubted she understood the import. He had in his possession something that should not exist.

“It’s not the Hope Diamond,” he told her in case she was thinking anything else. “It is a fake.”

“Truly?” she crossed her arms. “Are you certain?”

He nodded, not taking offense. “I know the Hope as well as I know my own hand.”

At that moment, Monty was rubbing across his knuckles. When she reached down and stroked the cat’s head at the same time, her delicate fingers sinking into Monty’s fur, the sight made his stomach clench. Or perhaps it was the knowledge that Mr. Hope could sue him for everything he had or ever would have.

Whatever it was, something was making him feel like he was on a rope swing, the one he’d played on as a boy at the estate of his grandfather, the viscount.

“How can that be?” Lady Radiance asked finally when he said nothing more.

“I don’t know.” For the first time in his adult life, Edward had no answer.

“What will you do?”

“What I was going to do before you arrived and destroyed my sanity.”

“I beg your pardon.”

“My apologies,” he said, feeling his throat closing up as he watched Monty, purring as loudly as a steam engine, stretch out, seemingly boneless.

Then Edward thought about the chance encounter of Lady Radiance coming to his class.

“I am grateful for what you noticed, but I cannot fathom how this could have happened, nor when it was switched. How could I have been so careless? Regardless, I must go to Mr. Hope’s residence today as planned.”

“You sound as if you are going to your execution.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “I cannot imagine what he will say or how I will ever be trusted in my field — indeed, in this country — ever again.”

“May I accompany you?” she asked unexpectedly.

With his brain throbbing, not to mention his neck aching from looking up at her, Edward suddenly realized the disgracefulness of his behavior. Shoving back the chair, he rose to his feet.

“Please, again, accept my deepest apologies, this time for the rudeness of my behavior. I am not myself. Would you care to sit?”

Radiance hadn’t minded his casual manner and understood it had been brought about by the shock of what she’d brought to his attention. Moreover, not standing on ceremony or civility indicated he considered her an equal and not a prissy, sensitive female.

“Thank you, no. I would like you to let me go with you to see Mr. Hope.”

He shook his head. “I shall not hide behind your skirts.”

Despite knowing the seriousness of the situation, laughter burst out of her before she could stifle it. Naturally, his expression darkened.

“It is my turn to offer an apology, sir, but I don’t see it the same way. If Mr. Hope accuses you of some duplicity, then I can assure him that you had no idea you were in possession of a fake stone.”

He nodded thoughtfully before tilting his head and fixing her with such an intense look, her stomach fluttered. “How do you know I’m not lying?” he asked.

“It never occurred to me that you would.” But she had to ask, “Are you?”

He offered a wry smile, and his dimple showed. “No.”

“Then let me come and vouch for you. Besides, I would very much appreciate an introduction to Mr. Hope.”

“Why? In fact, what is your interest in gemstones? Why were you at my lectures?”

Because you are the most intriguing man I have ever encountered .

Obviously, those were not words she could say. But her cheeks heated before she regained her composure. In any case, that wasn’t the true answer.

“I have an eye for jewelry design, or so I’ve been told. I sometimes work under the tutelage of Mr. Bonwit, but I wish to know much more than how to set a ruby or create filagree.”

“You are unique,” he declared, “and a kindred spirit. If you work with Mr. Bonwit, whom I know to be a master jeweler, then I shall gladly introduce you to Mr. Hope.”

He finished packing up the stone and slipped it into a satchel.

“How do you know I’m not the one lying?” Radiance couldn’t believe she was flirting.

“About your interest in gems? Are you?” he asked, echoing her words.

“Not at all. Are we going now?”

“If you have no prior engagement, then yes.”

She felt the thrill of an unexpected escapade. “Then we should take my carriage as it is available and waiting outside your door.”

He grimaced. “Just because I sometimes answer my own door, that doesn’t mean I don’t have my own carriage.”

“Do you?”

Mr. Lockwood sighed. “No, but by choice. When I travel out of the city, I take the train. And in London, it is far easier to hail a hansom cab than to bother maintaining a horse and vehicle.”

“Perfectly understandable, sir. Consider my father’s carriage the same as hailing a cab since I am already here. And I have my maid as a chaperone.”

He slung his satchel over his shoulder and gestured for her to precede him from the room.

“I don’t know much about your world of being a titled young, single lady, but I believe a maid is not considered a true chaperone. After all, you could order her to close her eyes or bribe her not to tell anyone of your behavior.”

Radiance was charmed by his concern for her reputation.

“Might something occur that would necessitate my giving her such an order or bribe?” Her continued flirtation was met with silence, and she glanced over her shoulder.

His face was a picture of ... desire, perhaps? Not knowing any differently, she would vow he was thinking about something inappropriate. Regarding her!

When a little shiver tickled along her spine, she let herself imagine being in his arms and, if she wished, being kissed by him. She’d been kissed before — in the first case, not more than a quick peck, and the second time, a wet and sloppy attempt with the only excitement being that they might be caught in a garden.

Sadly, neither gentleman had enticed her to a second kiss, although both had been very good dancers. Lately, her only burgeoning interest was Lord Castille, a spirited man with whom she’d already shared a few dances. Unfortunately, there had, as yet, been no opportunity for him to kiss her.

Then Mr. Lockwood shook his head as if clearing an untoward thought.

“I will restrain myself, Lady Radiance, if you will.”

She nearly tripped over the hallway carpet. Could he read her mind?