Unlike the much more famous Hope Diamond, made famous because of curses and sadness, the stories surrounding the Staffordshire Diamond were happy. The diamond was gifted to loved ones, passed on to beloved children who gave it to their loved ones. Occasionally the family would put the diamond on display, using their good fortune to make money for others, but usually people wore it. Every painting and professional photograph of her ancestors, for generations, featured the Staffordshire Diamond in some form or another.
“The tiara was something,” Jake said.
“She wore it for her wedding, you know.”
Jake nodded.
Of course he knew. He knew almost as much about her family as she did. He’d been there her whole life. Never in the limelight, where she was forced to be, but in the shadows. Watching. Waiting.
“Do you want to try it on?”
The necklace had actually never been her favorite piece. It was ostentatious for her liking, but she couldn’t pass up the opportunity. The platinum strands were arranged to look like tree branches with various gems at the ends of some of the branches. There were twenty sapphires, eighteen emeralds, fourteen rubies, six pear-shaped diamonds, and two extremely rare bluish-purple tanzanite gems that her grandfather had added when he married her grandmother.
She nodded.
Jake pulled out his phone and pressed some buttons. Then walked to the back of the display and unlocked the security cord surreptitiously wrapped around the back. The necklace looked so delicate in Jake’s big hands, but he held it so carefully. Reverently.
“Shouldn’t alarms be flashing or, I don’t know, lasers be shooting from the ceiling? I have to assume Leonard required more security than a...a bike lock.”
Jake’s laugh was deep and rumbly and sent shivers up her spine.
“Security is controlled from my phone. No lasers, I’m afraid, just a silent alarm, which I turned off. And this bike lock, as you’ve called it, is made of a tungsten steel alloy, which is practically indestructible. Luckily, I know the code. Now come here,” he said, his voice husky.
Grandmother had always said the diamond had that effect on people.
She walked over and turned her back to him. When he wrapped it around her neck and secured it, she itched to touch the large stone. She turned back to face him.
“Perfect,” he said
The platinum and gems of the necklace strand were cool on her skin, but the largest stone, the Staffordshire, hung between her breasts and burned her skin.
Jake stepped forward so they were almost touching. He traced the necklace from her collarbone down into the hollow of her breasts before repeating the motion on the other side.
“Jake,” she moaned.
She ached to arch into his fingers.
“I want you,” he said, taking another step forward so they were perfectly aligned. She felt his breath against her. “I want you naked, wearing nothing but the necklace, wrapped around my cock, nothing between us.”
Chapter Three
“You’re being awfully presumptions, aren’t you? You really think I’d spread my legs for you just because you’re allowing me to wear a diamond that has been in my family for generations?”
For the briefest moment, he thought he’d miscalculated. That was how well she played the haughty society girl. Then he saw the darkening of her eyes, the increased pulse rate pounding in her neck, and heard her slight intake of breath. He smiled and inhaled the flowery smell that was just pure Ana.
“Princess, it has nothing to do with the diamond.” He took the last step to align their bodies, his hardness against her soft curves. “I think you’d spread for me if I gave you the toy from a Cracker Jack box.”
She blinked rapidly and her mouth fell open. She looked up at him. He had to look away before he got lost in her gaze, her body, just...her.
“That is—”
A part of him wanted to hear what she’d say. Instead, he leaned down and whispered in her ear. “That is the truth.”
He was only able to step away from her because he knew if he did, he’d be able to have a whole lot more of her. He grabbed her hand and walked through the darkened museum.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere more comfortable.”