“Harmless?” Tamir laughed, but it was without humour. “The tiara he placed into his jacket is worth over two million pounds. It is five hundred years old, and an item of great cultural significance. Do you really think his attempt to remove it from the embassy will be seen as harmless by anyone in my government?”
Olivia shook her head. “You have to let me explain. He isn’t a thief. He really isn’t.”
“The facts seem to state otherwise.”
“Yes, I know, but you have to believe me, Tamir. Please. I promise he would have returned it.”
“Do you know what the punishment for such theft is in my country?”
“No,” she whispered, her eyes wide. She realised that he was still inside of her, and she shoved his shoulders, hard. His chest was a wall of stone, impenetrable. He looked at her derisively for a moment, then eased himself away from her. Stark naked, he crossed the room and collected her clothes. He threw them onto the bed, beside Olivia’s naked form.
“Get dressed. You will find out soon enough.”
“Tamir,” she cried, her anguish obvious. “Please stop being so angry and talk to me!”
“Angry?” He shook his head. “I’m not angry. I’m furious, but sadly, I’m not surprised. I’ve never known a woman who hasn’t seen me as an opportunity for financial gain. Most of my lovers have just enjoyed royal gifts. You’re the first to brazenly steal. And such a big prize, too. What was the plan, Olivia? To sell the tiara on the black market? And then what would you have done with the money?”
Olivia was shivering all over. Not from pleasure now, but from shock.
“And this is why you were so keen to climb into my bed? To distract me so that your friend could attempt to make off with a priceless piece of Talidarian history?”
“No!” She shouted, jumping off the bed and stalking across to him. She grabbed his elbow and turned him to face her. “You’re so wrong, Tamir.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I had no idea what Jack was planning. I came here because I wanted to be with you.”
He raked his eyes down her body, from her crumpled face to her splendidly naked figure. He subjected her to a slow, insolent inspection, then turned away from her.
“You’re the one who invited Jack,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around her body.
“Yes. I stupidly thought it would make you feel more at ease. I didn’t, for a second, think you might use my invitation to steal from me.” He turned back to her, his dark eyes accusing. “At least you were good in bed. That’s some small compensation for the fact that you’re a lying bitch.”
It hurt. It wounded her deeply. To the core of her being, she felt sad and sore. “I swear, Tamir, I never planned this. I would never…”
He held a hand up to silence her. And she was shocked enough to obey. “Enough. It is done. All that remains is to consider a suitable punishment.”
She swallowed and looked, unseeing, towards the window. Towards freedom. “And that is?”
“Such a brazen attempted theft is punishable by life imprisonment. If you’re lucky. There will be some in my government who will push for this to be seen as a capital crime.”
“A capital crime?” She whispered, reaching out to the wall for support. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’m deadly serious,” he commented scathingly. “If you will forgive the pun.”
“No!” She was shaking from shock. “I won’t forgive you anything!”
“I do not believe you have much right to act like a wounded victim here, Olivia. For though Jack took the jewel, you are far more culpable in my eyes. You were willing to have sex with a man simply to give your friend the cover to steal. That is far worse. Have you no pride? No self-respect?”
Olivia was shaking so violently she thought she might pass out. “How dare you?” She demanded fiercely, but her heart was withering and shrivelling into a little mound of dust in her chest. Dead and buried, she might as well be likewise.
“How dare I what? Tell you what I think of you?”
“You were the one who made this about sex. You’re the one who approached me. I would never even have even known you if you hadn’t stalked me at the show.”
His grin was ironic. “And I wish that were the case, believe me. However, you took your opportunity and attempted to steal from me. So, I have no choice now but to turn you over to my security chief.”
His words were like tiny little bullets, hitting her again and again. The information he’d poured on her swarmed into a tangled mess, combining with the insults to make her feel utterly lost. “How did you find this out?”
“The phone call.”
She groaned. “That phone call? And you still… we still… you still finished what we were doing.”