Riley (6 page)

“Your bitch tried damned hard to make sure I was.”

The gasp from behind his shoulder told him Maggie hadn’t listened to his orders. Riley pointed the gun in Jon’s direction. “Have a care, Jon. I get jumpy when people break into my house in the middle of the night.”

Jon’s hate-filled gaze raked over them both, noticing their states of undress. “I see it took you as little time to talk her into bed as it did me. A little wine and a couple of muscle relaxers go a long way.”

“You son of a bitch,” Maggie said, charging around Riley’s body. He held out his arm to block her path, but it wasn’t easy when he had the same desire to pound Jon’s face in.

“Easy, honey. Let’s get some facts before we do him any damage.” His voice was calm even as his body trembled with rage. “Why don’t you tell us how you came to have the
Tear of Nefertari
in your possession? And be quick about the answer. I don’t like hearing the woman I love has been taken advantage of, so you can imagine why my patience is running thin.”

The look in Riley’s eyes must have convinced him because Jon started talking.

“I got it from an underground dealer I know in Cairo, who occasionally does work for the museum. He stole it from the vault and asked if I could find a buyer for him. Apparently Egypt has always had possession of the pearl. Everything was going according to plan until my dealer opened his big mouth and miss sticky fingers got her paws on it.”

Jon shot Maggie a scathing look, and Riley pushed her farther behind him.

“Once my dealer let it know that the pearl was on the open market, I was having to dodge all kinds of nefarious businessmen who wanted the pearl in their possession, and they didn’t care whether they bought it from me or killed me for it. So I sent it to Maggie for a few days to get the heat off my back. But she fucking stole it and ran to you.”

“You told me in your letter to go to him, you moron. What the hell else was I supposed to do?”

“I told you to go to him if you hadn’t heard from me in three days. You did
not
wait three days. As soon as you saw the cops at my place you got scared and started running. If you’d waited another two hours I would have come and gotten it. This whole mess is your fault.”

“So you helped facilitate the theft of a national treasure and this is all my fault?” she asked incredulously. “I think you should just shoot him, Riley. Prison is too good for him.”

“Just give me the pearl and I’ll walk away. You’ll never see me again,” Jon said.

“Unfortunately, two-thirds of us in this room have scruples, so that’s not going to happen,” Riley countered.

“I’m afraid he’s right, Doctor Scott,” Cooper said as he came into the room with one of his deputies. Their guns were drawn and pointed straight at Jon. The deputy began reading him his rights while Cooper cuffed him.

“This isn’t over,” Jon yelled over his shoulder as he was led away to the jail one story below.

Riley pulled Maggie close and stared at Cooper. “Thanks for being here. How’d you know?”

“I had a sensor installed on the outside of the door that detects movement. As soon as he broke in an alarm went off downstairs and I got a call.” Cooper turned to Maggie. “We need the pearl. We’re going to have to return it to the Egyptian government.”

Cooper started laughing before she could finish her sentence. “Let me guess. You found the hidden drawer in the bottom of the chest in the closet.”

Cooper was bent over with laughter, and Riley was beginning to see the humor in the whole thing too. He leaned down to whisper in Maggie’s ear. “You know, someone with an adventurous spirit wouldn’t care if my brother was watching you dig through his chest of sex toys to find a priceless artifact.”

Maggie pulled out of his arms and shot him a dirty look. “Fine. As long as you’re the one to tell him where all the missing toys have gone. Because I’m not giving them back.”

“Consider them a welcome gift to the MacKenzie family,” Cooper said.

Maggie knelt on the floor of the closet and pushed against a small notch in the wood. The bottom of the cabinet moved around like puzzle pieces until a drawer was revealed. She pulled it open and took out the pearl, wrapped completely in black silk.

She stood up and handed it to Riley first. “Go ahead,” she said. “I know you’ve always wanted to see it.”

He pushed back the silk and his breath caught at the history he held in his hands. The sheen was lustrous and he could see his reflection as clearly as if he were looking in a mirror. He looked at Maggie.

“It’s absolutely breathtaking,” he said, but he was speaking directly to her. By the soft smile on her lips, she understood exactly what he meant. Riley wrapped the pearl back up and handed it over to Cooper.

“I guess I’ll leave you two alone,” Coop said with a smile. “When do I get my apartment back?”

“A day,” Riley said. “Maybe two. Now go away.”

Riley waited until the door closed and he heard the key turn in the lock before drawing Maggie into his arms. “I love you, Maggie.”

Her face paled and her breath trembled. “I wanted you to so badly,” she said. “But I thought it would never happen. I feel like I need to give you fair warning, my mother is going to absolutely hate you.”

About the author:

Liliana Hart is the pseudonym for an author of more than a dozen books. She lives in Texas with her husband and cats, and loves to be contacted by readers.

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