Risking It All: The Proposition / The Dare / The Favour / The P.I. / The Cop / The Defender

“One night, Damien excused himself while I was working on the safe. He said he had a surprise for me. I don’t know how long he was gone. I was totally focused on listening to the tumblers fall. This particular night the safe was empty. I didn’t even have time to wonder about that when Damien returned with the headmistress and the police. There’d been over a hundred thousand dollars in the safe—money from the annual fund-raiser. Looking back, I can see that Damien had laid his plans far in advance.”

“They didn’t suspect him?” Natalie asked.

Chance laughed dryly. “Why would anyone suspect St. Damien? He looked as horrified as the headmistress to find me there. He told them that he’d heard something when he was making his rounds and he’d called the police immediately. They found me in front of the open safe, and then they found letters under my mattress—from my accomplice. In them, I was told just what to do and I was even given the combination of the safe. The police assumed that I had tossed the money out the open window of the office to my ‘partner’ and that, thanks to Damien, I hadn’t had time to make my escape. Looking back, I can see how stupid I was.”

“You were twelve, a child. How could they have been so stupid to suspect you?”

Chance glanced down to find that Natalie had slipped her hand into his. He couldn’t help wondering how his life might have turned out if someone at the orphanage had had even a little of that simple faith in him. “The nuns didn’t think that being twelve was an excuse. And they didn’t want to disbelieve Damien.”

“What did they do with you?” she asked.

“I was taken away to jail. Of course, my accomplice was never found. Later, I learned that Damien left the orphanage shortly after that.”

“And no one suspected even then?”

Chance shook his head, almost smiling at the vehemence in her tone. “He was close to eighteen, and he had a right to leave.”

“What happened to you?” she asked.

Chance smiled. “Don’t look so worried. The one thing I owed Damien for was that I’d become very good with locks. I spent one night in the town jail before I blew the place.”

“You were twelve and alone on the streets?”

Because he couldn’t resist her, he briefly touched his lips to hers. “The streets were a hell of a lot better than that jail. Now that you know what Carlo is really like, is there any chance that I can convince you to leave?”

“No.”

There were some battles you could win, Chance thought, and some you retreated from so that you could fight another day. Tipping up her chin, he met her eyes steadily. “We’re going to have to be very careful.”

“Yes, we’ll need some kind of a plan.”

Chance could almost hear the wheels inside her head turning.

She glanced around. “I’ll be able to think better once we get out of this place. If there’s one creature that scares me more than alligators and snakes, it’s spiders.”

Laughing, Chance tucked his gun away, then pulled her to her feet and said, “Follow me.”

“HAVE YOU GOT IT?” Natalie asked.

Chance glanced down at her as they stepped onto the circular drive that led to the house. There were smudges of dirt on her nose and cheeks, but she was totally focused on explaining the tack she thought they ought to take with Brancotti. It wasn’t bad as plans went, Chance supposed.

“I’m going to be upset, angry, afraid,” she said. “Someone shot at us, and I’m going to want answers.”

Natalie Gibbs was a woman who seldom lost her focus, except when he was making love with her. Then that line of concentration disappeared from her brow, and that incredible mist would fill her eyes and darken them.

“Well?”

He filed away the image that had filled his mind and glanced down at her.

“And you’re going to be—?” she prompted.

“I’m going to be upset and withdrawn. Let you take control. I don’t much like that part.”

She shot him a grin. “Steven Bradford’s a bit of a weenie. That makes him very sexy to someone like me.”

“I’ll have to remember that,” Chance said.

“I’d rather that you remember the plan—and stick to it.”

He’d stick to it for a while, at least. Their best shot at leaving the estate with the diamond was to continue playing their roles. Natalie’s instincts were good, and she was managing to keep her objectivity a hell of a lot better than he was. For the moment, he couldn’t do better than to follow her lead.

“Ready?” she asked as they climbed the steps.

“Yeah. Are you ready?”

“Yes.” She drew in a deep breath, let it out. And then Chance watched her turn into Calli.

Her step quickened and she slipped her hand into his. “The first thing I’m going to do is demand that you see a doctor.”

“Whoa. That wasn’t part of the plan you just outlined. I don’t need a doctor,” he said. “It’s just a scratch.”

“It’s bleeding. A doctor should look at it.”

She was being mother hen, Chance thought in some disgust. There was a lot of Natalie, the big sister, in Calli.

They stepped into the entrance hall just as Lisa entered from one of the hallways.

“I demand to see Carlo,” Natalie cried. “Someone just tried to kill Steven.”

“This way,” Lisa said, gesturing them into the hallway she’d just stepped out of. “Carlo has already been informed of the incident. He’s talking to the security people right now.”

Chance let Natalie draw him down the hallway. Lisa stopped at a door with a coded keypad. Figuring that this was the same room that Carlo had shown Natalie on her tour, he took a quick survey as he stepped through the door. He spotted the guard right away, just outside the doors that opened onto a patio. Natalie strode forward and placed her hands, palms down, on Carlo’s desk. “What is going on here?”

Carlo glanced at Chance, then back at Natalie. “I’m working on it. My men are searching for the shooter. I hope to hear shortly that they have apprehended him.”

“And why should we trust you?” Natalie asked. “How can we be sure that it wasn’t one of your men who shot Steven?”

For a moment there was silence in the room as Carlo looked from Natalie to Chance and back again. Chance could see the anger in Carlo’s eyes and in the pulse beating in his temple. For a moment, he wondered if Natalie had gone too far.

Finally, Carlo moved around his desk and took one of Natalie’s hands. “You’re upset. Understandably so. Please.” He glanced at Chance and gestured to the two chairs in front of his desk. “Sit down. Lisa? Pour our guests some brandy.”

As Lisa did his bidding, Natalie and Chance sat while Carlo picked up his phone and punched in numbers. “I’m calling my own personal doctor. She lives right here on the estate. You’ll want to have the wound looked at.”

“It’s only a scratch,” Chance said. “Give me some antiseptic and a Band-Aid and I’ll be fine.”

“Thank you. He’ll see a doctor,” Natalie said.

Carlo gave orders over the phone, then hung up and waited for Lisa to distribute the brandy snifters.