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Theron turned away from the demand in his oldest friend’s gaze and stared into the whisky, trying to ignore the feeling that he might have finally found something worthy of such a debt.
His heart.
And his child.
‘Fine,’ huffed Lykos. ‘You may explain, if it will take that look off your face.’
Summer paced before the fire in the Little Library. Back and forth, back and forth as her eyes went from wet to dry, red to pale. But her heart ached as if she’d never stopped crying.
This room had become her sanctuary in the last two months, every inch of it as familiar to her as if she’d lived here all her life. But instead of seeing books that would make the British Library jealous, she saw eyes, dark like coals, making her shiver from the heat. Eyes that had laid her bare, exposed her soul. Her heart pulsed and her core throbbed as if taunting her, reminding her of the night before, as he’d thrust into her so deep and so deliciously shestillached from the pleasure. She turned and paced back past the fireplace where flames danced joyously as if there was nothing wrong, as if her world hadn’t just shattered into a million pieces.
She brushed her hair back from her face. Six months ago she had been a naïve third-year geophysics student whose only worry was how to pay her sisters back for working all hours to pay for her to go to university. And now?
She was pregnant.
And yet she couldn’t afford to think about it. She couldn’t think about Theron Thiakos or even her father, Kyros. Now shehadto think about her mother and sisters. About finishing the treasure hunt she, Star and Skye had been sent on by the grandfather they’d never met. The task? To find the Soames diamonds, hidden over one hundred and fifty years ago by their great-great-great-grandmother from her abusive husband. Clues had been found, coded messages translated, and her sisters had travelled the world to track down the elements needed to find the jewels.
It had been easy to hide her baby bump three weeks ago, when Skye had flown first to Costa Rica and then to France to locate the map of secret passageways that led throughout the Norfolk estate. And Star had been so full of romance when she had left for Duratra in the Middle East, searching for the one-of-a-kind key made by joining two separate necklaces that her sister had missed all signs of Summer’s pregnancy too.
Meeting the terms of the will, she had been forced to stay behind. She had scoured their great-great-great-grandmother’s journals, searching for clues about exactlywhereCatherine had hidden her family’s jewels, but hadn’t been able to find any. But if they did find the jewels, the sisters would have met the terms of their inheritance and be able to sell the estate in order to pay for their mother’s lifesaving medical treatment. That wasallthat mattered right now. The jewels. Her mother’s health. She couldn’t think of anything else.
Especially not a man with eyes as dark as obsidian and a heart protected by granite. A granite, she thought with a sob, she’d hoped to have chipped. She placed her hand over the crest of her bump, reassuring both herself and their baby that they’d be okay.
‘It will all work out in the end,’ she whispered. ‘It’s what Auntie Star is always saying. And Great-Great-Great-Grandmother Catherine? Trust, love and faith,’ Summer assured her child, wiping away the last of her tears.
The sound of the ancient doorbell ricocheted throughout the sprawling estate that looked—at least on the outside—like Downton Abbey. On the inside? It could have inspired Dickens. For five generations the men of the Soames line had let the estate go to ruin, fruitlessly looking for the Soames diamonds. And the last, their grandfather, in his madness had been driven to knocking great holes in the walls. The irony was how close he had actually come to finding them.
Summer took a deep breath, swept another reassuring hand over her belly and whispered, ‘It’s time to meet your aunties.’
Summer opened the front door and was instantly pulled into a tangle of arms that squashed and hugged and she didn’t need to see her sisters’ faces to know she washome. It didn’t matter where they were in the world, as long as they were together. Summer breathed them in. She had missed them so much.
‘Oh my God, it’s so good to see you,’ Star rushed out in one breath. ‘And oh my God, we have so much to tell you, and oh my...God, what is that?’
Summer found herself thrust back as Star stared wide-eyed at her stomach. Over her shoulder, Skye’s delighted smile followed Star’s gaze down to Summer’s waist and her eyes sparked with shock.
‘Surprise!’ Summer called weakly just before she burst into tears again.
As if the spell had been broken, Summer was instantly pulled back into her sisters’ loving embrace and given soothing declarations of support and reassurance. Unfortunately, this only made her cry harder, until Skye took charge and guided them off the steps and into the estate.
They held her all the way to the Little Library, Skye on one side, Star on the other, words of love filling the cold damp estate and easing Summer’s hurt just a little. Once they had seen her settled in the large wingback chair, Skye put another log on the fire and ordered Star to make a cup of herbal tea from the kettle they’d set up in the library almost two months ago.
Skye crouched down and levelled her gaze at Summer. ‘Are you okay?’
Summer nodded, blushing furiously now that the crying had once again stopped.
‘Is the baby okay?’ Star asked from behind her sister.
Summer nodded again, her hand soothing over the crest of her bump, and when she looked back up she saw the most beautiful smiles on her sisters’ faces—joy lighting their eyes, pure and bright. Summer sniffed and Star passed her a tissue, keeping one back for herself and wiping at her eyes. Summer smiled as she could see Skye trying to suppress an eye-roll at their romantic middle sister.
‘Can I ask—?’
‘I don’t want to talk about it. Now you’re here—’
‘Summer,’ Star chided.
‘I don’t,’ she replied, shaking her head resolutely. ‘Besides, we have to find the jewels.’
‘But I thought you found the jewels?’
