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He fisted her hair and leaned down to mold his lips against hers. There was nothing to do but answer the call of his body to hers. Claire sagged against him, letting him hold her up as he explored her mouth.
“Technically, I suppose it is a conflict of interest and there are several agencies that would like to arrest you and put you and your buddy in jail. I convinced them that putting you two in jail would be inviting whoever tried to kill you to take another shot. You’d be too vulnerable. I told them I would be responsible for you. Officially, you’re in protective custody.”
“The hell I am,” she snarled, trying to pull away.
Fletch jerked her back into his body. “The hell you aren’t. Claire, too many people now know you and Mia, and before that your grandfather, are responsible for a long line of thefts dating back more than seventy years.”
She pushed at him with both hands. “And who’s responsible for their knowing?”
“I confirmed it for them, but Scotland Yard, Interpol and several others were starting to put the pieces together, and they would have figured it out. In order to make the deal, I had to be able to get all the parties to come to the table. A lot of those you stole from were paid the proceeds from the insurance. Neither they nor the companies that paid for those losses want the negative publicity that would come with being connected to Nazi loot.”
“You did that—pointed out that it wouldn’t look good.”
“I did. But to their credit, most of the insurers and the cops are kind of on your side. They do believe you and your grandfather were righting old wrongs. There is talk at Interpol of putting together a better database and trying to find more of the pieces that are still missing. I may have hinted that you and Mia might be amenable to doing some consulting work.”
She was shocked. “You’d be okay with that?”
He nodded. “It isn’t that I doubt your mission, just the way you go about it.”
“Can’t you tell them you didn’t catch up with us until after we got the Clarion Necklace and that you persuaded me to turn it over to the Hague?”
“No. You need to be done. I will support you tracking down pieces and seeing them restored to those from whom they were stolen, but we will do it legally. Doing it any other way keeps you and Mia in somebody’s crosshairs and puts my business and my people at risk for nothing.”
“It isn’t nothing.”
“Bad choice of words. It isn’t nothing but that your way of doing it isn’t the only way. We can do it legally. You said you have the evidence. We give that to Interpol or the Yard and let them handle it with your help.”
“It meant a lot to Poppi to see it restored…”
“And it will be. Maybe not the way you or he foresaw it, but if you have the evidence to turn it over to the Hague afterwards, then there’s no reason not to turn it over to Interpol and let them handle it. I don’t want you in danger.”
“I don’t know. I’ll need to think about it.”
“There is nothing to think about,” he said with finality. “You are out of the jewel thief business, and if I have to handcuff you to the bed, I will.”
“Promises; promises,” she teased and wrapped her arms around his neck, lifting her face to his for a kiss.
As he fused their mouths together, Claire knew he was wrong. She couldn’t trust that any of those agencies or individuals would see to it that the Hardisons didn’t get to keep the necklace. The Hardison patriarch had founded his family’s fortunes on stolen Nazi treasure. They weren’t about to own up to that or give the necklace up. And even if they were, Sir Godfrey, Evangeline, and the rest of them sure as hell weren’t.
No. She was right, and he was wrong. Claire would do what she needed to do and then find a way to make it up to Fletch. He loved her, he would have to understand, and if he couldn’t find his own way, she would help him. She would not give up her mission nor her man. She would have them both.
CHAPTER6
FLETCH
He didn’t believe for even a second she was planning to follow his plan. Fletch was quite certain, even as her mouth surrendered to his, that she was planning to move ahead with her mission. He would need to find out when and where the Clarion Necklace was to be moved and then ensure that Claire and Mia couldn’t get to it.
The idea of handcuffing her to their bed had more appeal than he thought it should. The image of Claire naked and bound to the four posters of the bed flashed through his mind and his cock hardened at the thought of all he could do to her for days and days. He could keep her at his mercy until he was sure the Clarion was safe again.
Claire said there was no curse. Fletch wasn’t sure she was right. The necklace had been tainted by evil long before Goebbels and Hitler got hold of it.
She moaned beneath the onslaught of his lips, and then began moving down his body, ripping open his shirt and kissing down his torso as she sank to her knees, unbuttoning his fly and allowing his cock to escape—hard and ready for her to pleasure him. Fletch was quite certain this was a deflection tactic meant to keep him from thinking about what she was really up to, and as long as she sucked his dick while she was doing it, he was happy to let her live with that delusion.
Claire ran her tongue down the length of his staff, making his flesh tingle and come alive. She was a clever, wanton minx and he planned to make her settle down and enjoy what they had for the rest of their days.
As her lips closed over the head he groaned. “God, that feels good.” And it did. Nothing felt better than Claire taking his cock deep into her mouth, all the way to the back of her throat—well, nothing except shoving his dick balls deep into her before hammering her pussy with an intensity that only she brought out in him.
She swirled her tongue around the head before popping it out and taking long swipes with her tongue. Fletch wasn’t a fool. He knew what she was up to, and he meant to see that she didn’t get away from him a second time.
