Page 8 of Hidden Dane
He brushed his hand against her skin at the collarbone. “I need it now.”
Wow. Every part of her body became aware of him. She pushed his hand away. “Why? And give me specifics.”
He sat way back in his seat like he needed to escape from her. “Apparently Edmond Pearce possesses the Irish Crown Jewels in a bank box. I’m going to retrieve it and give it back to the throne.”
“They were stolen in 1907.” Her body perked with interest. History was the one area that always appealed to her.
She sipped her wine and waited for him to share the rest.
Dane immediately leaned forward. “How do you know that?”
Right. The girl he’d known had talked about getting her MBA and starting her own company, but in the end had retreated before the real world—Emily, the woman, needed to make money to survive. Michael and her sister had deposited a nice sum in her bank account, in her name, but she couldn’t very well live off their generosity forever.
In college, history had been the one thing she’d really enjoyed learning. Emily put her glass down on the small table to her right and folded her hands in her lap. “I have my doctorate in history and want to be a professor at some point. I’ve been applying for post doctorate positions and faculty positions everywhere.”
He didn’t move as he studied her in disbelief.
She pressed her hand to her heart and ignored the heat in her face. “For my masters, I wrote a paper on that particular theft and how the Church was hiding the vicar’s homosexuality, and that mattered more to the officials than retrieving the jewels which is why they delayed reporting the theft until 1907 when officials from England intended to visit Ireland.” She thought back to her research and surmised, “The jewels were either taken to Amsterdam, or Paris, and sold there.”
“If they still exist, it will be a surprise.” Dane positioned his glass beside hers as he leaned into his head rest and turned to face her. “Either way, Ted tried to break into my father’s safety deposit box to help himself to the Irish Crown Jewels, or whatever is there.”
The older but not older man from the club. So the jewels were important…she’d known her ownEgalantinenecklace, unique in style, with diamonds and emeralds set in gold blossoms, was worth a lot and also from the same time period. She’d written papers on jewelry like hers and missing sets of the Victorian age because of her own attachment to hers, as this was her only tie to Dane. “And you’re going to give them back to the royal family?”
Dane gazed at her neck, and lower, and she had the distinct impression it wasn’t her necklace that interested him. Aware of her blue party dress and the low cleavage, she reached for his coat jacket he’d slung over the chair and put it on. His woodsy cologne enveloped her—but he’d rebuffed her kiss so she’d be smart to shield herself. He looked away. “Why not? It’s not like I want them.”
If he hadn’t shown up at the nightclub, she’d have just assumed he was out in the world, causing trouble, but the smell, this jacket, his saving her from being shot and being all noble about returning the missing jewels, well…she sucked in her bottom lip and tried to deny that he still made her body tingle, perhaps even more now that he was all hard muscles and not the boy she’d given her virginity to back on prom night. “What do you do now, Dane?”
“Uriel.” He shifted on the leather seat.
His scent washed over her as she tugged his coat around her body. “Okay. Uriel—though it’s going to be hard for me to think of you that way. When I dreamed about you, your name was Dane.”
His eyes widened. “You dream about me, Emily?”
“Dreamed. Past tense.” She sat up, alert against revealing how sappy he made her. She’d been fine on her own and didn’t need him or anyone. Emily uncrossed her legs and her knee accidentally touched his. “That doesn’t answer my question.”
He gulped his drink and put the empty glass down as he stared at the lights on the ceiling of the plane. “What question was that?”
So, he didn’t want to tell her about himself? She reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pocket watch, like he was an old man and not twenty-eight. She put it back and asked, “What do you do? You mentioned digs, so are you an archeologist?”
A huge smile grew on his face like she’d just decoded a mystery. “Yes. I don’t just read books about the past, like you do. I want to discover history for myself.”
Dane must have seen too many adventure movies as a boy, which was probably better than getting too close to his stepfather, as that man had been a psycho. She relaxed in her seat and stared at Dane’s broad shoulders that seemed stronger and sturdier than the last time they’d seen each other. She smiled and said, “I assumed you were gambling and drinking your way around the world. No one heard from you in years.”
The plane began its descent. Hours with Dane into the night yet she didn’t feel tired at all.
He shrugged and pressed his head into the headrest. “Sorry to disappoint.”
Emily allowed herself to touch his chin and cheek. He’d also grown more facial hair and it seemed he hadn’t shaved in a few days. In school he’d been all about brand names and clean cut. The boy and the man collided in her eyes. “Just the opposite. I’m impressed Dane… I mean, Uriel. You walked away from me and your family.”
He kissed her palm. “Michael is more your family than mine.”
And her skin was jumpy and achy for him as she took her hand back. She lowered her lashes and said, “He was good to me and my sisters.”
The plane landed in the airport. Dane, she couldn’t think of him as Uriel, held the armrests as the plane slowed from its high speeds to cruise toward a stop. “Which is more than I can say about my mother and I.”
“That’s not fair.” Fog around London puffed outside the window behind him, masking the night that just made the darkness seem gray and dreary.
She hadn’t been here in years and that was when her sister and Michael had taken the family on a trip to see history and not just read about it in books, as Dane had just said. Dane hadn’t been there. He’d left too soon and spent most of that time at boarding school.
