Page 50 of The Heart of an Earl

Long moments passed as he stared at it, tilting it to the light of the fireplace. Each breath she took quivered into her lungs.

Des’s hazel eyes finally lifted to her—clouded—she couldn’t read what was in them.

“Jules, I was not a believer. Not a believer in this Box of Draupnir. Not a believer of the lore.” His head dipped, his stare going back to the stone. “But this…” His head shook, his words dipping to a whisper. “This scares me.”

Her legs went wobbly and she shuffled two steps backward, collapsing onto the other chair, her fingers weaving together and gripping tight.

She nodded, her mouth dry. “It has always scared me. You feel it, don’t you?”

“This thing in my chest?”

A gasp caught in her throat and she nodded again. “Every man that I have watched look at—it’s…it’s a glaze over their eyes they get. A madness descending over their minds.” She stared at him, her head leaning to the side. “But you—you feel it like I do, don’t you?”

He looked at her. “It’s inside of me—swirling—like the wood around the ring—threatening to explode in a thousand directions. It’s fear of it—yet a draw…” He shook his head, his shoulders lifting. “A draw to protect it, I think—a draw to keep it safe, as bizarre as that sounds.”

“It’s not bizarre.” Her chest lifted in a deep breath. “You understand now why I couldn’t just toss it into the sea?”

“I do.” A visible tremor ran across his bare shoulders and he swiveled the lid closed. “The bottom of the sea is not where this thing belongs—but it doesn’t belong with a man like Redthorn. I don’t think it belongs with any man.”

“Aye.”

“Yet the demons of Hades are after this thing. That is what I feel in my bones. But I understand now. Understand its lure.” His mouth pulled to the side. “Those men today— I only saw one that I recognized—were they all from theRed Dragon?”

“They were.”

“And they’d all seen this?” He lifted the box.

“Aye. Redthorn would have it out all the time. Claimed it was the reason for all the riches the crew had amassed. He’d flaunt it in front of them.” She shuddered. “The greedy, greedy eyes always on it.”

“They’re not going to stop, are they?”

Her shoulders lifted. “I don’t know.”

He held out the box to her. “So what to do with it? Give it to your father?”

“The box needs me—I am its keeper, at least for now. I cannot let my father have it again—I saw what it did to him once. He was like every other man.” She stood and took the box from his hand. “So I don’t think that’s where it belongs either. He was obsessed. Killed a man for it. Who knows how many were killed before that? I don’t think he can know I have it.”

Des leaned back in the chair. “What do you want to do with it?”

Jules shrugged, going to her dress and burying the box deep in her pockets again. “I don’t know. I am happy to hear any suggestions.”

“I’ll think on it.” His gaze shifted to the fire, his mind already working on the problem.

Jules gave a silent exhale of all the dread that had been festering in her chest.

She had been terrified to show Des the box. Terrified of how it would turn him. Terrified of the gleam of greed that would flash in his eyes.

More terrified than she’d even admitted to herself.

But nothing. Des recognized it for what it was. A wonder. But not worth his life. Not worth any man’s life.

She should have guessed it—of course he would have the same reaction as she. He wasn’t mad. Not like every other man.

She stared at Des’s profile, the warm glow of the fire lighting his tanned features. Far too handsome—far too genuine a soul.

Des was beyond different.

He was her match.

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