Emerald Fire (38 page)

Finn looked over at her. “Ready?”

She wanted to scream
yes, yes, yes!
but she only nodded, projecting the very image of cool, calm, and collected. As if.

Her hands were shaking as Finn worked the latch and flipped open the lid. It was full of water, as expected, and he tilted it to allow it to drain. The green velvet bags came into clear view.

Chloe spread their towels out on the table and they opened the bags, one by one, spreading the priceless collection out to dry.

They stood back and admired the gleam and sparkle. Ronan whistled. Finn had a wide grin that she knew matched her own. There were four more necklaces, several bracelets, earrings, a spectacular diamond studded brooch with a huge dangling teardrop emerald. There were other gemstones too, rubies, diamonds, sapphire, and amethyst. It was a display of incredible beauty and incredible wealth.

“You did it, Chloe.” Finn wrapped his arms around her. “You’ll be turning the historical community upside down with the coming revelation.”

She shook her head. “I only got so far. This wouldn’t be happening without the man from NorthStar.”

“Which one?” Ronan asked. “Because technically, there are two of us.”

They laughed. It was true. And she loved them both.

Finn let her go long enough to step closer to the table. He brushed his fingers over the different pieces, then selected a ring with a modest square cut emerald surrounded by tiny diamonds.

He reached for Chloe’s hand and slid the ring on her finger. “With this ring I thee wed.”

Chloe melted. She threw her arms around Finn and kissed him until Ronan cleared his throat.

“You two need me to leave?”

They broke apart on a laugh. “Don’t you dare,” Chloe said. She stepped over and hugged him to her. “You need to get used to it,” she told him. “I plan on kissing your son every chance I get.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way, lass.”

Chloe held her hand up, gazed at the ring on her finger, and smiled. Finn pulled her back into his arms where she belonged, and the warmth in his eyes filled her.

In a way, a two-hundred year old tale of love and loyalty had finally come full circle. Desmond and his love were never meant to be, but their legacy would now continue. Chloe smiled, sending a prayer of thanks to the man and his journal.

She and Finnegan would finish the two-century-old love story with a brand new love of their own.

Adventuring is in
Monica McCabe’s
blood. She’s explored places like Alaska, Canada, Hawaii, Mexico, and the Caribbean. She’s climbed glaciers and ancient Mayan pyramids, dived shipwrecks and reef caves, camped in Sasquatch country, and drove across the USA three times. Currently she’s working on gathering as many official stamps in her National Park Passport as she can. When not traveling she’s writing romantic adventure books and travel articles, enjoys research way too much, and craves long nature hikes with her husband and their dog, Sam. To find out more please visit www.monicamccabe.net.

If you haven’t read Monica McCabe’s first book in the Jewel Intrigue series, be sure you do! Diamond Legacy is another action-packed romance set in Africa. On sale now.

Diamond Legacy

Africa—where diamonds are the currency of the weapons of trade, and trust is the only option between two strangers.

Miranda Parrish is a world-renowned veterinarian specialist with expertise in endangered species. She’s fearless and will go anywhere an animal is in need. But when she journeys to Katanga, an animal sanctuary in the heart of Botswana, she lands in the middle of a blood diamond smuggling operation. And there’s only one man who can help her. 

Special agent, Matt Bennett’s parents were murdered by a ruthless arms dealer when he was fourteen. He’s devoted his life to avenging their deaths and ending the cycle of violence threatening southern Africa. Undercover at Katanga, he clashes with Miranda. He’s never met a woman so stubborn, who’ll let nothing stand in the way of what she believes in. But he’ll let no one come between him and the vengeance he craves.

Matt and Miranda must learn to work together if they want to save Katanga, and both of their lives, before it’s too late.

“You shameless little hussy. How many times have you sweet-talked Jason out of a treat this month?” Miranda Parrish tucked a water hose between her knees and grabbed the biggest dental brush in her kit. “Give me a grin, sweet Daisy.” She lightly tapped the elephant’s trunk. “Time to scrub away the evidence.”

The smallest, and by far sweetest, African elephant in residence at the San Diego Zoo lifted her trunk and dropped her lower jaw obediently. Miranda set to work, meticulously scrubbing every square inch of enamel.

“You know,” said a familiar voice behind her, “if you applied the same level of concentration to members of the opposite sex, you might have something more exciting to do on a Saturday than flossing pachyderm pearlies.”

“Stow it, Jason.” Miranda grabbed the hose and rinsed the excess cleansing agent from Daisy’s gums. “Have you nothing better to do than annoy me?”

“Ain’t nothing better than hitting on the sexiest dental zoologist west of the Pecos.”

A drop-dead glare was her only reply.

“Aw, come on. Hank don’t deserve someone as hot as you. That uptight boyfriend of yours hasn’t a clue what to do with those luscious lips of yours.”

“And you do? You’re barely twenty and too arrogant by half.”

“Age has nothing to do with experience.” He gave her a flirty wink. “This Alabama boy can do things to you that would curl your toes.”

Miranda curbed the urge to laugh. For all his bluster, Jason Harvick was the best college intern employed at the San Diego Zoo and showed the most veterinary promise. Unlike others, he never balked at menial labor and thrived on the many hours spent tending animals. With a fresh blond appeal and a willingness to work, he was a staff favorite. He was also full of mischief, and she did her level best to discourage it.

“Your questionable expertise aside, I’d be happy if you just turned off the water for me.” She dropped the hose and tossed her brush into a bucket of disinfectant, then reached up to rub Daisy’s lower jaw. “Good girl, Miss Daisy.”

The elephant’s trunk dropped onto Miranda’s shoulders with a gentle squeeze, and she accepted the awkward embrace. In a way, it felt a bit like Hank’s. Awkward, yet well intended, and above all, comfortable. Dependable. Nothing like the usual adventure-seeking idiots she tended to gravitate toward. She was through with that type. As staff director for the zoo, Hank Meadows was the polar opposite of the Bass Pro Shop outdoorsmen she’d dated since college.

“All I’m saying is”—Jason disconnected the hose and began rolling it up for her—“it’s a dang shame to think of someone like you going for a stick-in-the-mud like Hank. You’ve got more fire in you than that.”

No, she didn’t. That was her sister, Erika. “Please, Jason. Can we leave my love life alone?” Miranda slipped a hand into her sport vest pocket and produced a green apple for the elephant.

Tonight she was cooking lasagna for Hank. A nice bottle of red wine, some soft music on the stereo, and another chance to prove things were as they should be. Not that she needed convincing. Hank was the epitome of domesticity, a man tailor-made for settling down.

“Have it your way,” Jason said, his voice laced with disgust. He dried his hands on a towel, then grabbed his backpack and pulled out a large manila envelope. “Here, take this.”

Something jittery danced in her stomach. “What’s that?”

“Heck if I know.” He shrugged. “Maxwell yanked me out of the chimpanzee enclosure and said to deliver it
posthaste
.” The last word he said with puckered lips, imitating the very staunch, very British, head veterinarian.

Miranda shot him a disapproving frown before taking the envelope and breaking the seal. When she pulled out the contents, something fell to the ground, and she reached to pick it up.

Airline vouchers. Round trip from San Diego to…Botswana?

Her heart skipped a beat. Africa.

Its very name invoked visions of vast primeval deserts, game reserves filled with rare species, and pure untamed natural habitat just waiting to be explored. Her college thesis dealt with the reserves constant threat of poachers, of civil war, and desperately poor countries struggling to balance human need and animal dominance.

“It’s about time!” Jason tossed his backpack down and stared at her with hopeful expectation. “Much longer and you’d sprout roots.” He shuddered at the horror. “Where to?”

She caught her lower lip between her teeth and glanced away from the excitement in his eyes. Why now? Why couldn’t this have come eight months ago when she would’ve jumped at the chance to get out of California? Now she had direction, a planned future. This was no time to be flying off to the wilderness for…for…she glanced at the letter.

Katanga Wildlife Center is fortunate to have in its care a rare and valuable albino hippopotamus. Estelle is small, only four-thousand pounds, but suffers from an advanced abscessed lower canine. We would greatly appreciate someone of your notable expertise to perform a difficult, but much needed dental procedure.

“What is it? Come on, you’re killing me here.”

Jason’s impatience near had him twitching, yet she was reluctant to answer. “The Katanga Wildlife Center in Botswana has a hippo with dental problems,” she finally conceded.

“Africa?” He whistled long between his teeth. “Lord have mercy. You’re gonna need an assistant, right? Someone to lug your equipment, take notes, catch your dinner? Tell me that’s me.”

We have taken the liberty of making travel arrangements on your behalf…

“I don’t know, Jason. There’s a lot to consider.”

His eyebrows shot up so high, it was a wonder they didn’t fall off. “You’ve got to be kidding. What’s to consider? It’s Africa. Lions and tigers and bears. Are there bears? I don’t know. I’ve never been there!” The last he emphasized with plenty of melodrama, practically begging her to agree to go.

“It’s not that simple. There’s Hank to consider, for one.”

“Hank? Hank! Come on, you can’t take him. What good would he be on the Serengeti? The man can’t rope a steer in a pen. How’s he gonna catch a rampaging hippo with a toothache?”

“Okay, for one, I’m certain the rampaging hippo is already penned up, and two, the Serengeti is in Tanzania, not Botswana.”

He rolled his eyes. “Logistics. Who cares? The point is, it’s an all-expense-paid trip to safari land, a once-in-a-lifetime chance. How can you even hesitate?”

He was right, of course, and not so long ago she wouldn’t have thought twice. But now there were complications. A job interview at University of Southern California next week, Hank’s hint of an important question to ask her, and she’d just ordered a new Toyota Rav4 online in a shade of slate blue that perfectly matched her eyes.

“I can’t blindly fly off to the other side of the planet without consulting my family first.” She should use more emphasis if she wanted to sound convincing. The words were true, but they came across like an excuse.

“Yeah, you do that,” Jason said. “But come Monday morning, I expect you to arrive wearing standard safari gear. And I’d better be the named assistant. Because I’m telling you now, tomorrow I’m going down to the local Safaris R Us and loading up.”

Miranda shook her head with a laugh before sliding the documents back in the envelope and tucking it inside her kit. “Hold off on spending your life savings, at least until Monday.”

“Fine. But don’t you dare let Humdrum Hank talk you out of this!”

“I’d appreciate it if you’d quit maligning my…boyfriend. He happens to be a fine man.”

“Yeah, whatever you say. Just remember—it’s Africa. It’s free. And I’m begging you.”

With a lopsided grin she systematically packed up her dental kit, gave a final pat to Daisy, and headed for the lab.

* * * *

Miranda stacked dirty dishes on her kitchen counter and glanced at the pricey bottle of Australian Shiraz. It was three quarters gone, dinner was now a memory, and she’d yet to broach the subject of Africa with Hank.

Her father had been ecstatic when she’d called him that afternoon. When she expressed her hesitation, he threatened to barrel out of his wheelchair and personally drag her “nincompoop brain” to the plane. So what if he nearly died over there? If she let that prevent her from taking advantage of an adventure like this, he’d never forgive her. And her sister Erika all but ordered her to go. But as of this moment, she still hadn’t decided for certain.

Boscoe, her orange tabby cat, rubbed against her leg with a mighty purr, and she reached down to absentmindedly scratch his head. Hank seemed a little edgy tonight, probably due to that unspoken question of his looming on the horizon.

What should come first? His ultra reserved proposal? Or the mention of her spontaneous trip to a war-torn continent to perform a root canal on a rare and valuable albino hippo?