Gentlemen Prefer Nerds (18 page)

“Into the wind. Nor’-northeast.” She peered at the compass attached to the top of the wheel pedestal and tried to recall what she’d learned about sailing as a girl. Numbers, not directions, circled the compass floating inside the glass bubble. No, wait, there was an
N.

“Pssst.” The hatch behind the cockpit leading to the captain’s cabin opened a crack. Fabian peered out, his head level with her ankles. “Have you asked him to show you the Rose yet?”

“It’s not that simple.” She cast a quick glance at Roland, who was hauling on a rope at the main mast. Billows of white sail unfolded with loud cracks and a lot of rustling. “I can’t just say out of the blue, by the way, Roland, do you happen to have any big pink diamonds lying around?”

“I have an idea. But it involves you getting naked.”

“Oh, very good. As if I’m not vulnerable enough out here with that sex-crazed lounge lizard. Can’t you come up with something sensible, like threatening him with a gun?”

“I don’t have one, remember?”

Roland had tied off the mainsail and was coming astern.

“Go!” Maddie whispered frantically.

“I have one word for you—
Titanic.
” Fabian ducked out of sight.

Maddie swung the wheel, watching the compass needle bob to nor’-northeast.
Titanic.
Did he mean, if she sank the ship, then Roland would bring out the Rose and toss it overboard? No, wait. Kate Winslet…naked…diamond necklace… Oh God, surely not!

The wind caught the sails and the boat heeled to port. Roland uncleated the mainsheet and trimmed the sail then did the same with the jib. He waved Maddie away and resumed his place behind the wheel. “With this breeze, we’ll make excellent time.”

Maddie retreated to the bench in the cockpit and braced her legs against the slant of the boat. “Isn’t the reef shallow in spots? Aren’t you afraid of running aground?”

“I left the depth sounder on. There are channels through the coral. We just have to be careful.”

Maddie glanced around the boat, taking mental notes on the location of every life ring hanging off the railing. “How long will it take to get to the cove?”

“An hour, roughly.” The wind blew Roland’s blond hair back from his forehead and flattened his shirt against his chest.

Maddie was under no illusions as to his purpose in bringing her out on his sailboat. Her best hope for getting hold of the Rose was to let him think she wanted the same thing. But getting naked would be a last resort. Casually, she leaned back, letting her robe fall open so Roland got a good view of the sapphire pendant as well as most of her breasts in the black lace bra.

“That’s a beautiful sapphire,” Roland commented, just as she’d hoped he would. “Is it from Thailand?”

“You’re obviously a man who knows his gems.” Maddie shook out her hair and arched her back, exposing more skin. “Fine jewelry is my passion. In fact, I would do anything for genuine gemstones.” She glanced at him through her lashes, hoping she wasn’t piling it on too thickly. “Do you like jewels?”

“Who doesn’t?” An appreciative spark gleamed in his eye as his gaze drifted lower, to her bared navel. “In fact, I collect them.”

“Fascinating.” Maddie touched her lip with the tip of her tongue and eyed him coyly. “What have you got? Anything I might like?”

“Oh, a large champagne diamond, a few white diamonds, some lapis, amethyst and tourmaline,” he tossed off as if speaking of stones gathered on a beach. “I recently acquired a rather nice pink diamond.”

Bastard!

“Oooh!” Maddie cooed, her eyes round and innocent. “Pink diamonds are my absolute favorite. Is it set?”

Roland nodded. “In a pendant.”

“I’d love to see it.” She sighed wistfully. “But of course you would have left it at home. No one takes something like that on a boat.”

Roland just smiled. He was silent a moment then changed the subject. “What do you do, Brittany? I don’t mean to be rude but a boat like this is expensive.”

“My late husband, the second one, owned an iron ore mine in Western Australia.”

“I thought he was a missionary.”

“He saved souls on the side. It was his way of compensating for the millions he made.” She let the robe slip off her shoulders. “Sometimes I just don’t know how I’m going to spend all the money he left me.”

“If you buy a yacht that won’t be a problem.” Roland rested against the after cabin, sipping his champagne and steering with one hand. “You don’t work?”

“Before I got married, I was an underwear model.” Inspired, she added, “I did a photo shoot on a yacht once. That’s what made me want a boat of my own.”

“Underwear model?” Roland leered at her; there was no other word for it. “On a sailboat. I like it.”

She would gag if she had to keep this up all the way to the cove. Once they anchored, Roland would have other ideas than looking at gems. Best speed things up. Undoing her belt she opened the robe completely, angling her long legs to best advantage. “I wore a teeny tiny hot pink bikini.”

Roland stared at her greedily. “Verrry niiice.”

Ugh! If he so much as touched her, she’d scream. “Ever since I saw the movie
Titanic,
I’ve had this crazy idea that I’d like to be painted in the nude wearing a fabulous gem. The scene where Leonardo DiCaprio paints Kate Winslet in that gigantic blue diamond is so romantic.” She simpered at him. “Don’t you think?”

“And erotic.” He was ogling her so hard the wheel slipped in his hands and the sail started to luff. Quickly he corrected his course.

Maddie caught a movement through the glass window in the captain’s cabin hatch. Fabian was watching her, too, still scowling. Ha! This was all his idea. Oddly enough, she didn’t mind him seeing her half-naked. In fact, it was making her quite…aroused.

Roland poured the last of the wine into her glass. “Tell me more about your fantasy.”

“It’s silly. I mean, where would I even get a necklace on a par with the one Kate wore—what was it called—the Heart of The Ocean? That diamond was huge. I can’t believe she threw it away. What a fool.”

“Anyone who doesn’t appreciate fine gems doesn’t deserve to own them,” Roland said.

“I so agree.” The warm breeze licked over Maddie’s exposed belly. She raised a leg in the air and ran her hand down her inner thigh—to fluster Fabian, not to entice Roland. “What do you think? Could you see me wearing nothing but a large colored diamond?”

She would have thought a comment like that would make him pounce. Instead, he said out of the blue, “Have you been in Hamilton Island long? I don’t recall seeing you until tonight. I would have remembered you if I had.”

“No, I…” Maddie thought quickly. She didn’t want him to connect the timing of her arrival with his flight north. If he suspected she’d heard of the theft of the Rose he’d never show her the gem. “I’ve been at a hinterland retreat for two weeks. I just got here yesterday.”

“A retreat?” Roland repeated. “Some sort of seclusion, you mean?”

“Yes,” Maddie said, improvising. “A spiritual sanctuary for people grieving the loss of a loved one. No phone, no TV or radio. Not even a newspaper. Just yoga and meditation sixteen hours a day.”

“It sounds rigorous.”

“Exhausting.” Maddie pressed the back of her hand to her forehead. “I barely touched my gourmet meals.”

“So you have no idea what’s been going on in the world for what, two weeks?”

Maddie shook her head, fluffing her hair. “It was like living in a cave—although with designer sheets, naturally. I haven’t even watched TV or read a newspaper since I came to Hamilton Island, there’s been so much partying going on. A world war could have started and I’d be in the dark.”

Roland turned the wheel to starboard and leaned across to winch the mainsheet in a couple of turns, tightening the sail. He’d changed course, taking them around the top of Hamilton Island, heading east-southeast. If Maddie recalled her geography correctly, there were scores of small islands in the Whitsunday group to the north and the south, but once they got past a couple of tiny islands a few kilometers from Hamilton Island, they would be heading straight toward the Coral Sea. And the open ocean.

Open ocean. Where a balmy breeze could become a raging gale, where ripples on a glassy surface could turn into towering waves, where a quiet sail became a terrifying journey with death. Like a bad omen, the moon went behind a cloud. The sky and the sea darkened. The waves, which had been small and choppy, transformed as they rounded the point into large rolling swells.

“I’m not a painter,” Roland said slowly. “But I could photograph you in the nude while wearing a fabulous jewel.”

Maddie’s heart picked up pace. Now they were getting somewhere. “This old thing?” She carelessly flicked the sapphire. “It’s not big enough.”

He was silent so long that Maddie’s nails carved crescents in her palm. Finally he said, “It so happens I do have the pink diamond on board.”

All the hairs stood up on Maddie’s neck.

“I acquired it here in Australia,” Roland went on. “Twenty-eight carats, heart-shaped, circled by white diamonds in a gold pendant. It’s quite valuable.”

“It sounds amazing.” Hearing him speak so brazenly about his theft made Maddie fume. He must be very certain he was going to get away with it. She couldn’t wait to take the Rose back and see Roland rot in jail. “Where did you get it?”

“It was a private deal.” Roland smiled at her. “What do you think? Would it be fun, a bit of a lark, to pose nude?”

Maddie dropped her gaze demurely. “I don’t ordinarily pose nude. Well, except for that one time in
Penthouse.
But this is special. You’re special.”

Roland pressed a button on the digital pad on the wheel pedestal. Then he moved across the cockpit to the main hatch leading below deck.

“What are you doing?” Maddie said, alarmed. “Who’s steering?”

“I put the boat on autopilot. So I can photograph you in the diamond necklace.”

“But…” Maddie glanced around. A kilometer to starboard she could see the lights of Catseye Beach, where she and Fabian had crashed the wedding reception. To port, there was nothing but darkness. “What if the wind changes and we run into an island or a reef?”

Roland laughed. “Don’t worry, that won’t happen.”

How could he guarantee that? “It’s hard to watch the depth sounder if you’re looking through a camera lens. Why not wait until we get to the cove?”

“I want to get a shot of you on the bowsprit with the wind in your hair. Just like Kate Winslet in Titanic.”

“The bowsprit?” she squeaked. “You meant the skinny pole sticking out in front of the boat? The one that’s rearing up and down with the waves?”

“That’s right,” Roland called from the companionway. “How’s your balance? Must be pretty good after all that yoga.”

“I’d feel better in a harness clipped onto the railing,” she suggested hopefully.

“That would spoil the effect, don’t you think? Back in a jiffy.” He went down the gangway into the boat.

Maddie pulled the robe up over her shoulders and belted it tightly. What had she gotten herself into?

Roland was gone for ages. Had he forgotten the combination to his own safe? Or discovered Fabian? She went very still, listening. There was no sound but the whistle of the wind through the stays and the splashing of the hull as it glided up and down the vast swells. She glanced at the knot meter next to the depth sounder. It wasn’t her imagination—they were going faster.

At last Roland’s footsteps sounded, coming up the gangway. Now that she’d had a moment to herself, she was sure of two things. She was not going to pose naked. And she would not go out on that bowsprit. Not even for twenty million dollars’ worth of pink diamond. She’d rather take her chances on sailing the boat herself. It wasn’t too late to give him that sedative.

Roland emerged from the hatch with a camera slung around his neck and a square box in his hand. Maddie forced herself to put on a welcoming smile. Her heart thudded in anticipation at seeing the Rose. Her Rose. When he lifted the lid, relief flooded her. Beautiful, beautiful Rose. Roland cupped the softly glowing diamond in his palm, the gold chain dripping through his fingers.

Maddie took off the sapphire necklace and slipped it into her purse. She reached for the pendant, her fingers itching to hold the Rose. “May I?”

Roland held the necklace out of her grasp. “Let me put it on you.”

Until she had the Rose in hand she had no choice but to play along. Obediently Maddie turned. She slipped the robe off her shoulders again and lifted her hair with one hand. Roland draped the gold chain around her neck and fastened the clasp. The huge perfect diamond lay heavy and cool against her skin. She hardly dared breathe.

Roland’s hands slid forward, fondling her breasts.

Maddie tensed, repressing the urge to jab her elbow backward into his ribs. Faking a laugh, she slipped out of his grasp and playfully wagged a finger at him. “Naughty boy.”

“Take off the robe and your underwear.” His gaze never left the Rose. Or was it her breasts? “Then come to the bow and I’ll take your photo.”

“It’s dark,” Maddie objected.

“That’s what the flash is for. Your pale skin against the dark water will be dramatic.”

Pale skin, dark water. Her mother’s face flashed before Maddie’s eyes. She closed her fingers around the Rose, seeking courage. “I will, but first…I need to fix my hair.”

“Your hair is fine. It’s going to be windblown anyway.”

“I also need to check my makeup. This salt spray just ruins a girl’s complexion.”

“You look beautiful just as you are.” Roland still spoke smoothly but now there was a steely edge to his voice.

“You’re sweet.” She curled a finger through his hair. “But I’m a woman. I need to see for myself. And I’m dying to look at myself in the mirror with this incredible stone around my neck. You understand, don’t you?”

“Okay. I’ll come with you.”

What was wrong with this guy? Couldn’t he take a hint? Desperate, she grinned bashfully and ducked her head. “The thing is…I need to pee.”

“I’ll come with you.” Roland cloaked his iron will in an understanding smile.

“And watch me on the toilet? I don’t think so.”

“Then leave the diamond with me,” he said bluntly, dropping all pretense. “It’s very valuable. I don’t like to let it out of my sight.”

“We’re in the middle of the ocean. What do you think I’m going to do, leap overboard with it?” Maddie laughed and patted him on the chest. “I can barely swim. I’d sooner jump out of an airplane without a parachute.” Since that was the truth it was hardly surprising she sounded sincere.

“Well…all right. But don’t be long.” Reluctantly he stood aside and let her go below deck.

Maddie hurried down the companionway, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Roland wasn’t following. At the doorway to the captain’s cabin, she barreled into Fabian.

The impact pushed a squeak out of her. Fabian clapped a hand over her mouth and wrapped an arm around her waist, drawing her into the cabin. Noiselessly, he closed the door, standing close to the wall so that if Roland looked through the hatch he couldn’t see them. Fabian spoke very quietly in her ear, “Be very quiet. The hatch is open.”

Maddie nodded, hyperaware that beneath the robe she was wearing practically nothing. Her warm naked flesh was already responding to his solid muscles and body heat. “Fabian—”

“You’re not taking your clothes off for that man.”

Instantly her back was up. “I know that, but half an hour ago you said—”

“I changed my mind. Once you make the switch, fake an illness and make him take you back to the marina.”

“I have no problem with that. Here.” She took the sapphire necklace from her purse and gave it back to him. “We should lock the door.”

“There are no locks except on the head and that door doesn’t shut properly. Quick, get the Rose off.”

She fumbled with the catch. Her hair got caught and she turned around for Fabian to untangle it, again dropping the robe off her shoulders. The tie belt had come loose and the slippery fabric slid to the deck. She stood there in her bra and panties while Fabian worked to free the clasp, her bare skin alive to his solid presence behind her. His warm breath fanned the back of her neck. His touch was tantalizing but any second Roland could come looking for her. “Hurry!”

Seconds dragged like hours. Finally Fabian freed her hair and undid the clasp. Maddie turned and he held out the Rose. With no time to lose, she didn’t bother putting her robe back on, just sat on the bed and opened her purse. The synthetic diamond and Fabian’s lockpick spilled onto the duvet cover. Resting the pendant on her knee she carefully inserted the pick beneath a prong to pry it off the stone.

A scraping noise from above deck had her heart leaping into her mouth. Exchanging an alarmed glance with Fabian she glanced out the hatch. Through the spray-spotted glass she could see Roland’s legs moving around on the deck. The sound she’d heard was him sliding the hatch closed. Maybe the wind was picking up and he didn’t want water blowing inside.

One prong, two prongs. She worked as quickly as she dared but even so it was going to take her several minutes to complete the task. The lockpick wasn’t ideal for the job, and she had to be careful she didn’t bend the prong too far and snap it off. Or scratch the gold. Kim could polish it back to a perfect gleam but in the meantime Roland might notice. Another prong, then the last. She slipped the Rose out of the setting and kissed the pink heart-shaped diamond. Then she set it on the duvet next to the synthetic stone and took a moment to stretch her cramped fingers and wipe her palms dry.

A sound in the companionway made her freeze. Swiftly and silently Fabian slipped into the head.

The door opened.

Roland’s smile was icy, his eyes cold and sharp. “Well, well, what have we here?”

Maddie gulped. This wasn’t good. Out of the corner of her eye she glimpsed Fabian noiselessly shut the door to the head. “I…I can explain—”

“Spare me any more of your lies, Brittany,” Roland sneered. “Or should I say Maddie.”

Her insides liquefied. He’d known all along. He’d been toying with her, waiting for her to do something incriminating. Probably planning some terrible retaliation because he was too hardened a criminal to let a double-cross go unpunished. The full horror of Fabian’s and her situation sank in. They were out at sea, with no one to save them. Her, a kick-ass heroine? What a joke.

Still, she wasn’t going down without a fight.

“You’re a fine one to talk about lies—Dr. Hauzenegger,” Maddie sneered right back. “You’re a thief. You have no idea what my aunt Grace is going through because of you.”

“Nor do I care.” Roland gestured impatiently at the diamonds. “Reset the Rose. And no funny business.”

Maddie glanced at the pair of glittering diamonds on the duvet. The angle of the heeled boat had made them slide together in a depression of the soft fabric. To the naked untrained eye they appeared identical. Could Roland tell the difference? Swallowing on a dry throat, she said, “Sure. Just tell me which stone you want.”

He hesitated a moment, studying the diamonds, then he pointed to the Rose. “That one.”

Maddie’s thudding heart lurched into an erratic rhythm. Calling upon all her powers of bluff gained from a misspent childhood playing poker with her father and brothers, she injected relief into her voice. “Okay. If that’s what you want…”

Roland’s narrowed eyes raked over her face, probing for the truth. She felt a surge of triumph—he didn’t know for certain. But she knew better than to let her elation show in her expression. Her features carefully bland, she reached for the Rose.

“No, wait!” Tiny beads of perspiration formed on Roland’s forehead. “You choose. You know which one I want. The genuine Rose, the stone mined from the earth.”

She bit her lip, her hand hovering over the diamonds. “They look so similar. I can’t tell.”

“Yes, you can. But never mind.” Roland’s outstretched hand reached impatiently. “I’ll take them both and sort it out later.”

“You could, but…” Maddie’s skin prickled all over as perspiration seeped from her pores in the hot airless cabin. Forcing herself to keep her voice steady, she added, “You’d never know for certain which is the Rose.”

“Don’t take me for a fool. Mined and synthetic diamonds behave differently under ultraviolet light. I can tell the difference with a simple test.”

“You’ve done your homework well, Dr. Hauzenegger—”

“For fuck’s sake, stop calling me that.”

The harshness of the obscenity made her flinch. “You told me that’s who you were,” she flared. “You lied to me!”

His handsome features twisted into ugliness. “You deserved to be lied to. You’re too innocent, too naive, too virginal.”

Now that was hitting below the belt. “Before I left Melbourne I treated the synthetic with chemicals.” She was gambling that he didn’t know everything about diamonds. “It looks exactly the same except that it will no longer fluoresce under UV light. Who’s the fool now?”

“There’s no such treatment,” he said. But for the first time, she sensed him waver.

Maddie shrugged. “If you say so. You’re the jewel thief. I’m only the gemologist with a PhD in mineralogy and access to university laboratories. The only way anyone can tell the difference between the two now is by color. A mere handful of people, including me, can make that distinction.”

“You just said you couldn’t.”

“I was lying.”

“I’ll find another expert.”

“You might be able to find one as dishonest as you, but would you be able to trust him?” Maddie watered the seed of uncertainty she’d sown. “The Rose is worth twenty million dollars—another crook might want a cut. Or sell you out. Ogilvie Diamonds is bound to offer a substantial reward for a gem this valuable.”

The more she thought about the bind Roland was in, the more confident she became. “Or you could go to the diamond cutter at Ogilvie who shaped the Rose. He would know this diamond as well as his own child. But he might be a little reluctant to help you out. A loyal employee would take a dim view of a thief who’d stolen the company’s priceless diamond.” Again, she shrugged. “But what do I know? I’m innocent and naive. Go ahead, try it.”

“Perhaps you’re not such a fool as I thought.” Roland paced the small space, head bent in thought. Then he stopped and smiled. In a smooth voice, the voice of reason, he said, “Why don’t we join forces, Maddie? We could be a formidable team. You, with your expert knowledge of gems, and me with my daring and talent for disguise. Although you’re not bad in that department, yourself. You look good as a redhead.” His gaze drifted over her nearly naked body. “You’re quite sexy in a wanton, virginal way.”

Incredulous, she stared. “Are you asking me to be your partner in crime?”

“Why not?” He gave her a smile that, surprisingly, could still charm. His voice became softer, seductive. “We could amass a collection of fabulous jewels that would surpass them all, even the Licciardo inheritance.”

“No,” Maddie said in a small voice. Her refusal wasn’t quite as forceful as she’d intended because her traitorous mind was busy conjuring images of such treasure.

Roland’s eyes gleamed with triumph, knowing he’d captured her imagination. “Think of it. The Rose could be yours to wear, not just for a few minutes while you have your photo taken—”

“That was never going to happen,” she snapped.

“—but anytime you want. More jewels than you could imagine. A sultan’s cave of gems, a treasure trove of diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires. I know you love them as much as I do. I saw it in your eyes at the café. I see it now when you look at the Rose.”

She couldn’t deny it, much as she would have liked to. It was frightening that this man, whom she barely knew and heartily detested, could look into her soul and see the dark heart of her. On some level they were the same, she and Roland.

“You’re not as unmaterialistic as you pretend in your secondhand skirts and homemade cardigans,” he went on, mesmerizing as a serpent. “You like wearing expensive clothes and fine jewelry. And why not? You can be very attractive when you try. Ssse-e-x-y. Come with me. We’ll travel the world, stay in the finest hotels, live a glamorous life.”

Maddie struggled against the rising tide of temptation bubbling through her, as intoxicating as the finest champagne. Just for a moment she allowed herself to imagine the Rose belonging to her, to look at and touch, to wear whenever she wanted. How beautiful the deep pink diamond would look against her skin. Radiant, glowing with inner light. She pictured herself in a low-cut evening gown at the top of a long curving staircase. Cinderella transformed into a princess. Everyone in the ballroom—whoever they were, it didn’t really matter—turning to her as she made her entrance, step-by-step, every eye riveted on the sparkling Rose nestled in her cleavage. More diamonds glittered at her ears, her wrist, in her hair…

A soft noise from the head brought her rushing back to the present. Fabian was hearing all this. What would he think if he knew what was going through her mind right now?

Maddie blinked. The red haze of gem lust vanished, leaving her vision clear. Sure, the past few days had been exciting—thrilling even. High living held a distinct appeal, far more than she’d expected. But if she didn’t return the Rose, Grace would lose the jewelry shop she’d built over a lifetime. Grace, who was good and moral, would never in a million years let even a hint of dishonest thought cross her mind. Even Al, in spite of what he was, would be disappointed in her. Although he never said as much, she knew he regarded her as a touchstone to his dead wife and the respectable world she’d inhabited. Fabian would shun her, and rightly so. To lose his respect would devastate her. As for Maddie’s own pride and integrity…she might be the daughter of a thief but she wasn’t going to become one.