Virgin Jewels Read online

  He was lazy sex personified.

  Pushing the thought from her exhausted mind, she slipped on her shoes. “I need to go home and get ready for work, Colin, get the necklace cleaned and back where it belongs before my sister finds out and kills me.”

  “Can I come by and see you later?”

  “I don’t think so. It’s probably best you don’t come back to the store. Celeste might get suspicious.” She started for the door but his shout stopped her in her tracks.

  “So this is it? You fuck my brains out, share the single most exciting night of my life with me and then walk out the door without a backward glance?”

  Hannah turned on her heel and stared at him, her heart cracking in two at the look on his face, the sadness in his eyes. This was for the best. Walk away before he really breaks your heart.

  Leave before you disappoint him.

  “Thank you, Colin, for everything. I’ll never forget you.”

  Then she walked out the door, out of the house and never looked back.

  Chapter Seven

  Colin stared at the sketchpad, pissed at himself when he saw what he’d drawn. He couldn’t concentrate for shit and he threw the pencil down in disgust, rubbing a hand over his face. What the hell was wrong with him? Ever since that night with Hannah he couldn’t stop thinking about her, hadn’t been able to since the morning she left his bed and essentially his life. That had been only five days ago.

  It felt like a lifetime.

  He hadn’t been able to sculpt for the last few days. His brain felt like a giant bowl of mush. Handling a blowtorch would’ve been a huge mistake considering his state of mind. He probably would’ve burned his dick off.

  An investor had approached him the day after the showing, eager to see more of his work and even talking about giving him his own gallery. Now the pressure was on. Unfortunately, his muse had left him just like Hannah did.

  Hence the sketchpad in his lap. Since he couldn’t concentrate on the big picture he thought he’d sketch something out, play around a little, plan some future projects. It wasn’t working.

  No, instead he found himself sketching Hannah’s face, capturing her feminine features, the graceful column of her neck, the Virgin’s Blood Jewels circling her delicate throat.

  Shit. He had it bad.

  And he had no one to talk to about it, either. He’d always been a bit of a loner, an introvert who preferred his own company versus hanging out with a large crowd. Moving to Santa Augustina, however, was an uncharacteristic move, even for him. He knew no one here and had never even heard of the town before.

  He’d had a sudden and overwhelming urge to sculpt by the sea—and of course, the extensive list of art galleries in the area hadn’t hurt. He wondered now if there’d been something else that had brought him to the town, a place he’d only lived in for three months tops. Was it the necklace calling his subconscious? Had he been brought here on purpose to find the necklace and Hannah? If he thought about it for too long, something told him chance had nothing to do with it.

  No, it was almost like it was all meant to be.

  Colin shook his head and threw the sketchpad beside him on the couch. He was thinking like a damn fool. It was pure luck, all of it. No way could a fucking necklace have that much power over his life or Hannah’s. They weren’t meant to be together anyway, what with the way she blew him off so easily. He needed to move on. Hell, he had his career to think about. A potential gallery in his future, an investor who believed in him…he couldn’t throw it away over a woman.

  Yet he couldn’t get the woman out of his head.

  The way she had looked at him that night in the gallery, what she’d whispered in his ear. The way she’d sucked his cock on the city street, the look on her face when their eyes met. When he made love to her the morning after their all-night bout of fucking, how sweetly insecure she’d been. All of it came tumbling into the forefront of his thoughts, filling his head until he could almost smell Hannah, almost taste her…

  “Fuck it.” He wanted to go to her, but he wanted to give her something, say something to her that would prove his feelings for her. He knew it was ridiculous to feel so much for a woman he barely knew but he couldn’t help himself. He also knew it had a lot to do with that damn necklace, a necklace that brought soul mates together.

  He couldn’t get Hannah or the necklace out of his mind.

  There had to be a way for him to get the Virgin’s Blood Jewels…purchase them for Hannah and for himself. He needed to talk with the investor. He needed to get with Dolly and figure out how much he’d actually brought home from the showing. She’d promised him over the phone it would be more than he’d initially expected.

  He stood, went to his bedroom and grabbed his cell phone. He scrolled through his contacts until he found Dolly’s name then punched the send button.

  Colin needed a plan to get Hannah and the necklace—and he needed it now.

  * * * * *

  “I swear, Hannah, ever since you went to that opening you haven’t been the same. It’s almost as if you’ve become even more introverted. Is everything all right? Is something bothering you?”

  Hannah startled at the concern she heard in her sister’s voice. She turned to face Celeste, who watched her with hands resting on slender hips, her expression serious.

  “I’m fine, really. I just haven’t felt very…energetic lately.” Hannah knew the explanation sounded lame but she couldn’t come up with anything better. Besides, the truth would make Celeste’s head spin.

  No, I just had the most glorious night of sex with a man I barely know while wearing the Virgin’s Blood Jewels. By the way, the legend is true. I can verify that one.

  Hannah shook her head. Celeste would not understand.

  “Are you sure that’s it? You haven’t been acting like your normal self lately. I have to admit I’m worried.”

  Shock coursed through Hannah and she smiled bleakly at Celeste. “I appreciate the concern, I really do but I’ll be fine. I swear.”

  Celeste watched her carefully, her eyes narrowed as if seeing every one of Hannah’s secrets. Hannah stood her ground, didn’t move, didn’t flinch under her sister’s watchful gaze. Grateful that for once her sister seemed concerned for her wellbeing. For whatever reason things had been changing, the relationship with her sister shifting in the last few days and she had no idea why.

  The Virgin’s Blood necklace.

  Ha. Yeah right, like a necklace could make her relationship with Celeste change radically.

  Could it?

  “I even expressed my concern to Mother, though she blew it off. Said you’ve always behaved this way.” Celeste nibbled on her lower lip and played with a catalog resting on the glass countertop. “She also said you haven’t visited her in weeks.”

  Hannah shrugged, sitting down on the chair behind the counter. The very chair she’d used almost a week ago to sit in front of the mirror and touch herself. She shivered at the memory, chose to ignore the winking stones of the Virgin’s Blood Jewels in the case on the opposite end of the store.

  She hesitated to even walk by it for fear of becoming too tempted by its power. Cleaning the cases every morning was torture, every time a customer asked to look at it—and there were many—like a knife in her heart. To see it rest on someone else’s neck, to have so many people touch it. It all made her want to scream and stomp around like a child.

  Mine, mine, mine!

  “What’s the point,” she finally said with a big sigh. “Every time I go over there it’s just an excuse for her to point out all my faults.”

  “Oh she doesn’t do that,” Celeste protested but she shut up with one cutting glance from Hannah.

  “You know she does, Celeste. Don’t tell me you haven’t seen it. You’re the perfect daughter, perfectly behaved in every way, just like Mother. Beautiful, always elegant, always social, you always know what to say, what to do. I’m the poor substitute, the one who should’ve been a boy. Instead, I d
isappointed everyone, including Dad, being born a girl. A girl that couldn’t measure up. I’m a failure in my mother’s eyes.”

  Celeste crouched down beside her, sadness filling her dark brown eyes. “I’ve been a terrible sister.”

  Hannah could only sit there, unable to say a word.

  Celeste glanced down at her knees, almost as if she couldn’t face Hannah as she spoke. “I’ve treated you in such a wretched manner for basically your entire life, always mimicking Mother because I figured she knew best. And I’ll even admit, you were always so different, which I thought was wrong. Lately though, things have been bothering me. The hurt expression on your face, the way you flinch when I say things to you. I don’t think you like me very much.”

  “You haven’t given me much reason to like you, Celeste.”

  This time she did glance up and meet Hannah’s gaze. “I know. You’re right and I know that. I want things to change. I want us to talk more, really talk. I want to get to know you Hannah, not just treat you like an annoying little sister.”

  Hannah smiled tentatively, barely able to believe this conversation was even happening. “I’d like that too but Celeste, what’s up with the change of heart?”

  Celeste shrugged and shifted her feet, her knees popping because of the crouched position. “Like I said, something came over me a few days ago, made me realize just how awful I’ve been to you. In fact, it happened the day that man came in to look at the garnet necklace, the night you went to the gallery. When you told me you’d go in my place, well…that led me to think about us.”

  “I appreciate you saying all this. Really I do.” Hannah reached out and squeezed her sister’s hand.

  “I don’t think we’ll be able to get Mother to come around. She’s old and grouchy and…”

  “Set in her ways,” Hannah finished for her with a sigh. “I know, I know. I’ve already given up on her. To be honest, I’d given up on you as well.”

  Unshed tears sparkled in Celeste’s eyes. “Don’t give up on me yet, Hannah. Please.”

  They both stood and hugged, their arms loose, the hold tentative, even a little uncomfortable.

  That was okay. Hannah couldn’t believe her sister had said those things, had admitted that she’d treated her so poorly for so long. Strange things were happening in her life. Wonderful things, but they didn’t necessarily make a lot of sense.

  If she questioned it too closely she might freak herself out. Best to leave it alone and accept everything for what it was.

  “Mind if I leave a little early? I have a date tonight.” Celeste giggled and went to the drawer where she kept her purse and pulled it out.

  “A date, huh?” Hannah cocked a brow. When did her sister ever discuss dates with her?

  Celeste nodded, a silly smile on her face. Hannah didn’t think she’d ever seen her sister smile like that in her entire life. “Yes, with one of the local deputies. We saw each other in the coffee shop, started talking and then one thing led to another and, well…he’s taking me to dinner.”

  “Have fun.” Hannah waved at her sister as she walked out the door.

  She heaved a big sigh, couldn’t help the little stream of jealousy that coursed through her. What she wouldn’t give to have a date with Colin, the very thing she’d turned down when he’d offered it that morning. She was a fool, a scared little fool who couldn’t be honest with a man who was clearly interested in her.

  * * * * *

  “Someone bought it?”

  Hannah closed her eyes, trying to hide the tears that suddenly sprang to her eyes.

  She couldn’t believe it. The Virgin’s Blood Jewels were gone. Gone!

  Celeste counted out the cash drawer and then slid it into the register. “Yes, last night. It was very odd. This man, I’ve never seen him before in my life, he was so mysterious. Anyway, he came into the store right before closing time and said he was a liaison for the buyer and that he needed it now. He handed me a money order for the full price and I of course wrapped it up for him, boxed it and sent him on his way. I have no idea who the actual purchaser was.”

  Hannah released a shuddering breath, the overwhelming need to contact Colin making her anxious. He’d started calling her three days ago and had done so each night since, talking with her long into the night. He didn’t push, didn’t ask to see her, just asked her questions about her life, her hopes and her dreams. Revealed his own hopes and dreams to her in intimate murmurs, his husky voice doing strange things to her insides. It had been some of the sweetest, most revealing conversations of her life.

  The urge to see him, make love with him came over her so strongly with every conversation she had finally planned on taking the necklace. Taking it that very night and suggesting to him that they meet.

  Now that couldn’t happen. Disappointment filled her.

  How could she see him if she didn’t have the power of the Virgin’s Blood Jewels to back her up? It frightened her to think of what a potential failure she could be without the necklace. One wrong move and he’d most likely turn her away and her chances with Colin would be ruined. She didn’t want to risk it.

  Now she had no choice.

  “Well, I’m glad to be rid of it. The necklace made us a lot of money since our initial investment was so low, and Mother is thrilled,” Celeste said, interrupting her thoughts.

  “Oh I’m sure she is.” Her mother had always been a greedy creature and Hannah had always written her sister off as one as well. Now that Celeste seemed to be changing her ways, though, she needed to reconsider her evaluation.

  “Is she ever going to come back to the store and work with us again?” Not that she really wanted her to, but Hannah couldn’t help asking. Her mother now did little else but lie around all day watching soap operas in fancy robes or get dressed up to have lunch at the country club.

  Celeste shrugged. “I think she much prefers the retired life.”

  How Hannah wished she could experience the retired life. Well, not the retired life exactly but more along the lines of the never-have-to-work-in-the-family-store-again life. She felt stuck there, unable to do anything else, unable to break free of the restrictive family ties.

  “You know, Hannah, I’ve been thinking. You’ve worked here for a long time and I don’t recall you once ever taking a vacation.”

  “That’s because no one has suggested that I take a vacation. Not that I would, anyway,” she murmured, startled at Celeste’s words. She hadn’t thought any member of her family knew what the word vacation meant. Hannah had simply never considered it. A little workhorse just like everyone else in her family, she’d always stayed busy, never really thought about taking time off. Even her mother, she grudgingly admitted, had worked hard to make the store a success before her retirement.

  Wow. Celeste really was trying hard to change. Hannah couldn’t help but smile, even though she felt wretched inside at the loss of the necklace.

  “Well, maybe you should take some time off, take a mini-vacation for a few days. You seem so distracted lately,” Celeste said.

  Huh, that was the understatement of the year. First the phone calls from Colin and now the final realization she would never own the Virgin’s Blood necklace. Her life felt like it was on a teeter-totter.

  Maybe a vacation was just what she needed. Temporarily at least.

  She wondered if Colin would want to take a vacation with her.

  Hah, fat chance. Not without the necklace. She’d be a faltering idiot without it.

  “Maybe I will take a vacation.” Hannah noticed the surprised expression on her sister’s face and realized Celeste probably didn’t think she’d take her up on the offer.

  “Okay, I think you should.”

  Hannah went to the cabinet behind the display case and pulled her purse out, resting the strap on her shoulder. “In fact, I think I’m going to take off now, make it a long weekend. Is that all right?”

  “Um, sure, I guess so. When will you be back?” Celeste’s mouth droppe
d open.

  “Next week, I promise. Thanks Celeste!” Hannah tossed a wave at her before walking out of the store.

  And right into the solid, muscular form of an extremely tall man headed in the very direction she’d just come from.

  “Excuse me,” Hannah muttered then stopped when strong fingers curled around her upper arms, hauling her away from him.

  She gazed up into the warm blue eyes of Colin. He smiled down at her, his expression so tender, so sweet she almost forgot to breathe.

  “You look like you’re in a hurry,” he said, amusement in his deep voice. “I was looking for you.”

  “I’m, um, suddenly going on vacation.” She blinked, angry that the tears threatened again and then her face crumpled. She started to sob. “Someone bought the necklace last night, Colin. It’s gone!”

  He pulled her to him and she cried against his chest, dampening his navy blue T-shirt with her tears. His big hands smoothed up and down her back, whispering reassuring words in her hair as she wrapped her arms around him, thankful that he was with her.

  “I’m so afraid I’ll disappoint you, Colin, without the necklace,” she whispered. “Only the necklace made me act like that. I’ll be too boring for you, I’m sure of it.”

  “Hannah.” He moved away from her, his fingers slipping under her chin to tilt her face up so she had to look at him. “How many times do I have to tell you this? The necklace may have enhanced your sexual nature but you’re still the same woman. I think I’ve gotten to know you pretty well from our phone conversations these last few nights. There’s more to you than that necklace and I know it. You need to believe in yourself.”

  She shook her head, wiped the tears away from her cheeks. She couldn’t help her stubbornness. “No, I’m not the same woman.”

  “Yes, you are. I know you are. You’re sweet and funny and sexy as hell.” His face came closer, his lips lingering above hers—then he kissed her, his teeth nibbling, tongue running along the smooth surface of her lower lip.