The Purest of Diamonds?. Susan Stephens

drawing her closer, against her will. ‘My sisters tease me because they love me as much as I love them,’ she said to break the sudden electric tension between them. ‘I guess they’re always trying to make up for—’

      ‘Your mother dying when you were so very young,’ Raffa cut in.

      The concern on his face surprised her. ‘I suppose... Anyway, they’ve been great.’ Massive understatement. ‘Tyr too—’ She stopped as the familiar ache washed over her.

      ‘Your brother will come home one day soon, Leila.’

      ‘You say that with such certainty. Have you heard from Tyr?’ There was excitement in her voice, but Raffa disappointed her by saying nothing. And why was she surprised? Leila and her sisters had always suspected that the three men in the consortium knew exactly where Tyr was, but none of them would reveal his whereabouts. The four men had been at school together, and then again in Special Forces, so their loyalties cut deep. But still, she had to try. ‘All I care about is that he’s safe, Raffa.’

      Her heart lurched as she stared deep into eyes that held her gaze steadily.

      ‘Please don’t ask me questions about your brother, Leila, because I can’t tell you the answers you want to hear.’

      ‘You won’t tell me,’ she argued.

      ‘That’s right,’ Raffa agreed levelly. ‘I won’t.’

      ‘But perhaps you could tell me he’s safe?’

      There was a long pause, and then Raffa said, ‘He’s safe.’

      ‘Thank you.’ Relief flooded through her as she sat back. Tyr was safe. That was all she needed to hear, and the thought that Raffa knew her brother so well made everything she’d heard about him pale into insignificance.

      ‘Tell me about your job at the museum, Leila.’

      She relaxed. There was nothing she loved more than talking about her job. She enjoyed working at the museum so much she could talk about it endlessly. ‘It’s my passion—’ She didn’t need to try now. The words just came pouring out. ‘I’d love to show you round. It’s amazing. I wish you could see all the things we’ve found. To think my ancestors used them. And every day there’s a new discovery...’ She stopped in case she was boring him, but Raffa encouraged her to go on. And so it all came pouring out—her plans for the museum, her hopes and dreams for the future of the work she loved, her classes, her workshops, her tours, the exhibitions she had planned.

      ‘I am so sorry,’ she said at last. ‘I must have bored the socks off you. No one can stop me once I get talking about the museum.’

      ‘On the contrary, I don’t want to stop you,’ he insisted, ‘though it is a revelation to discover you’re not the quiet sister after all.’

      ‘I’m not quiet at all,’ she assured him.

      No. Leila just needed the chance to be heard, he thought.

      ‘What are you doing?’ she said when he took the glass from her hand.

      ‘I think we should go to the party. Have you seen the time?’

      ‘No. Goodness me!’ she exclaimed, springing up. ‘I have been boring you!’

      ‘Not at all,’ he insisted. ‘Far from it. This evening has turned out far better than I anticipated, and we haven’t even reached the party yet.’

      We?

      She laughed as Raffa smiled back at her. Even if he was just being polite, she was having a great time. Raffa Leon was so much more than she had expected in every way. It was hard not to be attracted to him—impossible. Which was in itself crazy. Who invited trouble, unless they were completely mad?

      She did, apparently.

      ‘So, are you completely recovered after your tumble?’ he said as he escorted her across the crowded lobby.

      ‘Completely,’ she confirmed. ‘And thank you for the drink. I feel ready for anything now.’

      When Raffa laughed at this, she realised he must think her quaint and old-fashioned; sheltered, certainly.

      ‘If I were as honest as you, Leila, I would never have succeeded in business,’ he confided to her obvious alarm. ‘Meaning everything shows on your face,’ he was quick to explain when she frowned. ‘I’m not quite the big bad wolf I’m reported to be.’

      ‘But close.’ She laughed.

      He laughed too. It was good to see Leila relaxed. And he wanted her to know he did have principles. He didn’t want her fretting about some rogue buying into her family business. Leila had certainly brought out the best in him. And that was a first.

      ‘And now to find your sisters,’ he said, realising that with any other attractive woman, finding her sisters would be the last thing on his mind.

      ‘Must we?’

      * * *

      Leila had spoken without thinking, he realised as her cheeks flushed red. She was enjoying being relaxed. She’d never been keen to join the pre-party scrum in Britt’s suite.

      ‘We don’t have to go up to Britt’s suite,’ he reassured her. ‘We can meet your sisters in the ballroom at our table. I’m looking forward to seeing the three of you together. Life is never boring with a Skavanga sister, so they tell me.’

      ‘They’re right,’ Leila admitted wryly. ‘Just your bad luck you got landed with me.’

      ‘Am I complaining?’

      She flashed him a mischievous look, and as her mouth curved in a smile Leila’s eyes lit in a way that made him want to know more about this youngest Skavanga sister. It hit him out of nowhere that his grandmother would love her. His abuelita, as cute little grannies were known in Spain, was never off his case, always insisting he must find himself a good woman. He would do a lot of things for Abuelita, but not that, though his grandmother would put the bunting out if he brought a girl like Leila home.

      And hadn’t Leila said she wanted to meet his grandmother?

      He glanced at her, thinking the best thing about Leila was she had no idea how attractive she was, and in his world that was definitely a breath of fresh air.

      They were halfway across the ballroom when she got a call on her phone. ‘Britt,’ she mouthed. As she pressed the receiver to her ear her cheeks turned scarlet. He gathered she wasn’t having the easiest of conversations with her sister.

      ‘She wanted to know where I was,’ Leila explained when she ended the call.

      ‘I hope you told her, living dangerously?’

      ‘With the big bad wolf? Yes, I did, as it happens.’

      ‘And your sister hit the roof?’

      ‘Pretty much.’

      They shared an amused look.

      ‘Do you believe everything you’ve heard about me, Leila?’

      For a moment she didn’t speak, but then she said quite bluntly, ‘I don’t know you well enough to pass judgement yet.’

      He laughed at that. ‘When you do—you will let me know?’

      ‘I’ll make sure of it.’

      She hadn’t told Raffa the whole truth about her conversation with Britt, who was clearly worried about her, and who had yelled in alarm at the prospect of her baby sister spending even one minute alone in the company of the notorious Raffa Leon. Worse luck, Raffa had turned out to be the perfect gentleman, though it might be fun to tease her sisters. It wasn’t often Leila caused comment.

      ‘You did reassure Britt?’ Raffa commented as they approached the table.

      ‘Actually, no,’ she admitted. ‘For once in my life, I was enigmatic.