The Sicilian's Defiant Virgin. Susan Stephens

the thought that, just as she had suspected, the Sicilian stranger was Raoul’s brother. Raoul had confided in her that he was on a downward spiral, and only wished he were still close to his brother. ‘If only I could confide in Luca as I used to when we were young,’ he’d said with such longing in his eyes.

      Luca...

      ‘I don’t know anything more about the guy who bought the dinner with you,’ Tess admitted. ‘My best guess is, he’ll be back to collect what he’s paid for. He didn’t strike me as the type to cut and run.’

      ‘Worse luck,’ Jen said, only half joking.

      ‘Who are you trying to kid?’ Tess demanded, shooting Jen a shrewd look. ‘It isn’t every day a man walks into the club and pays a fortune to have dinner with you—especially not one who looks like that.’

      ‘Which is exactly why I’m so suspicious,’ Jen confessed. ‘Surely, I’m hardly his type.’

      ‘He’s a generous guy with plenty of money,’ Tess argued. ‘Why read any more into it than that? My job here is to keep everyone happy and make sure things run smoothly, while yours is to make everyone feel welcome—and no more than that. You hit the right balance beautifully, Jen, which is why you’re so popular.’

      All Jen could think was, what had happened to Raoul? She didn’t have a good feeling about it. The coincidence of his brother buying time with her was just too strong. Why had he done that? What did he want? Had Raoul mentioned her to Luca? That seemed unlikely. Was it possible that while she’d been getting on with her life, another tragedy had been unfolding?

      * * *

      Friday morning, aka almost the weekend, and Jen was settling in to her day job. Officially, according to her employment records, she was a part-time student studying to be a gemologist, working in central London on day release from college, so she could gain hands-on experience of working with precious stones. In reality, she went to college three days a week, and the rest of the time she was gofer and tea lady to the distinguished ladies and gentlemen of the board at Smithers & Worseley Auction House, London

      ‘The buyer’s request is quite straightforward,’ the chairman of the prestigious house had just announced.

      Staring down his aquiline nose through gold half-moon glasses, Melvyn Worseley Esquire proceeded to explain: ‘Don Tebaldi, our venerable client from Sicily—some of you may have heard of him?’

      Sicily? Jen was now fully alert.

      The chairman gave a dramatic pause, during which a chorus of critical hums rang out around the boardroom table. Everyone knew the reputation of the infamous Don Tebaldi, a man supposedly retired, but in the world he inhabited did anyone ever really retire? That was the unspoken question.

      ‘Has requested that a member of our staff shall hand-carry the Emperor’s Diamond to Sicily, where that same member of staff will create an exhibition of Don Tebaldi’s private collection, having as its centrepiece the notorious stone.’

      ‘Relieving Don Tebaldi of the need to touch the stone,’ one director commented with a scornful laugh. ‘He might be an old gangster, but he’s just as afraid of its supposed curse as everyone else.’

      The chairman paused to allow the laughter to die down. ‘His son, Signor Luca Tebaldi—’

      Jen’s head shot up. Luca Tebaldi! The man she’d met at the club.

      ‘Will be organising security,’ the chairman continued, ‘for both the courier of the gem, and the gem itself.’ He looked straight at Jen. ‘Am I correct in thinking that you passed the module for presenting an exhibition with a certificate of excellence, Jennifer?’

      ‘What, me? No—yes. I mean, definitely yes.’ Hearing Luca’s name again had thrown her. Hearing it mentioned in the same breath as travelling to Sicily to put on some sort of exhibition for his father was distinctly alarming. She’d had the strongest sense of events overtaking her from the moment he’d stood in her way at the club.

      ‘No wonder Don Tebaldi doesn’t want to handle the gem,’ another director commented. ‘Who does? Though from what I’ve heard, the Don’s luck has already run out.’

      The cruel laughter around the table grated on Jen.

      ‘His business has been on the downslide for some time now,’ the chairman agreed, ‘though these things can be reversed, and there’s no reason to suppose the Tebaldis won’t remain good clients of ours...’

      Was that all he cared about? Jen thought as the chairman’s stare rested on her face.

      ‘For some unaccountable reason,’ the chairman continued, ‘Don Tebaldi has asked for you by name, Jennifer. You are to courier the stone to Sicily, and you are to display it along with the rest of his gems.’

      ‘Me?’ she said faintly.

      ‘I explained that you were still a student,’ the chairman told her to murmurs of surprise around the table, ‘but Don Tebaldi has insisted. It appears that he has researched every member of staff, and, having read your college report and discovered that you are this year’s top student, he has asked—insisted, actually, on hiring your new, fresh approach.’

      ‘But I can’t—’

      ‘Yes, you can,’ the chairman argued sharply. ‘Don Tebaldi has amassed a priceless collection over the years, and it’s a great honour for you to be selected for this task. You must think how it will look on your CV.’

      And on the auction house register. The chairman did nothing that wouldn’t benefit the house. But why choose a student when the world was full of experts? What was going on?

      ‘It’s all settled,’ the chairman informed her briskly. ‘Don Tebaldi will accept no one else but you, so you will be travelling to Sicily at the same time as the Emperor’s Diamond, and when you get there you will catalogue his collection, and arrange an exhibition for him.’

      This did not go down well around the boardroom table, Jen noticed. And who could be surprised when some of the leading experts in the world were seated next to her?

      ‘Yes, I found it surprising too,’ the chairman admitted, removing his spectacles to pinch the bridge of his nose. ‘But then I remembered that Jennifer has a second job at the casino, and I wondered if she might have met one of the members of the Tebaldi family there...?’

      Jen’s cheeks reddened as everyone turned to look at her. ‘I might have done,’ she admitted.

      ‘Well, I can’t complain about your work here, so I can only hope you won’t let Smithers & Worseley down.’

      She was certainly a dab hand at making sure the lid was on the biscuit tin. Now she had to hope that the ideas that had won her the top prize at college would translate into something to please a client.

      ‘This shouldn’t be a problem for you, should it?’ the chairman pressed, raising a bristly silver brow.

      He didn’t really care who went, Jen deduced. The chairman was only interested in the kudos of a member of his staff entering the secret world of Don Tebaldi. The chance to hear a first-hand account of treasures that had been locked away for years had blinded him to everything else. Whether he was suspicious or not over this unlikely train of events, he had decided that Jen would be the sacrificial lamb.

      As for her own suspicions? Keep thinking about that glowing entry on your CV, Jen instructed herself firmly.

      ‘I’d be happy to catalogue Don Tebaldi’s collection, and organise an exhibition for him.’ She had plenty of experience of organising things and people since her parents’ death. Too much experience, probably, and even she couldn’t deny that she was the top student in her year.

      ‘Good. Well, that’s settled, then,’ the chairman said with satisfaction. ‘You’re fast becoming indispensable to us, Jennifer,’ he added with a self-satisfied smile at a job well done. ‘Think of it as