Roxanne St. Claire - Make Her Pay

Trust him to turn all this over to his boss and her client, sure. “Yeah.”

She took a deep breath. “It’s all about the scepters and the diamonds, as you can imagine. Those matching blue diamonds sitting on top of matching golden scepters created for a king and his bride, that’s the big draw, right?”

“If the diamonds are sizable and really match, of course.”

“So if the scepters are found and taken off this boat, and turned over to the state authorities before Paxton goes through the claim filing, he can’t keep them.”

“Is that what you’re trying to do?” Con almost laughed. “Single-handedly find two matching scepters and two of the world’s most valuable diamonds, figure out a way to somehow bring them up without your dive partner seeing them, get them off this boat, and report him to the state, using the scepters to prove that this is El Falcone and that some kind of Cuban paperwork says they belong to your family?”

Her smile was slow at the end of all that. “Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Would you help me?”

“Why would I do that?”

She put one hand on his knee, squeezing softly. “Because you are one of the good ones, Con. I see it in your eyes. In your attitude. I see a good man. Will you help me?”

When she found out the truth about what he was doing, she’d hate him. Not that it mattered what this spunky little blonde thought of him. He had a job to do.

And helping her, in some way, might actually be doing that job. He’d know if she found anything, and then he could let Lucy know.

“What are the chances,” he said slowly, buying some time as he thought this through, “that you are going to find two golden scepters and matching diamonds at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean? They could be anywhere.”

“Anywhere,” she agreed with a twinkle in her eye. “Absolutely anywhere.”

Slowly, her eyes dancing, she lifted the large, loose top she wore, revealing hips in low-slung jeans, then her bare waist, then the elastic bottom of a sports bra.

With one hand, she reached into her cleavage. “One might even be right here.”

In one smooth move, she held out her hand, opened her fist, and presented a pale blue diamond the size of a baseball.

“Holy shit,” he muttered, staring at it.

“You can say that again.”

“How long have you had this?”

“Got it the second day. The second day! Can you believe that?”

He just stared, every hair on his neck standing in awe. “And the scepter?”

“That’s where you come in.”

He finally looked up at her. “How?”

“This came right out of the scepter, which I hid- pretty damn well, I might add-under the ballast pile. I’ve been waiting to pick the right person on board to be my accomplice.” She held out the diamond, inviting him to touch it. “And now, I’ve found him.”

WHEN HE REACHED for the diamond, Con’s icy eyes darkened and they were, for just that instant, precisely the color of the Bombay Blue. Lizzie let him take it, as pleased with his expression of awe and desire as she was with her plan. And her choice of partners.

“Con,” she said, dropping to her knees in front of him to get in his line of vision, which was locked on the rock. “This belongs to my family.” She seized the book and waved it over the diamond. “The proof is in these pages.”

He might have heard her, but he was still turning the diamond over in his hands, his jaw loose, his fascination clear.

“This is incredible.” His voice was barely a whisper.

“It certainly is,” she agreed. “Which is why we can’t let Judd Paxton sell these on the black market. Treasures like this belong in a museum, for the whole world to enjoy.” She grabbed his forearm and demanded his attention. “You realize that I don’t want to keep this or profit from it. It’s for posterity, not prosperity.”

He finally looked at her. “Excuse me?”

“It was my father’s favorite saying about treasure hunting. It should be done for posterity, not prosperity. Which is why he hated Judd Paxton. One of the reasons, anyway.”

“What were the others?”

She rocked back on her heels, unwilling to go back to the chair. She liked being close to him, liked looking up into his rugged face. Liked it a little too much.

“My father was always obsessed with the fact that we are descendants of a great maritime family. If you go back another hundred years, there’s another famous Captain Dare in history. You may have heard of Captain Antoine Dare, the only captain to steer a boat in the 1715 fleet out of the storm that took down eleven Spanish galleons off the coast of Florida.”

He nodded, dividing his attention between the diamond and her face.

“The 1715 galleon wrecks are all up and down this coast, and every few years another one is uncovered. Years ago my father found one, and because a Dare had been part of the armada, the wreck meant a great deal to him. Long story short, Judd Paxton swooped in and claimed it as his own. He’s got the reputation and he’s got the money, and he’s ruthless like that. Other people find the wrecks, and he takes the credit and the cash. He steals as much as any pirate. He just does it by buying off half the officials in the state of Florida.”

Con held the stone up to her, his expression still troubled. “You can’t keep this diamond on this boat.”

“I know that. Can you imagine if news got out? We’d be attacked.”

“I will help you.”

She almost sighed with relief. “Good. Because I can’t bring that scepter up alone at night.”

He shot her a disbelieving look. “I meant I’ll help you hide this. I can get this to the mainland, and get it somewhere safe.”

“What?” She tried to grab the diamond, but he held it tight. “I know where it’ll be safe-in my family’s safe-deposit box.”

“How are you going to get it there?”

“I’ll figure that out. You just have to help me get the scepter out of the water.”

“Lizzie, it’s worth millions -”

“Many of them,” she agreed. “And even more with the scepter, and I will not, under any circumstances, for any reason, separate that diamond from its scepter. It killed me to leave it down there in the ballast pile.”

“That’s what you were afraid I was going to find when I looked in the ballast, weren’t you?”

“Of course I was. And obviously someone will, if I risk too many more days. I have to get that scepter up without anyone seeing, then get them both to the mainland. I need you to work the air hose while I dive at night, when everyone is asleep.”

He just stared at her. “You’re going to night dive and get the scepter?”

“Yes.” To make her point, she got up and sat on the bunk very close to him, turning his sizable shoulders so he’d face her and listen. “And that’s all I need from you, Con, I promise. You don’t have to get in any deeper than that. I’ll handle getting them both to the mainland and hidden.”

He didn’t say anything, but finally set the diamond down on his pillow behind him, then picked up the journal. “What kind of proof is in here that all this is true?”

She didn’t like his tone but understood the skepticism. “Notes, copies of documents and letters, proof that Captain Aramis Dare sailed to Portugal to sell the scepters and quite a bit of other treasure that he had legally purchased in Havana. Some paperwork that supports the theory that he had a buyer lined up in Portugal, that that buyer tried to swindle him, and Aramis took off with a lot of the treasure still on board. They chased him down to here.” She pointed down, indicating the very water they floated on. “And shot El Falcone down.”