Hidden Legacy Read Free Page A

disruptive. I’ll be watching you, Miss Shales. One mistake and you’ll lose your precious Briana.”
    She shot up, ready to fight, ready to tear this stranger into shreds if he dared hurt her child. “No—”
    But it was too late, he’d hung up again. Juliana pressed the “end record” button, then curled into a fetal position on Briana’s bed. She wrapped the pink-and-white sheet around her shivering body, and through her free-flowing tears, sang a lullaby to the childless room.
    She was alone. Only she could save Briana. And the irony of it all was that she’d have to betray the man she’d once loved to save his daughter.
    * * *
    Lucas watched the image move across the video receiver. Finally a bite. His palms turned sweaty, and he tightened his grip on the gadget.
    He sat half a mile from the house in an unremarkable Bureau car—in case the thief recognized his own—parked in front of the local Dunkin’ Donuts for a ready supply of caffeine. Close enough to see the main road and easily follow the suspect once he left the house. Far enough not to appear suspicious to anyone driving along.
    He riveted his attention on the fish-eyed view of the black-and-white figure creeping across his living room. Three months ago he’d placed the article on the Nadyenka Sapphire in the Boston Globe . With so many crimes and so few street agents to cover them all, he’d long since lost his surveillance team to more active cases.
    The thief who’d been stealing precious jewels from museums and private collections all over the northeast was making a fool of him. He’d escaped him twice already. Now catching him was a matter of honor. To lure him out of his safe nest, Lucas had decided to use the Sapphire as bait. He’d known the thief wouldn’t be able to resist. He hadn’t expected him to be the woman he’d once loved.
    “It doesn’t make sense.”
    She wore baggy gray sweatpants, a hooded sweatshirt a size too big, and a dark wig that didn’t fit and certainly didn’t become her, but he’d recognize her anywhere. Even after six years, he could still recall every line of her body, the silk of her long blond hair, the sensual rumble of her laughter, her taste, her scent. And those eyes, sometimes blue, sometimes gray, but always a reflection of her feelings. And those feelings had run deep.
    She had loved him. He’d never understood why she’d pushed him away.
    She bent over the prize, exposing her long neck. The creaminess of it sprang into his mind fresh and vivid. He caught himself licking his lips at the memory, growing heavy, needy.
    Juliana Shales. The last person he’d expected to net in his trap.
    Juliana. She still crept into his dreams when he least expected it. He’d wake up hard and hungry for her, hating his weakness for the woman who’d left him.
    Jewel. When she broke off their relationship six years ago, it had battered his heart. But if she didn’t want him, he wouldn’t beg. Never had. Never would.
    He wasn’t one to wallow in pain either. Instead he’d thrown himself into his work, matching wits with professional criminals and putting the bad guys behind bars. That was him, Prince Valiant. A joke to some of his fellow agents, but his record spoke for itself. He had a reputation for getting to the bottom of any art or jewel theft.
    Except this one.
    He’d never expected Juliana to fall into the category of shady character. She’d been sweet, gentle, passionate. And unfortunately for him, every woman he’d met since his short-lived relationship with Juliana failed to compare to the woman he’d lost.
    Now there she was in the flesh, stealing his family’s legacy—the Nadyenka Sapphire his great-grandfather had died protecting. The jewel provided the only proof he had that his family had once sat on the royal throne of Dunavia—not that he expected to ever return to his kingdom. Dunavia no longer existed.
    He deserved an explanation, but he didn’t necessarily want the Bureau to hear