The Sapphire Heist (A Jewel Novel Book 2) Read Free Page A

the jewels.
    “Buried treasure is just an old wives’ tale,” Devon said quietly.
    “I know. I just wish sometimes it were true,” she whispered, fiddling with her treasure chest necklace that her mom had made for her, remembering the night Jake had brushed the pads of his fingers against it as they’d walked on the beach and she’d told him about her parents—about the father she never knew and her deep and abiding love for her mom. She shivered from the memory of how sweet his words were that evening, how gentle his touch. A sad wistfulness descended on her. She’d really liked the guy. He’d been fun and forthright, witty and sharp, and caring. He’d had such a wonderful heart . . . or so it seemed until he stole her diamond this morning, even though some of the messy details of the theft nagged at her brain.
    She chased away thoughts of him as the sisters admired the gleaming blue sapphire at the top of the pile of gems. The sister in the purple bikini grabbed a fake rock.
    “Everyone loves a sapphire,” the purple-bikini sister declared as she held up a huge blue rock, the sun glinting off its surface. “I’ve never understood why diamonds are worth more. These are much more stunning.” She gazed intently at the phony gem, studying it from all angles.
    “It’s so gorgeous,” the other one chimed in. “It looks priceless.”
    “It does,” the purple-bikini sister said.
    Steph straightened her spine, awareness zipping through her. That simple action of holding the sapphire reminded Steph to keep her eye on the prize.
    Sapphire. Eli. Diamonds. Money.
    She needed to stop alternating between anger and sadness over Jake. This trip was never about a man. It was about a mission—a chance to right a wrong. She was meeting Jake in less than an hour, and she had to figure out how to play the angles with him. Not moon over what might have been. Besides, this was all for the best. She was at odds with Jake, and her brain had known all along to keep a distance from him.
    Twenty minutes later, she and Devon said good-bye to the group from the doorway of the snorkel shop.
    “Hope you enjoyed your time in the water,” Devon said.
    “We had an amazing morning. The stingrays alone were worth the trip, but you made it so much fun with the treasure chest,” the purple-bikini sister said as she fastened a tie around her wet hair.
    “Here. Take the sapphire,” Steph said with a smile, placing the bright-blue stone in the woman’s hand when she finished knotting her strands.
    The lady clutched the rock to her chest as if it were a true prize. “I’ll take it back to Idaho and say I uncovered it in the Stingray City Sandbar,” she said, then waved as they departed.
    Steph set to work straightening up the shop and putting away gear on the shelves. “Thanks again for letting me do the tour with you,” she said to her buddy. Her own tour started in three more days. She was guiding a group of tourists on a dive through some of the nearby wrecks not far from shore, then out on a longer excursion dive to Little Cayman, sixty miles away. There, on the north side of the island, were some of the best dive spots in the world, including the Bloody Bay site with a wall so deep it was nearly vertical, making for a spectacular dive. She loved that spot and couldn’t wait to visit it again.
    “My pleasure. I told you you’re a good-luck charm. One of the guys in the group said he’s already told some friends who are coming here next month that they need to do our stingray tour.”
    Steph’s eyes lit up. If there was one true thing that was priceless, it was positive word-of-mouth. She punched Devon on the biceps. “That is awesome.”
    “They said how much fun you were, too, with the jewels,” he added as he grabbed mesh bags of gear.
    She beamed as she tucked the snorkels away in the storage room. “Well, that pretty much makes my day.”
    “I found his comment all the more amazing considering I’m pretty sure