Diamonds Are For Lovers

“Not touchy, boring.” Her voice dropped. “He didn’t want us. End of story.” She stared moodily out at nothing but sea, and the sun glinted off her copper curls. “I wouldn’t have minded very much if Howard was my father. At least he was there.”

Quinn supposed he should feel guilty. Sleeping with Dani wasn’t a victory over the old man, after all. Regardless, it still felt damn good.

And then she smiled brilliantly, unfolded those glorious legs and came to stand close and rummage through the hamper. “Who taught you to sail?”

“My father.” Quinn spent many a Saturday morning on the water as a kid until his parents decided the boat was a luxury and the money would be better spent elsewhere.

“Was it very rough, growing up in a foster home?”

“Rough?” He smiled. “Sometimes. Bloody noisy. It was more or less open house. I doubt even Mum and Dad knew how many kids were under the roof at any one time.”

“You called them Mum and Dad?”

“They are my mum and dad,” Quinn said, bemused.

“Well, yes, but how long were you with them?” She looked confused.

Quinn scratched his head. “All my life. I think you’ve got the wrong end of the stick. I wasn’t a foster kid. All the other kids were.”

Dani’s face cleared. “Oh, I see. So you and your parents ran a foster home?”

“Something like that,” Quinn agreed. “They have a big old villa in Newtown, off King Street. Lots of rooms, all in various states of disrepair, and a kitchen that’s the size of a hotel dining room.”

“Not at all what I imagined for you.”

She moved back to her seat, but her enticing floral scent lingered and he sniffed carefully, keeping it for himself. “What did you imagine?”

Dani grinned. “A grand old mansion with a butler. Everybody dressed for dinner and speaking very na-i-cely.” She gave an apologetic shrug. “Sorry but you’re just so damned refined.”

Quinn chuckled. “My parents would love that. They are the most unpretentious people I know. Old hippies, very socially aware. They don’t care about money or nice things, only sharing what they have with the less fortunate.” He paused. “I’m sure I embarrass them, successful capitalist that I am. Not that they don’t hit me up every couple of months with some harebrained fund-raising scheme or other.”

She crossed one shapely leg over the other, snagging his attention, holding it for seconds. What was this hold she had over him? She was younger than him by seven years, but that wasn’t the allure. He’d found her his equal in maturity and intelligence.

“You must have seen some sad things, though.”

“Kids are selfish.” He opened his bottle of water. “I was too busy marking my territory.”

“Is that how you broke your nose?”

Quinn gave her a resigned smile. “Yep. That was Jake Vance, actually.”

“Jake?” She sat up.

“You know him?” Something in him bristled. He’d be surprised if she didn’t know of Jake; he was one of the most talked-about entrepreneurs in Australia. But as he was his best friend and also quite the ladies’ man, Quinn wasn’t sure if he liked the idea of Jake and Dani being friendly.

“Not very well. I met him a couple of times. He was at Kim and Ric’s wedding, with Briana Davenport, actually, pre-Jarrod.”

Quinn nodded, relaxing. “I’d heard that.”

“Tell me about the broken nose,” Dani prompted.

“We didn’t see eye to eye when he first came to stay.” Quinn absently rubbed the bridge of his nose, recalling the mother of all his teenage fights.

“Jake Vance was a foster child?” She sounded disbelieving.

He supposed it was difficult to think of Jake like that when the whole country associated him with immense wealth.

“Not exactly. He had a mother, but there were some problems, mostly to do with his stepfather. He ran away from home, looking for work in the city and things didn’t pan out the way he’d hoped. Ma and Pa got to talking to him on the streets one day so he turned up at home.”

Quinn as a teenager was well used to sharing but liked to be asked nicely. Jake didn’t ask nicely. Quinn wasn’t about to lose his standing as top dog in his own house. The battle was epic, and at the end of it, neither boy could stand. And that was the start of a long and valued friendship.

“He’s my closest friend now. He and Lucy my foster sister. She was abused from the start. Came to us when she was eight and just stayed.” He caught her horrified look. “She and Jake had a thing a few years back, but now she lives in London. Corporate banker,” he finished proudly.

“How awful.” Dani shuddered. “What makes people such monsters?”

“I don’t suppose people start out that way,” Quinn said thoughtfully. “But it’s not that hard to be careful if you don’t want a baby.”

Dani nodded sadly, and he realised that was probably close to the bone for her. “Not these days, anyway,” he qualified, not meaning to suggest her mother and the mystery lover had been careless.

“So have the things you’ve seen and heard put you off having kids?” Her voice trailed off when a shadow passed over his face. “Oh, I’m sorry, Quinn.” Dani looked very uncomfortable suddenly.

“That’s okay. I was married, yes.”

“I remembered as soon as I’d asked. Laura Hartley, wasn’t it? I only know because she was at PLC around the same time as Kim. I was a couple of years after.”

“Ah.” He nodded. “I didn’t know that.” PLC—Pymble Ladies College, a private college on the North Shore—had an excellent academic reputation, but it was strictly for rich kids.

“I’m sorry,” Dani repeated quietly. “I remember now hearing that she’d died.”

Quinn stared out over the waves. “We married when we were still at university. Laura wanted to be a social worker, whereas her parents …” his voice hardened as he continued, “They had other ideas. Sure, they sent her to a nice school and tolerated her going to uni, but they didn’t intend their daughter to get her hands dirty. She was only marking time till the right rich husband came along.” He smiled bitterly. “When she moved in with me on the cheap side of town, her family disowned her.”

“What was the family business again?” Dani’s brow wrinkled. “I remember they had stores all over the country. I think they were friends with Howard.”

“Soft furnishings.” Quinn swallowed, but it didn’t erase the familiar burn of anger that flared up at the mention of Howard’s name. He may not have caused Laura’s death, but he sure influenced how she felt in those last days.

“How old was she when she died?”

“Twenty-six. It was sudden, only a few months from the first symptoms till the end.”

“I’m so sorry,” she said again, her golden eyes pools of sympathy.

“Don’t be. I wouldn’t swap those few years for anything, not a bit of it.” He leaned forward and poured a little wine into a glass, mindful that he was skippering the boat. “She loved our life, my parents. She loved that we took in the unwanted and the street kids.” Some of the good times flooded in, making him smile. “Every time I turned around, she was sitting in a corner, talking to some snot-nosed kid. They confided in her, told her everything.

More than Mum and Dad, even.” He looked down at the wine in his glass, swirled it around before tossing it down in one gulp. “That was the hell of it. She would have gone places, helped so many. Why she had to die is beyond me.”

It was his one taste of true failure. He couldn’t understand how it could happen, how she could be taken.

How could he not have saved her?

He rubbed his chin. Part of him would always love Laura, or more accurately, love that time of his life, when he was young and silly enough to believe in forever, believe he and Laura were invincible.

But Howard Blackstone had tainted the memories. He’d never forgive him for that.

And as he tried and failed to swallow the hard knot of bitterness, he found himself wanting to justify it to Dani. He called himself a swine for doing it, for doing what Howard had done to him. Tainting the memories.

But he wanted her to know. “You want to know why I hate Howard so much?”

Dani blinked at his harsh tone.

“The bastard ruined the last weeks of Laura’s life.”

She visibly paled. “I didn’t know he knew her.”

“He didn’t. But you’re right about him being friends with the Hartleys. After the World Association of Diamonds vote went against him, he did all he could to blacken my name. That was fine, I could take care of myself. Laura always had faith her folks would come around and accept our marriage. But with Blackstone whispering in their ears, filling them full of hate, they turned their backs, even knowing she was terminal.”

Dani’s mouth dropped open in dismay, and she looked away as if she couldn’t bear to look at his face. Yes, it hurts, doesn’t it, he thought bitterly. She’d thought Howard was some kind of saint. Well, now she knew differently.

“When everything went to hell and the tumour came back, I went to them, begged them to come. Not that we ever gave up hope …” Laura would not permit anyone to think for a minute she wouldn’t beat the cancer. “But they tossed me out. They said Howard had told them all about me. How I couldn’t be trusted, how I was after her money, how she was my meal ticket out of the slums.” His head rolled back and he breathed deeply of the warm air. “They couldn’t even give her peace at the end,” he said with disgust.

“I—I didn’t know.”

How could she?

Now that the anger was out, as always, it quickly faded. Time did that. Blackstone had a black heart and that wasn’t Dani’s fault. It seemed even being six feet under was no barrier to hurting people.

“They didn’t deserve her, Quinn,” she said quietly. “You did.”

He sighed, thinking that Dani had her own problems. At least he had great family support. He suspected she’d never felt part of a real family. He’d glimpsed a vulnerability in her, an insecurity. He remembered it from long ago, when he used to notice such things. Loneliness, a need to belong.

Somewhere along the way, he’d just plain stopped looking.

The hell with it. Today was a rare day, one that didn’t come along very often. She was sexy, fun, talented. Available. Why was he wallowing in the bitter past? And in some ways, telling Dani was kind of cathartic. She knew the man, knew his faults. She gave him a slightly different perspective.

Quinn would never forgive or forget, but he could let go a little more. That’s what time did. And the fact that she wasn’t Howard’s daughter had to be a good thing, right?

He set his glass down, sorry that he’d made her sad. He wanted the warmth of her brilliant smile back, and perhaps he wanted to warm her a little also. When he held out his hand to her, she smiled up at him and he saw understanding and empathy. When he bent to kiss the soft, fragrant flesh just under her earlobe, her skin steamed up quickly and her pulse quickened under his mouth.

This was about sex, he reminded himself. Unbelievable and uncomplicated sex. If it made them feel good and if no one expected anything more, where was the harm?

He lifted his head to see her mouth turned up in sultry understanding. Quinn resolved to give her as good as she gave.

He pulled her to her feet and downstairs to the cabin, peeling her clothing off on the way. The salt from her skin tingled on his tongue as he revealed and then tasted every delicious inch of her. He made her stand still, legs braced, and made love to her with his mouth. She rocked on her heels with the sway of the vessel under them, clutching his head. His bitterness and her insecurities melted away as he tipped her onto the bed, slid deep into her body and looked into her eyes, and they became one with the motion of the sea.

“How’s it going?”

Dani looked up from her workbench, where, days later, she was once again engrossed. “Today I start on the chain.”

She was working with platinum, always a challenge but one she enjoyed. Many jewellers found the metal too soft and dense to work with, but with practice, it got easier and the rewards were worth it.

“You chose diamond cut and not snake,” he noted approvingly.

Dani nodded. “It’s classic and doesn’t kink so much.” She picked up her torch again and resumed her work. Quinn pulled up a stool. It was becoming a habit of his to come in here and watch her work. He seemed fascinated by the whole process.

“It must be exciting to create something from start to finish and know it will outlive you.” He was flicking through her portfolio again, he did that a lot. On every page, he found something that interested him and would ask her how she decided on that particular combination of texture or colour. She broke all the rules, he told her, and yet her jewellery worked beautifully.

Dani was buoyed by his interest. He really seemed to get her, to share her vision of the relationship between gemstones and precious metals. Being a designer was a solitary occupation. Most people were only interested in the end product, not the journey of creation. It was nice to have someone to share ideas with for once.

Several days had passed since the boat trip, each one slightly cooler and calmer as the fitful cyclone season waned and autumn woke up. Dani barely noticed the weather since she only left the workroom to finalise a few last-minute wedding arrangements for Ryan and Jessica or to make love with Quinn.

She glanced over to where he sat at the desk, flicking through her portfolio. So far she’d shied away from badgering him on the intended recipient of the yellow diamond. He was an honourable man, despite the coercion he’d used at the start. She had to believe that. A loyal man who wouldn’t make promises and trifle with her feelings.

It wasn’t her normal way of doing things, but she had to be grown-up about it. One disastrous relationship had only added to her lifelong feeling of not being good enough, firmly entrenched in second best. But that wasn’t Quinn’s problem. They were from different worlds. This wasn’t a “relationship” so much as a “situation”—and as far as situations went, it wasn’t a bad one to be in.

So long as she didn’t try to make it into something else.

Her phone rang and she put her torch down. It was Steve from the shop to say Matt Hammond was there to see her. She gave him the beach house address and prepared to meet her cousin for the first time, face-to-face. Several minutes later, understandably nervous, she let Quinn answer the door while she hovered a few steps back.

“Danielle?” Matt Hammond looked from one to the other, a confused look on his handsome face. “I didn’t realise you knew each other,” he said, taking Quinn’s proffered hand.

Quinn stepped back and motioned her forward with a reassuring smile. “Dani’s doing a little designing job for me.”

She looked up into Matt’s face. He was nearly as tall as Quinn, leaner, with thick sandy hair and sharp grey eyes that reminded her of her mother’s.

“Come in and sit down.” Quinn led the way to the living area, offered refreshments and then discreetly withdrew.

Dani twisted her hands together, unsure of the reason for his visit, hoping it was a genuine overture to get to know the Australian side of his family. Her first tentative questions concerned Blake. It was a tricky subject after the months of speculation about his late wife’s infidelity and his son’s paternity. But when she asked if he had a photo, like any proud father, he produced several from his wallet.

The snapshots showed a dark, rather serious-looking little boy. “Three and a half,” Matt responded to Dani’s query about his age. She dredged up the courage to ask if she could have one to send to her mother and Matt readily handed over a couple.

“Are you here on holiday?”

“I thought it was time we met,” he said simply. “I also wanted to talk to Quinn, but had no idea I’d find you together.”

Dani felt her cheeks glow. “As he said,” she quickly inserted, “I’m helping him with a designing project.”

“Good for you.” Matt smiled. “A recommendation from Quinn Everard is a valuable thing in this business. I saw the catalogue for the February launch, by the way. Your pieces were impressive.”

Dani beamed. She’d had a lot of work as a direct result of the Blackstone launch, proving that Howard, who’d talked her into being the featured designer, had known his stuff.

But best not to mention that name in this company, she thought.

“And that is another reason I’m here,” Matt continued. “You’ve heard, I suppose, that four of the Heart of the Outback diamonds have been returned to me?”

Dani nodded cautiously, noting his use of the Heart of the Outback—the Hammond diamond—as opposed to the Blackstone Rose diamonds.

“I have an idea and I’d like you to be part of it.”

Her response was measured. Was this a ploy to upset the Blackstones? “In what way?”

“I want to make an heirloom necklace from the Heart of the Outback diamonds, to be kept in the Hammond family and worn by future Hammond brides.”

Dani’s mouth dropped open. “Matt, that’s a wonderful idea!”

“Hopefully my father will think so, too.”

She nodded. Bringing the Heart of the Outback stones—Jeb’s legacy—together again for the next generation of Hammonds would surely ease the old man’s bitterness in his last years. “Matt, my mother would so love to restore some sort of relationship with Oliver and your mother, and you and Blake, too. Do you think there is any hope of that?”

Matt’s silvery gaze was steady and open. “I have no problem with Sonya, Danielle. But there is a lot of water under that bridge and I can’t speak for Dad.” Then his voice softened. “Small steps? Starting with you designing the Bridal Rose necklace?”

The Bridal Rose. Emotion almost overwhelmed her. “It would be an honour,” she mumbled, staring fixedly at Blake’s photos to hide a sheen of tears.

Although she was close to her cousins Kim and Ryan, and had never doubted her mother’s love, finding a place she felt she belonged had always eluded her. To have found a new family and have a part in reuniting its members was a privilege. She and Matt seemed to click, just as she and Jarrod had.

Then a more selfish elation sneaked up on her. First, the beautiful yellow diamond upstairs in the safe, and now the pink Blackstone Rose diamonds. What were the chances of being offered two commissions with stones of this calibre? And at only twenty-seven years old! “What a pity the fifth diamond hasn’t come to light.”

“I’m working on that,” Matt said mysteriously. “In the meantime, I’d like you to design the necklace as if there were a fifth diamond—the centrepiece. Can you do that?”

“Of course. Can you give me a couple more weeks to finish what I’m doing here?”

He acquiesced. “I hadn’t thought further ahead than getting an answer from you.”

“Well, you have it.” She smiled happily. “I would love to do it. And I’m rapt you thought of me.”

Matt’s smile was slow to start but it lit up his face.

“You are a very talented designer and a Hammond. The perfect choice.”

They talked for an hour about the jewellery trade and little Blake, and ended on his brother Jarrod’s recent engagement to Briana. Dani thought it must be strange for Matt to see his brother marry his late wife’s sister, but Matt confided he’d always been fond of Briana. More relaxed now, she mentioned the rumours doing the rounds a few weeks ago, suggesting Jarrod Hammond was really the missing Blackstone heir. To her relief, Matt did not seem offended at hearing the Blackstone name.

“Jarrod’s birth mother may have something to say about that,” he retorted.

Dani was surprised. There had been no mention of Jarrod’s birth mother in the newspaper stories.

Matt’s mouth tightened. “I’ve met her. She taps Jarrod up for money every so often, then disappears under whatever rock she crawled out from.”

Her heart went out to Jarrod. Impossibly handsome, a successful lawyer, a beautiful new fiancée, and yet that suave exterior hid its own personal pain.

But at least he knew who his mother was….

As if her cousin had recognised her momentary sadness, he turned it on its head by agreeing to talk to his brother about a family get-together soon. “Briana has dragged him along on one of her modelling assignments overseas. Poor beggar.” He pulled an amused face. “But maybe when they get back, we can have a bit of a get-together.”

It was tentative but, still, it was an overture. “And Blake?” she asked. “And my mother, too?”

“Why not?”

The three of them had a wonderful dinner at a famous outdoor restaurant in the middle of a copse of huge tropical palms. Quinn toasted her when he heard about the Bridal Rose commission, saying it would really put her on the map in the designing world.

He turned to Matt. “I thought I had a lead on the fifth diamond, but the trail has gone cold, I’m afraid. I’ll keep you posted.”

Matt was clearly disappointed but still raised his glass to both of them. “I appreciate it, Quinn. Someone must know something. And Danielle, I am looking forward to working with you on the necklace, hopefully with all five stones.”

It was truly one of the best days she’d ever had. Her mother would be over the moon that Matt had made contact, and to have the opportunity to rewrite the history of the Heart of the Outback Diamond was such a buzz. To think Quinn might have a hand in locating the fifth stone … It was the perfect end to the perfect day.

Until she walked in on them talking business some time later on her way back from the bathroom. She wasn’t eavesdropping, but one palm tree looked much like another and she came in from a different direction to find Matt had moved into her seat and they had their heads together. Something made her pause behind the nearest trunk when she heard the name Blackstone.

“I have already spoken to three of the minor shareholders,” Matt said. “If you were to get behind us …”

She heard Quinn’s voice. “If you’re serious about this, you need Jake Vance on board, not me. I only have a handful of shares.”

“I’m meeting with Jake next week, but listen, they’re on shaky ground. The Blackstone empire is crumbling with Howard gone. Perrini and Ryan snap and snarl at each other and Kim spends all her time calming them down. I just want to keep the pressure on.”

Dani’s rosy wine-glow faded fast, leaving a nasty feeling that her cousin wasn’t playing fair.

She waited to hear how her lover responded.

“I’m not interested in a dogfight, Matt. My few shares are performing adequately.”

Dani relaxed a little and peeked around the tree trunk.

Matt had leaned back and put his hands behind his head. “I thought you’d jump at the chance to shaft a Blackstone, given your history.”

Quinn frowned. “My beef was with Howard, not Blackstone Diamonds.”

“Or,” Matt continued nonchalantly, “maybe you’re mixing business with pleasure.”

She saw Quinn’s eyes glint dangerously and couldn’t expel her next breath.

His voice was low and cool and she had to strain to hear him. “Dani is private business, all right?”

Though her heart was beating loud and fast, mostly for fear of discovery, she heard Matt apologise. “But if I can get Vance on side, you’ll go with us?”

“If Jake says sell, I’ll sell.”

She stayed behind the tree for a few more seconds, trying to make sense of all the emotions. She felt strangely buoyant that Quinn hadn’t denied there was something between them. Keenly disappointed that Matt Hammond clearly wasn’t ready to embrace the reconciliation of the two family factions just yet. Would he ever be?

And somehow uneasy that she was consorting with the enemy. Perhaps two of them.

Seven

“Quinn, have you heard a rumour about a corporate takeover of Blackstone Diamonds?”

His eyes snapped open. That was out of left field.

Quinn had been lying in bed, idly thinking that his sporadic sexual encounters rarely involved morning sex, especially dreamy morning sex with the same woman. He was always rushing off to a meeting or a flight. Maybe he’d been missing out all these years.