The Drake Diamonds: His Ballerina Bride

“Miss Rose,” he said, sounding colder than he’d intended. “Or should I call you Miss Baronova?”

She went instantly pale. “I prefer Miss Rose.”

“Just checking.” Artem did his best impression of a careless shrug.

He did care, actually. That was the problem. He cared far too much.

Multiple sclerosis.

My God, how had he not known she was sick? How had he looked into those haunted eyes as he’d buried himself inside her and not realized it?

Artem was ashamed to admit that although he’d donated money to the National MS Society and even attended a few of their galas, his knowledge of the condition was less than thorough. He’d spent a good portion of the weekend online familiarizing himself with its symptoms and prognosis.

The article in Page Six had offered little hope and predicted that Ophelia would eventually end up in a wheelchair. Artem found this conclusion wholly beyond his comprehension. The idea that she would never dance again was impossible for him to accept. And it made the gift she’d given him all the more precious.

The story alleged she hadn’t danced at all since her diagnosis. Artem hadn’t needed to read those words to know it was true. There’d been something undeniably sacred about the ballet she’d performed for him. He could still see her spinning and twirling on pink satin tiptoes. As he slept, as he dreamed...even while he was awake. It was all he saw. Day and night.

Dalton had stood as she entered the room. “Good morning, Ophelia,” he said now.

“Good morning.” She aimed a smile at his brother. A smile that on the surface seemed perfectly genuine, but Artem could see the slight tremble in her lips.

He knew those lips. He knew how they tasted, knew what it felt like to bite into their pillowy softness.

Ophelia’s smile faded as she glanced at him, then quickly looked away. Being around him again clearly made her uncomfortable. Good. He’d felt distinctly uncomfortable every time he’d tried to call her since her disappearing act. He’d felt even more uncomfortable when his knocks on her apartment door had gone unanswered. He’d felt so uncomfortable he’d been tempted to tear the door off its hinges and demand she speak to him.

He could help her. Didn’t she know that? He could hire the best doctors money could buy. He could fix her...if only she’d let him.

Dalton cleared his throat. “We have a few things to discuss this morning.”

The understatement of the century perhaps. Although what could Artem actually say to Ophelia with Dalton present? Nothing. Not a damn thing.

Ophelia nodded wordlessly. As angry as he was, it killed him to see her this way. Quiet. Afraid. His arms itched to hold her, his body cried out for her, even if logically he knew it would never happen. She’d made that abundantly clear.

Artem should have been fine with that. He should have been relieved. He didn’t want a relationship. Never had. He didn’t want marriage or, God forbid, children. His own childhood had been messed up enough to turn him off the idea for life. Even if he did want a relationship, she was still his employee. And Artem was not his father, recent behavior notwithstanding.

But sitting an arm’s length away from Ophelia right now felt like torture. He felt anything but fine.

“I’d like to propose a new marketing campaign for the ballerina collection now that certain, ah, facts have come to light.” Dalton nodded.

So he was going right in for the kill, was he? Artem’s fists clenched even tighter.

“A new marketing campaign?” Ophelia’s eyes went wide, and the panic Artem saw in their sapphire depths took the edge off his anger and softened it a bit. Changed it to something that felt more like sorrow. Deep, soul-shaking sorrow.

“Yes. I’m thinking a print campaign. Artful black-and-white shots, perhaps even a few television commercials, featuring you, of course.”

“Me?” She swallowed, and Artem traced the movement up and down the slender column of her throat.

For a moment, he was transfixed. Caught in a memory of his mouth moving down Ophelia’s neck. In his mind, he heard the soft shudder of a moan. He felt the tremulous beat of her pulse beneath his tongue. He saw a sparkling flash of diamonds against porcelain skin. Then he blinked, and he was back in the conference room, with Ophelia appraising him coolly from the opposite side of the table.

If only Dalton weren’t present. Artem would tell her exactly how enraged he felt about being ghosted. Or maybe he’d simply lay her down on the smooth oak surface of the table and use his mouth on her until she shattered.

Perhaps he’d do both those things.

But Dalton was most definitely there, and he was talking again. Going on about advertisements in the Sunday Times and a special catalog for the holidays. “You’ll wear ballet shoes, of course. And a tutu.”

Finally, finally, Ophelia looked at Artem. Really looked at him. If he’d thought he’d caught a glimpse of brokenness in her gaze before he’d known about her MS, it would have been unmistakable now. Somewhere in the sapphire depths of her gaze, he saw a plea. Someone needed to put a stop to what was happening.

The things Dalton was proposing were out of the question. How could his brother fail to understand that dressing the part of what she could no longer be would kill Ophelia? Artem could almost hear the sound of her heart breaking.

He cleared his throat. “Dalton...”

But his brother wasn’t about to be dissuaded so easily. Clearly, he’d been mulling over new marketing strategies all weekend. “You’ll wear the Drake Diamond, of course. I’d like to get it reset in your tiara design as soon as possible. You’ll be the face of Drake Diamonds. Your image will be on every bus and in every subway station in New York. Possibly even a billboard in Times Square. Now I know you haven’t performed in a while, but if you could dance for just a bit, just long enough to tape a commercial segment, we’d be golden.”

Artem couldn’t believe his ears. Now Dalton was asking Ophelia to dance? No. Just no. Ballet was special to her. Far too special to be exploited, even if it meant saving Drake Diamonds. Maybe Dalton wasn’t capable of understanding just what it meant to her, since he’d never seen her dance. But Artem had.

He knew. He knew what it felt like to go breathless at the sight of her arabesque. He knew how just the sight of her arched foot could cause a man to ache with longing. Artem would carry that knowledge to his grave.

And Dalton expected her to dance for him? In a television commercial, of all things?

Ophelia would never agree to it. Never. Even if she did, Artem wouldn’t let her.

Over his dead fucking body.

* * *

Ophelia did her best to look at Dalton and focus on what he was saying, as ludicrous and terrifying as it was, but he was beginning to look a bit blurry around the edges.

Not now. Please not now.

She hadn’t even managed to get back to her own apartment on Saturday morning before her MS symptoms began to make themselves felt. She’d taken a cab rather than the subway, afraid of being spotted in public in her ball gown from the night before. The same ball gown she was wearing on the front page of the morning newspaper. As she’d sat in the backseat of the taxi, biting her lip and staring at the snow swirling out the window while she’d tried not to cry, she’d felt a strange numbness creeping over her.

It had started with her fingertips. Just a slight tingling sensation, barely noticeable at first. She’d stared down at her hands, clutching the pointe shoes she’d almost left behind, and realized she was shaking. That’s when she’d known.

She’d been unable to stop the tears when she realized she’d become symptomatic. Fate hadn’t exactly been kind to her lately, but this seemed impossibly cruel. Too cruel to believe. Her lips had still been swollen from Artem’s kisses, her body still warm from his bed. Why did it have to happen then? Why?

Logically, she knew the answer. Stress.

The doctors had been clear in the beginning—stress could make her condition worse. Even a perfectly healthy body responded to stress, and as Ophelia was only too aware, her body was neither perfect nor healthy. Her medical team had counseled her to build a life for herself that was as stress-free as possible, which was why she’d begun volunteering at the animal shelter. And one of the multitude of reasons why she’d never considered dating. Or even contemplated the luxury of falling in love.

She’d slipped. Once. Only once.

For a single night, she’d forgotten she was sick. She’d allowed herself to live. Really live. And now her life, her secrets, everything she held dear, was front-page news. Something to read about over morning coffee. All of that would have been stressful enough without the added heartbreak of knowing that Artem would see those words and that he’d never look at her the same way again. Never see her with eyes brimming with desire rather than pity.

It was no wonder her fingertips had gone numb. No wonder she’d fallen down when she’d exited the cab. No wonder the tingling sensation had only gotten worse when Artem had shown up at her apartment and practically beaten down the door, while she’d curled in the fetal position on the sofa with Jewel’s tiny, furry form pressed to her chest.

She’d wished then that the numbness would overtake her completely. That it would spread from her fingers and toes, up her arms and legs, until it reached her heart. She wished she could stop feeling what she felt for him.

She missed him.

She missed him with an intensity that frightened her.

So the blurry vision really should have come as no surprise as she sat across from Artem in the Drake Diamonds conference room and listened to his brother’s horrifying idea for promoting her jewelry collection.

Dalton wanted her to dance. On television.

“No,” Artem said. Calmly. Quietly. But the underlying lethality in his tone was impossible to ignore.

“I beg your pardon?” Dalton said, resting his hands on the conference table.

“You heard me.”

Dalton cast a tense smile in Ophelia’s direction. “I think the choice is Ophelia’s, Artem.”

Ophelia cleared her throat. She suddenly felt invisible, which should have been a relief. But there was something strangely disconcerting about the way Artem studiously avoided her gaze, even as he came to her rescue.

Why was he doing this, even after she’d refused to take his calls or see him? She didn’t know, and thinking about it made her heart hurt.

“That’s where you’re wrong, brother. The choice isn’t hers to make because there is no choice. We’re not doing the campaign. We’re not resetting the Drake Diamond. It’s going up for auction three weeks from today.”

Wait. What?

Dalton let out a ragged sigh. “Tell me the contract hasn’t been signed. Tell me it’s not too late to undo this.”

Artem shrugged as if they were discussing something as banal as what to order for lunch rather than a priceless gem that glittered with family history. Both his and hers. “The papers are on my desk awaiting my signature, but I’m not changing my mind. Ophelia will not wear your tiara, and neither will she dance in your ad campaign.”

Silence fell over the room, so thick that Ophelia could hardly breathe.

She shook her head and managed to utter a single syllable. “Don’t.”

“Don’t?” Artem turned stormy eyes on her. “Are you telling me you actually want to go along with this marketing strategy?”

“That’s not what I’m saying at all.” She slid her gaze to Dalton. “Dalton, I’m sorry. I can’t. Won’t, actually.”

She’d needed to say it herself. The truth of the matter was she didn’t need Artem to fight her battles. She could—and should—be fighting them herself.

She might be on the brink of a relapse, but she could still speak for herself and make her own decisions. Besides, Artem wouldn’t always be there to take her side, would he? In fact, she couldn’t figure out why in the world he was trying to protect her now. Other than the obvious—he felt sorry for her. Pity was the absolute last thing she wanted from him.

Exactly what do you want from him?

So many things, she realized, as a lump formed in her throat. Maybe even love.

Stop.

She couldn’t allow herself to think that way. Despite his wealth and power, the man had obviously had a tumultuous emotional life. Could she really expect him to take on a wife who would certainly end up a burden?

Wife? Wife? Since when had she allowed herself to even fantasize about marriage? She needed to have her head examined.

“I don’t understand.” Dalton frowned.

“There’s nothing to understand. You heard Miss Rose. She isn’t dancing, and the diamond is going up for auction. Case closed.” Artem stood and buttoned his suit jacket, signaling the meeting was over.

How was everything happening so fast?

“Wait,” Ophelia said.

She’d lost her family. And her health. And ballet.

And she’d never have Artem, the only man she’d ever wanted.

But she would not lose the Drake Diamond. She knew Artem would never understand. How could he? But that diamond—that rock, as he so frequently called it—was her only remaining connection to her family.

She would never marry. Never have children. Once she was gone, the Baronova name would be nothing more than a memory. She could live with that. She could. But that knowledge would be so much easier to swallow if only something solid, something real, remained. A memory captured in the glittering facets of a priceless jewel. A jewel that generations of people would come to see. People would come and look at that diamond, and they would remember her family.

The Baronovas had lived. They’d lived, and they’d mattered.

“Please, Artem.” Her voice broke as she said his name. She was vaguely aware of Dalton watching her with a curious expression, but she didn’t care. “Don’t sell the diamond. Please.”

Her eyes never left Artem’s, despite the fact that being this close to him and pretending the memory of their night together didn’t haunt her with every breath she took was next to impossible. She’d had no idea how difficult it would be to see him in this context. To sit a chaste distance apart when she longed for his touch. To see the indifference in his gaze when she could all but still feel him moving inside her. It was probably the hardest thing she’d ever done in her life apart from hearing her diagnosis. Maybe even worse.

Because if she’d only taken his calls or answered the door when he’d pounded on it, he wouldn’t be looking at her like that, would he? He wouldn’t be so angry he couldn’t look her in the eye.

“I’m sorry, Miss Rose.” But he didn’t sound sorry at all.

Then he focused on the floor, as if she was the last person in the world he wanted to see. In that heartbreaking moment, Ophelia understood that pity wasn’t the worst thing she could have found in his gaze, after all.

“My mind is made up. This meeting is adjourned.”

Chapter Ten

Ophelia was certain Artem would change his mind at some point in the weeks leading up to the auction. He couldn’t be serious about selling the diamond. Worse, she couldn’t understand why he’d made such a choice. And why didn’t Dalton put up more of a fight to keep it in the family?

Granted, the decision was Artem’s to make. He was the CEO. The Drake family business was under his leadership. Not that he took to the mantle of authority with enthusiasm. After all, he’d been set to resign on the day they’d met.

And now she thought she knew why.

I’m not really a Drake, Ophelia.

She got a lump in her throat every time she thought about the look in his eyes when he’d said those words. Storm-swept eyes. Eyes that had known loss and longing. Eyes like the ones she saw every time she looked in the mirror.

She and Artem had more in common than she would ever have thought possible.

But if what was being printed in the newspapers was any indication, he had every intention of going through with the sale of the diamond. And why wouldn’t he, since he clearly felt no sentimental attachment to it?

She did, though. And now Artem knew exactly how much that diamond meant to her. The fact that he apparently didn’t care shouldn’t have stung. But it did.

She hated herself for wishing things could be different. She’d slept with Artem. She’d thrown herself at him, naked in both body and soul, knowing it was for only one night. What had she thought would happen?

Not this.

Not the persistent ache deep in the center of her chest. Not the light-headed feeling she got every time she thought about him. Not the constant reminders everywhere she turned.

Artem’s face was everywhere. On the television. On magazines. In the papers. Details of the auction were front-page news. Appraisers speculated about the purchase price. Most of them agreed the diamond would go for at least forty-five million. Probably more.

If there was a silver lining to the sale of the diamond, it was that in the excitement over the auction, Page Six had all but forgotten about Ophelia. Up until the press release, her photo had been in the paper every day. The paparazzi gathered outside her building and followed her to work in the morning. They followed her to the subway station. They even followed her to her volunteer shifts at the animal shelter. It was beyond unnerving. Ophelia lived in fear of losing her balance and being photographed facedown on the pavement. She knew that was what the photographers were waiting for. A disastrous stumble. A breakdown. An image that showed how far she’d fallen since her glory days as a promising ballerina. Something that would make the readers cry for her. With her.

She was determined not to give it to them. She’d lost Artem. And now she was losing the diamond. She refused to lose her dignity. It was all she had left.

But once news of the auction broke, the mob outside her door vanished. Overnight, she became yesterday’s news.

She knew she should be grateful. Or at the very least, relieved. But it was difficult to feel anything but regret as days passed without so much as a word from Artem. Or even a glimpse of him.

He hadn’t set foot inside Drake Diamonds since that awful Monday morning in the conference room. Three weeks of silence. Twenty-one days of absence that weighed on her heavier than a fur blanket.

Even on the lonely Friday morning when the armed guards from Sotheby’s showed up to remove the Drake Diamond from its display case on the sales floor, Artem had been conspicuously absent. Ophelia couldn’t bring herself to watch.

Not until the day of the auction did she finally come to accept that not only was Artem actually going through with the sale of the diamond, but he might never return to Drake Diamonds. She might never see him again. Which was for the best, really. Absolutely it was. She wasn’t sure why the prospect made her feel so empty inside.

Because you’re in love with him.

No.

No, she wasn’t. She was in love with the way he’d made her feel. That was different, wasn’t it? It had to be. Because she couldn’t be in love. With anyone. Least of all, Artem Drake.

The auction was set to begin at noon sharp, and the store had set up an enormous television screen in the ground level showroom. Champagne was being served, along with platters of Drake-blue petits fours and rock candy in the shape of emerald cut diamonds. It was a goodbye party of sorts, and half of Manhattan had shown up.

Ophelia shut herself in her tiny office and tried to pretend it was a regular workday. Her desk was covered in piles of half-drawn sketches for the new collection she was designing to mirror the art deco motif of the Plaza. But losing herself in her work didn’t even help, because Artem’s absence was there, too. The memory of their night together lived in the glittering swirl of the pavé brooch she’d finally finished. The unbroken pattern of the diamonds mirrored the whirl of a midnight snowfall, and the inlaid amethysts were as pale pink as her ballet shoes.

Would it always be this way? Was she destined to live in the past? In the grainy black-and-white photos of her grandmother’s tiara and in the jewels that told the story of the night she’d made what had probably been the biggest mistake of her life?

Her fingertips tingled and the pencil slipped out of her hand. She tore the sheet of paper from her sketchpad and crumpled it in a ball, but she couldn’t even manage to do that properly. It fell to the floor.

Ophelia sat staring at it, and reality hit her. Hard and fast. This was her present. Right here. This moment. Dropping things. Feeling frustrated. Missing someone.

It would also be her future. Her future wouldn’t be one of diamonds and dancing or making love while a snowstorm raged against the windows of Artem’s penthouse in the sky. It wouldn’t be ballet or music or the velvet hope of a darkened theater. Her future would be moments just like this one.

She should never have slept with him.

She’d done what she’d set out to do. She was a jewelry designer at the most prestigious diamond company in North America, if not the world. She’d reinvented herself.

And still, somehow, it wasn’t enough.

* * *

Artem slipped out of Sotheby’s once the bids exceeded twenty million dollars, the sum total of the Drake Diamonds deficit, thanks to dear old dad and his worthless Australian mine.

Ophelia’s ballerina diamonds had brought in close to five million in under a month, which was remarkable. Sometimes Artem wondered if it would have been enough. If they’d only had more time.

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