The impact was still singing up her legs when Chance grabbed her hand and they began to edge their way along the wall of the house.
CARLO SCANNED the ballroom as he listened to the report from his chief of security through the small receiver in his ear. The shooter they’d been interrogating all day had finally named the man who’d hired him. Hassam Aldiri.
The news confirmed what Carlo had already suspected. Aldiri had a reputation for ruthlessness and Carlo had heard that the man would do anything to get what he wanted.
Lifting a hand, Carlo rubbed at the knot of tension that had settled at the back of his neck. Soon it would turn into the same raging headache he always got when he had to suppress his anger.
He was angry—furious—because Aldiri had hired someone to shoot a guest on his estate. And he was also angry at himself for not anticipating that a man with Aldiri’s reputation might try something like this.
“Before you dispose of the shooter,” Carlo said into his microphone, “I want to know how he got past my security system.”
“Yes, sir.”
Carlo let his gaze sweep the room again.
“And about the other matter, sir?”
A couple dressed as Oliver and Hardy had slipped into his gallery fifteen minutes ago and were currently making love. Carlo knew from an earlier report that the couple was Steven Bradford and Calli. Thanks to his security staff, he knew the identity of every person in the main salon.
He also knew about Calli’s striptease. Evidently, Bradford and Calli weren’t as upset by the shooting as he was. His gaze rested on Risa Manwaring and Armand Genovese. They’d arrived together as Napoleon and Josephine, and currently they were dancing.
As far as he knew, they’d met each other for the first time at dinner last night. Had they teamed up to buy the diamond? That would surely make tonight’s auction more interesting…and profitable.
Carlo rubbed at the back of his neck again. Part of his tension was due to the fact that he still wasn’t sure if one of his new guests was Chance Mitchell.
“Should I send someone into the gallery, sir?”
Carlo dragged his attention back to the voice in his ear. “You haven’t lost the audio in the room?” he asked.
“No. They’re getting that loud and clear.”
Carlo bit back a smile. He could imagine that the volume was turned up high in the security room, and there must have been a loud groan of protest when they’d lost the video. For a moment, he debated whether or not to send guards into the gallery. Doing so might embarrass the couple, and they’d already been shot at today.
Glancing at his watch, he said, “I’ll handle it in about fifteen minutes. But let me know if you lose the audio.”
“Yes, sir.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lisa approaching with Hassam Aldiri at her side. So the man had tried to kill the competition. On one level, Carlo could understand and admire that. He wouldn’t forget that the attempt had been made on his estate, but for tonight, he’d concentrate on business.
Turning, he smiled as Aldiri reached him.
“Ms. McGill tells me that you will be auctioning the jewel tonight?” Hassam said.
Carlo glanced at his watch again. “In about two hours.”
“I will top any offer that you receive,” Aldiri said. “I want that diamond.”
A man who didn’t mince words, Carlo thought as he watched Aldiri move away. For the first time all evening, Carlo felt some of his tension ease. If the price went up high enough, perhaps he could forgive Aldiri for trying to shoot one of his guests. Turning to Lisa, he said, “It promises to be a profitable evening.”
CHANCE MOVED as swiftly as he could along the wall of the villa. The clock was ticking. The tape he’d set in the gallery would last for ten minutes—if Carlo let it run to the end.
Flowering trees grew so close that now and again, he had to lift them away so that he and Natalie could squeeze by. Taking the path through the gardens would have been quicker, but he had no way of knowing how many security men were monitoring the cameras or how often the various sites rotated on the monitor screens. He wasn’t taking the chance of letting one of those cameras pick up anything suspicious. The longer they kept their attention focused on the gallery, the better.
Just ahead, a palm tree butted up so close against the house that he ducked low and drew her around it. They had about one hundred yards left to go before they reached the courtyard near Carlo’s office.
Natalie followed quietly behind him. She hadn’t said a word since he’d touched her. He’d already asked himself what he’d been thinking. But he hadn’t been thinking at all. Bringing her to orgasm certainly hadn’t been part of the plan. They’d had a recording that they were going to play for the benefit of the men looking at the monitors. His job had been to place the listening device while she opened the safe. But the moment she’d started stripping, something had come over him.
She’d come over him. His mind should have been totally focused on the job. Instead, it had been focused on her. It was Natalie’s tug on his hand that made him stop. When he turned, she whispered, “Here.”
He glanced at the top of the wall and spotted the camera. It was aimed into the courtyard. If she hadn’t spotted it, he wouldn’t have stopped, and they’d have gone past Carlo’s office and then wasted some of the precious moments they had by backtracking. Later, he promised himself. Later he would sort out what had happened to him in the gallery. Right now, he had a job to finish.
Pulling the tranquilizer gun out of the pouch he wore around his waist, he handed it to her. If they were lucky, the guard would be stationed on the patio. It would take less time to put him out of commission if they didn’t have to lure him out of Carlo’s office.
Leaning down, he cupped his hands. After she placed her foot in them, he gave her a moment.
“Ready,” she whispered.
He straightened and boosted her up the wall.
NATALIE DUG her fingers into the crevices in the wall as she shifted first one foot and then the other onto Chance’s shoulders. When she was sure she had her balance, she moved her hands to the top of the wall and slowly straightened until she could see over the edge. The patio was dim, illuminated only by the light spilling out from the office. But the French doors were open.
And then she spotted the glow of a cigarette. The guard was standing in the shade of a palm tree three feet to the left of the open door. She could hardly make him out, and she was only going to get one shot.
Heart hammering, she reached into her belt and pulled out the tranquilizer gun. Drawing in a deep breath, she aimed it in the direction of the palm tree. All she could see was the glow of the cigarette, and it wasn’t moving. Impossible to tell if the guard was standing to the left or the right of that glowing circle of light. Was he sitting or standing?
She picked up a loose stone from the top of the wall and pushed it onto the patio. The guard moved toward the sand, stepping out from beneath the palm. Natalie aimed and fired.
“What the—”
She saw him raise a hand to his shoulder, then fall to the ground. Chance’s hands gripped her ankles, lifting her until she could work the top half of her body over the wall. While Chance climbed up the wall to join her, she crawled over to the security camera and pointed it out at the gardens. If they were lucky, the guard watching the monitors wouldn’t even realize that it had been shifted.
“Ready?” Chance asked.
Yes,” she said as she began to lower her body over the edge of the wall. They