Merida ploughed on, but his impatience was palpable. So, as she showed him a jewellery exhibit, she toned down the details somewhat. Perhaps not enough, though, because as she showed him a ring Ethan yawned.
And not discreetly.
‘Excuse me,’ Ethan said.
He knew he was being rude, but he was genuinely exhausted. It certainly wasn’t her fault that he had zero interest.
Or rather, zero interest in the displays.
The gallery assistant really was gorgeous.
Gorgeous.
There was an uptight quality to her that rather intrigued him, and something told him that despite her confident demeanour she was not quite as together as she seemed.
Her eyes were a deep mossy green, and as the tour progressed he noted how they repeatedly refused to hold his gaze.
She was slender, and her limbs were pale, with a dusting of pale freckles that had him wondering where the subtle golden trail led.
And as for that hair... It was like two of his favourite things—amber and cognac combined—and he tried to picture it free of its confines.
‘And now to my favourite display.’
She smiled an enigmatic smile that made him wonder. Ethan could usually read women exceptionally well, and yet he could not quite read her.
‘Which is...?’ Ethan asked.
‘The Amulets of Al-Zahan. We’re extremely fortunate to have them on loan to us.’
‘How long are they here for?’
‘We’ve got them for three more months,’ Merida said. ‘Although we’re hoping that can be extended. This way, please.’
Merida touched the switch that would turn on the lighting for the display and gestured with her head for him to head down the stairs.
‘After you,’ Ethan said.
For the first time—the only time—Merida wondered as to the merits of manners, for she found herself wishing that he had gone first.
The simple walk that she had made on so many occasions suddenly felt an impossible task. The velvet walls were too close, the lighting too dim, and she was utterly aware of him walking behind her.
The sensual darkness was for effect, of course. But it was having more of an effect on her than him.
Merida had undertaken the pinning of the velvet to the walls herself—the aim being to create a sort of portal...a sense of entering another time. However, she had never, as she’d stood on a stepladder and created this soft space, envisaged how it might feel to descend the stairs with a man like Ethan.
She trod more carefully than usual. She was nervous. Not so much aware that she might slip, more that if she did then it would be he who would steady her.
Merida had never reacted to anyone with such force. In fact she had never responded to a man in such a way.
She had wanted to. And she had tried on occasion—going along with a kiss while awaiting desire.
But it had never arrived and there had never been more than a kiss.
Merida had decided that her unwillingness must somehow be her fault—that there was something she was missing in her genes, or that her parents’ bitter divorce and its aftermath had left her too mistrusting to let down her guard.
Oh, she could fake it for an audience. On stage, she could put on a sensual display indeed.
In fact, she was acting now—pretending that she had it all together and that he did not move her so.
Yet when the weekend came around, and she was back on stage where she felt she belonged, Merida knew she would draw on how it had felt to be so close to him.
In the real world, though, Merida was new to these feelings.
New to all this.
AS MERIDA STEPPED out of the draped tunnel and into the semi-dark space, which twinkled with jewels, she found herself a little breathless.
There were no windows, no signs of the outside world to orientate oneself. The subtle bergamot and woody notes of Ethan Devereux’s cologne were richer as she moved to where he stood, staring into the first display.
Merida cleared her throat and broke the heavy silence.
‘These are the Amulets of Al-Zahan.’
Ethan had expected jewellery, or ancient carved tokens, but instead there was an array of gemstones, embedded in rocks, still in their original form. Each was a mini-galaxy in itself, and, far from being bored, he had rarely been so entranced as Merida started to tell their tale.
‘The collection and its history was a passion of the late Queen Dalila of Al-Zahan. Right up to her death, some twenty years ago, she was still unearthing long-forgotten treasures.’
‘How did she die?’ Ethan asked.
‘In childbirth. I believe it was her fourth child...’ She faltered a little over a detail she did not know. ‘I can check.’
‘No need.’
Merida wasn’t so sure. She felt as if she were being tested.
‘On her marriage, she was given this amulet...’
In the first display cabinet was an intricate knot of emerald and ore. Beautifully lit, it turned slowly, and Ethan gazed upon it for a considerable time. The stone was practically bursting out of the ore.
‘Amulets are a gift of potential,’ Merida explained.
‘Potential for what?’
‘Marriages were, and still are, arranged in Al-Zahan. The amulets celebrate a future love, and also promote fertility. It is said that they are a gift of possibilities not yet fulfilled. To cut and polish the stone would reveal too many secrets.’
He seemed interested now, Merida thought as they moved on.
‘The next amulet is Lapis Lazuli. Lapis was, and still is, ground to create a pigment for ultramarine—the colour used in Van Gogh’s Starry Night painting. When the then Sheikha Princess was studying here in Manhattan she saw the painting on display. It is said it was the recollection of the painting that started her on a mission to find the missing amulets.’
‘And did she find many?’
‘Indeed.’ Merida nodded. ‘At the time of her death she had made significant inroads—though of course there are many gaps.’
‘And she studied here?’ Ethan checked, more than interested now.
‘Yes—at Columbia.’
It was the same college where Khalid and Ethan had met. He had known that the amulets belonged to Khalid’s family, but he had not known that the late Queen had studied at Columbia too. It struck Ethan that he had learned more about the enigmatic Khalid from a stranger than from the man himself. He was more than intrigued as Merida spoke on.
‘Princess Dalila returned to Al-Zahan to marry. However, her fondness for New York City was the reason that her son, Sheikh Khalid, agreed to the amulets being displayed here.’
Ethan moved on—but not out of boredom this time, more out of interest. He stood peering into the next display. Embedded within a large, egg-shaped piece of marble was a ruby.
‘This one is my favourite,’ Merida admitted.
She took out some