The Royal House Of Karedes Collection Books 1-12. Кейт Хьюит

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СКАЧАТЬ you a physician as well as my son’s mistress? Oh, don’t look so shocked, Ms. Santos. I’m not a fool. I am aware of everything that happens in my kingdom.”

      “Then you are aware that I’m here as the designer of Queen Tia’s birthday gift, sir, nothing else.”

      She knew she’d overstepped the boundary between commoner and king but the last thing she would let happen today was a discussion of her relationship with Alex.

      To her surprise, Aegeus laughed. “I can understand Alex’s infatuation. A woman with beauty and intelligence and spirit …” His smile tilted. “What man could resist such temptation?”

      Maria drew a deep breath. “Your Majesty. The crown …”

      Aegeus pushed the velvet bag into the center of the table but kept his hand protectively on it.

      “Normally, it is kept in a display case along with the Crown Jewels and, of course, the original Crown of Adamas.”

      “Yes, sir. To tell the truth, I’m surprised that—”

      “Your surprise does not interest me, Ms. Santos. I’ve arranged to meet you here so we could keep things as simple and private as possible.” He raised his wrist, pointedly looked at his watch and then at her. “Five minutes. Then your time is up.”

      Maria nodded and reached for the bag. The vein in the king’s forehead seemed to leap as he lifted his hand and sat back.

      She loosened the drawstring and lifted the Crown of Aristo from it.

      Her breath caught. The crown was magnificent.

      Brilliant white diamonds shone like star fire even in the dim light. Yes, she thought happily, yes, they’d match the ones in the necklace perfectly, but it was the fantastic center stone that dazzled the eye. The half of the pure pink Stefani diamond King Christos had bequeathed to his son, Aegeus, and to the kingdom of Aristo, dominated the crown.

      “Beautiful,” Maria said softly.

      Aegeus nodded. “Yes,” he said brusquely, and reached for the crown.

      “Wait,” Maria said quickly, pulling it back.

      He looked up. The vein in his forehead looked even darker than before. “You forget yourself, Ms. Santos.”

      “I meant… Wait. Please, Your Majesty.”

      “For what? You’ve seen what you came to see.”

      “I want a closer look at the pink diamond, sir. To check its shade against …” Maria took a small silk bag from the leather tote she always carried when handling gems. She opened it, and the pair of pink diamonds, one of which would become the centerpiece of Tia’s necklace, tumbled onto the table. “To check it against these.”

      The king hardly looked at the stones. “Either will match. The colors are the same.”

      Maria shook her head. “Actually, they’re not.”

      “Of course they are. And your five minutes are—”

      But Maria had stopped listening. A trickle of ice water seemed to slip down her spine. She looked at the single light bulb in its overhead socket.

      “Is there …?” She cleared her throat. “Is there a way to get more light in this room, sir?”

      “No.”

      “Surely we could take the crown into the display room?”

      “Surely we could not,” Aegeus said coldly. “And I repeat, your time is—What are you doing?”

      Maria’s hands were trembling but she tried to stay calm. She put the pair of pink diamonds back in their bag, put the bag in her tote and took out a small flashlight and a jeweler’s loupe. Quickly, she put the loupe to her eye and turned on the flashlight.

      “Ms. Santos!” The king’s voice was sharp. “The Aristan diamond is priceless. I do not want you poking at it and picking at it and—”

      “It’s a fake!” Her words seemed to explode in the confines of the small room. She looked up, horrified. “This half of the Stefani diamond. What’s supposed to be the Stefani diamond. It isn’t a diamond at all.”

      The king’s already pale face went paper-white. He shot to his feet. “Give me the crown!”

      “Sir. The stone is a fake. Cubic zirconium. Or something else. It’s an excellent forgery but …” God, she was shaking like a woman with a high fever! “Your Majesty. I have some tools in my workshop. I can do some tests but I am sure—”

      “Give me the crown!” Aegeus roared. He snatched it from her and stuffed it into the velvet bag, but suddenly his eyes grew wide and his face lost what little color it had. A strangled sound broke from his throat; he clapped his hand to his heart, the bag fell on the table and the king tumbled back into his chair.

      Maria leaped to her feet, ran to the door and flung it open. “Help!” she shouted. “Please, someone help! The king’s collapsed!”

      At once, the seemingly empty corridor swarmed with people. Maria fell back against the wall. Someone scooped everything from the table—the loupe, the flashlight and the velvet bag—dumped them into her leather tote, thrust the tote at her, then grasped her arm, hurried her out of the palace and to Alex’s waiting limousine.

      It wasn’t until she was back at the guesthouse that she realized the crown of Aristo had gone home with her.

      What did you do when you had absconded with a royal crown?

      Maria sat at her workbench, staring blindly at the crown as she tried to come to grips with all that had happened today. The wrenching realization that she was pregnant. The horrifying discovery that the half of the Stefani diamond in the Aristan crown was not a diamond at all and then, the king’s collapse.

      Was Aegeus dead? Had her news killed him?

      She’d phoned the palace. Useless. She had the private telephone number of the queen’s personal secretary but reached only her voice mail. Desperate for diversion, she’d filled the time running tests on the pink stone in the crown, praying all the while that her initial judgment had been wrong.

      She’d done a dozen tests, everything from the silly—did the stone fog when she blew on it?—to the absolutely, completely scientific.

      She’d used an electronic tool called a diamond tester. She’d brought it out last, as if by holding off she could avoid the truth. The tester had been one of the things she’d brought with her from New York; she hadn’t even been aware she had it with her until now.

      The thing was a complex piece of equipment but it was simple to operate. Turn it on, touch the probe at one end of it to a stone. If the stone was a real diamond, a green light came on. If it wasn’t…

      If it wasn’t, nothing happened.

      Nothing had happened, half a dozen times.

      Maybe the tester wasn’t working. That had been her hope.

      So СКАЧАТЬ