Chapter Thirteen

D ustin's time at 87 Harley Street had nearly passed and Felix was expected to return any day from his honeymoon. Still, Dustin had barely saved enough money for the passage to America. Instead of easing his mind, every step he took to finally leave England felt like a belt strapped too tightly. Even though the dukedom had constricted his growth, now he was free to spread his wings and leave his namesake in the capable hands of Cousin John. Still, it was a terrible idea, Dustin admitted to himself at last.

He recognized the feeling. It was the same as he'd had when he graduated from Eton. He should have gone to Oxford and studied Latin, Greek, jurisprudence, governance, and at which whatever John had excelled. Yet, Dustin had chosen Edinburgh University, because his father's line dated back to the Scottish clan of the Duncans. Enrolling in the school of science had been an excuse to rebel and learn as much as he could about the amalgam metals that had caused such scandal for his father and the family. He hadn't expected to go beyond the initial investigations. From the perspective of his training for the inevitability of assuming his responsibilities at the House of Lords, Dustin's path toward medicine and, ultimately dentistry, had been a misstep. Even though he was a skilled dentist, it wasn't the vocation he was meant to have. Even so, John was trained for the duties of the dukedom, and he excelled at them. What John lacked in title, he made up for in skill and especially devotion to the estate, which was far more than Dustin could say.

He collected the tools he'd used during the day and placed them in the metal bowl of soapy water left specifically for this purpose. He'd later wrap them in a cotton towel and take them to the kitchen to boil in fresh, clean water. He'd probably want to sharpen his instruments again before he left for America. One never knew when he'd have another chance to sharpen his tools, but money was to be made on a journey. He'd learned that during his apprenticeship in India and back. There were whole crews of sailors with gold fillings sailing the Indian Ocean these days, thanks to him.

Dustin wrapped his tools and clutched them under his arm. Even though it didn't feel right, he was on a path. No reason to verge from— Bang!

"Oh dear!"

He was surprised to see Lexi standing in the hallway, rounding the corner near the stairs. The bang had come from the book she'd dropped. The noise—and the young woman—had startled Dustin and caused him to drop his lightly wrapped parcel of instruments. With dismay, he saw that the tips of some of the carving tools had bent and he kneeled to inspect the damage.

"I'm so sorry, let me help." Lexi kneeled as well and helped him to collect the instruments. "I came to pay another installment."

Dustin couldn't overcome the surprise to see her. He'd given up hope ever to lay eyes on this beauty again. "Who let you in?"

"Nurse Wendy. She said you were upstairs, so I thought…" But her voice trailed off when she picked up a bent instrument. "Oh no."

"It's quite all right." It wasn't all right at all, for how could Dustin afford to buy new instruments, and pay for his ticket to America? Worse, where could he find more? There was no shop where one could easily purchase dental tools. He'd collected these sets over the course of the last three years, picking some up here and there. But it wasn't Lexi's fault; he didn't want to leave a bad aftertaste when he departed.

"This is ruined, I'm afraid." Lexi held the excavator as if it were a broken pencil. It had been the best, of the highest quality… well, it was ruined now. Dustin pinched his eyes shut and gathered the rest of the instruments as he rose.

"I'm so terribly sorry, can I do anything? Help you bend them back?" Lexi asked. Dustin opened his eyes to see that she now stood clutching her book. Dustin recognized that it was the one she'd read from when the day of… argh … He didn't want to think about the beautiful patient and that he'd crossed the line by touching her. It was taboo and unprofessional and he didn't deserve to take her money. Every time he thought about her, his insides ground against his heart like the stones of a mill.

Oh right, there was that stupid thing he'd said: If nobody kisses you, I'll do it.

No self-respecting lady of the ton would ever return to a doctor who crossed that line.

And yet, crossing this line was all he could think of with her.

Lexi eyed him and tilted her head. "I really am sorry. I didn't see you and then—"

"It's not your fault. I shouldn't have wrapped the tools in cloth. I usually carry them in a stiff leather etui. It's fine," Dustin mumbled, taking the bent excavator from Lexi. "This little one isn't, so I must buy a new one."

"I just came from the dressmaker and my next stop is the jeweler. Maybe they can help? It's not far from here, 35 Regent Street."

"Sounds expensive." Dustin knew all too well the entire area around Oxford Circle was full of overpriced shops with swindlers who took advantage of the aristocrats—just like Corrigan had done to his father. And the ton were gullible when believing the fake compliments which led them to buy what they didn't need. Any self-indulgent reason to find ways to impress their peers was worth the investment, regardless of the quality of the items purchased.

"No thank you."

"Wait!" Lexi stepped in front of him before he could turn away, and held out another envelope stuffed with banknotes.

"I already told you; I won't take your money."

"They are the crown jewelers. They'll take it." Lexi gave a sly smile and Dustin's heart did that flip again. She was relentless and just so adorable. His body burned from the restraint for every fiber of his being wanted to wrap himself around her and kiss her senseless.

"And you want to pay for the tools?"

"Yes, I think so." Lexi smirked and clutched her book. And so, they left together in her carriage. Luckily, Dustin held the sharp instruments, bent or not, for it kept his hands busy and he wouldn't be tempted to allow his hands to wander in the carriage. There was that line again which he mustn't cross.

Half an hour later, even though Dustin wanted nothing less than to walk into an elegant shop feeling like a pauper next to this elegant beauty, he'd arrived at a row of stucco-adorned buildings. Before he even saw the clean awning with the store name written on it, several jewels sparkled in the store window and caught his eye.

Klonimus and Sons

Jewelers

A bell chimed when Dustin and Lexi walked in and he was immediately captivated by the pleasant scent of fresh flowers from a lovely vase. Was that real antique Ming on the round table in the corner? He surveyed the shop and recognized everything was of the finest quality. The mahogany counter, polished to perfection, nearly shone as nicely as the table mirror with beveled edges. Crystal lamps sparkled with gas light and broke the light into diffused rainbows. A soft Persian rug cushioned his feet as he walked closer to the display cabinet.

Then he heard a man clearing his throat. "Can I help you?" He turned to see an elderly man beckoning him to come closer.

Once Dustin had introduced himself as Felix's friend and spread out his blunt instruments plus the bent one, the elderly man, Mr. Pavel Klonimus, invited him to come to the back and told him to bring his tools along. Lexi had wandered off, speaking to another young man who held a velvet tray with some rings out toward her.

Dustin was reluctant to leave Lexi's side but followed the man to the back of the store. As if the storefront sparkling with jewels on elegant velvet display had only been the antechamber, the so-called "back" was the essence of the British understatement. Several workbenches with busy young men in finely tailored dark suits lined the walls. But what Dustin saw on those worktables left even him breathless.

Small piles of gemstones, some cut and others rough, were on some of the tabletops. Another workbench had a brown velvet-lined tray on it with thin gold wires a young man was threading into a small machine mounted on the side. He turned the crank of the machine and something spun, while the gold wire turned into a chain looping back on itself. Dustin wasn't sure if he trusted his eyes but there was the gold construction for a tiara on another table with two young men laying out pearls as if to decide how to mount them. This place was like another world of richness, one to which he no longer belonged. He patted his waist pocket, where he'd stored his mother's heirloom earring.

Dustin stopped to lean over a line of what could have easily been two hundred small stones with incredible luster.

"Don't mind my son, Caleb. He works so quickly he created somewhat of a line for the diamonds he sets," the older man said as he led Dustin through the workshop.

"Are these graduated diamonds?" Dustin asked and the young man looked up at him with bright eyes and a white cravat.

"Yes, I'm setting them in a channel. It's called p avé . See?" The young man turned a gold ribbon over in his hand and held it out for Dustin to see. It was a brooch covered entirely with tiny diamonds and sparkled so much Dustin was nearly blinded.

"Felix?" From what appeared to be a connected workshop and store came a voice and a young man emerged. He was tall, Dustin noted.

"It's not Felix; he says he's his friend," the older man said. His face was wrinkled just so that he seemed friendly and wise at the same time.

"Oh, hello," the tall man said. "I'm Arnold Ehrlich." Dustin shook his hand.

"Dustin Fitzwater, Doctor of Dental Medicine. I was told you might be able to help me."

"Certainly. Felix told me you might come. Anything for Felix's friends. Do you need a ring for the lady who arrived with you?"

Dustin shook his head. The closer he wished to be to Lexi, the farther he had to flee. Quickly, before it was too late.

"Do you need gold foil?" the older man said in a friendly tone. "We always have some ready for Felix."

Dustin scanned the busy men, all well-groomed and most certainly wealthy beyond measure. "Are you his suppliers?"

"Yes," the younger man said with a flawless dentition. Dustin could recognize and remember people by their mouths. "And what do you need?"

"I'm afraid I don't need gold but instruments to work the gold." He produced his parcel again.

"Ah," the older man said. "They are quite battered. What happened to them? Come with me." He led Dustin to an empty workstation and invited him to pull up a chair. They sat together. Dustin looked around and realized that a jeweler's tools and materials were rather similar to those in Felix's lab in the attic.

After Arnold Ehrlich and Pavel Klonimus examined his tools, they wrote the cost of repairs and replacement of the tips down, added them up, and slid Dustin the paper. Dustin's insides convulsed. It was more than five times as much as he'd saved for the passage to America. He plopped back in the chair.

"I can't afford it. Worse, I need them in two days."

Arnold shrugged and exchanged looks with Pavel. "Why, if I may ask, do you need the replacements so soon?"

"Why don't you borrow Felix's tools in the meantime?" Pavel asked.

"I cannot. I'm leaving for America. Maryland. The passage…"

"I have a fleet. You can take any of my ships and get to Boston or New York in six weeks if you wish," Arnold said. "No need to pay for the passage. Maryland is merely a two-month journey on my schooners."

"You have a fleet?" Dustin didn't understand. "But you are a jeweler!"

"Yes, we have mines and a trade route. It's a long story. But our crews always need doctors and I'm sure a dentist would be welcome aboard."

"So I'd work for the passage?"

"And throughout the journey, yes. I'd provide you with materials, of course. For the crew."

"But the tools…"

"You can pay them off when you come back. If you're a friend of Felix—"

"What makes you think I'll be back?" Dustin wasn't so sure of himself these days.

"Oh, I assumed. My apologies." Arnold gave a bow. "Let me know before the next ship sails in three days." He left.

"You are asking much of us with the instruments, and that's why it will take a while. This kind of steel is harder to forge, and it must withstand pressure and heat when you work with gold," Pavel said as he rubbed his chin.

He knew they worked on quality stones. This was not a typical store where he'd have instruments sharpened. This was the headquarters of the crown jewelers indeed.

"Would you accept a bailment, Mr. Klonimus?"

"What do you have in mind?"

Dustin nearly burned his fingers when he reached for his mother's earring in his breast pocket. He always carried it with him and never imagined parting with it. Wrapped in waxed cheese paper, he brought the jewel from his pocket and handed it to the older man.

The man opened the packet with a smirk but gasped when he saw what it held. He reached into his pocket for his loupe and set it into his eye to peer at it. After what felt like forever he said, "Where did you get this?"

"It was my mother's, I'm afraid. My cousin has the other. They used to be a set of two."

"Six," the man said.

"I beg your pardon?"

"There were six earrings set identically, the rubies belonged to the Czarina Zolota."

Dustin broke into a cold sweat.

"She had a sister; her pair was exactly the same, but there were sapphires instead of rubies." The man's tone was nostalgic as if he were telling a story of times past. "And their cousin had a pair with emeralds." He leaned back and handed the earring back to Dustin. "I made them."

Dustin felt sick, and his bones softened. "You knew my mother?"

The man leaned forward and frowned. "If Ofeliya Zolota was your mother, you are—"

"Don't say it." Dustin clutched the jewel. "Just tell me if you'll take a bailment."

The man eyed him intently. "What could be so important in America that you'd leave a bailment worth more than your ancestor's seat?"

Dustin exhaled. This old man knew too much. And yet, he sparkled with intelligence and Dustin trusted him. He had the air of a reigning monarch combined with the trustworthiness of a loving grandfather. There was something else about him, too, a worldliness and an intellect Dustin thought was a deep water that would often surprise people.

"Can you keep it safe for me?"

"Ofelia asked me the same thing once, do you know that?"

Dustin swallowed hard. Few people had been able to tell him about his mother. She'd lived a rather secluded life on the Scottish border after she and her sisters had been exiled.

"My name, Klonimus, means ‘special name' in Greek. And if your heritage is what I think it is, you know your mother's roots were also in Greece before the Czar…" He waved grandly as if there wasn't a need to speak the atrocities that had befallen Dustin's grandparents.

His maternal grandfather had been killed and his mother left Russia because her father opposed the Greek Plan. Once Catherine the Great had confirmed the Austro-Russian alliance, she wanted to split the Ottoman Empire between the Russian and Habsburg Empires and then restore the Eastern Roman Empire, including Greece, with the center in Constantinople.

"I knew your grandfather. He was a good man." Mr. Klonimus held the earring. "All right, I'll have your tools ready in two days."

Dustin inclined his head. He had no words with which to thank the man.

"But I won't take the bailment. Consider it a favor to your mother and aunt. Is there anything else you need? A ring for the earl's daughter?"

Mr. Klonimus turned to the door where Lexi appeared.

The earl's daughter. Dustin swallowed hard. Never did he wish to tell anymore as much as her that he was a duke.

But he had plans and a charlatan to catch in America. Could he relinquish his plans for an attempt to conquer Lexi?