Chapter 3

"What I want," Colette repeated slowly, fighting to maintain her composure.

If only he knew.

If only she could trust him enough to explain this wasn't about what she wanted. It was about what she needed.

Because without Landon's help, and protection, she wouldn't survive.

Colette had to swallow hard to keep herself from blurting out the truth—Landon's continued point-blank asking her what she wanted had rattled her. It shouldn't have, but it did.

That was twice now she'd considered simply telling him everything.

Being in his presence was making her stupid.

But she wrestled down the urge, and while she didn't manage a quip, she did manage silence. When she didn't say anything, he braced his elbows on his knees, studying her.

"Let's say, hypothetically, that you're not just a gem and jewelry expert, but also a thief." Landon arched a brow in challenge. His expression dared her to play this game. "A very good thief, but still a thief."

Colette swiveled her chair to face Landon. Their knees brushed.

Colette was about to slide the tip of her pump up the inside of his ankle just to fuck with him. He moved first, caging her legs with his—his feet on either side of hers, his knees squeezing hers together. It was a shockingly intimate and controlling touch. Her skirt rode up to mid-thigh, and his gaze flicked down to her legs.

Because of the table, Anu and Barry—seated across from them—couldn't see what he was doing. She studied Landon for a moment, calculating her next step. She'd hoped the geo-political implications of the diamond's recovery would distract everyone from asking too many pesky questions. Unfortunately, the people who worked at Interpol were less motivated by professional glory than she'd anticipated, and her plan was failing.

Colette rolled her shoulders, mentally reworking her strategy. She wanted to be subtle and maintain the upper hand by keeping her cards hidden. That might not be possible.

No more gentle manipulation.

She'd make them protect her.

"Hypothetically…a person could be both an expert and a thief." Colette smiled at Landon.

"Why does she suddenly have a French accent?" Barry asked.

Colette looked at Barry. "Because I don't trust the English not to be assholes to anyone who isn't British."

Anu raised a brow.

Barry shrugged. "Fair."

"She was pretending to be British back when she inserted herself into the British Museum investigation," Landon said. "She's been switching accents this whole time, just not when you could hear."

"Wait, this is the woman you told me about?" Barry asked.

Colette twisted—just her head and shoulders since she was effectively trapped by Landon's legs—to Barry. "What did he say about me?'

"Shut your mouth, yeah?" Landon snapped, sounding markedly less professional than a moment ago.

"Wait, wait. I just…so she's the one who robbed the British Museum?" Barry asked.

"Yes."

"No."

Landon and Colette spoke at the same time. Landon looked stony.

"I'm sure whomever did rob the museum," Colette said, "hypothetically speaking?—"

"Hypothetically, of course," Landon mocked.

"—did it to make the entirely valid point that the British Museum's main argument about why they should keep all the art and antiquities they stole—that the items were safer with them than in their home countries—is a lie. The museum doesn't have a complete catalogue of all items, and their security is laughable."

"That doesn't justify stealing eight hundred items and then listing them for sale on an online auction site," Landon countered, his voice hard. "You included ‘from the British Museum's storage room' in the item descriptions."

Colette smirked. She'd rather liked that touch. "That must have made it nice and easy for the museum, and possibly the handsome lead detective, to track down all the relevant auctions." She fluttered her lashes at him.

Landon thumped his head against the back of his chair in frustration, surprising a real laugh out of her. The amusement was followed by relief. This was the man she'd met years ago, back in the Duveen Gallery. Not that she didn't like the dangerous, more aggressive version, but for a moment she'd worried the man she'd known was entirely gone…and that she might have been responsible for that.

Landon looked at her, an odd expression on his face as her laughter faded.

Colette felt inexplicably vulnerable under his gaze. She pulled her hands into her lap, fingers twisting.

"Landon, what evidence do you have that she's the thief?" Anu asked.

"For which incident? The museum or this diamond?"

"Either."

There was a long pause. Colette didn't bother to hide her smile

"Nothing actionable." He spoke through his teeth.

Hehe.

"Nothing?" Anu asked.

"I know she robbed the museum, based on our…interactions."

Colette took a slow breath, her skin hot and prickly at the memory of those interactions.

"She told you she did it, but there was nothing actionable?" Anu demanded incredulously.

"She never explicitly said…" He made a frustrated noise. "I know she did it."

Colette began quietly working the cuffs. To an outsider, it should look like she was nervously twisting her hands together in her lap.

"Barry, are there any active warrants for Colette Beaumont?" Anu asked.

Barry tapped his tablet screen. "No. Her name comes up in a few files, but they're requests for her to contact various lead investigators. No warrants."

"I wonder…" Colette leaned forward, elbows on her knees, chin propped on her fists. "How long did it take the British Museum to realize anything was missing?"

Landon opened his mouth to answer, but his gaze dropped to her wrists.

Her cuff-less wrists.

He looked to the table, where she'd stacked the cuffs neatly atop one another after silently removing the one he'd locked on her.

Landon snatched up the cuffs and grabbed Colette's forearm, jerking her towards him. Colette gasped as her butt slid to the edge of her chair, her knees now jammed between his thighs. Landon leaned in, their faces only a foot apart. His eyes were warm, dark, and dangerous. She dropped her attention to his lips.

"Agent Malik."

Anu's voice snapped like a whip, and Landon froze, quickly releasing her arm. Colette hadn't exactly forgotten other people were there, but had stopped paying attention to them. A stupid mistake.

"Ma'am, it's clear that you're not just here to return a stolen item," Anu said.

Colette tried to turn her chair to face Anu, but Landon hadn't released her legs. She tried to spread her knees, shoving against the inside of his legs with her own. He didn't budge. Their physical battle was silent and unseen, happening below the edge of the table.

She could have said something to alert Landon's boss about what he was doing, but that felt like admitting defeat.

"Are you saying I didn't bring you a fifty-carat diamond that might be a famously missing gem?" Colette tipped her head and pursed her lips in mock confusion.

"This conversation is a waste of my time." Apparently they'd reached the director's threshold for professionalism, because now she was visibly irritated.

Good. The more emotion she could elicit from these three, the better the rest of this would go.

"Director, may I?" Landon moved his feet and relaxed his thighs, freeing her.

He sounded distressingly calm. Where was his irritation and anger from only moments ago?

He sat back in his chair, facing her.

She mirrored his posture, and the rest of the world seemed to fade away. It was just her and Landon, facing off in a battle of wits and wills.

Colette slowly crossed her legs, the movement just a little too exaggerated. His attention dropped to her thighs, the hem of her skirt now riding dangerously high.

"Hypothetically," Landon said slowly. "If you were an art thief and cat burglar?—"

"You make it sound so sexy. I like it."

His jaw muscle flexed. "It seems to me, that the last thing a smart thief would do is walk into a police station." He paused. "Or in this case an Interpol NCB."

"A reasonable assumption."

"Yet here you are."

Colette raised one shoulder. "Here I am."

"So I'll ask again: what do you want?"

She wasn't going to answer. Not yet. She hadn't finished forming the framework of circumstance and information that would ensure they did what she needed. "I'm turning this diamond over to the authorities, to you, so it can be returned to the rightful owner." Colette arched a brow. "This will be an art-recovery coup with international implications."

"Handling stolen property is a statutory offense."

"How do you know it's stolen?" She let her lips twitch.

"Because the Saudi diamond has never been recovered," he countered, but there was wariness in his eyes.

"Is that the Saudi diamond?" she asked innocently, pointing to the bagged stone.

Landon's eyes widened, then his gaze flicked down, and she could practically see him thinking.

"Ma'am—" The director started.

The sound of the other woman's voice was shocking, Colette having almost forgotten anyone else was in the room.

"She never confirmed it." Landon's tone was resigned as he sat back, arms crossed. "She's said she thought it was the diamond, or it might be. She never confirmed it."

"That's bloody good," Barry breathed.

Colette decided she liked Barry. She was going to be friends with Barry.

"I only began to suspect what it was after I'd been asked to assess it and remembered the story of the stolen diamond." Colette grinned, first at Landon, whose hard, glittering stare made her stomach flutter, then Anu, then Barry. The director was stone-faced, but Barry smiled back.

"I'm no gem expert, but I assume we can verify that this is the item in question?" Anu asked. "Without Ms. Beaumont?"

"Yes." Landon had been studying her with that intensity that made her feel trapped.

He finally looked away from Colette and she was able to take a deep breath.

"The makeup of the gem, specifics about the cut, if it has any markings, exact sizing details… That should all be in the theft case file," Barry said.

"Then we'll do that," Anu announced. "Ms. Beaumont, thank you for returning this, we'll take it from here."

"Will you?" She smiled to hide the way her heart was racing. They couldn't kick her out.

"Agent Malik, get her contact information and that of the current owner, then escort her out." Anu pushed back from the table.

"You mean Mr. Grizzard, who is definitely a character in a book about a jewelry heist?" Barry asked apologetically.

Anu's gaze was hard and cold on Colette, who arched a brow and said nothing.

"We could charge you for wasting our time by making up a false report," Anu said.

"It's hardly my fault if my client lied about his identity."

"Where did you get the diamond, Colette?"

She liked the way Landon said her name, even if there was warning and threat threaded through the words.

"We could verify its authenticity, and if it is the Saudi diamond, just say it was dropped off anonymously," Barry said.

Anu frowned at Barry. "You're proposing Interpol lie to a foreign government?"

"Er, no."

"I didn't think so."

"And you'll need the case file, to get the specific information and details about that diamond, in order to authenticate." Colette felt the heavy weight of all three gazes. "I wonder… Once you pull that file, will the Saudi NCB ask why? And even if they don't, if I'm right about what that gem is, don't you think that people, specifically other governments, as well as your own bosses, will want to know exactly where you got it?"

There was a long stretch of silence as everyone thought through the situation.

"The diamond isn't enough. We need information." Landon eyed her. "I can get the information we need."

"Threats, Agent Malik?" Colette forced herself to smile and raise a brow, but her heart was slamming against her ribs.

Landon sat forward, and she fought the urge to scoot her chair back to put space between her and that intense stare. His dark eyes pinned her in place, and the intensity of his focus seemed to wrap around them, sealing them together. "You came here, to me, because I know who you are," he said.

Yes. I know you, and I trust you.

She kept that thought locked down tight so it wouldn't show on her face.

"You brought this diamond as a bargaining chip, because you want something. And you're not going to tell us where or how you got it until we give you whatever thing it is you want."

"It all sounds very reasonable to me."

"I bet. So the question is: what do you want, Colette?"

The trap was set, the walls of the cage she'd built in place. It was time, but she had to swallow before she could speak. "Protection."