Read Online Joy by Jayne Ann Krentz - Free Book Online

where she stood, Virginia could not see the hands and wouldn’t have been able to decipher them if she had, but she knew a loser’s face when she saw it. Harry Brigman had just lost badly. He got to his feet with a jerky movement and murmured something to Ryerson. Then he turned and strode out of the casino. Ryerson rose more slowly, stretching his shoulders. He glanced around and saw Virginia.
    „I’ll be back in a few minutes,“ he said quietly.
    „Where are you going?“
    „Brigman and I are going to talk privately. Stay where you are.“ Without waiting for her reply, he followed Brigman out of the casino.
    Virginia waited impatiently, curious and somewhat alarmed. She wondered what had happened during the game that required a private consultation between Ryerson and Brigman. She was about to follow the two men out of the casino when Ryerson unexpectedly returned. Brigman was not with him.
    „What in the world is going on?“ Virginia demanded softly as she hurried to meet Ryerson.
    Ryerson’s eyes were glittering. A tightly leashed excitement radiated from him. „Brigman just covered his losses, that’s all.“
    „But how? Why did you have to leave? What’s happening?“
    „Hush. I’ll tell you all about it. Let’s get out of here.“
    He took her arm and led her out into the balmy night. When they were safely out of sight, he drew her to a halt near a garden light and reached into his jacket pocket. „Take a look at this.“
    Virginia studied the small jewelry box in his hand. It was old, covered in green velvet. A strange sense of exhilaration gripped her. „What is it?“
    Without a word Ryerson opened the box and exposed the contents. Virginia caught her breath. For a second she could not move. Her gaze was riveted on what lay inside the velvet container.
    It was a bracelet. An incredible bracelet. Unlike any bracelet Virginia had ever seen. Green flames frozen forever in dear stones shimmered in the soft light. Gold linked the individual emerald fires to small diamonds. The whole piece glowed with a warmth that was surely unnatural for a cold piece of jewelry.
    Virginia could not find words as her sense of reality shifted slightly. Tension seized her. For a timeless moment she had the disconcerting feeling that she was looking at an object that was not bound completely to the same dimension in which everything else around her existed. The object in the box seemed to be simultaneously part of the past, the present and the future.
    An unfamiliar sense of possessiveness leaped into life within Virginia. The object in the jewelry box belonged to her and Ryerson. She knew that with a deep, absolute certainty.
    Virginia shook off the unsettling sensations that had taken over her emotions. She finally found her tongue.
    „It’s a bracelet.“
    „Emeralds and diamonds linked with gold,“ Ryerson said. „Or so Brigman claims.“
    „Do you believe him?“
    „I’m not sure. I’m no jeweler.“
    „It’s stunning, Ryerson. Absolutely beautiful. Even if it’s a fake, it’s the most fascinating piece of jewelry I’ve ever seen.“
    „If it’s a fake, it’s a very good one. Look, here’s a formal jeweler’s appraisal of the age of the bracelet.“ Ryerson indicated a folded piece of paper lying under the velvet cushion. „It doesn’t indicate the value but it does claim the thing is late seventeenth century.“
    „Incredible.“
    Ryerson closed the box, his gaze very brilliant. „I felt the same way when I saw it,“ he said roughly.

    „The minute Brigman opened the box and showed it to me, I knew I had to have it. I told him I’d accept it as full payment for what he lost to me tonight.“
    „Did he lose that heavily?“
    „When the game ended, he owed me over ten thousand dollars.“
    Virginia’s mouth fell open. „Ten thousand dollars?“ she squeaked. „Ryerson, you gambled for that kind of money?“
    „I told you I was feeling lucky.“ His brief grin was wicked.
    „Yes, but