Read Online Property of a Noblewoman by Danielle Steel - Free Book Online Page B

“It’s the finest quality and color there is.” He took the loupe from his eye then and gazed seriously at her. “I’d say it’s about twenty-five or thirty carats, at a guess. It is incredibly rare to find a ruby of this quality in that size. It’s a knockout, and would sell for a fortune.” He examined the emerald ring after that, which he guessed was about the same size as the ruby, or slightly larger, and declared it to be first rate as well. He placed it back in its box with great care, and opened the box with the diamond ring next, which was even larger, and this time he smiled. “Wow!” he said, sounding like a kid, and she laughed.
    “That’s what I said when I saw it,” she admitted, and then looked sheepish. “I tried it on,” she confessed, and he grinned as he imagined it.
    “How did it look?” he teased her a little. This was suddenly fun. The jewels were fabulous, and if the surrogate’s court sold them with Christie’s, it was going to be a fantastic sale.
    “It looked pretty good. It’s the closest I’ll ever get to a rock this size,” she said, smiling back at him. “How big is it?”
    “Probably about forty carats, depending on how deep it is. That’s just a guess.” But he had gotten good at estimating size and quality of stones during his two years in the jewelry department, and had taken a basic gemology class to educate himself. These were the finest pieces he’d seen so far.
    He studied the invisibly set sapphire necklace and earrings from Van Cleef, and the pearls, which he said were natural, which made them incredibly valuable too, and the tiara, the pearl and diamond antique choker from Cartier, and the pieces from Bulgari in Rome. He went through all of it in under an hour, and looked at Jane when he was finished, deeply impressed.
    “Until I saw the photographs, I figured all you had here was junk. And once I saw the pictures, I knew it would be good stuff, but I didn’t expect quality like this. And no heirs have come forward at all?”
    “None,” she said sadly. “Would you like to see the photographs of the countess? She was a beautiful young woman.” She took them out, and they went through them together. He pointed out where she was wearing the jewelry – there were several photos. And what struck Jane again was how happy she looked with the handsome count, and how much he seemed to love her as he gazed at her adoringly.
    “He appears to be old enough to be her father,” Phillip commented.
    “He was thirty-eight years older,” Jane responded. She had figured it out from his obituary and her passports.
    “What were their names again?”
    “He was Count Umberto Vicenzo Alessandro di San Pignelli. And her maiden name was Marguerite Wallace Pearson – di San Pignelli, once they married. She was eighteen then, and he was fifty-six.” Jane looked wistful as they stared at the photographs together, and Phillip glanced at Jane in surprise.
    “It’s a fairly common name, but my mother’s maiden name was Pearson too. Maybe they were distantly related, cousins or something, although it’s probably just a coincidence. There was no Marguerite that I know of. I’ll have to tell my mom. I’m not suggesting that she’s an heir,” he said, looking embarrassed, “it’s just an odd coincidence of name. She’s never mentioned a relative who married an Italian count, and the countess was a generation older than my mom. Maybe she was a distant cousin of her father’s, or more likely no relation at all.” But the name had sparked his interest, though not as much as the jewels, and the fabulous auction and buzz they would create. He hadn’t seen jewels like that in all the time he’d been there, and they had sold some beautiful things in the past two years. “Who should I speak to about an auction?” he asked Jane directly.
    “My boss, Harriet Fine. I’m just a temporary clerk. I’m finishing law school in June.”
    “NYU?” he asked with