Read Online Stroke of Midnight by Olivia Drake - Free Book Online

yourself—look for Martin Brown. He couldn’t even be laid to rest under his real name.”
    Tears glistened in her eyes as she wrenched out of his grasp and walked to the window to gaze outside. He didn’t think she was playacting. Laura had always been one to freely express her deepest feelings—that was part of what had intrigued him about her long ago. Unlike himself, she wore her emotions on her sleeve.
    Besides, he had to believe her since she’d given him the means to check her claim. Martin Falkner was dead. That left his daughter as the only link to the missing diamond necklace.
    Alex walked closer to put himself into her line of vision. The glint of a tear track on her cheek stirred in him the unsettling need to comfort her. But she wouldn’t welcome his embrace. Especially once she realized he intended to probe further into the matter of the robbery.
    “Please accept my condolences,” he murmured. “Nevertheless, I do need answers. The Blue Moon diamond has never been found—and I must know what happened to it. Was it sold? Or did your father come back to England to retrieve the necklace from wherever he’d hidden it?”
    Laura spun toward him. Her fingers clutched at the windowsill, the knuckles turning white. “No! Absolutely not. I told you long ago that my father was not the thief. He was made a scapegoat by someone else.”
    “Then explain why he returned here.”
    “I … don’t know for certain. He left Portugal without telling me. I can only presume he intended to confront whomever he thought had framed him for the deed.”
    Her voice rang with fervor. It seemed Laura really did believe her father was innocent of the crime.
    That fact put Alex in an uncomfortable situation. It meant she knew nothing of Martin Falkner’s private past. The man had had secrets that he must not have seen fit to confess to his daughter. Secrets that gave him ample cause to steal the priceless jewels from the Duchess of Knowles. Secrets that Alex had no intention of divulging.
    The devil of it was, he couldn’t reveal the truth even if he was inclined to do so. When he’d been charged with the task of finding the stolen pieces, he had sworn a vow of silence.
    “And just who might that be?” he asked for the sake of argument. “Did he ever name the person he’d suspected?”
    “I’m afraid not.” Laura lowered her lashes slightly. “However, I’ve a theory of my own. It’s the only one that makes sense to me.”
    “Go on.”
    “Perhaps, my lord, it was you who placed Her Grace’s gems in my father’s desk.”
    If she had drawn a pistol, she could not have startled him more. “What! That is preposterous.”
    “Is it?” She gave him a look of reckless disdain. “ You were the one to discover the earrings, were you not? Perhaps you thought to avoid a marriage to someone beneath you in rank. Perhaps you wanted my father imprisoned so that I would be ruined by association. Then you could offer me the role of mistress without suffering the encumbrance of a ring upon your finger.”
    His jaw tightened. He would never forget the awful jolt he’d felt on opening the desk drawer to see the cold glint of the diamonds. Despite his prior knowledge of Martin Falkner’s secret life, Alex had not wanted to believe the man capable of such a deed, for Laura’s sake. But duty had compelled him to accept the truth and see justice done.
    Now she was so far off the mark that he felt insulted, his honor sullied. Maybe that was her intention.
    Stepping closer, he caught her face in his hands and let his thumb graze her soft lips. “If I’d wanted to make you my mistress, Laura, I’d have needed no subterfuge. I’d have taken you to my bed—and you’d have come willingly.”
    A faint flush stole over her skin. Time seemed to stop as they stared at each other. With every breath he inhaled her scent of sunshine and flowers. How tempting was the thought of seducing her—if only it wouldn’t lend credence to her