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The Purest of Diamonds(35)

By:Susan Stephens


                Perhaps it was the way he looked into her eyes in search of the same enthusiasm he felt for the treasures he was showing her, she really couldn’t say. She only knew she was losing her heart to him all over again, though they went to bed separately each night, and she slept fitfully, wondering if Raffa did too.

                As each day dawned she felt more and more convinced that if she could just hold on a little longer, the golden moment would arrive when she could tell Raffa about the baby and they’d both be happy about the news. Being pregnant was such a life-changing event she wanted to be sure she picked the right moment for him too. As she was dealing with a man for whom family life was anything but an attractive prospect, she wanted to make sure she didn’t blunder into the announcement.

                She hadn’t been expecting for them to work so closely in the physical sense. There were times when tension seemed to surge between them, and she wondered if they were both fighting off desire, and other times when she told herself not to be so stupid. Sometimes she found herself studying Raffa instead of the jewels... Diamonds or his sexy mouth? A polished emerald, or the gleam in the depth of Raffa’s eyes when he turned to confide some new fact, especially when he allowed his gaze to linger?

                ‘What are you staring at?’ he said one day, smiling.

                She’d always been a sucker for eyes that crinkled at the corners. ‘You,’ she admitted bluntly. ‘I was just thinking how different you are from the press you receive.’

                ‘We all have different faces we show the world,’ he said as he collected up the jewels for the night.

                ‘And you have more than most?’ she queried, laughing to make light of it.

                ‘Here’s one that might surprise you,’ he said as he closed the vault. ‘I’m immune to the charm of diamonds. I admire them. I admire the craftsmanship. And I know a good stone when I see one. But I prefer the simple things in life—like honesty and loyalty. I value those qualities far more than any hard, cold stone. Diamonds are just a means to an end for me. I make money out of them that allows me to support the causes I’m interested in.’

                Honesty and loyalty, she thought as Raffa called the elevator. Where would Raffa think she stood where honesty was concerned if he knew about the baby?

                ‘The exhibition you’re planning in Skavanga will be good for both of us,’ he said as they waited for the lift to arrive. ‘I almost threw my first diamond away— After you.’ He stood back as the doors slid open. He stabbed the lift button and they soared upwards. ‘My father, who wasn’t noted for his tolerance, brought a particularly big stone back from India. I didn’t know the value of this dull-looking rock and kept it in my bedroom for over a week before he found it.’

                She laughed, but it sounded forced. She would rather have been talking about the subject closest to her heart, until Raffa said, ‘My father was always mad with one child or another.’ His eyes narrowed as he thought back, remembering. ‘We children hadn’t been factored into his life plan. We were more of an inconvenience to him than anything else. An inconvenient consequence of his own reckless actions—’

                Her heart shrank as she listened to him. They’d both been reckless, but if she had anything to do with it their baby would be anything but an inconvenient consequence. It would be a much-loved child.

                ‘My family isn’t close like yours is, Leila,’ he went on. ‘I don’t have a great role model to look back on, hence no wife, no children and no intention on my part of ever changing the status quo.’

                ‘So you don’t want children?’ Her question echoed in the small steel cab.