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  She knew Khizar was letting her take as long as she needed to look around. After a complete circuit of the house, two things were clear. First, no one from the trust’s staff was there, and second, nothing in the garden or yard jumped out at her as matching Bill’s note.

  “So, what are we looking for?” Jacqui asked Khizar.

  He squinted as he looked up toward the house’s roof and into the sunlight.

  “I think it’s probably something hidden, but I don’t see anything that would lend itself to a hidden compartment like at the mine.”

  “What about Bill’s note?”

  Khizar looked back down. “He did use your middle name, Rose.”

  “Then we’re looking for a rose of some kind.”

  He nodded. “Except I don’t see any roses out here.”

  Jacqui took another slow look around the garden.

  “There aren’t any. I don’t even see anything that looks like a rose on the benches or bird bath.”

  “We need to go inside,” Khizar said, sounding certain.

  “Too bad Uncle Bill didn’t arrange for us to have a key,” Jacqui said and laughed.

  “We can always call the staff if we need to, but let’s see if one of the doors is unlocked.”

  Jacqui nodded and they walked up the front steps to the door.

  No such luck, Jacqui thought, trying to open the dark brown wooden door.

  “Maybe there’s another door we can try.”

  Khizar walked around the porch and Jacqui followed him.

  There was another door. Jacqui could see it, but the porch stopped before it connected to the back side of the house. They walked back around and down the steps, then picked their way through the garden to the back yard. There was another set of smaller steps leading to a screened back porch.

  Khizar tried the door on the screen porch; it opened easily. He next tried the handle to the door leading from the back porch into the house. Jacqui held her breath as the handle seemed to stick, then turned with a tiny squeak.

  Khizar looked back at Jacqui with a smile and a flourish as he held open the door for her.

  The house had been maintained impeccably, Jacqui thought as she looked around. Nothing was out of place and all the furnishings, although a bit faded and worn, looked well cared-for.

  They searched the downstairs rooms, finding nothing related to a rose. There were fresh flowers in vases in the dining and living rooms, and wallpaper with flowers on it in the hallway, but none of the flowers even suggested roses.

  While Khizar was looking through the living room, Jacqui searched the kitchen. She carefully picked up an old-fashioned egg beater that was sitting on display on the counter. If James’ research was correct, this item was something her great-grandmother might have used. Jacqui laid the egg beater back down and slowly walked through the kitchen, trailing her hand along the counter.

  Khizar walked into the kitchen and watched her for a moment.

  “We’ll come back. Sometime when the staff is here, and you can tell them who you are. I’m sure they will tell you the history of the house and the Bauer family.”

  Jacqui couldn’t look at him. She tried not to let him see her cry, but he came to her anyway and wrapped his arms around her.

  “I promise, Jacqui. We’ll spend as much time here as you want, and I won’t stop until you know everything you need to about your family.”

  She nodded into his chest. “Thank you.”

  He pulled back and wiped the tears off her cheeks.

  “Ready to go on?”

  “Yes. I don’t think there’s anything down here.”

  “Then upstairs it is,” he said confidently.

  They climbed the stairs to the second level of the house. Jacqui saw mostly bedrooms and one bathroom. Nothing stood out until Khizar waved at her from the doorway of the bedroom on the east side of the house.

  Inside, above a pretty three-drawer dresser, was a large painting of a rose.

  “That has got to be it,” Jacqui breathed, hardly able to believe it.

  Khizar carefully felt around the painting’s frame, and then lifted it off the wall. He gently set the painting down, off to the side, out of the way.

  A small metal panel sat in the wall, with four rotating discs lined up in the middle of panel and a small handle next to the discs.

  “It’s a safe,” Khizar said, running his fingers along the edge of the safe’s door.

  “So, we need a combination to open the lock, right?”

  Khizar nodded. “Four numbers.”

  “Okay. What four numbers should we try?”

  Khizar studied the safe for another minute.

  “Usually, people use numbers they won’t forget. Birthdays, anniversaries, things like that. This kind of safe, it doesn’t matter how many combinations we try. It won’t lock us out after a certain number.”

  “Well, that’s good, at least. Do you know Bill’s birthday?”

  “I know the date, but not the year.”

  “Try it and see.”

  Khizar put in four numbers for the month and day of Bill Bauer’s birthday. Then, he tried it reverse, just to be sure. The safe didn’t open.

  “Of course, it wouldn’t be that easy,” Jacqui said.

  “Is there anything else in his letter?”

  Jacqui carefully pulled out her great-uncle’s note to her and reread it, looking for any numbers or anything that might be translated into numbers.

  She shook her head. “I don’t see anything that would work.”

  “What about your birthday?” Khizar asked. “He left this for you to open.”

  He stepped aside so that Jacqui could put in the numbers. Jacqui tried a few different combinations—the day and month, the month and year, reversing each of those—but nothing worked.

  They thought in silence for a few minutes until Jacqui looked up with an idea.

  “What if it is my birthday, but it’s also the day Uncle Bill and I met?”

  Khizar nodded once. “That’s it. It’s something only you would know.”

  Jacqui put in the day of her birthday and the last two digits of the year. She heard a click, and then she pulled on the handle.

  Jacqui slowly opened the door to the safe, and gasped. The Bauer Diamond sat inside the wall safe on a bed of black velvet, and even in the dim light of the bedroom, it shone like a small star.

  Khizar peered over her shoulder, and Jacqui heard a sharp intake of breath from him.

  “Wow,” he said, reverentially.

  Jacqui reached into the safe and picked up the diamond. She’d never held anything quite like it. Stunning didn’t do the gem justice—it was one of the most beautiful things she’d ever seen. Turning, she walked to where they could see the diamond in better light.

  Standing in front of a window, sunlight hit the diamond and scattered the light in a rainbow of prisms on the far wall.

  “It’s beautiful,” Jacqui said softly.

  “It is, without a doubt, the most exquisite diamond I’ve ever seen,” Khizar added.

  Jacqui laughed, a little nervously.

  “This is the real thing, right? It’s not another clue.”

  “No, this is definitely the real diamond. I’ve never seen anything like it. No wonder Bill hid it away. He would never have had a moment of peace if he’d kept this in public.”

  Jacqui turned the diamond over. It was perfect, but it was also something that her great-uncle had touched. It was part of his history, and so it was part of Jacqui’s. But, standing there with a priceless diamond in her hands, Jacqui realized that she had no idea what to do with it now.

  “Please tell me you brought something to carry this in. I don’t even know what to do with it,” Jacqui said, holding the diamond like it might break.

  Khizar tapped it, carefully, but still to prove a point.

  “There’s not much you can do to damage this gem, love. And I’ve got a case in the car designed to protect it.”

 
; “What should we do with it?”

  Part of Jacqui wanted to keep it, because it was connected to her great-uncle, but this diamond was not something meant to be set on a bookshelf as a keepsake.

  “It’s yours, so the decision is up to you.”

  Jacqui looked up at him with wide eyes. She turned it over in her hands and then answered her own question.

  “You’re a jeweler; you should have it. I wouldn’t know what to do with it. I think it would be more trouble than it’s worth just to have lying around.”

  “If that’s what you want, my company will buy it from you. However, I think we should sell it to someone else,” Khizar said.

  “Really?” Jacqui wasn’t sure what to make of this change.

  Khizar placed his hands on her arms, holding her the same way she was holding the diamond, like something precious.

  “I don’t need the diamond. My company doesn’t need the diamond. For me, your love is the greatest treasure I could find, and I hope you know that you will never want for anything again. You can sell it and keep the money, but I intend to make sure your business is secure and you have everything else you could possibly want in life. If we sell the diamond, we can donate the proceeds to charity, and Bill’s diamond will continue to do good in this world.”

  Jacqui couldn’t help but smile.

  “I’d like that. I hope Uncle Bill would, too.”

  Khizar thought about that.

  “I think he would. I think he left this to you so that you would have the freedom to do what you wanted.”

  “He was a good man, wasn’t he?”

  Khizar smiled, and Jacqui could see for the first time just how much he truly admired Bill Bauer.

  “He truly was.”

  Holding the diamond between them, Jacqui stretched up to kiss the man she loved, who had given her an adventure she didn’t know she wanted and a family she didn’t know she had.

  “Then let’s sell the diamond, and start our own family tradition.”

  Khizar carried the gem to the car and packed it in the case he’d brought for that purpose. Jacqui followed a few minutes after, closing up the safe and hanging the painting back on the wall. She took a few minutes to look around again.

  “Thanks, Uncle Bill,” she said out loud as she walked down the stairs. “It means a lot to me that you wanted me to have something you cherished. I hope you know that what the diamond brought me was more than riches. You brought someone very special into my life, and that’s worth more than any diamond.”

  Jacqui stepped off the stairs and made her way back out through the kitchen. She stopped one more time before she left out the back door.

  “I’ll come back, I promise. And I’ll bring our kids here, too. You’re still part of our family, Uncle Bill, and always will be. We won’t forget you.”

  Jacqui quietly closed the door behind her and laid one palm against the wood.

  “Bye for now, Uncle Bill.”

  She walked to the car where Khizar was waiting for her. He gathered her in his arms and held her close.

  Jacqui heard him whisper softly, “Thanks, Bill.”

  It didn’t take them long to get back to the plane, though it was a quiet drive with each of them lost in their own thoughts. But when Khizar held her hand, she knew she wasn’t alone.

  They boarded the plane and Khizar suggested they fly to New York City first.

  “We have an office there, and I can start the process to sell the diamond. Plus, we have excellent security, so I know the diamond will be safe there.”

  That sounded reasonable to Jacqui.

  “I’m good with a quick trip to New York, if you promise to take me to Times Square.”

  Khizar grinned at her. “I’ll take you wherever you want to go, my love.”

  He gave the case with the diamond to Jacqui. She carried it back through the cabin while Khizar discussed their flight plan with the crew. When he followed her into the bedroom a few minutes later, Jacqui had opened the case and was looking at the diamond again.

  Khizar raised an eyebrow in question, and when Jacqui nodded, took the diamond out of the case and sat it on the long, low dresser against the wall where they could admire the beauty of the precious gem.

  Jacqui sat on the bed and watched him as he watched the diamond.

  “Starting to regret your idea to sell it?” she asked him, teasing just a little bit.

  Khizar laughed and turned from the diamond. He leaned over the bed, and over her, and kissed her deeply. Jacqui put one hand on his chest, wrapping her fingers in his shirt and pulling him down.

  “No. Bill obviously wanted you to have some kind of financial security, and you do, now. I will give you everything you need. Everything you want, too, for that matter,” he said between kisses.

  “How much do you think the diamond will sell for?” Jacqui asked, curious even as she was distracted by Khizar’s fingers and mouth on her skin.

  She could feel his grin against her neck.

  “Enough to endow several of your favorite charities with significant funds. You’ll probably have a building or three named after you in the near future.”

  Jacqui laughed and pushed him away slightly so that she could carefully, slowly unbutton his shirt. He tried to move her hands so he could do it, and she kissed him again, long and slow, until his hands got sidetracked with something else. She went back to unbuttoning his shirt and loved the groan he made when she took her sweet time doing it.

  “I think I’d like the buildings to be named after my parents instead, or maybe my great-grandmother, Rose.”

  Khizar said, “That’s a wonderful idea.”

  Jacqui sweetly kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”

  He grinned roguishly.

  “To be fair, I think every idea of yours is wonderful.”

  Jacqui kissed him, relishing the thought that this man was hers and she was his, and as the plane took off into the night, the only thing that mattered was that they were together.

  The End

  Their treasure hunt ended with finding one another, but what will the next year bring for Jacqui and Khizar?

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  The Sheikh’s Bride Bet

  Time for a tease!

  Up next I’ve included the first few chapters of my most recent sweet romance, The Sheikh’s Bride Bet, which is available in full now.

  Happy reading!

  Copyright 2018 by Holly Rayner

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part by any means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the explicit written permission of the author.

  All characters depicted in this fictional work are consenting adults, of at least eighteen years of age. Any resemblance to persons living or deceased, particular businesses, events, or exact locations are entirely coincidental.

  Chapter 1

  Angie

  The phone blared in my ear as I gazed across the classroom. The students were feeling boisterous after two hours of testing, tossing their toys and puzzle pieces out onto the carpet. It was their free period, and I was giving them a bit of extra time. At just eight years old, the children of Al-Jarra needed this opportunity to be unruly and loud.

  When she answered the phone, my mother’s voice was music to my ears. Despite her illness, her voice was still a stronghold for me. Something I needed to feel alive.

  “Mom? Oh gosh. It’s so good to hear you,” I said, turning away from the children for a moment. It felt almost too intimate, speaking to my mother in front of them. Revealing so much of myself.

  “Angie.” My mother’s voice croaked slightly, showing her fatigue. It was only six in the morning all the way in South Dakota. “How are the kids today?”

  Sweeping m
y hand through my raven-black hair, I flashed a smile at one of my smaller students, who tossed a pile of markers from the shoebox, letting them roll across the ground.

  “Chaotic, as usual,” I said, chuckling. “They just finished their testing. Can you believe they need two hours of testing at eight years old?”

  “They would never have kept you in a chair that long as a kid, Angie,” my mother said, growing warmer. “You always had such a fire about you.”

  My heart hammered in my chest, beating up toward my throat. I felt the tears begin to form in my eyes, blurring my eyesight.

  “How are you feeling, Mom?” I finally asked her, the dreaded words that I so often tried to avoid, if I could. The words that so often had a horrible answer. “You had that doctor’s appointment the other day…”

  “Oh, honey, I’m fine,” my mother said, trying to gloss over the fact of the tumor, of the diagnosis that had left us stricken for months.

  At the back of the room, two students began to scuffle over a toy. I watched as one of them, Jamar, yanked at the plastic truck, falling back into the trash can. The other kid throttled forward, gripping the truck and trying to nab it back as Jamar began to kick his feet in the air.

  I rushed forward, pointing my finger at them. I heard the strain in my voice, the fear from speaking with my mother.

  “Hey! The two of you need to cut it out and learn to share,” I told them, my eyes gleaming with the kind of anger that only comes when it’s coupled with intense, internal emotion. “If you don’t, you’ll need to sit at your desks for the rest of free period. Do you want that?”

  Slowly, they shook their heads and stumbled back onto their feet. They gave me wounded looks, and then began to vroom the trucks around the carpet. I took several steps back, lifting the phone back to my ear. I heard my mother’s chuckle on the other end.

  “You’ve really put your foot down, haven’t you?” she asked, joking.