Thief in the Night Pt. 01

"It'll make things easier if we draw less notice to ourselves. Going to be hard enough."

"Why's that?"

"A woman like you stops traffic. Sweetheart, you don't meld into the background."

The compliment was genuine and so she blushed, looking out the window as they pulled up. The house was classic, built up over generations who remained faithful to the original style, which she could tell now must have been around Louis the XIV. Far behind the house past the sculpted gardens was the shell of a twelfth century building, or at least a few short walls and buttresses still standing.

She knew the early crowd there to examine the house should be small, but there were enough cars she sensed most of the greedy party-seekers and vultures were descending early.

"Billy, make sure you open our doors, not the valet. He'll know where to bring the bags." Turning to Kerry Henry smiled. "You're supposed to be a successful lawyer's wife, so I doubt it would be appropriate, but my dear you'd look fantastic in a fur coat."

"Anally electrocuting small animals to wear their skin? No thanks."

"Says the woman with a leather fetish," Billy quipped as they came to a halt in front of the front stairs.

"Hey, I eat burgers, I use every part of the cow."

"Luv, there are leather cows, burger cows, and milk cows, and they are never the same ones."

Her reply was cut off as he hopped out and stared down the valet going for her door. Kerry took Billy's hand as he helped her out and then she stood, trying to look imperious as she surveyed the gravel drive, cars, and small staff out front.

She figured her role was social-climbing bitch. A lawyer's wife invited to the Dauphinee affair would have aspirations, and if she played sweet and innocent, nobody would buy it. Her mother had taught her well, and the easiest way to not stand out in someone's mind was to fit their expectations perfectly.

"Hardly new, is it?" She said as Henry alighted. She went for a flat, classic American accent and Billy smiled, though Henry almost blew it by a sudden start.

"Dear, the house is quite old with a long history."

She walked around to take his arm and Billy trailed like a good bodyguard, suddenly looking like a lethal predator pretending to obey a leash. Well, well, well, it seemed she wasn't the only chameleon. "Where are our rooms?"

Henry's eyes narrowed at the ease with which her new American accent looped over the consonants, none of the typical awkwardness of American A's for other English speakers. "Follow me."

Henry led them inside and up the stairs, stopping one of the staff to ask for a snack to be sent up to their suite. He hurried them along and they came to a room at the end of a short hallway to the left. Inside Henry shut the door quickly as she and Billy surveyed the room.

There was a sitting room, bathroom, and two bedrooms, one large and opulent and one likely designed for an infant. Now it held a simple bed, dresser, and nightstand, new looking and hastily purchases, all in black. The rest of the suite had a mint-green theme and was so delicate and frilly looking she feared her own light weight would break most of the chairs.

"American?" Henry asked.

"You are, it makes more sense."

"I do work in the UK sometimes."

She shrugged and slipped off her coat, tossing it across the back of the couch that was a hundred years newer than the other furniture. "I didn't know that. What's my name to be?"

"I've just mentioned a Mrs. Williams."

She looked to Billy who gave it a fast thought."Diane seems nice."

She smiled. "Good choice. From Diana, goddess of the hunt. I like it."

Henry frowned but grabbed her coat and brought it into the bedroom along with his. A knock came at the door and Billy slightly opened it, hand inside his suit jacket, but it was just staff with their bags. Billy fully opened the door and nodded to her. Time to play upstart lady-of-the-manor.

"Place my bags in with my husband's, the good leather. The frumpy black ones belong to my guard and go in that room."

Only one of the three seemed to understand English and nodded, explaining to the other two in French what she needed and the bags were disseminated. The next knock came before Billy could close the door and it was a young woman in an overdone maid costume who curtsied slowly.

She looked around until she spotted Henry and Kerry didn't miss the flash of heat in the blonde's eyes. "La nourriture pour trois, monsieur."

"Asseyez-il là-bas, s'il vous plait," Henry replied politely but distantly.

Pouting, the blonde set the tray down on the coffee table Henry had pointed to and curtsied again, eyes only for Henry.

"Oh, for Pete's sake," Kerry muttered and rolled her eyes.

Billy suppressed a laugh and held the door open. The maid left and the staff porters did as well. He caught Kerry's look and grinned. "All she did was ask where to set the food."

Henry caught the other's man smile and sat on the couch. "We should all eat a small snack and go over plans. We will be expected at dinner and we need to have our stories straight."

Billy undid his suit jacket and tossed it lazily across a vase. "Luv, seems he's getting into the spirit of things."

Glaring Kerry sat gently on a chair with tiny, curved legs, a Chippendale knockoff she realized, probably made in the last thirty years. "This is not a game, Williams."

"Call me Henry. I understand, Kerry. Your last score, and old debt settled, great risk. No, it's not a game, and I hope you realize that. So tell me what the plan is."

Billy leafed through some of the small sandwiches and passed them over for the tiny tea cakes. "I'm to do recon the next couple of nights, under the guise I am checking out security. I'll spread the idea 'Diane' here is an heiress in her own right, that I was her bodyguard longer than you've been married. Once I locate the diamond I'll get what I can on the security system and bring it back here. Kerry will take over recon from there."

"So we have two nights before she's skulking about?"

"I am sitting right here," she said and threw her hands up. "Men. Salveaza-ma."

"What language is that, luv?"

"Romanian," Henry said before popping a tiny sandwich into his mouth.

Horrified, Kerry turned to him. "Don't tell me you speak it." Walking to the car from the hotel she had cursed Henry, his relatives, and all men in the language.

Swallowing, he smiled. "Nice to see you sweat. No, I don't, but Georges told me you do. German and Japanese as well, if I'm correct."

Billy smiled at the list. "Mate, of course. Those are the best languages for a thief to speak, it's were the markets are."

"And what about you, Billy?"

"Je parle le français. Ich spreche Deutsch auch.???????????????????????????. El español es el mejor lenguaje para el trabajo de saco negro en todo el mundo."

Henry blinked and nodded. "You have hidden depths."

"Not me, mate, I'm as shallow as they come, but I have all the tools necessary to do my job. I'm guessing you speak a few too. What is this, a UN meeting?"

"Hardly. It seems the only language we all have in common is German. I suggest we use that to talk in public of...nefarious things, but there are a few German nationals here. So we should use code."

Kerry rolled her eyes and made herself tea, eschewing the delicious looking food. A trim figure, good stamina, flexibility, and strength were her greatest allies as a thief. Mayonnaise and frosting were forbidden treats, so she selected a watercress sandwich and sighed. "No code. We don't discuss anything in public. After this, not even in these rooms. Only outside the house, alone. Is that understood?"

"Don't look to me, mate, this is her show. I'm just the hired help."

"Fine then. Kerry, for the next two days I suggest you spend most of your time in these rooms. McCall is here and we don't want to tip our hands."

"Oh, but we do." She set her tea down and sat back, crossing her legs. She didn't miss the way his eyes followed the movement and rather than make her feel powerful, she shivered like some simpering girl, and that made her frown. "McCall knows I am here as much as I knew he was. I want a contest. That's what you're for. He'll befriend you hoping to get information on me, but I want you to pump him for information."

Billy snickered childishly at that, but they both ignored him. "No," Henry said definitively. "Georges asked me to keep you safe, not help commit a felony."

The look she gave him was one Henry had never seen directed at him before, as if he were a very slow child who'd wandered into a physics class. "Keeping me safe is helping me commit a felony."

"It's okay, luv," Billy said, hands in the air trying to suppress the stare down Kerry had now engaged in with Henry. "McCall's got Smith with him, and I'm just Danny's type. You can rest assured I'll 'pump him for information.'"

Neither of the other two broke their gazes at his comical leer and Billy sighed, grabbing the rest of the petits fors and the tea pot as he stood. "I'll let you two fight this one out. I'll be unpacking in my room if you need me."

Kerry waited until she heard his door close and then counted to five, hoping to resist the urge to strangle Henry. "What the hell good are you then? It's a two man job. Two eyes on the prize and two on any dangers. If we're adding another pair the least you can do is help give me an edge, not do the job I'm paying Billy fifty grand already to do!"

"Oh, I'll shadow Franklin McCall, I'll be on him like white on rice. But the only information you'll get is if he intends to hurt you or Billy in any way. Other than that, I will not be any more complicit in a crime."

"Oh God," she shrank back. "You're not here trying to save my from myself, are you? 'Give up the life, go straight,' that sort of crap, are you? I have to warn you, I body check Hare Krishna's at airports."

"Charming, but no. I try to live a good life, but I've made mistakes and they haunt me still. As glad as I am to hear you're retiring, that's not why I'm here." His gaze swept over her body and heated.

"Nice. All this because you want to fuck me." At her frank words he looked shocked and Kerry smugly felt control seep back in. "I'll make you a deal then. If I fuck you, here, now, will you pretend you've been called away on some little errand that will take you away from this entire affair, leaving the wifey alone to shop at the auction?"

She expected him to be shocked at the frank offer, but all Henry did was smile, lifting one corner of his mouth as he leaned closer to her. Kerry shrank back into her chair but there wasn't enough padding to move far.

"Oh, I'll fuck you, Kerry. Not right here, not right now. But soon. I will fuck you until you can't walk straight, I will fuck you in every possible position, every possible manner until you know the extreme limits of your pleasure. But I am not leaving this estate."

"Cocky, aren't you?" She tried for brave but it came out breathy.

His eyes softened into liquid chocolate. "Just experienced enough to know these things. I did not come here just to fuck you, though I admit that is a delicious sideline I know we both anticipate.

"Now, McCall will not be joining the group for dinner, so you and I will. Go and change into something elegant and subtle."

She scurried away and ran around the table, aware his eyes followed her as she grasped the French doors of the bedroom. Stopping, she turned. "If it wasn't the sex that brought you here, what the devil did?"

"When you're aroused did you realize your accent gets stronger? If you're playing an American going to have to watch that."

Frustrated, she growled, and slammed the doors shut.

***

Henry knocked on Billy's door and warned him dinner was in forty-five minutes. He would just add a tie before heading down, so Henry had down time. He went to the small bar tray and poured himself a whiskey, watering it. He couldn't afford to get drunk, or lose control. God only knew Kerry threatened to shred his control.

Why had he agreed to do this?

Oh, at first had been that sweet little ass in that tight skirt, those long, long legs, those big blue eyes. When Georges had asked him to help her, that had been the first thought on his mind. But then he'd read the damn dossier filled with little personal notes on Kerry, written by Georges himself who clearly loved her.

It was, he suspected, the white knight instinct. With that realization he wanted to hurl the glass into the wall, but forced himself to calmly finish the drink and set it down. There it was, the real reason. For ten years Cynthia, his first love, had been out in the world alone, and scared, or so he'd thought. He'd built his life around playing white knight. Hell, Sharon had left him because of that, because if there was any woman alive who didn't need a white knight, it was Sharon Meyers. And then Cynthia had come home with her own knight. Jonathon's armor wasn't white, but the mercenary was a far better rescuer than Henry had been.

He'd always seen himself that way. And now he got to live out his fantasy.

The door opened revealing Kerry in a little black dress that looked painted on. The sweetheart neckline followed the curve of her large breasts pushed up to their limits by some canny bra. The skirt was just short of decent, but thick black pantyhose covered that, and once more she wore high heels designed to make a man crawl and beg. Or conquer and claim.

Okay, maybe he'd get to live out a few fantasies before this was over. Then again, from the glare she shot him, Henry knew he'd have to work for it. Somehow, the first woman to refuse him in years heated his blood more than all the others who filled a nameless, faceless sea.

But he wouldn't give up. Kerry Allen was going to be his, and she was going to love every minute of it.

***

Curiously, none of the Dauphinee clan joined them for dinner. It was a collection of mostly elderly rich and titled, most of them French but a few fellow Brits, even one amusing Spaniard. Quite of a few of the older gents had wives much younger, but in a few cases that still left the trophy wives over forty. Two of the matrons had boy toys, even one who could have given Henry a run for his money.

She regarded him across the table from her. Even without a host there had been assigned seating designed to encourage mingling and she was between a French matron whose family was in manufacturing of some kind, and an ancient British lord who was as silly as the day was long. She had already forgotten their names, but not her emeralds nor his Tag Heuer watch.

Henry caught her steady gaze and raised his glass. Insufferable man, Kerry thought. Pretty men were always distracting, and plenty of the wives at the table and even the matron to Kerry's left were eyeing him with speculation and desire. Part of why Kerry avoided them was all too often such men knew their value and appeal and enjoyed selling themselves to the highest bidder. But Henry ignored them all, the only toe-curling looks he sent went her way, and damn but she wished she wasn't affected by them.

He was a strange man, and she couldn't get a handle on him. In her world she had to read people fast, and most people read like the menu at Denny's. Not Henry, he was confounding. From the way he spoke he was intelligent, far more so than most men of his looks. All she knew about him was Georges trusted him, he was a lawyer, he was American, and he couldn't be bought off, bribed, or threatened. And he wanted to fuck her senseless, and worse yet, she was tempted to let him.

Let him, ha! You're just afraid tonight you're going to rip his clothes off her conscience said smugly.

You're more afraid you can't control him like the others, and that you just might like that, another voice said, and she shook it off. If she started having a conversation with herself in different voices she might as well drive to the nearest nuthouse.

She was truly torn. Normally a cover on the job was a simple man to handle. If he wasn't in on it she could tease and deny with ease. If he was a regular player of the game then he understood abstinence to keep one's eyes on the prize, and so if there was any tension it was allowed to build until a one-time explosion after the grab.

Henry wasn't from her world and didn't understand the rules. Indeed, he seemed to be the type of man who made up his own anywhere he went. He caught her watching him and winked, and before Kerry could look away, she blushed.

"Nice young man you have there," the matron whispered to her. "Did he come with accessories or is he just decoration?"

"He's not for sale, if that's what you're asking," Kerry grumbled back and took a swig of wine gracelessly.

The brunette raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps a trade." She nodded to her own toy down near the foot of the table. Oh, he was pretty, and he watched Kerry with an intensity that promised a good time, but she felt nothing.

Casual sex was all she was built for, and the very essence of that was two people using one another. Treating someone as an object had never bothered her before, but now it did, mightily. "No," she said flatly to the matron. "A husband is not the same thing as a lover."

The matron laughed loudly, drawing notice from the table including Henry. If Kerry could have turned invisible in that moment, she would have, and the matron's eyes sparkled. "A love match then?" She leaned in close to whisper the words.

Kerry avoided Henry's dark eyes and did her best to fight the growing heat in her face. "Something like that."

"I meant no offense, dear. Most heiresses I meet are like me, jaded to say the least. I am Josephine Dumont."

"Diane Williams," Kerry said, thankfully remembering to give her false name.

"I suppose love does belong to the young and beautiful. I had it once. Lovely young man, died in the service. Since I cannot replace him, I just have fun."

Kerry nodded and tried to remember her role was an heiress, an aspiring master-of-the-castle. She had never had a problem playing a role before, but with Henry nearby her body was intensely aware of him and her mind was consistently drawn off conversation speculating on the night ahead of them.

She hadn't been this nervous around men except for her very first time, so many years ago. She'd been a shy virgin, all of sixteen, and her chosen lover had been a good one. The son of one of her mother's friends he had been experienced and considerate. All her fear had been in disappointing him, but it had turned out to be less than useless.

There, that was it. Kerry was a woman of the world, able to turn almost any man into putty in her hands. She would just do the same with Henry. He was an itch she could scratch, and scratch well. Tonight she would show him it was simple lust that seemed to possess them both, and once slaked they could focus on business.

"Sometimes fun is just what we need," Kerry said to Josephine, and raised her glass. Staring at Henry, she knew she would make him beg, plead, scream her name that night. In the morning Billy would tease, and Henry would realize she was no woman to bend to any man's will.

And, oh, what a sweet lesson it would be.

***

"You did well tonight," Henry said as he opened the door to their suite.

"And with that I'm off, luv. I'm going to do some recon, I'll be back in two hours."

"Two hours?" Kerry said, alarmed. Two hours alone with Henry was going to be a lot to handle. An hour, maybe half, that would be enough time for her to confidently handle him.

"Got to see to McCall, see what he's up to. He wasn't at dinner so I believe it's his recon night. I'm going to follow him and get some general security recon of my own."