Lie to Me (Pearl Island Trilogy #4)(37)

She puzzled over his reluctance to let her play Vortal as they crossed the loose sand. They settled into an easy pace on the harder surface close to the water’s edge where gentle waves chased the sandpipers back and forth. Considering how much the game meant to him, she thought he’d be eager to show it off to her. A warning niggled the back of her mind. Something wasn’t right.

She shook off the anxious feeling. Luc didn’t trip any other warning bells for her. Quite the opposite. Last night, he’d shown her more caring and respect than any man ever had before. Allowing him in, a little anyway, felt right.

Absently, she bent and picked up a shell. Dusting it off, she found it completely intact.

“Look.” She showed it to him. “A keeper.”

“Collect a lot of sea shells?”

“Among other things.” She slipped the shell into the pocket of her jacket. “You never know what you’ll find on the beach.”

She thought about telling him about the necklace she’d found a few years back. Really telling him about it. Not just the story about finding it, which anyone could learn from reading one of the articles about her discovery, but why it meant so much to her. She’d never confided all of it to anyone. Even in that one unguarded phone conversation with her mother, which had sparked Diane’s obsession about the necklace being a replacement for Marguerite’s good luck charm, she hadn’t confessed why the necklace meant so much to her. Diane wouldn’t have understood, but Luc might. He seemed to understand her in ways no one else did. Temptation tugged at her as she watched the wind play with his hair while the morning light kissed his face.

Feeling Chloe’s gaze, Luc looked sideways and found her studying him. Her expression said she wanted to tell him something, but couldn’t decide if she should.

“What?” he asked warily.

She bit her lip as emotion played in her eyes. She’d looked at him many times as if she liked him. This was something bigger, though.

Holy cow, was she falling for him?

He saw the moment she decided to tell him whatever was going through her mind. The hesitation vanished into a beguiling smile.

“Wanna know the best thing I ever found on the beach?”

What? The words caught him off guard, since they weren’t what he’d hoped for. Disappointment came first, followed by a cold trace of premonition down his spine. He willed his pulse to slow, willed his voice to stay calm. “What was it?”

“I found a necklace.” Excitement spread over her whole face. “A very special necklace.”

“Really?” he said lamely, wondering what to do. This could be good, he told himself. She was handing him the perfect opportunity to come clean. Should he say, Yes, I know?

“I found it just up the beach.” She took his hand before he could speak. “Here, I’ll show you where.”

Tugging him forward, she picked up their pace until the beach curved inland. Trees surrounded the area on three sides, providing a private sanctuary. She pulled him to a piece of driftwood large enough to serve as a bench.

“I found it right here.” She pointed to the area in front of the driftwood.

Dread crowded around him at her obvious joy. He’d already suspected the necklace meant a great deal to her. One look into her eyes confirmed that.

“It was just lying on the sand, winking in the sun,” she told him. “Actually, it’s more than just a necklace. The pendant is a frame, about the size of a silver dollar, that holds a small mirror. That isn’t what makes it special, though.”

“A mirror, yes, that’s interesting,” he managed, mentally scrambling. He should say interesting because—

“Very interesting, considering its age.” Her enthusiasm rolled over his words before he could get them out. “Experts think it may date back to the Thracians or the Byzantine Empire.”

“They’re not sure?” He felt a stab of disappointment since he’d always wondered about the necklace’s origin. Once, he’d looked into the mirror, and he’d seen what he thought was the face of the man who created it. Then the man had given the mirror to a woman standing beside him. To his frustration, Luc hadn’t been able to catch any clues to the time and place. “It would be cool to know where it came from.”

“Definitely,” Chloe agreed. “Especially because of the mirror inside the frame. Researchers carbon-dated the frame, and it was made before glass was supposedly invented. The historical significance of a glass mirror that old is huge.”

He wanted to tell her the mirror was far older than the frame. He’d seen that exchange too, when another man had given the mirror, clad in its new frame, to the woman he loved. She’d worn it as a cloak pin, a purpose it served for hundreds of years, until another man turned it into a necklace for the woman he loved. He’d tell her all of that, once he’d confessed everything. “It must have created quite a stir when you found it.”

“It did.” Amazement lit her face. “Well, not right away. I didn’t show it to anyone at first.”

“Why not?”

To his surprise, her joy dimmed a bit. Her gaze shifted as if she debated how much to tell him. “Well, at first I thought it was costume jewelry, so no big deal.”

She shrugged and looked away.

This was his chance. He opened his mouth, but then she glanced back. The uncertainty filling her eyes stopped him.