‘I had thought it her most treasured possession . . .’
‘Which, I suppose, is why she made a gift of it to me. Is it then too much, John? Is that what you are saying? Will it not be well received?’
No, it was not what he was saying. He could not say what he was thinking. A cloud passed and the light of the sun suddenly lit up the room, catching the dazzling brilliance of the stone so that he had to turn his eyes away from its glare. He felt a deep sadness sucking him down. Whatever the truth was, he no longer wished to know it. Oswald Redd, dead, Nicholas Giltspur, dead, Abraham Sorbus, dead. Like one of Drake’s galleons, she left a trail of wreckage in her wake. He no longer wished to be part of her detritus.
He shook his head. Kat lose her ambition? A lioness might as well lose its taste for meat. ‘You must decide about the diamond. I cannot say.’
Her eyes narrowed, sensing his disapproval, and he suddenly regretted his censorious reaction. Whatever the truth about the diamond, it was not the full story. She had almost sacrificed her life in an attempt to save her friend Sorbus. The human heart was a strange thing; did God Himself understand His creation? He moved forward under the benign gaze of Severin Tort and embraced the woman he had once loved. He kissed her. Farewell.