Gabriel shrugged. “Couldn't say, Colonel. Just told me to fetch you.”
Julian drained his glass and pushed back his chair.
“You'll excuse me, gentlemen. Mustn't keep a lady waiting.” His tone was sarcastic, and Gabriel frowned.
“You wouldn't be insulting the bairn, now, would you, Colonel?”
“That creature you persist upon calling 'little girl,' Gabriel, is a devious little devil,” Julian declared roundly. “And if you want to pick a fight with me over that description, then I suggest we go outside.”
There was a tense moment of silence; then Gabriel's laugh boomed through the room, setting the china shivering. “Och, I don't think I'll be quarrelling with you, man. Shall we be off now?”
Julian nodded, sketched a bow to his dinner companions, and followed Gabriel out of the room, Sanderson and his cohorts falling in behind them.
“So has she explained this mad scheme to you as yet?” Julian asked as they strode through the lamplit streets of Elvas.
“Not yet,” Gabriel replied placidly. “She'll tell me in her own sweet time.”
“And you're not curious?”
Gabriel shook his head. “I go where she goes.” They reached the cottage, and Julian hesitated in the tiny hall, hearing the chatter of the older women from the kitchen. “So where is she?”
“Upstairs, I believe,” Gabriel replied. “I'm off to smoke my pipe in the garden.” He disappeared through the kitchen door, closing it firmly behind him.
Julian swore softly. Tamsyn was up to her tricks again, he was sure of it. He looked up the narrow wooden staircase, then, with an impatient shake of his head, strode up, knocking sharply on the door at the top. A low voice bade him enter, and he pushed the door open.
He stopped on the threshold, stunned and disbelieving. Milky starlight fell from the small round window onto an Aladdin's cave. Chests stood open on the floor, spilling their contents: glowing silks, rich velvets, the deep green of emeralds, the bright white of diamonds, the dark, luminous red of rubies, sea-green aquamarines, brilliant turquoises.
As he stood and stared incredulously, a low laugh came from the narrow cot. He swung his head slowly toward the bed and for a moment thought he was in the middle of some crazy dream worthy of a bedlamite.
Gold covered the cot, but not just the cot. It covered the body of La Violette. Gold coins of every currency, glittering in the moonlight, shifting against her pale skin as she breathed.
''Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” he whispered. “What in the name of grace are you doing?”
“Choose something,” she said, without moving from the bed. “You're entitled to compensation for the arduous task I've inflicted upon you.”
Anger flashed through him, a crimson surge. “You're offering me payment?” he demanded, unable to believe what he was hearing.
“Compensation,” Tamsyn murmured. “Look around. See what takes your fancy.” Her body moved slightly, and the gold coins that clothed her chinked faintly.
“You dare to offer me robber's gold?” He strode to the bed, his eyes black with anger. “Of all the insulting-”
“Don't jump to conclusions,” she interrupted, smiling, her eyes as luminous as any of the jewels in the caskets. Only her face remained uncovered, and he found his eyes slowly traveling down her body, fascinated by the hillocks of gold shaped by her breasts, by the small rosy crowns peeping through their covering. Gold clustered in the concave hollow of her belly, an emerald peeped shyly from her navel, ducats lay in overlapping circles along her thighs, and each toenail carried a burnished doubloon.
“There's more than one kind of treasure on offer,” she murmured. “Reject the gold and see what's below it. Maybe something there will appeal.” Very delicately she moved her legs apart and the bright fire of a diamond flashed in the starlight, brilliant against the dull glister of gold.
“You… you…” There were no words. He gazed down into the dark, rich furrow of her body where diamonds beckoned in mischievous, wicked invitation.
Slowly, he dropped to his knees beside the bed and carefully brushed coins off her breasts with a delicate fingertip, revealing the soft, pale swell. He bent his head, flicking the erect nipples with his tongue, tasting the warm sweetness of her skin mingling with the faintly metallic residue of gold.
Tamsyn lay perfectly still as, in silence, he revealed her body with slow deliberation, coin by coin, arranging them in neat piles on the floor beside him. And as he bared each circle of skin, his lips branded the flesh.
Lying still became increasingly difficult. She'd expected him to sweep the coins from her body in a surge of passion, half-angry, half-desirous. But this exquisitely slow exposure set every nerve ending a tingle, brought a soft flush to her skin in the wake of his burning kisses, sent the blood racing through her veins.
He left the emerald in her navel as he continued over her belly, his tongue trailing fire over her damp skin. Slowly, he revealed her thighs, her calves, bared her feet, taking each little pink toe into his mouth in turn, stroking the soles of her feet with his tongue until finally she wriggled with a soft moan of half-hearted protest at the tickling.
Julian looked along her length, holding her feet in both hands. The diamonds winked at him from the dark, moist cleft of her body.
“Sorceress,” he said softly. It was the first word that had been spoken in the small jewel-encrusted chamber for many minutes.
He rose from his knees, and she turned her head to watch him as he bent over one of the caskets, running gems through his fingers, selecting, discarding. He turned back to the bed with a handful of necklaces, bracelets, and single stones. Kneeling beside her again, he began to adorn her body, an intent expression in his eyes. He fastened bracelets at her wrists and ankles, an opalescent string of pearls around her neck. He slipped a gold chain studded with emeralds beneath her and fastened it around her waist, another to encircle her breasts.
Then he stood back and surveyed his handiwork, a tiny smile playing over his mouth. He looked down at the smooth diamond he held in his palm, and the smile spread to his eyes. “Turn over.” His voice was a rich sensual throb. “But be very careful.”
Tamsyn eased herself onto her stomach, and the belt of emeralds and gold pressed into the skin of her belly, cool and hard against her heated flesh.
Julian leaned over her prone form, and her skin rippled beneath the edge of the diamond as he drew it down her back, tracing the sharp lines of her shoulder blades, the delineation of her ribs, the bony column of her spine. Her toes curled into the mattress as the stone scribbled in the small of her back and then moved over her buttocks, slowly outlining their curves, before he parted the soft folds of flesh and planted the gem in the diamond garden between her thighs.
Tamsyn drew a swift, almost startled, breath, then smiled to herself This was a lover who could meet and match any fantasy. But still she said nothing. As Julian straightened, she turned over again, careful not to disturb the garden, her eyes still rivalling the rich decorations of her body.
She watched hungrily while he undressed as if he had all the time in the world, as if he was not on fire for her as she was for him. When he stood naked, she gazed with unabashed greed at the power in his aroused body and raised her arms to him.
He leaned over her, taking her mouth with his, and there was a fierce assertion in this kiss, his tongue plundering the warm, sweet cavern of her mouth. She reached her arms around his neck, her lips parted for this driving possession, opening herself to him.
Finally he drew back, his eyes predatory, sharp-edged with needy desire. Slowly he drew his hands down her body, playing with the chains and the stones that encircled her. And finally, slowly, he drew her thighs apart, revealing the secret places of her body and the treasure they kept.
“And now, treasure trove,” he said quietly.