Into Temptation

Chattering voices over the smooth strains of classical music soon faded, yielding to the muted silence of an after-hours museum. Glancing at his watch, he pushed open the restroom door and entered a foyer decorated in the fashion of a gentleman’s drawing room. Joshua peered around the corner to confirm he was alone then retrieved his cell phone from a jacket pocket. He depressed a series of numbers.

The ring tone sounded only once before a gravel-voiced man picked up and asked, “You’re on schedule?”

“Yes. What about you?”

“No problems.”

“Good. Three minutes.”

Joshua severed the connection, depressed another button to activate the vibrating ringer and swapped the phone for a pair of black gloves. After donning them, he withdrew a small electronic device from his pocket and cracked the restroom door again. He glanced into the hallway to find it empty, although voices carried from the nearby ladies’ room.

Moving quickly past, Joshua raised the digital imaging device above his head and paused long enough to capture a shot of the dim hall leading to a stairwell exit.

The security monitor was positioned in the upper south corner of the ceiling, and he stopped directly beneath the camera to remain out of range.

It was a trick to balance with a foot on the narrow baseboard and the other bracing the wall, but even at six foot two, he couldn’t easily make the stretch to the ceiling. Slipping the captured image in front of the camera lens with a practiced move, he pressed down to activate the adhesive and secure the device to the crown molding.

And shut down the live feed. Until he removed the device, the security monitors on the basement level would show only the captured image of the empty hall, leaving him free to move to the stairway without detection.

He hoped this device was an unnecessary precaution. He’d arranged for tonight’s contact to bypass this security zone. But Joshua didn’t trust his fate to any man, and the idea of a camera documenting his travels into places that would raise questions wasn’t a risk he would take.

He trusted his fate to no one.

Not that tonight’s business associate presented a significant risk. This career police officer had more to lose than Joshua. In fact, until their business, this officer had been an upstanding citizen with an exemplary career record.

Unfortunately, no man was perfect, and Joshua had built a career out of uncovering other men’s imperfections.

Shaking off the thought, he moved quietly toward the exit at the end of the hall and slid through the doorway as he heard the ladies’-room door hiss open.

The third-floor stairwell was empty, but he waited until footsteps echoed below before beginning his descent. Joshua couldn’t remember exactly when he’d gotten so cautious, but cautious he’d become. Pausing in the shadows, he waited for his contact to appear for a visual verification.

There he was.

Dressed for tonight’s stint as a rent-a-cop, the man’s neatly pressed NYPD uniform fit snugly on his thick shoulders and barrel chest.

“Any problems?” Joshua descended the last few steps.

The officer shook his head. “We’re covered. I disarmed the sector. You brought the reports?”

Joshua ignored the question. “Let’s see the amulet.”

The man reached inside his pocket and withdrew a box.

Joshua had seen an auction-house photo of the White Star while researching this job. He’d thought the ivory amulet plain for Henri, who usually had an eye for more spectacular pieces. But the allure was the amulet’s legend, which prophesied love for the pure of heart and a cursed future for all else.

Joshua didn’t believe in curses, or in any luck except what he made for himself, but as he weighed the amulet in his palm, the ivory felt warm, somehow alive. He wondered if he imagined the sensation or if the police officer had noticed, too.

This NYPD veteran had bought his way out of an indiscretion on the vice squad about three years back. Joshua had uncovered this indiscretion and blackmailed the man into removing the amulet from the precinct property room. Then he’d arranged for immediate delivery. So far everything had gone according to plan. Not that he thought the officer would have had second thoughts about keeping the amulet.

The officer’s one indiscretion in an otherwise exemplary career hadn’t been hard to figure out—a substantial drug bust had gone down around the time the officer had been sending his twin daughters off to college: one at Yale, the other at Vassar.

Joshua suspected that facing Ivy League financial commitments on a policeman’s salary would have the noblest of men thinking twice about taking the high road when a windfall of drugs had fallen into his path.

That’s what had made this officer invaluable. He wasn’t a criminal, but a good guy who’d made a mistake. That distinction meant he could be manipulated.

But the officer’s luck wasn’t all bad. Joshua played fair. One unsupervised visit to a precinct property room, a stolen amulet and a meet on a museum stairwell, and the officer could go back to his wife and second mortgage with no one the wiser.

As Joshua turned the amulet over, he knew he’d chosen his target well—the officer was more interested in covering up a mistake than profiting by it.

Setting the White Star back inside the box, Joshua extracted a sheaf of papers from his inside jacket pocket. He waited while the officer skimmed the documents before asking, “You’re satisfied?”

“If I could trust I won’t see copies of these again.”

“I’m not interested in you, and the people I represent don’t know who you are. Those documents are payment for services rendered. No more or less.”

The man inclined his head in grudging acceptance. Joshua knew the officer didn’t believe him and wondered if it mattered.

Guilt only plagued men capable of feeling it.

Without a backward glance, Joshua took the stairs two at a time and paused with his ear to the door, listening for sounds from the restrooms, hearing nothing. He cracked the door and peered down the hallway in both directions to find it empty.

Edging the door wider, he slipped through then eased the door shut behind him. It wasn’t until he’d taken a step into the hall that he heard a soft laugh.

Spinning toward the sound, he watched the lady in white emerge from another doorway.

She was smiling.

2

“WELL HELLO, beautiful,” Joshua said coolly, no trace of surprise in his voice. “Lose your way?”

She shook her head, a sultry move that drew his gaze to her pouty mouth, the impudent tilt of her chin. Though the dim light cast her in shadow, he could see humor flash in her gaze. “I wanted to catch you coming out of the loo.”

British, Joshua thought, which could explain why he’d picked her out of an American crowd. But nationality didn’t explain why she was waiting behind the exit door when the restrooms were down the hall. His instincts went wild. He wasn’t used to being caught by surprise.

“To what do I owe this pleasure?” he asked.

Whatever else this encounter might prove to be, it was a pleasure. Just seeing this woman up close meant admiring the way she leaned back against the wall, that dress hugging her curves with delectable precision. A long slit left her leg exposed from the knee, and he glanced down the length of shapely calf and ankle to a sandal that showcased a delicate foot.

“It seemed a crime to admire a sculpture of Eros when I was starved for good company.” She exhaled a sigh that managed to shoot his already-rushing adrenaline into the red zone.

“Old Jeff wasn’t filling the bill?”

“So you noticed me? I’d hoped you did, but to answer your question…no. Mr. Corporate Yank didn’t impress me nearly as much as he seemed to impress himself with his assets and company’s ranking on the stock exchange.”

Joshua laughed, deciding right then and there he wanted to continue this conversation. Unfortunately, he wasn’t free just yet. He would have to extricate himself from this lovely lady to remove the digital imaging device.

Leaving the device behind wasn’t an option. Once the night generator shifted on, security would notice when this hallway’s lighting didn’t change. They’d investigate. While the device couldn’t be traced, museum security procedure would demand that every guest involved in tonight’s gala be questioned.