Free Played by Barbara Freethy Page A

her neck. She didn’t know why he had to be so close. She forced herself to concentrate on the task at hand. “The clasp must not have been hooked properly.”
    “You would have thought someone would have made sure it was,” J.T. replied.
    She moved the stone under the scope. She would normally conduct a lengthy examination, but today she didn’t have time for more than the basics. They had a reporter and photographer coming for a photo shoot at ten. As she looked at the stone, she reviewed the diamond’s culet and girdle thickness along with polish and symmetry, also checking for indicators of diamond treatments or synthetics, then compared them to the statistics listed on the initial report. She reviewed the diamond’s brightness, fire, sparkle and pattern, weight ratio and durability as well.
    Everything seemed to match…but something bothered her.
    “May I, signorina?” Stefano asked.
    She looked up and saw the eagerness in his eyes. Just behind him, Alexis gave a nod of approval, so Christina stepped aside. No one spoke as Stefano studied the stone. She grew uneasy as his review went on for several minutes. Was something wrong? He seemed to be taking a long time to reassure himself that everything was fine. And while he might not be interested in the stone’s history, he appeared to be educated enough to know how to study a gem for evaluation purposes.
    Finally, he nodded and stepped away. “Grazie.” He turned to Alexis. “I’d like to run through the rest of the collection now.”
    “It’s in the other room,” Alexis said with a relieved smile. “I’ll take you.” She paused at the door. “Christina, I’ll see you in the gallery for the photo shoot.”
    As Alexis and Stefano left the room, Christina turned to David. “You can go, too. I’ll just finish up my notes.”
    David appeared disappointed. “Are you sure you don’t need my help?”
    “I’m fine. Thanks.” When David left the lab, she was alone with J.T. “Don’t you have something else to do? Weren’t you going to track down Michael Torrance or Professor Keaton?”
    “I’m working on that.”
    “Really? How are you working on that if you’re standing here with me?”
    He smiled. “Don’t worry about it. And stop trying to get rid of me. I might start to wonder why you want to be in this room alone with the diamond.”
    “There are two guards outside the door, and no other escape routes.”
    “I noticed.”
    She sighed. “Fine, if you want to stand there and watch, go ahead. I must say I thought FBI agents led more exciting lives.”
    “Sarcasm will not get rid of me. I have a very thick skin. So is this diamond really worth fifteen million dollars?” J.T. asked.
    “It’s worth whatever anyone will pay for it.”
    “But you expect to get something in that range?”
    “Yes. There are only a limited number of colored diamonds in existence, especially of this size. It’s one of a kind.”
    “And it’s been sitting in some family vault for a hundred years?”
    “That’s as much as I know.”
    “Seems you’d want to know more before you sold it. Isn’t there some danger that the claims of ownership are fraudulent?”
    “Not in this case. The Benedettis provided ample proof of ownership.” She met his gaze head-on. “There have been a few scandals over the years, but not at Barclay’s. Our house has an impeccable reputation, and it’s going to stay that way.” She took another look through the scope. She wanted to get rid of any lingering doubts about the diamond’s authenticity. If the diamond was a copy, it was excellent, a perfect match, right down to the flaws. Or was it? Her heart began to race.
    She wanted to read through the report again. She wanted to move back and forth between the scope and the computer screen, but she didn’t want to raise J.T.’s suspicions. If she implied that there was anything wrong with the diamond, he would be all over her. He’d suggest that she’d switched it with the