Sweet Revenge

for him as he rose from the bed. “Philip, it is nothing. He has the right—”
    “No.” He pulled away from her hands. “No, by God, he doesn’t.”
    “Here he does.” She was speaking quickly, blocking his way to the door. Passion threaded through the voice she didn’t dare raise. “His rules, remember? It’s just as you said yourself.”
    “Not when they include putting marks on you.”
    “Bruises fade, Philip, but if you walk out that door and do what I see in your eyes you intend to do, it’s over for both of us. There are better ways to avenge your honor, and mine. Please.” She lifted a hand to touch his face, but he turned away.
    “Give me a minute.” She was right. He knew she was right. He’d always been able to think of the game logically, but he’d never experienced this surge of violence. He hadn’t known until this moment that he had the capacity to kill. Or that he might enjoy it.
    He turned to see her standing in a pool of candlelight, her hands clenched together, her eyes wide and dark. “He won’t hurt you again.”
    The air she’d been holding tumbled out between her lips. He was Philip again. “He can’t. Not where it matters.”
    He crossed to her to run a thumb lightly over the bruise. “Not in any way.” He brushed a kiss over her forehead, then one on her lips. “I love you, Addy.”
    “Philip.” She held on to him, her cheek pressed against his shoulder. “You mean more to me than anyone ever has.”
    He ran a hand down her hair and tried to take it lightly. It was the closest she’d come to giving him the three small words he’d discovered he needed. “I’ve been into the vault room.” When she started to pull back, he just held her tighter. “Don’t harangue me, Addy. It’s boring. The setups precisely as we discussed, but I think we’d be better off if we both could take a close look. As to the key—”
    “The dummy key I had made up will have to do. It can be filed and adjusted once we need it.”
    “I’d feel better if we took care of that ahead of time.” Hestepped back, knowing that with Adrianne, this would be tricky ground. “If you’ll let me have it, I can take it in, say tomorrow night, and deal with that end.”
    She thought about it.
“We’ll
go in tomorrow night and deal with that end.”
    “There’s no need for both of us to be there.”
    “Fine. I’ll take care of it.”
    “You’re being hardheaded, Addy.”
    “Yes. There’s no part of this job I intend to be excluded from. Adjusting the key ahead of time makes sense. At least the preliminary adjustments. We do it together, or I do it alone.”
    “Your way, then.” He touched a fingertip to the mark on her cheek again. “There’ll come a time when you won’t always have things your way.”
    “Maybe. In the meantime, I’ve given some thought to our wedding night.”
    “Have you?” With a grin he hooked a finger in the top of her nightshirt and pulled her to him.
    “There’s that, too, but I have my priorities.”
    “Which are?”
    “As it works out, there couldn’t be a more perfect night to take the necklace.”
    “Business before pleasure? You trample my ego, Addy.”
    “You have no idea how long, how tiring, or how boring wedding ceremonies are here. It’ll take hours, and everyone will eat themselves into a stupor. Then we’ll be given total privacy. No one would think of disturbing us. Within a day, two at the most, we can leave without anyone being offended.”
    “I’d say it’s a pity you’re not more romantic, but it makes sense. And I suppose it’s fitting that two thieves spend their first night of marriage stealing.”
    “Not just stealing, Philip. Stealing a legend.” She kissed him quickly, then started for the door. “Now, you’ve got to go. It’s dangerous for you here. If everything goes well, I’ll meet you in the vault room at three-thirty tomorrow morning.”
    “Shall we synchronize our watches?”
    “I don’t think that’s necessary.”
    “This is.” Before she could open the door to check the hallways, he swept her into his arms. “If I’m going to risk my head, it’s going to be for more than talk.” He carried her back to the bed.

Chapter Twenty-Four
    “You will be a beautiful bride,” Dagmar, the couturiere who had been flown in from Paris, draped white satin over Adrianne’s shoulders. “Few women can wear pure white well. More lace here.” She pinned, hunching down, as she was a half foot taller than