Sweet Revenge

until I met you.”
    “Sorry.” She smiled. “It’s just a matter of willpower, after all.”
    “Oh, I have it.” His gaze skimmed down her, then up. “I’m using it up elsewhere. Now, my question is, why does a woman like you steal?”
    “It’s not stealing to take back what belongs to you.”
    “Madeline Moreau’s pendant didn’t belong to you.”
    If her control hadn’t been so well tuned, she’d have choked on the scotch. “What does one have to do with the other?”
    He blew smoke out thoughtfully as he watched her. She was no amateur, he thought, and a long way from being a novice. “Oh, you took them, Addy. Or you know who did. Does the name Rose Sparrow ring a bell?”
    She continued to sip, though her palms had broken into a sweat. “Should it?”
    “It was the skirt,” Philip mused. “It took me quite a while to put it together. You’re a distraction. But when I visited our mutual friend, Freddie, he mentioned Rose, described her. And I remembered that little blue leather skirt you were packing. The one that was so unlike your usual style.”
    “If you’re going to talk in circles, I really have to go. I haven’t had any sleep.”
    “Sit down.”
    She wouldn’t have obeyed, but the sharp snap of his voice warned her it would be less complicated if she did. “If I read you correctly, you’ve somehow gotten it into your head that I had something to do with Madeline’s burglary.” Setting the scotch aside, she ordered her shoulders to relax. “I can only ask you, why would I? I hardly need the money.”
    “It’s not a matter of need, but of motive.”
    The pulse in her throat was beating uncomfortably. Sheignored it and kept her eyes steadily in contact with his. “What are you, a Scotland Yard man?”
    With a laugh he tapped his cigarette out. “Not precisely. You’ve heard the adage it takes a thief to catch a thief?”
    When the bell rang, it rang loud and clear. She’d heard talk of the legendary thief known only as P.C. He was reputed to be charming, ruthless, and the master of second-story work. He specialized in jewels. Some said he’d stolen the Wellingford diamond, a seventy-five-carat stone of the first water. Then he’d retired. Adrianne had always pictured an older man, a cunning veteran. She picked up the scotch again.
    It was ironic that she was at last in the company of one of her own, and the best, yet she wasn’t free to talk shop.
    “Is that your way of telling me you’re a thief?”
    “Was.”
    “Fascinating. Then I suppose you might have taken Madeline’s pendant.”
    “A few years ago I would have. The point is, you had a hand in it, Addy, and I want to know why.”
    She rose, swirling the inch of scotch left in the glass. “Philip, if for some insane reason I had a part in taking it, it wouldn’t be any of your business.”
    “Your title doesn’t mean a damn here, between the two of us, nor do social graces. Either you tell me, or you tell my superiors.”
    “Who are?”
    “I work for Interpol.” He watched her lift the scotch to her lips and drain it. “They’ve tied several burglaries during almost a decade to one man, one very elusive man. The Moreau sapphire is just the last of a very long list.”
    “Interesting. But what does it have to do with me?”
    “We can set up a meeting. I might be able to work a deal and keep you out of it.”
    “That’s very gallant,” she said as she set the glass aside. “Or would be if you were right.” Though she knew how close the edge was, still she smiled confidently. “Can you imagine how amused my friends would be if I told them I’d been accused of being involved with a thief? I could dine off it for weeks.”
    “Dammit, can’t you see I’m trying to help you?” He wasup quickly, his hands on her arms, shaking her. “There’s no reason for the act with me. There’s no one else here, no need for pretense. I saw you outside of your hotel on the night of the robbery, dressed all in black, sneaking in the service entrance. I know you had something to do with seeing the jewels were fenced. You’re involved in this, Addy. I was in the business, for Christ’s sake. I know how it works.”
    “You have nothing solid to take to your superiors.”
    “Not yet. It’s only a matter of time. No one knows better how high the odds become after a few years. If you’re in trouble, if you’ve had to sell a few baubles to save face, I’ve got no reason to embarrass you by making it