Always a Thief - Kay Hooper [25]
“Even if he didn't connect you with the museum, he has to suspect a trap.”
“Probably. I would.” Without waiting for a response to that, Quinn added, “The collection is being set up in the museum now, so there are armed guards everywhere around the clock; no thief in his right mind would try to go after it until the exhibit opens to the public.”
“Can we assume Nightshade is in his right mind?”
“We can assume he's not stupid. I don't believe he'd try for the collection now with all the security so visible. He'll wait, until the museum has to accommodate the public, has to reduce the number of guards and rely on electronic security. That's when it's most vulnerable.
“We have the by-invitation-only private showing next Friday, and then the exhibit opens to the public on Saturday. I think we both agree that the sooner we lure Nightshade into the trap, the better. If we let him, he could well wait for the next two months and make his move when we've relaxed our guard.”
“I'd rather not have to haunt the museum for the next two months,” Jared said politely. “The sooner we wrap this up, the happier I'll be.”
“Yes, I imagine you're pretty fed up with having to be my watchdog.”
“It isn't my favorite job, I admit.”
Curiously, Quinn asked, “Because you don't like being a watchdog, or because it's me?”
Jared drew a breath and let it out slowly. “Let's not go there, okay?”
Quinn hadn't kept himself alive and at large for ten years without learning when it was safer to back off. So he backed off. “Right. Look, I don't see that I can learn anything more by using the methods I've been using so far. With the collection out of the vaults, the stakes have just shot sky-high.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning I can no longer afford to be cautious.”
“You're saying you've been acting cautiously all this time?”
“Of course.”
“Could have fooled me.”
Quinn could have said that he had, in fact, fooled his brother, but instead said, “Oh, I'm always careful.”
That solemn statement was so wide of the mark that Jared could only shake his head. “Sure you are.”
“I am. And I plan to be very, very careful during the next step of my plan.”
“Which is?” Jared inquired somewhat warily.
“Well, hunting by night hasn't earned me much except a bullet. I think it's time I tried a more direct approach.”
Jared sighed. “I've got a feeling I won't like this.”
“No, probably not.” Quinn's even, white teeth showed in a sudden grin. “But I will.”
CHAPTER
FIVE
“May I have this dance?”
Morgan West would have known the voice anywhere, even here in a Sea Cliff mansion in the middle of an elegant, black-tie party. Rather numbly, she looked up to meet the laughing green eyes of the most famous—and infamous—cat burglar in the world.
Quinn.
He was dressed for the party, a handsome heartbreaker in his stark black dinner jacket. His fair hair gleamed as he bowed very slightly with exquisite grace before her, and Morgan knew without doubt that at least half the female eyes in the crowded ballroom were fixed on him.
The other half just hadn't seen him yet.
“Oh, Christ,” she murmured.
Quinn lifted her drink from her hand and set it on a nearby table. “As I believe I told you once before, Morgana—not nearly,” he said nonchalantly.
As he led her out onto the dance floor, Morgan told herself she certainly didn't want to make a scene. That was why she wasn't resisting him, of course. And it was also why she fixed a pleasantly noncommittal smile on her face despite the fact that her heart was going like a trip-hammer.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded in a low, fierce voice.
“I'm dancing with the most beautiful woman in the room,” he replied, suiting action to words as he drew her into his arms and began moving to the music, which was slow and dreamy.
Morgan refused to be flattered, and she kept her arms too stiff to allow him to pull her as close as he obviously wanted to. She was wearing a nearly backless black evening gown,