Read The Family Jewels for Free Online

disappointed. “I've pieced together a lot of things about you but I hadn't marked you for a coward."
    He’d made her nervous as hell, but nothing else he'd said had gotten her back up until now, and she jerked back to glare at him.
    "You don't know me at all, and unless you want to carry your balls home in a doggy bag, you should refrain from calling me a coward again. Good sir," she added with a sweet smile. Any attempt at an accent had totally shit the bed by then, but she didn’t care anymore. She was a lot of things, but she was nobody's coward. That topped the list of the worst things one person could call another.
    To her surprise, the light in his eyes dimmed and he nodded. "Absolutely right, lass. I apologize. But if I'm to give you the benefit of the doubt, maybe you could give me just a little taste. A hint of the truth. If you tell me one true thing about you, I'll let you walk out of here scot-free. I won’t call the cops and won't say a word to anyone about your identity. You have my word as a gentleman on that."
    Oddly enough, she had the feeling that meant something to him. She'd made a living reading people, and something told her this man's word meant as much to him as her lack of cowardice meant to her.
    Could she tell him some vague detail that would lead to him letting her go? There was no question that, if he chose to, he could send the whole thing tumbling down. She hadn't committed a crime --yet-- but having to explain why she’d pretended to be a Countess who didn't actually exist and lied to Alistair would make things very sticky and bring attention her way that she definitely didn't need. Worse, it would render these past few weeks useless. If making a deal with this Irishman was the only way to move forward, she would do it.
    Time to get her Rumpelstiltskin working.
    "All right. So I tell you one true thing, any thing, you let me walk out. No cops, and you swear not to rat me out to Alistair. Have I got that exactly right?"
    He inclined his head, his grin lighting his gray eyes to the color of heated mercury. "That's the deal, lass." He twirled her toward one of the empty balconies. “And if you dig deep and tell me something good, I might even let you kiss me.”
    "What makes you think I want to kiss you?" she asked, her throat going so tight, the words came out on a choked gasp. Not what one would hope when trying to convince a man she wasn't interested. It didn’t help that her heart was pounding so hard he could’ve heard it from five yards away.
    "I don't think it, lass." He dipped her backward over his arm and flashed that dimple. "I know it."
    He couldn’t be more right. And if he kissed her, she knew she’d be lost.
    She took a quick look over her shoulder, panic threatening to drag her under. If she didn’t get away from him, she was liable to do something even more stupid than she was about to do.
    She pressed her hands to his chest until he straightened, pulling her up with him.
    "Okay, then. One true thing about tonight." She rolled up onto her tiptoes and whispered into his ear, "I'm not wearing any underwear.”
    The shock-value of her words was enough to make him slacken his grip and, the second he did, she wrenched herself from his grasp.
    Then, with a wriggle of her fingers and a silent prayer, she dropped, ass-first off the balcony.

4
    S adie the Countess Waitress had jumped two stories into a row of blooming hydrangeas to escape him.
    Unreal.
    He’d had time to sleep on it and reflect, but still couldn’t quite wrap his head around it. At first, he didn’t know what she was about. She’d backed them up to the low railing, giving him a come hither smile, and he thought he might actually get that kiss.
    Then, swoosh . Right over the bloody side.
    Heart in his throat, he’d made a lunge for her, but she was already half the distance to the ground from the second story. He slumped in relief when she landed like a pro --aside from the muffled oof -- and rolled to her