‘Let’s just say that my schedule is currently wide open.’
‘You’re out of work?’
She smiled. ‘I’ve just sold my business, actually. So when you asked me to come here, it was quite a relief to have something to do.’
‘You’d rather be working?’
‘I’dmuchrather be working,’ she said, pausing as their drinks arrived. ‘I’ve been working towards something for such a long time, with a goal in mind, and now that I’ve achieved it, I miss it.’
‘I understand. I would be the same if I didn’t have my work.’ Luca held up his glass. ‘To the sapphire that brought you to Geneva.’
She grinned. ‘To the sapphire.’And to meeting you. Sam was going to be beside herself when she told her that Luca was as charming as he was handsome.
‘Georgia, I don’t mean to be rude, it’s not my nature to ask questions—how do you say? To be nosy?’
She laughed. ‘You want to ask me how I came to be in possession of the sapphire.’
He smiled back at her. ‘I do. It’s all I can think about.’
‘Could you tell me first why you’re so interested in this particular stone? I’d love to know what made you start searching for it in the first place.’
He nodded, appearing relaxed even though she’d turned the questions on him.
‘I come from a family of jewellers and I recently took over the business from my father,’ Luca said, sitting back with his wine glass in his hand. ‘I’ve lived and breathed diamonds and fine jewels since I was a boy, growing up in the back of the shop and then working there to put myself through university when I was older.’
‘Did you join the business out of duty, or love?’ she asked.
‘Love,’ he responded, without hesitation. ‘I can’t imagine doing anything else.’
They sat in silence for a minute, and when Luca looked away, Georgia indulged in running her eyes across his profile, feeling as if the wine was going to her head as she studied him.
‘Our family is known for sourcing the best diamonds from all over the world, and making the finest pieces of jewellery, but my great-grandfather also spent much of his time finding rare and vintage pieces for some of his wealthiest clients.’
‘He was a curator of private collections?’
Luca nodded. ‘He was. And that is something else that has been passed down through the generations. Our family name opens doors that are closed to many, and I don’t say that to be pretentious. It is not we who invest, but our clients, who are some of the wealthiest Swiss, and we are known for having the right connections, and the right eye.’
‘So how did you end up with the tiara? Your family has held it for decades, is that right?’
‘We have. But we’ve held it on behalf.’
Georgia wasn’t certain she understood. ‘On behalf of who?’
‘My great-grandfather passed away suddenly, before he was able to share that information. All we know, all anyone in my family knows, is that we must protect it for its rightful owner.’
‘How will you know who that person is?’
‘My grandfather always said that he believed the rightful owner would have the missing sapphire.’
Georgia gulped. ‘So that person would have been my great-grandmother.’
‘Perhaps,’ Luca said. ‘Although we’d have to find out how she came to have it in the first place. We’d also have to contact the legal firm holding the letter that was stored with the tiara when it came into my family’s guardianship.’
‘A letter?’
‘Yes, a letter. But it’s still sealed and I haven’t personally seen it or who it’s addressed to. We’ll have to wait until Monday to find out.’
Georgia turned that over in her mind, imagining how it would feel to see her great-grandmother’s name on the envelope, if it was, and how she’d ever possibly figure out the link between her family and the stone, even if her great-grandmother had been given it lawfully. To think she might have stolen it, which would in turn mean she, Georgia, was in possession of stolen goods, was enough to make her stomach flip.
