My gaze returned to the girl.
I inched my way to the other side of the stained glass panel that she was looking at and gazed at her through the colored glass. I was close. So close.
Her eyes, her nose, those lips. A few years older, yes, but… It’d been three years. Surely, she’d changed, matured… grown up. Her fashion sense was more refined.
While in my mind’s eye I still saw her as she had been the last time I’d been with her, it was quite possible that she had grown to be a sophisticated woman who travelled the world.
Why not?
I maintained eye contact, willing her to look at me. I knew it was useless. Even if it was her, she wouldn’t remember me. She didn’t remember anything.
But the hope was still there. Even though I had put aside all hopes of her ever regaining her memory, somewhere, tucked away in the recess of my mind was the hope that it would.
Chapter 3
Dante Black/Parker James
As she and the Nat lookalike walked on, I tried to push myself to concentrate on what I’d come to do. This wild goose chase was all good and well, but I had a job to do. I looked around for Stanley, or Claire, or Worth, or…
They headed to the jewelry exhibit and I had to follow. Damn it. I just couldn’t help myself. Summer walked from one display to another, pointing and smiling as she looked at the exquisite pieces.
As she gazed upon a diamond tiara, I came up beside her. If nothing, I at least wanted to hear the sound of her voice.
But she spoke softly, her voice meant only for that Nat lookalike beside her.
What of her name? I suddenly thought.
If nothing else, her name should still be the same. Just call out to her. Say her name.
Summer.
Say it.
“Summer,” I whispered inaudibly.
I was feeling silly, like a kid all over again. Like a kindergartener with his first crush. Like an inexperienced teen on a first date.
Damn.
Steeling myself, I walked up to her, my heart pounding and my fists clenched as I intended to finally face her.
But a loud alarm rang, startling everyone.
“Stop him,” a woman cried from beside a broken display. “Stop him!”
“What’s going on?” an older couple murmured to one another.
“He’s got the diamonds and turquoise,” the woman screamed. “He has the queen’s necklace.”
Shit, I thought as the thief came running toward me. I could easily jump him. I could put a stop to this right now.
But if I stopped him, if I subdued him, everyone there would suspect that I was more than just a guest at a charity fundraiser.
He ran past me and was quickly kicked in the thigh by the Nat lookalike. The thief fumbled forward and almost landed on his face, but he quickly recuperated and ran on.
I glanced at the Nat lookalike as he shot three ninja stars at the running thief. The first one caught him in the shoulder blade.
The thief let out a pain filled cry and ran on a few more steps. But he then stumbled and fell against a plaster column, hugging it for support. A second and third ninja star pinned him to the plaster.
Impressive, I thought as I remembered Nat’s interest in martial arts. He’d trained in karate, kung-fu and taekwondo. I remember him putting in so much time to train and perfect the moves and techniques.
But the people in the museum weren’t impressed. They simply screamed as they ran off in every direction.
Just as I was about to approach the thief, he broke free of the ninja stars and started to run off again, but Summer rushed up from the side and pushed into him, causing him to fall over just as the security guards arrived to nab him.
I smiled as I looked at her. It certainly was the feisty Summer that I remembered. While she had initially tended to be the nice girl, the cooperative girl and the one to make compromises for others, I’d taught her to stand up for herself.
I’d also shown her how to defend herself in case she ever had to fought off an attacker. I relished spending so much time with her, touching her as she trained, and then making sweet passionate love to her afterwards.
Those wonderful memories came flooding in as I looked at her, wondering if she could possibly remember them as well.
She remembered the moves. She remembered what I’d taught her. How could she not remember me?
We’d fight, wrestle, fence… and it always ended with us hugging, kissing, and more.
The Royal Police came in, and Summer backed away.
“Get your grubby hands off me,” the thief shouted as he spit at the officers.
The museum employee quickly came forward to retrieve the priceless necklace. “Thank you so much for getting here so quickly.” She looked down at the thief. “Did you really think you could get away with something so foolish?”
“Oh! Strap one on and peg me, you old bird,” he shouted.
Aghast, she stared at the man as she clung to the necklace. “Get him out of here,” she shouted. “Get him out before I wash the floor with him.”
“Come on,” an officer said as he got the thief to his feet. “That’s enough excitement for one day.”
As the police walked the thief out, the museum employee, escorted by two security guards returned to the back of the room and the broken display.
“Well, that was a bit more excitement than I expected tonight,” I said to no one in particular.
I turned to expand on the event with Summer and Nat… but they were gone.
Chapter 4
Dante Black/Parker James
“How did things go?” Ace said when he came in the next morning.
“Not so great,” I said. I was on my laptop, trying to find information about Summer but coming up empty handed.
“Mission failed?” he said as he poured himself a cup of coffee.
“Mission aborted is more like it.”
“Did you do something to upset the queen?”
“I didn’t even get to see the queen, if that makes you feel any better.”
“So, why did you abort?”
I shrugged. “An idiot thief came in and tried to steal one of the most ridiculously guarded pieces of jewelry. I don’t know how he thought he was going to be able to run out of that place with that. But… anyway. Security was beefed up even more. You could barely move after that… yada, yada, yada.”
“So, what are you looking for now?” he said as he came to look over my shoulder. “The name of the thief?”
“No.”
“Did a classy dame turn you down?”
“I think I saw Summer at the fundraiser,” I said as I turned to him.
He took a step back and arched a mocking brow. “Your friend from high school?”
“Yeah.”
“The one from the explosion?”
“Yeah.”
“The one you keep seeing everywhere.”
I glared at him. “Yes,” I said. “But it was different this time.”
“It always is, Parker,” he said. “In the few weeks since we’ve been in London, you’ve only seen her six times. You swore up and down that you saw her at Piccadilly Circus, then you saw her in front of the Tower of London. Then what? Oh, yeah. You saw her as you were walking into Cardinal Place. Then as you were driving down Oxford Street.”