Two of the stones in the old legend, of course, were a black harlequin opal and a great big green emerald.

Just like these two.

Amazingly like these two.

Exactly like these two.

Matthew wildly shook his head. “I don’t get this. Someone tried to steal our stones? But I didn’t think anyone really believed they existed-much less that anyone had a clue where we had them locked up all these years.”

“Neither did I. In fact, none of this makes any sense. If there’d been a break-in at night, Riley Monroe would have immediately contacted one of us. And obviously nothing happened during the day, when people are around, or we’d have easily known about that, too.” Justin was already lurching to his feet. So was Dakota. “But the frightening thing is…if those two gems were stolen-then where is our red diamond?”

All three men swore at the same time, even as they were pawing and prowling around the plane, searching every nook and cranny and sifting through all the debris. All three stones were priceless, but the red diamond was so rare it was literally beyond price, beyond even a collector’s dreams. “It doesn’t make sense that anyone would have taken the other two stones and left the diamond,” Dakota grumped.

“It doesn’t make sense that any of them could have been stolen to begin with,” Justin shot back, and then sucked in a swear word.

“What?” Dakota demanded. “Did you find it? The red diamond?”

No, he hadn’t found the stone. He’d found a creased sheet of paper that would never have drawn his eye if the word emerald hadn’t been written on it in a big, slashing scrawl. Frowning, he noted the Asterland stationery. “I don’t know what this is,” Justin told the others. “It’s not a letter. It doesn’t seem to be written to anyone specific-at least there’s no name on the stationery. But someone jotted down the town legend about the jewels. The whole history. The Texas soldier who found the stones on a fallen comrade in the War with Mexico, took the stones home to Royal, then made it rich on oil before there was any reason to spend them…”

“What else?” Matthew couldn’t see at the same time as the other two men.

“The whole thing about the jewels. That red diamonds were traditionally called the stone of kings because they stood for leadership. There’s a scrawled history of black opals here, specifically black harlequin opals, and how, symbolically, they were credited as being healing gems as well as allowing their owners to ‘bring justice’ to those around them. And the emerald is described as a symbol of peace and peacemakers.” Justin looked up.

“Leadership, justice, peace,” Dakota echoed. Again, the men exchanged quiet glances. They all knew why those words had been chosen as the Texas Cattleman’s Club motto-and what each man had vowed to protect when he’d been asked to become part of the group.

“I still don’t understand any of this,” Matthew said irritably. “The whole world knows about the legend. But who could possibly have known that the stones were real, much less know where we had the jewels locked up? Where’s the damn red diamond? And…for God’s sake…do you two think the jewel theft had anything to do with the crash landing of this plane?”

Justin lifted a hand helplessly. “I don’t know how it could. But the coincidence is pretty hard to ignore.”

Dakota said swiftly, “We need to get together-as soon as we can get hold of Aaron and Ben. But even sooner than that, at least one of us needs to get to the Club. Find out if the red diamond is still there. Talk to Riley Monroe. And find out what happened to our safe.”

Justin pushed a hand through his hair. “I’ll volunteer to do anything you want…but to be honest, I’ll have a hard time meeting until later tonight-say, eight o’clock, earliest. I have patients back-to-back until then. I realize how critical this is, and I can cancel patients if I have to, but-”

“No, it’s all right, Justin. I’d rather wait until after dinner tonight, too,” Matt concurred. “We’ve got a better chance of Ben joining us. And if Aaron isn’t back, we could at least have consulted with him by phone before then. Because of his diplomatic connections and knowledge, I really think Aaron should be brought into this before we make any decisions.”

“Yeah. Agree.” Dakota nodded. “But I’ll hit the Club this afternoon-or as fast as I can. I have to cancel a meeting to get freed up-but I’ll try, because I think we’ll all go nuts worrying whether the red diamond’s been stolen until we know for sure. But as far as a meeting time for all of us to get together, I agree with you, too. Let’s aim for tonight. Justin?”

He’d already turned toward the plane door, as the other two had. “You want to take the emerald and the opal back with you?” Justin asked, assuming that was why Dakota had signaled him out.

“No. Hell. If the safe’s been broken into, we all need to decide together what to do with these two stones for security in the meantime. But you hold them until then. No, that wasn’t the issue. I was going to suggest that you be careful what you say to Winona Raye.”

Justin’s expression had to reveal his astonishment. “Why on earth would you think I’d be seeing Winona?”

“Because we all saw the way you were looking at her at the party.” Dakota slapped him on the back, then hiked past him. So did Matt. “Far as I’m concerned, you couldn’t get involved with a better lady. I think the world of her. Far as I know, so does this whole town. So mostly I was just trying to get a rise out of you-but it does keep occurring to me that this situation is getting seriously complicated. Right now, the police don’t know about the jewels or the theft-much less that there could be any connection to the problem with the Asterland plane. Maybe that information has to come out? There may be no choice.”

Justin nodded. “But we all know what’s at stake-the reason we’ve guarded our privacy all these years.” The Club members could hardly have taken off on their private causes across the world if their comings and goings were regular headline news.

“Hell, doc, I’d trust you with my life. You already know that. For that matter, I couldn’t think more of Winona. It just crossed my mind that we could be putting her on the spot if she knew something that was being kept from the local cops. At least until we know more facts about the jewel theft and decided what we need to do.”

Justin had no trouble agreeing. The three split up swiftly. Everyone had their own lives and work to attend to. But as Justin headed for his car, the wind whipping a burn on his cheeks, his plan to see Winona for an early dinner went on a front burner.

He’d left her alone for two days now-except for phone calls-to consider marrying him. He’d known she needed time to think. More than likely, she’d had enough time to have a cow and a half over his proposal.

He never intended to put her on the spot about the jewels. He only wanted to put her on the spot about a relationship between them. And nothing as annoying as some priceless stolen jewels was going to keep him from her. Not today. He’d waited as long as he could stand.

Five

“Winona!”

Winona had barel y pushed open the door to the Royal Diner before the waitress shrieked her name. Sheila abandoned her customer and bustled straight toward her.

“I been hearing all over town about you and that baby! Let’s have a look!” Although it was barely the dinner hour, the diner was already filling up. This was not a crowd worried about eating at a fashionably late hour-more likely they were worried about how fast they could get the kids home to bed. Sheila popped her favorite Juicy Fruit gum as she herded Winona and the baby carrier toward a booth in the back, talking the whole while-loud enough, of course, for the whole town to hear.

“Dr. Webb called. Said to put you in a spot away from the drafts and get you started, he’d be here, but he got held up with a patient for a little bit. So you’re seeing Dr. Webb, huh? God, he’s such a hunk. Could make a girl think about getting a breast reduction just to get his hands on her…but I guess that’s a little tasteless, huh? If you’re seeing him and all. But you don’t have to worry about me, honey, he’d never look my way…and I can’t wait to hear the whole story about that baby. Let’s see her, let’s see her…well, aren’t you a beauty, darlin’.”

Sheila tugged down her waitress uniform, which tended to ride up her thighs with every other step. Years ago, Winona had realized that buying another size uniform wasn’t a possibility-not for Sheila. She’d been fighting to stay in a size twelve for half a decade now, and there was no way she was going to let a fourteen win. But right then, she peeled back Angel’s blanket and picked up the baby with a long refrain of oohs and aahs.

Because the baby chortled happily for the attention, Winona decided to let Sheila live. Actually, she was too tired to kill her and too old to feel embarrassed at the waitress’s loud personal gossip. Still, she pushed off her jacket and sank onto the booth seat, wishing for a long, tall whiskey instead of straight water-and she didn’t drink. The thing was, over the last two days, Sheila wasn’t the only townsperson who’d made wild, presumptuous assumptions about Winona’s relationship with Justin.

It didn’t make sense. Folks should have been gossiping ten for a dozen about the plane crash. That was the crisis in town. That was the big news. Who Winona happened to be seeing-or not seeing-shouldn’t have mattered to a soul.

And the really crazy thing was that she wasn’t even seeing Justin. At least not exactly. Yeah, he’d offered to marry her…and for damn sure, that was why she’d insisted on seeing him right now, today, over dinner, and specifically chosen this public place for the occasion…but there was still no reason from here to Austin that anyone should leap to the conclusion that she was “seeing him.” Heaven knew he’d proposed to her fifty times before this. And most folks in Royal had seen her slug him probably that many times-or more.