Gentlemen Prefer Nerds by Joan Kilby

about the famous gem. He picked up the wine bottle. “More wine?”
    “No, thank you.” Maddie reached out a hand to cover her glass. Too attentive, he kept topping her up and she’d inadvertently drunk more than she wanted to. She reached for her water instead. “You never did tell me how your day with Willa went. Did you find anything interesting in the Grampians?”
    “They were…spectacular,” Rolf said, watching her face closely. Indeed, he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her tonight. Take that, Lord Mucky Muck.
    “Willa is on an eternal quest for amethyst deposits. She’s yet to find any.”
    “Amethyst? No, I doubt there’s a lot of amethyst there. We did locate a band of red quartzite though. I took a few samples.” Reaching into his pocket he brought out a handful of small rocks and tumbled them onto the tablecloth like dice.
    If Maddie’d had any lingering doubts about Rolf’s identity they were dispelled by the sight of five lumps of reddish sandstone with silica inclusions. No one but a dedicated mineralogist carried rocks about with him.
    Her thoughts must have shown on her face for he smiled sheepishly. “My friends think I have rocks in my head.”
    “You make perfect sense to me.” Maddie pushed her empty plate away. “Shall we go back to the shop and look at the Rose?”
    Rolf captured her hand and kissed her knuckles. Suddenly he didn’t look nerdish so much as wolfish but in Maddie’s present state that was exciting. “Andiamo alla Rosa.”
    A thrill went up her spine. “Is that Italian?”
    He started, as if for a moment he’d forgotten himself. Then he got to his feet, bumping against the table as he came around to awkwardly pull out her chair. “I’m taking a night school class. There’s a conference in Rome next year. I only know a few words.”
    Maddie smiled at him over her shoulder. “In Italian, a few words go a long way.”
    * * *
    Below in the alley, footsteps sounded on the cobbles. Fabian started awake from a light doze, ears pricked as the steps come closer. About bloody time! Unfolding from his uncomfortable position on the cold warehouse floor, he stretched out the cramps in his legs. He’d been sitting across from the rear entrance to Grace Jewelers for two hours, waiting for Maddie and “Rolf” to return from dinner. Cuckoo Restaurant, indeed.
    Training his high-powered night-vision binoculars on the figures, he tracked Maddie’s slightly unsteady progress with a sinking heart. If she’d been drinking, her defenses would be down, her judgment awry. Foolish, foolish girl.
    She stumbled. Rolf put a hand under her elbow then slid his fingers down her back to touch her butt. Just long enough to cop a feel but not long enough to cause Maddie to react.
    That sly bastard. If he took advantage of Maddie, he would pay.
    Rolf’s glasses winked in the tungsten blue of the light over the back door. Fabian had to admit the man played a nerd rather well. His diffident manner when Maddie admonished him to move back while she punched in the security code was very convincing.
    Fabian memorized the new numbers as she pressed them. As he’d told his mother, he didn’t want to come face-to-face with the thief after their last encounter in England. Not that he was afraid of him, but there was Maddie to consider and the potential for collateral damage. This wasn’t an isolated estate in the English countryside. Once ambulances were involved, it was difficult to keep the police away.
    The green light on the security alarm flashed. Maddie inserted a key and pushed open the door, standing back to let Rolf enter. Fabian tensed, muttering a curse. The fox was in the henhouse.
    * * *
    Maddie crossed the workshop and flicked on the gooseneck lamp. A soft light illuminated her workbench. She went back and reset the security alarm then turned on her microscope. “Wait here,” she said to Rolf. “I’ll get the stone.”
    The showroom was dim and quiet. The Rose slept on its bed