In front of the museum, the river Neva was frozen. Caught in the glow of flashlights, human breath came out in white bursts. Three women and two men moved briskly down the narrow subterranean hallways. The bureaucrats who had once listed and catalogued the imperial collections were long gone, dismissed by a civilian government that could barely keep its soldiers in bullets. Dust lay like dirty snow on every surface. The lesser items, or those out of fashion at the moment, were stored in basement warrens where gleaming marble gave way to crumbling plaster and rat-gnawed wood. Even the hundreds of public rooms weren’t enough to display all three million items in the treasure trove. The smallest sounds echoed down the long, magnificent corridors with their gilt and vaulted ceilings supported by columns as tall as ancient gods. In the darkest hours of the early January night, there was only time and the scrape of guards’ worn boots over marble that had once known only the polished arrogance of royalty. There was room after room filled with extraordinary sculptures, ancient icons and immense tapestries, paintings to make angels weep and saints envious, quantities of gold and silver and gemstones beyond the ability of even man’s deepest avarice to comprehend. The public areas were above the thieves, buildings three and four stories high that held centuries of art and artifacts collected by rulers whose whim was the very breath of life for their subjects. Tides that should warm each neighbouring life They brought me rubies from the mine, And held them to the sun… Who gave me Faith’s music and told me about the “house wine” of the South. Copyright © 2000 by Two of a Kind, Inc.įor my wonderful daughter Heather Maxwell Set against the South’s Low Country, a landscape as fascinating as the characters who inhabit it, MIDNIGHT IN RUBY BAYOU is a novel of adventure, suspense and the gem trade, where beauty and danger are one. Horrified by what they have learned and the danger that is closing in on them, Faith and Walker race for their lives across the black waters of the salt marshes – pursued by greedy men and a deadly past. Drawn into a terrifying web of greed, corruption, and betrayal, Faith and Walker discover the dark and shameful secrets of generations of Montegeaus as well as those who would kill for the contents of the Blessing Chest.
Unaware of the dark side of the family behind the glittering jewelry business and Hilton Head mansion, the two accept an invitation to “relax” at a family dinner held in the living shadows of historic Ruby Bayou. In search of quality stones, Faith and Walker travel to Savannah to seek the help of the powerful Montegeaus, a family descended from pirates and smugglers, and reputed to be in possession of a fortune in fine gems, hidden for generations in the legendary Blessing Chest. He suspects that protecting her and the fabulous wedding necklace commissioned by the Montegeau family will be more dangerous than smuggling rubies out of Afghanistan. Yet the idea of working with Faith makes him nervous. Walker, an outwardly easygoing Southerner with an intimate knowledge of the ruby trade and man’s murderous greed, is famous for his ability to talk himself out of situations that would get other men killed. To get such gems, Faith – who has learned the hard way to trust no man outside her family – must work with Owen Walker. Her creations require rubies of the finest quality.
Since the marriage of her twin sister Honor, and her own unhappy love affair, Faith Donovan has poured her heart and soul into making the exquisite artistic jewelry favored by the rich and famous throughout the world.
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