The Highest Bidder

The heat in his eyes raised her temperature enough that she felt warm all over and she knew that whether it was a smart move or not, she would be opening that door. His eyes burned and his features were cool and dispassionate as he met her gaze. No one looking at him would have guessed what he was thinking, but Charlie knew.

She gave him a small smile that wasn’t returned before she headed up the center aisle to take her place beside the podium. The bidding was fierce, but she had zoned out, so she really didn’t notice much more than the flash of an upraised paddle or the wave of a hand.

She didn’t hear a thing, beyond the buzzing in her own ears and the pounding thrum of her own heart. How had her life taken such a gigantic turn in the space of a week or so? Not only was she being blackmailed, but she was having seriously erotic daydreams about a man who had terrified her just a few days ago.

Maybe she was having a breakdown. That would explain a lot.

Drawing her mind away from thoughts that were churning too fast to be examined, she looked down at the necklace and found herself hoping that it went to someone who would appreciate it for its beauty not just for the investment it represented. Something that beautiful deserved to be worn. Touched.

“Thank you, ladies and gentlemen,” the auctioneer announced. “This concludes our auction today and Waverly’s would like to extend our thanks for your patronage. There is a champagne reception in the main salon, should you care to linger. And to those of you fortunate enough to have won the pieces you wanted, we will conclude our business in the anteroom. Thank you all again.”

A sedate round of applause broke out and Charlie came up from her thoughts to realize that her mind had been so busy, she hadn’t even heard the winning bid. Turning for the anteroom, she carefully carried the necklace back inside.

Her turn as a would-be Cinderella was over and it was time to let go of the royal jewels and go back to her pumpkin-filled life.

“That was amazing,” Justin cooed as she handed him the queen’s necklace.

The whole day had been amazing as far as Charlie was concerned. “What was the final selling price?”

“You didn’t hear?”

She shook her head. “I must have zoned out.”

Justin just stared at her as if he couldn’t understand how anyone could not pay attention to something as important as diamonds and rubies. “The final came in as a phone bid.” He paused to frown. “I hate phone bids. I like to know who bought one of our pieces.”

Charlie smiled, because Justin really was very proprietary when it came to the jewels in his care.

“Anyway,” he said airily, “the necklace finally went for three seventy-five.”

Charlie blinked at him in astonishment. “Three hundred seventy-five thousand dollars?”

Justin’s eyebrows wiggled and his squinty eyes sparkled with glee. “I said it was an amazing piece, didn’t I?”

She looked down at the necklace, with its antique jewels shining up at her, and took a long, slow breath. “I’m so glad I didn’t hear that when I was still holding it.”

“Thanks for your help tonight, hon.” Justin set the porcelain stand down onto the pedestal waiting for it.

Whoever the lucky bidder was would be paying for the necklace right now. Then it would be wrapped up to be sent from Waverly’s. She didn’t even want to imagine how someone would get such an expensive item safely home. Did you hire armed guards? But that was so not her problem.

“You know I love working the auctions, Justin.” She checked her wristwatch. “I’d better get moving, though. Still have to pick up Jake.”

“Sure, sure.”

“You ready?”

Vance’s deep voice sounded out from the doorway behind her and Charlie felt a small, involuntary sizzle of reaction shoot through her veins. She so didn’t want to feel that. Had no business sizzling over her boss. Yet, somehow, her body wasn’t getting that message.

“Yes,” she said, turning to face him.

“Ready for what?” Justin asked in a suspiciously innocent tone.

Oh, damn. Charlie loved Justin, she really did, but the man wouldn’t know how to keep a secret if someone stapled his lips shut. Surely Vance knew that. So why had he spoken up unless he didn’t care if people knew they were going to dinner? And if he didn’t care, was this more of a business thing than a date? But if it was a business thing, would she be calling him Vance? Would he have really said that about sex and Bali?

And why couldn’t she stop thinking about it?

Vance didn’t say anything and Justin was waiting, shifting his far-too-interested gaze back and forth between the two of them.

Finally, Charlie said, “Vance—I mean Mr. Waverly—is giving Jake and I a ride home.”

“Hmmm …”

“First to dinner, then a ride home,” Vance clarified.

Charlie groaned inwardly.

“I see,” Justin said, his eyes shining so brightly now it was a wonder they weren’t giving off actual sparks. “Well, then, don’t let me hold you up any longer.”

When the older man winked at her, Charlie sighed. Damage done. Justin’s romantic heart and love of gossip would take care of alerting the building to whatever was or wasn’t going on between her and Vance.

She picked up her purse from a nearby chair and slipped the strap over her shoulder. Looking up at her boss, she said, “We might as well go.”

As soon as they were out of earshot, Charlie glanced at Vance. “You do realize that by tomorrow, everyone at Waverly’s will know that we went to dinner together.”

“Yeah,” he said. “I’ve known Justin a long time.”

“So why did you say anything in front of him?”

“You wanted to keep our dinner date a secret?”

“Not a secret,” she countered as they stepped into the elevator for the short trip to the fourth-floor day-care center. “But—”

One eyebrow lifted. “Is there a problem?”

“Shouldn’t there be?” she asked, unsure what she should be thinking now. He was her boss, and now her date. He didn’t seem to care who knew, but she felt odd about the whole situation. He was making her feel things she didn’t want yet certainly enjoyed. Then there was the fact that his family had founded Waverly’s and now there was a blackmailer trying to make her betray not only him but the auction house she loved.

Could her life get any more complicated?

“I think,” Vance said, taking her hand in his, “you’re thinking too much.”

Her palm to his, heat swamped her. When he drew her out of the elevator and led her down the hall to where Jake waited, Charlie knew she was in really big trouble.

The worst part?

She didn’t care.

Vance was in hell.

He could tell because of the screaming.

When he had invited Charlie out to dinner, he’d had in mind a nice steak place. Not too elegant, not too casual. Just a nice in-between, with good service and a quiet atmosphere so they could talk. So he could try to discover if she was an enemy or not.

He had not planned on a zoo-themed diner where children outnumbered adults and the specialty of the house was macaroni and cheese.

“You look uncomfortable.”

“What?” He shouted to be heard over the screaming three-year-old in the booth behind him.

“I said, you look like you’re miserable and wishing that you were anywhere but here.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Okay, I just thought most of that, but you do look miserable.”

She didn’t, Vance noticed. Her son was in a high chair pulled up to their table. Vance didn’t know much about babies—happily—but this one seemed good-looking and far better behaved than the little tyrants running all over the restaurant.

“It’s just a little loud.”

“Is it?” She shrugged and shredded a piece of chicken onto her son’s tray table. “I didn’t notice.”

“Really?” He leaned forward, and frowned when his elbow came down in a spill of soda. “I didn’t realize you were deaf.”

She laughed and something inside Vance fisted so tightly, he could hardly breathe. When she smiled, she was beautiful. When she laughed, she was incomparable. Her whole face lit up, her eyes shone and the laugh itself was not one of those quiet, restrained society titters; this was full-throated laughter that had him grinning in response.

“I’m so sorry, Vance. This is just killing you, isn’t it?”

Suddenly, it didn’t seem so bad after all. “Doesn’t bother me a bit.”

“Other than making you wear the expression of a man who would like to chew off his own foot to escape.”

He frowned. “That’s not what I’m feeling.”

“Then you should smile to reassure me.”

He did and she said, “You really should do that more often. You’re far less intimidating when you smile.”

“Maybe I like being intimidating.”

“Well, you are really good at it,” she said, then leaned over and kissed her son’s forehead. The little boy grinned and kicked his feet before grabbing a tiny fistful of shredded chicken.

Vance glanced around the diner—he refused to think of the place as a restaurant. The servers were dressed in animal-print uniforms, as zebras, lions, tigers. There were other employees over by the play area dressed in wild animal costumes and they were being besieged by an army of toddlers. Vance couldn’t even fathom a worse job.

But he was here with Charlie and she was happy and relaxed, so he decided to make the best of the situation. While she had her guard down, he would gather as much information as he could. And by the end of the night, he would know if she was an enemy—or a potential lover.

Six

Vance leaned in toward her so he wouldn’t have to raise his voice above a roar. “So what did you think of the auction?”

Her gaze snapped to his and excitement shone in her blue eyes. “It was wonderful. It is every time, but today, seeing the royal jewels? Knowing that I was touching something worn by a queen more than a hundred years ago? Wonderful, if terrifying.”

“Terrifying?”

“Did you hear what that necklace sold for?” She shook her head and laughed. “I was terrified I’d drop it or accidentally twist the gold wire or gouge out a stone or something….”

His mouth quirked. “A busy imagination.”

“Oh, incredibly busy. I’ll probably drive Jake crazy as he grows up. If he gets a cold, in my head it escalates in seconds to pneumonia, then an oxygen tent and my donating a lung or something.” She paused, took a breath and said wryly, “Now that you know I’m nuts, feel free to run.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“You’re not, are you?” She tipped her head to one side to look at him and a cascade of blond hair swung down by her shoulder like a slice of sunlight. “I wonder why.”

He wondered that, too. She wasn’t the kind of woman who usually drew him in and, yet, she fascinated him enough that he was willing to put up with complete bedlam just to sit across the table from her.

“Anyway,” she said, returning to his earlier question, “I love the auctions. Being part of the excitement, even in a small way.”

Vance nodded. “I understand that completely. My father took me to my first auction when I was ten. It was sports memorabilia. Baseball cards, Babe Ruth’s glove, Ted Williams’s favorite bat, that kind of thing.” She was smiling at him, silently encouraging him to go on.

So he did. “Even at ten, I felt that rush you were talking about. Seeing those things from the past getting a new shot at being appreciated …”

“Exactly.” Absentmindedly, she reached out and patted his hand in solidarity. “Like the jewelry today. Justin says the collection was most likely kept locked away in Cadria, in a vault or a crown jewels room—who knows? But today, the pieces were in the light again. Being admired. People were buying them so they could be worn again. Dazzle again.” She sighed.

“Liked the jewelry, did you?”

“What woman wouldn’t? Especially that necklace. But it wasn’t just the stones themselves, it was the romance of it. A wedding present from a king to his queen. The legend of happily-ever-after attached to it. The diamonds and rubies themselves were just part of the whole.” She shook her head, still awestruck. “Amazing.”

Behind Vance, the crazed three-year-old was shouting about cake and his parents were quietly telling him to use his inside voice. Vance wasn’t sure the kid had an inside voice and if he did, whether it would be heard in the cacophony of sound.

Keeping his voice as low as he could and still be heard, he leaned toward Charlie and caught her gaze with his.

“How’d you get interested in auctions? I mean, I was born into it. What’s your reason?”

The waitress showed up with two coffees and a small dish of fresh fruit. As Charlie cut the pieces of cantaloupe, watermelon and grapes into even tinier pieces for her son, she started talking.

“In college I went to a few auctions with friends.” She lifted her gaze to his. “Nothing like the ones we hold at Waverly’s, of course. These were more country auctions, selling crates of mystery goods or farm equipment, some furniture and antiques. But the feeling was the same, if you know what I mean. The sense of anticipation—people hoping to find something special. Maybe buying a painting for a dollar and discovering an old master under an ugly dog playing poker—”

He laughed.

Charlie shrugged and said, “It was everything. The auctioneer, the crowds, the bidding. I loved all of it. So when my grandmother died—”

“Your grandmother?”

She stopped and he read hesitation in her eyes as she bit at her bottom lip. He knew she hadn’t meant to say that and his curiosity was piqued.

“My grandmother raised me,” she said briefly then hurried on. “Anyway, when she died, I packed up and moved to New York. Two years ago, I got a job at Waverly’s. I started out in HR, but worked my way up, and now I work for the boss.”

He laughed. “One of the bosses, anyway.”

“Why did you take us to dinner?” Charlie asked suddenly. She smoothed wisps of light brown hair off her son’s forehead and said, “I can’t imagine you’ve been dying to have dinner with a bunch of screaming kids.” Her eyes widened as she looked past him. “Oops.”

Vance felt someone watching him and slowly turned his head to meet the three-year-old screamer’s big, dark eyes. The boy was hanging over the back of the bench seat, watching him intently. Vance stared right back at him. When the boy stuck out his tongue, Charlie laughed and Vance winced.

“Trevor!” the boy’s mother snapped, and dragged him back down to his seat. “Sorry,” she murmured.

Shaking his head, Vance turned back to Charlie. “Clearly the evil Boss Stare doesn’t work on kids,” he muttered, then looked into her eyes. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“Would it be wrong to say yes?”

“Yes, it would.”

Soberly, she nodded. “Then no, I don’t like it at all. It’s absolutely terrible how you’re suffering.”

He gave her a rueful smile. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d been teased. Usually people—women—were wary around him. They spoke softly and moved slowly, as if he were a live grenade about to go off. Not Charlie. And while he never wanted to see this diner again, he was actually having a good time.

Something he hadn’t expected. He’d only thought about how to get her talking. To spilling secrets, if she had any. But if she had those secrets, they were still her own. Which meant that he’d be spending more time with her.

A plan he didn’t have a problem with.

When her son rubbed at his eyes with tiny fists, Charlie said, “I have to get him home to bed.”

“It’s barely eight.”

Tipping her head to look at him, she said, “Babies go to bed earlier than we do.”

“Oh, right.” Idiot. He signaled the waitress for the bill and took care of it while Charlie cleaned up her son. Once they were ready, he stood up and Charlie lifted the little boy from the high chair.

Instantly, Jake held out both pudgy arms to Vance.

Vance stared at the boy for a long moment. The baby’s hair was practically standing on end. There was a food stain on his I love Mommy T-shirt. And his dark blue eyes were fixed on Vance as if he were Santa and the Easter Bunny rolled into one. He’d never been around babies much and hadn’t really missed the experience. Until tonight, Vance would have said he had zero interest in kids altogether.

But this baby seemed … different, somehow. Certainly quieter than the other kids in the diner. It was younger, softer and it had a dimple in its left cheek, just like its mother.

“Jake …” Charlie was clearly surprised by her son’s move and, frankly, so was Vance. But who was he to argue? He reached for the boy, tucked him against his chest and headed for the front door, Charlie trailing behind.

The baby laid his head down on Vance’s shoulder and, despite his best efforts, something inside Vance melted.

“I cannot believe I had to hear this from Justin! Did you lose your phone again?”

“No,” Charlie said, laughing. “I haven’t lost my phone in almost two years, thanks. And I was going to tell you but—”

“You were too busy dating your boss?”

Charlie had a feeling that Katie’s stunned expression was probably an echo of her own. Heck, she had lived through last night and she was still feeling the shock. After dinner the night before, Vance had hailed a cab to take Jake and her home. The surprise was when Vance had joined them for the trip.

Jake had fallen asleep on the way home, cuddled comfortably against Vance’s broad chest. Though she’d offered to take the baby from him, Vance had held the boy all the way to her apartment. And for a moment or two, Charlie had actually been envious of her son.

Being with Vance in the quiet of the cab had been … nice. They talked as the city whizzed past in a stream of subdued noise and neon color and when they were finally at the small apartment she called home, Vance had walked her to her door, handed Jake to her and said good-night.

“I can’t believe this,” Katie was saying in an awed, hushed tone. “You do know the whole building’s talking about this.”

“Thank you, Justin,” Charlie said on a sigh.

“Well, even if he hadn’t told, you never could have kept this a secret for long. You have to know that.”

“I suppose so.” She frowned and said, “I don’t think Vance even cares if people know.”

“Vance?” Katie repeated that one word in a dumbfounded tone. “You call him Vance?”

“‘Mr. Waverly’ seemed a little formal for a date.”

Her friend shook her head slowly. “A date. With your boss.”

“Are you getting past that anytime soon?”

“I don’t think so,” Katie admitted, then shifted on the stone bench to look at her. “Did he kiss you?”

Charlie’s mind slipped back to the night before. When her apartment door was open and the light from inside was slanted across Vance’s face as he looked down at her. There had been a sort of expectant hush hanging in the air between them. He bent down, she leaned in toward him and for one heart-stopping moment, she was just a breath away from being kissed. But then Jake woke up with a cry and the cab driver honked impatiently and the moment was gone. Probably for the best. She was sure that was a date Vance would never want repeated, so why indulge in any more fantasies?

“No.”

“Well, that sucks.” Frowning, the tiny redhead with bright green eyes grumbled, “And how did I miss all this excitement?”

Charlie shook her head and grinned at her friend. Katie lived in an apartment upstairs from her and most mornings they rode the subway into work together. In fact, it was Katie who had helped Charlie get the apartment in her building. “You weren’t home last night for me to tell and this morning you came in early, so we didn’t get a chance to talk on the train.”

“All true. Still. Dating your boss. It’s sort of sexy, unless,” she added with a shudder, “it’s my boss.”

“I think Vance was just being nice.”

“Uh-huh. He took you and Jake to dinner, then brought you all the way home to Queens just to be nice. Sure, I buy that.”

Frowning, Charlie took a sip of her iced tea and studied the faces of the people hurrying down Fifth Avenue. They often brought their lunch out here to sit and watch the city go by. It was hot, steamy and the lunchtime lines at the food carts were busy. Even in the summer heat, it was nice to get out of the building for a while and rejoin humanity.

Especially now, when Charlie was doing everything she could to avoid thinking about her blackmailer. She’d received another email threat just that morning and the message was burned into her brain.

No more stalling, it had said. Get those files or risk losing your son.

She was running out of time and was no closer to knowing what to do about it. She couldn’t steal files. And she couldn’t not steal them. Lose her job, lose her son. It was a vicious circle with no way of winning.

“Katie,” she said abruptly, turning her head to look at her friend, “have you heard anything about Rothschild’s lately?”

“Like what?”

“Anything.”

Katie shrugged. “A couple of people are talking about that article in the paper. You know, the bit about Ms. Richardson and Dalton Rothschild. Did they or didn’t they? But I mean, who cares? If they did, it’s not as if she would have handed him the keys to Waverly’s, you know?”

Charlie chewed at her bottom lip. “But it doesn’t look good.”

“True, but Ms. Richardson is devoted to Waverly’s. She wouldn’t put the auction house at risk.” A long pause. “Would she?”

The problem was, Charlie didn’t know. And neither did Vance apparently or he wouldn’t have asked her to listen for gossip at the house. She worried. It wasn’t a coincidence that the article had appeared in the paper the very same day she’d received that first threatening email. Whoever was behind her current trouble was no doubt also the source of that article.

What did that tell her? A lot of nothing, really.

“Hey,” Katie said, nudging Charlie with her shoulder. “Don’t take it so personally. These big companies are always having some kind of trouble. They’ll work it out.”

“You’re not worried?”

“The only thing I’m worried about is finishing the audit of last quarter’s books before my boss decides to have a stroke on my desk.”

Charlie smiled, but it was halfhearted. Thankfully, Katie didn’t seem to notice. She’d give anything to be as uninterested in what was happening as her friend apparently was.

“I’ve got to get back to work,” Katie said abruptly after a check of her phone for the time. “I’ll meet you for the subway ride home … unless you get a better offer.”

“Not much chance of that,” Charlie said. “I’ll see you later.”

She still had twenty minutes before she had to return to work and she was in no hurry to face her computer and the email program that had her so spooked. So she’d just finish her tea, and then stop by the day-care center to see Jake on her way back upstairs.

“Waiting for someone?” Vance’s voice came from behind her.

“Were you watching me?” she asked, turning to look up at him.

“Watching sounds so stalkerlike,” he said as he sat down on the stone bench beside her. He laid one arm along the back of the bench and stretched out his legs, crossing his feet at the ankles. “I prefer … admiring.”

Charlie shook her head. She’d seen so many different sides of Vance in the last week or so, she could hardly keep them all straight. He was ruthless in business, didn’t tolerate stupidity in the workplace and was gentle with her son. He laughed when she teased him and gave her looks that set fire to her insides. Now he was sprawled on a stone bench in the hot sun as if he had all the time in the world when she knew he was a workaholic.

“I saw your friend go back to work, so thought I’d join you,” he said, tipping his face up to the brilliant blue sky and the blistering sun. “Nice day.”