“What are you hiding from back here?”

I straighten up from the collection of Civil War artifacts on the work table in front of me. In a not-at-all surprising twist, most of them are worthless junk, but a printed portrait of Ulysses S. Grant shows some promise. Not for the first time I’m glad I decided not to traffic exclusively in the high-end sales. You never know when you might find something incredible. 

Jasper Pace leans jauntily against an eighteenth-century secretary desk with a built-in bookshelf, eyeing the pile in front of me.

“I think the better question is, who let you in?”

“Your staff loves me.”

“My staff loves getting paid, and you might as well have a sign with your net worth on the back of that suit.”

“Says you,” he scoffs. Fine—I can admit I’m also wearing a suit that was hand-constructed for me in Italy. But I don’t have the jacket on. When I work in the warehouse—or, in this case, sort in the warehouse—I do so with my sleeves rolled up to my elbows. The jacket is largely for the public.

Jasper looks around him, his eyes settling on one thing, then another. “Jasper?”

“Yeah?”

“What are you here for?”

He grins, laughing. “Right. I came to tell you that Isabella loved the piece. She’s excited about the entire room.” He rolls his eyes. “I can’t get her out of it, actually.”

“Workaholics, both of you,” I say.

“I’m here now.”

“On your way back to the office?”

Jasper checks his watch. “If you wanted, we could grab lunch.”

I put my hand to my chest. “I’m so flattered that you’d interrupt my work to ask me on a date.”

“You’re paying,” he says, unamused by my theatrics.

My stomach growls, and I reach for my jacket on the back of the chair I’ve been sitting in for far too long. “Fine. You pick the place.”

Our steaks have just arrived, elegantly plated and looking fucking delicious, when Jasper remembers what he really wanted to ask me.

“So, did you go after her?”

“After who?”

“The ice queen from the estate sale.”

I laugh out loud, cutting into the steak so the waiter can go. It’s a perfect medium, and I give him a nod. Jasper does the same, and he’s away from the table in another instant. “I didn’t go after her.”

“Too bad,” he tuts.

“She came after me.”

Jasper’s eyes light up. He’s loved gossip since I can remember, but his day-to-day at Pace, Inc. must be starved for it now that he’s married. “No shit.”

“At six in the morning.”

“Tell me she showed up in person.”

“No.” I wish she’d showed up in person. That would have been on another level. “She called me in a panic because she’d thrown away my card and wanted to know if the offer to buy the entire estate was still on the table.”

“And you said, only if you’re willing to come up to my penthouse right now and—”

I give him a look. “Yes. I’m a total sleazebag.”

He shakes his head, leaning back as if I’ve just admitted my guilt in seriousness. “You would do that.”

“We had breakfast.”

“And then went back to bed?” he says, eyebrows wiggling.

“And then went back to the house in Conyers Farm to negotiate a deal.”

“That’s when the love affair began.” 

I take a bite of the steak. I don’t know what blend of spices and technique this chef is using, but it’s unbelievable. “Who did you say the chef here was?”

“My friend Marco. Don’t dodge the question.”

“I didn’t hear a question.”

“Are you in deep with her now?”

“What’s going on with you, Jasper? Are you reading romance novels in your spare time?”

“I can’t be curious about the exciting secret life my old friend is leading?”

“It’s not a secret life.” The potatoes leave absolutely nothing to be desired, either. Why didn’t I know about this place? The answer comes immediately: You spend too much of your time hunting down valuable antiques in other parts of the world to find gems right here. “It’s a business relationship.”

Jasper rolls his eyes, this time in such an exaggerated fashion that by the time he looks back at me I’ve had two more bites of steak. “Yeah. I said the same thing.”

I shake my head. “Whatever that was between you and Isabella—that’s not what this is. I don’t think she’s thrilled to have had to stoop so low as to deal with me.”

He narrows his eyes. “What exactly did you get yourself into?”

“It wasn’t the typical situation, is all. She’s under pressure trying to get her family’s finances in order.” Remembering Ruby’s face, those gorgeous lips turned down in a frown and her blue eyes flashing with anger and hurt, makes a strange ache bloom in my chest. There’s not going to be a way to explain this to Jasper without coming off like a complete fool.

“Isn’t that the point of any estate sale?”

“Yes. But I had an…alternate proposal.”

Jasper looks at me out of the corner of his eye. “Marriage?”

I can’t help laughing at that. Ruby is so hot and cold—flirting with me in the car, keeping her distance at the house—that even dating her is not an option. “An auction.”

He’s mid-bite and coughs, sweeping his napkin off the table just in time. “You agreed to run an auction for her?”

“I not only agreed, I’m the one who offered it.”

“For…for what?”

“For the seller’s fee, obviously.”

He looks at me like I’ve descended to the surface of the earth from a planet so distant nobody here has ever heard of it. “The seller’s fee would be a lot less than what you could have made offering her a fixed fee for the whole estate.”

I pretend to be shocked. “You don’t say.”

He shakes his head and spears a green bean on the end of his fork. “You’re in deep, man. Deep.”

The way she looked when I first came into her parents’ house—the painful vulnerability on her face—floats back up into my mind. Hard on that image’s heels is one of her in my town car, leaning toward me, her voice husky and dripping with need. I want both of those versions of her. I want them with me right now. 

But I’m not going to admit that to Jasper.

“So what was the catch?”

“Catch?” Another bite of steak melts on my tongue.

“There had to be a catch. You didn’t just offer to run the auction for nothing, did you?”

“No. I told her I wanted to be in charge of it, personally. I’m going to be all over that estate for the next few weeks.”

He levels his gaze at me. “That sounds like more of a catch for you.”

I shrug. “We’ll see.”