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“It was my pleasure,” she replied. “Thank you for inviting me.” The conversation felt oddly formal after the intimate dance they’d shared. Patrick seemed to think so too, because he flashed her a broader smile.
“In that case, perhaps you’d accompany me on another small task.”
“I’m sure I’d be happy to. What do you have in mind?” Emma’s heart fluttered, but she ignored it. This was no time to let her crush on Patrick grow.
“I’m planning to visit one of LWC’s galleries in Cincinnati over the weekend,” Patrick told her. “It’s our newest gallery, and I haven’t seen it myself yet. Perhaps you’d accompany me and offer your opinion?”
“Cincinnati?” Emma bit her lip. “How do you plan to get there?”
“I’ll take care of everything if you’d like to go.”
Emma barely hesitated. “I’d love to.”
That night, as Emma lay in bed and tried to sleep, memories of dancing with Patrick kept floating through her mind. This was bad news. She needed to focus on stealing Aurora, but Aleksander had been right when he’d said that she had started to like Patrick.
At this point, it was more than “like.” And Emma’s feelings for Patrick were only growing stronger.
Around two a.m., with sleep still not on the horizon, Emma got up and continued her work on the forgery. Just like her feelings for Patrick, her appreciation of the painting grew with each moment she spent on it.
This task was only getting harder.
And then Emma had an idea. A terrible, ill-advised idea, but as soon as it came into her mind, she couldn’t banish it. Perhaps, as well as fulfilling Aleksander’s request, she could use this forgery for her own purposes.
A ray of hope shone into Emma’s chest as she picked up her brush again.
CHAPTER 10
PATRICK
Patrick knew he was making a mistake. He’d been careening down a bad path since the moment he invited Emma to the charity gala. No, that wasn’t true. He’d started down that path when he’d first seen Emma during the orientation, looking so beautiful and so confident.
But today his mistake was growing worse. He’d invited Emma to a tour of his gallery in Cincinnati, but what he hadn’t mentioned was that it would be just the two of them. He’d arranged to have the gallery open after hours so that they would have the whole place to themselves.
The thought of time alone with Emma, away from work, was just too compelling to pass up.
When Patrick had held her in his arms at the gala, he’d been overcome with thoughts of how it would feel to hold her even closer, to kiss her, to feel her soft skin against his. She’d looked so gorgeous in her dress, her dark hair pulled back in a mass of lovely curls, a bare hint of makeup accentuating her natural beauty.
And she was attracted to Patrick, too. He knew it from the way she’d melted against him when they’d danced and how deeply she’d blushed when he asked what she was thinking about. It would be presumptuous to imagine she was thinking about him, but Patrick could hope.
Before the gala, he had decided that Emma might be worth throwing his carefully developed priorities out the window. He was even more sure of that now. Yet he also knew that giving in to his attraction would have consequences.
Patrick didn’t care.
He cared even less when Emma poked her head around the door of his office. He hadn’t seen her yet that day, so he took a moment to appreciate how lovely she looked in a pencil skirt and blouse.
“Hi, Patrick,” she said. “I just wanted to check what time we’re leaving today.”
“Around six, if that works for you.”
“Yes. Thanks.” Emma smiled and began to disappear around the door.
“Just a moment.” Patrick didn’t have anything else to say, but he didn’t want her to leave just yet. “We’ll meet on the roof, okay?”
“On the roof?”
“We’ll go by helicopter.”
Emma’s brown eyes widened, and Patrick had a moment of worry.
