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How he wanted to reach forwards, cup her face in his hands and brush his lips across hers. Take their mutual excitement and channel it into something messier and hotter. But Sara wasn’t for him. She was looking at him as if he were some miracle when his life was littered with failings.
‘Yes. Andwhenit’s authenticated it’ll cause a huge stir.’
‘But that’s worth...’
‘It’s priceless.’
In so many ways. Most importantly, in creating an escape plan for his sister. She’d refused all offers of money to help her leave her husband, claiming it was somehow tainted. She wouldn’t take anything from a fortune bestowed on him by the family that had hurt her so terribly. That meant any financial assistance he offered had to come from what heearnedin his business. With the sale of the Caravaggio, he’d have proof that the funds had come from his work and not the family coffers. That painting was a way to help Vic, make her safe.
‘I wish I could find something like that. It would feel amazing.’ She was looking up at him in wonder now. As if he held the secrets of the universe. He wanted to keep that look on her face, even though he didn’t deserve it.
‘It did. Which brings me back to you and your need for finances. Help me, and if you locate anything of value I’ll gift you the equivalent of the buyer’s premium at auction when our arrangement ends. Fifteen percent.’
‘I—What? Wait.’ Sara held up her hands. ‘You say you’re buying my clothes. Now this? I can’t take charity.’
‘It’s not charity. I own an auction house. I find hidden treasure and sell it. You have the right qualifications and want to find treasure too. It’s perfect.’
She shook her head. Another golden corkscrew of hair tumbled free. She blew it out of her eyes. ‘Even if I can’t be an employee, I want to be paid as if I were.’
‘I don’t have another employee like you.’
‘Exactly.It isn’t a commercial arrangement. I... I’ll take two percent.’
‘Accepting that would be robbery on my part. I have the funds, why won’t you take them?’
‘I need to learn to look after myself. What about when we’re not together? What then?’
Lance frowned. In these moments she sounded so much like Vic... Yet he understood pride. He needed to play smart here. He shrugged.
‘I suspect it will cost me nothing, since you’re unlikely to find anything of value at all. But if you’re concerned...twelve percent.’
Sara’s eyes narrowed, and her lips pursed. Ah, he had her now.
‘OfcourseI’ll find something. Five.’
‘Ten.’
‘Seven and a half. And that’sfinal.’
It wasn’t enough, but he’d give it to her. He sensed she needed a win of her own.
‘You strike a hard deal, Lady Sara.’ Lance held out his hand and she slipped her cool palm into his as they shook in agreement. He should let her go but marvelled at how it was the perfect fit. Their eyes met, palms locked between them. Her eyes widened.
Then the plane jolted with a bump on the tarmac and began taxiing to the terminal. She pulled her hand from his. He missed the warmth of her soft skin on his own. Craved it like some beacon in the darkness, when in truth the darkness was where he belonged.
Moments after they left the plane, everything had become a blur of activity. Sara’s head still spun. After some short time to freshen up, they’d been collected by car to travel to London. She’d exchanged details with his secretary so she could sync Sara and Lance’s diaries. When she briefly turned on her phone to check the coming days’ events, multiple message alerts angrily pinged at her. She turned it off, dropping it into her bag.
Lance looked up from his phone, on which he’d been assiduously working, cocking one eyebrow. ‘Trouble?’
Most of the messages had come from her parents and brother. But there was one from Annalise. Her family, she wouldn’t deal with. Lise, shecouldn’t. How could she admit what was going on to her friend?
She shrugged. ‘It’s to be expected. Where are we going now?’
She and Lance had come to a kind of agreement about her clothes. He’d arranged for someone to meet them at Astill Hall that very afternoon and had handed over his phone so she could speak to a lovely woman who’d asked what she was looking for in terms of style. ‘Economical and fun’ was what Sara wanted. Lance had taken the phone and insisted that not an item of clothing was to be black. Sara didn’t really care. He was paying, after all. But when her parure was sold, she’d pay him back. Anything else didn’t seem right, especially when she needed to take care of herself.
The car began to slow, and then came to a stop. The chauffeur opened his door.
‘Could you give us a few moments?’ Lance asked.
