get a life and you’ll be alone.”
Charlie choked out a laugh. “I think I’ve got a few years before I have to think about getting a cat to keep me company.”
“Okay, you’re right about that,” she admitted. “But my point is, if you don’t start living a little now, by the time you think you’re finally ready? It’ll be too late.”
Maybe she had a point. And maybe Charlie just wanted Katie to have a point. She was falling again. Just as fast and hard as she had for Jake’s father.
That relationship had turned out to be nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Could she really risk more pain? Then, remembering that kiss and how the warm summer breeze had wrapped itself around the two of them under the shade of that willow, she asked herself if she could really walk away.
Kendra Darling guarded Ann Richardson’s office like a well-dressed, charming dragon. Her hazel eyes were sharp behind tortoiseshell glasses and her shoulder-length, straight red hair was pulled back in a no-nonsense gold clip at the nape of her neck. She smiled as Vance approached. No one got past Kendra if they weren’t expected. Not even a senior board member.
“Mr. Waverly,” Kendra said with a brief nod, “Ms. Richardson is expecting you.”
“Thanks.” He walked past her desk, then paused for a quick look back. Kendra had been here for several years, he reminded himself. Who would know their secrets better? Then he discounted the notion entirely. After all, he’d suspected Charlie and there hadn’t been anything to it. And Kendra was loyal to the bone. For all he knew, the traitor—if there was one—could be one of the old guard. He took a moment to imagine George, Simon or one of the society ladies on the board sending threatening emails to Charlie. Or stealing information and passing it on to Dalton.
“Is there something else, Mr. Waverly?”
He met Kendra’s inquiring gaze and shook his head. “No, everything’s fine. Thanks.”
Vance dismissed his imaginings as wildly improbable. It was going to take time to find whoever was trying to sink Waverly’s. It wouldn’t be easy and it wouldn’t be pleasant. But he would uncover what was happening here.
Opening the door, he stepped inside.
Ann Richardson’s icy-cool exterior was nowhere to be seen. She was pacing her office in brisk strides, all the while staring down at a sheaf of papers she held in her hands. A smile curved her mouth and even from across the room, Vance could see the gleam of excitement glittering in her eyes when she looked up as he walked in.
“Vance! Good. Have you talked to Roark?”
“Two days ago, why?” She’d brought him here to talk about his brother?
“Then you don’t know. Even better. I want to see your reaction. See if it’s anything like mine.”
He didn’t have time for games. He needed to get back to Charlie. Look at the emails from her blackmailer. Kiss her again. Scowling at the wayward thought, he focused on Ann. Confusion settled down in him and he didn’t like it. “What’re you talking about, Ann?”
“This.” She walked to him and held out the papers. He took them and swiftly scanned the few lines of text before concentrating on the pictures.
“Is this what I think it is?” he asked, lifting his gaze to hers.
“If you’re thinking it’s the Rayas collection, including the Gold Heart statue,” she whispered almost reverently, “then yes. It is.”
“But it’s been missing for more than a hundred years,” Vance murmured, gaze dragging up and down the photo of the statue.
“Roark found it,” Ann told him, with barely restrained glee. “Honestly, your brother can be hard to deal with and even harder to keep track of, but he makes some truly miraculous finds for the house.”
Miraculous. Exactly what tracking down this piece of art was. Stunned, Vance stared down at the photo of the famed statue. Everyone who lived and worked in the fine art world knew the story of the lost statue from the Middle Eastern kingdom of Rayas.
One of only three in existence, each of the statues was a woman, two feet high, her heart etched and inlaid in gold. The pedestal the female figure stood on was an inch-thick block of pure gold and stamped with a unique seal. Legend said that centuries ago, the king of Rayas commissioned three Gold Heart statues, one for each of his daughters, to bring them luck in love.
The daughters were lucky, as were all the generations to follow—as long as the statues remained in their respective palaces. One of the three matching works belonged to the family of Sheikh Raif Khouri, another still graced the palace of the original family to inherit it. And about a century ago, the third statue went missing—presumed to have been either stolen—or sold by a member of the family. Either way, without the statue in the palace, that branch of the family met with heartache, disaster and eventually died out altogether. Which made a man put a little more faith in the strength of a legend.
But for this Gold Heart to suddenly turn up as part of the collection was damn irregular. Where had it come from? How had his brother found it? And why hadn’t he told Vance?
They’d spoken only two days ago, so he must have had a line on the statue then. Why wouldn’t he have mentioned it? Frowning now, Vance asked, “Roark sent these photos to you?”
“Just got them this morning by fax.” She grabbed the top paper back and skimmed over the full-color picture. “Gorgeous. Just gorgeous. And Waverly’s has it.”
This was huge. Vance stared down at the paper she’d left him with and examined photos of three of the other items that would be included in the auction. He felt a satisfied, proud smile crease his face. Roark had done it. He’d secured the most sought-after auction items in the world at a time when Waverly’s really needed the good press. It was a gift, he thought. A damn timely one.
“Where’s the statue itself?” he asked.
Ann looked up at him and blinked as if she had to refocus her mind. And who could blame her? Things had been tense and ugly here for a couple of weeks and this news could change everything. For Ann as well as for the house.
“He locked it in his overseas vault. It’s safe until he can bring it back home. But he’s authenticated it, Vance. There’s no mistake. This is the missing Gold Heart.”
He nodded.
“I want to announce this to the press,” Ann said. “But before I do, I wanted your take on it. We can’t afford any mistakes about this. Once the Gold Heart acquisition is announced, we’re putting Waverly’s reputation on the line.”
Vance knew what she was talking about. If it turned out that the statue was a copy or something even worse, it would shatter the house. They were already under siege and couldn’t afford any more bad press.
Looking at Ann, he said, “You know as well as I do that Roark knows his stuff. No one else on this planet has his kind of instincts—or his knowledge of antiquities. If he says it’s real, then it is.”
His brother had the unerring ability to locate treasures that others either overlooked or missed completely. Roark had an encyclopedic knowledge of the weird
