I asked what you thought of him,” Joseph said, “I wasn’t talking about his performance on the podium. I want to know what you think of Michael Corsi as a man. Do you find him attractive?”
Laura stilled. At the time she’d started the job, she’d been prepared to have Joseph direct his attentions her way. In fact, that had been essential if she was to earn his confidence. What she hadn’t been prepared for was the revelation that he was gay, that he wanted her to pose as his lover, and that he was willing to pay her a generous stipend, in addition to her regular salary, for her to do so.
His standing in the community was important to him, he’d told her. He didn’t want it jeopardized, and he was apprehensive about what might happen if the truth of his sexual orientation were to become common knowledge. If she took the job, he wouldn’t expect her to live a celibate lifestyle. She was free to take a lover, so long as she exercised extreme discretion.
Since his request had meant she would be working even more closely with him, and that he was growing to trust her, Laura had readily agreed. Was he toying with her now? she wondered. Testing her loyalty? At times Joseph Merrill was an extremely difficult man to read.
“Is he gay?” she asked.
Joseph leaned over her again. “Checking to see if I’m staking a claim?” he whispered into her ear.
“You are my boss,” she replied lightly. “I wouldn’t want to overstep my bounds. You pay me too well.”
Joseph chuckled his appreciation. “I do like a woman who knows on which side her bread is buttered. Alas, he’s not gay, more’s the pity. So, what do you think?”
Laura gazed at Michael Corsi and felt a flutter in her midsection. There it was again, that unwelcome awareness of him as a man. A starburst of anticipation radiated outward, leaving a tingling sensation in its wake. She fought it back, searching instead to retrieve her earlier feelings of disdain.
“He is a handsome devil, isn’t he?” she said, knowing Joseph would expect Ruby to make such a remark.
“Adorable,” Joseph replied. “Too bad they buried your heart with your fiancé.”
Rule number one of undercover work was to come up with a good cover story. Before she had known he was gay, she’d wanted Joseph to be attracted to her. But she hadn’t wanted their relationship to become intimate. To prevent that eventuality, while hopefully keeping his interest in her heightened, she had concocted the story that Ruby O’Toole’s fiancé had been killed in a car accident on the eve of their wedding. The loss was still too fresh, too painful for her to enter into a new relationship.
“Yeah,” she agreed, sighing theatrically. “Too bad.”
“Yet you still dress and act provocatively around men. You still flirt outrageously with them.” There was a speculative gleam in Joseph’s eyes that she didn’t like and needed to put to rest. Immediately.
“That’s because all the men around here know I belong to you. Flirting with them is safe.”
Reaching up a hand, she patted her hair. “Besides,” she cooed, “a girl needs to know she hasn’t lost her technique. I may not allow men to touch right now, but I definitely want them to look. I won’t be in mourning forever, you know.”
Joseph chuckled. “Spoken like a woman.”
“I am a woman, Joseph. I’ve never made that a secret.”
It was an unfortunate choice of words. She realized her mistake when Joseph said, “I wonder what secrets you are hiding from me.”
Hours of practice in front of a mirror had perfected the guileless look she aimed his way.
“Secrets?” she asked, an air of honest bewilderment in her voice, although her heart was thudding heavily. “I have no secrets.”
“Everyone has secrets, my dear. Everyone has something to hide. No one is exactly as he presents himself to others. I can’t help wondering what it is you’re keeping from me.”
Her laughter was light and airy, and pure Ruby. “I’ll never tell,” she said, batting her eyelashes at him. “That’s for me to know and you to find out.”
“Oh, I will, my dear, I will,” Joseph assured her, and she felt a chill.
His words reminded her of exactly how dangerous he was. The man Michael Corsi had replaced as head auctioneer had disappeared without a trace. He wasn’t the first person to suddenly leave Joseph’s employ, nor was he the first to drop out of sight, never to be seen again. Of course, without any bodies, and without any evidence whatsoever that Joseph had played a role in those disappearances, no charges could be brought.
The speculation in Joseph’s eyes faded and he said, “Have I told you lately how glad I am that I hired you? If not for you, I would have auctioned an extremely valuable painting for what would have amounted to peanuts.”
Laura had barely believed it herself when she’d discovered the old master mixed in with a pile of worthless canvases. It was a once-in-a-lifetime find. She’d gone immediately to Joseph with the news, hoping to raise her value in his eyes. She knew he would think that Ruby easily could have arranged for someone to buy it at a pittance, then turned around and sold it for its true value, pocketing the profit for herself. That she hadn’t went a long way toward proving her loyalty to him. It was after that discovery that Joseph had asked her to pose as his love interest.
Over the past six weeks she had learned a lot about Joseph Merrill. One of the most important things she’d uncovered was that he wasn’t exactly a wizard where the items he auctioned off were concerned. He could barely tell an oak chair from a pine one, let alone discern the difference between a valuable master and a starving-artist watercolor. His success as an auctioneer was due solely to the talents of the people he hired to work for him. Joseph hired only the best. Which indicated to Laura, at least, that his business was a front for something else.
“You may have expressed your gratitude a time or two,” she replied in a breathy voice, “but don’t let that stop you. A lady never gets tired of having her ego stroked.”
Though he had a smile on his face, the eyes Joseph turned her way were cold. “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. I have a favor to ask, my dear. A favor that you are uniquely qualified to grant. Of course, it goes without saying that I’m counting on your discretion. I don’t want any tongues wagging, nor do I want you to feel you have to violate your self-imposed vow of celibacy. But it would be nice if you somehow got past our Mr. Corsi’s barriers and encouraged his confidence. I would be extremely interested in finding out if he has any secrets I should know.”
The words were an order, not a request. So much for his concern about Ruby’s love life. Laura should have known better than to believe that Joseph had an altruistic bone in his body, or that he was bothered by Ruby’s monastic lifestyle. Everything he did, he did with a what-was-in-it-for-him attitude. She’d be foolish to forget that.
“My break is almost over,” she said, swinging her feet off the chair. “If you don’t mind, I think I’ll go to the ladies’ room and put my face back together.”
“Not at all. I hope you’ll take into consideration what we were just speaking about.”
“Of course.”
Flashing
