by Laura Landon
She nodded.
“Answer any questions the bidders may have, and watch for any items that are being overlooked. Let me know if something has gone without a bid and I’ll draw attention to it. Hopefully, that will encourage more bidders to take notice of the item.”
Lily nodded.
“Then, when the bidding is done, I’ll announce the winners. Did you see the podium in the showroom?”
Again she nodded.
“I’ll give you a card with the amount the bidder agreed to pay and you will escort the bidder to one of the clerks taking payments. Give that card to the clerk, and he will collect the money.”
Lily listened carefully as Jack described the well-organized process.
“You sound as if you have everything worked out perfectly,” Lily said, her admiration for Jack Broadmoore soaring.
“Thank you, Lily. I’m very pleased to hear it.”
The warmth in his eyes caused her heart to race.
“Wish me luck?” he asked. When she nodded, he placed his hand beneath her palm and raised it to his lips. A rush of emotion surged through her, jumbling her thoughts, and it was with great difficulty that Lily wrestled her mind in order, ready to perform her duty.
There were only a few more minutes left in the bidding process and Lily made one final tour of the area she was supposed to watch. She was awed by how free most of the bidders were with their money. Jack only had to promote two items that had started off slowly. But after he explained their uniqueness, several new bidders entered the fray.
Lily checked the Qing vases a final time and breathed a sigh of relief to know that she had the high bid and would soon own the vases. She’d had to raise her bid higher than she’d expected, but not as much as she might have had to, had more people known the true value of the vases.
The final seconds ticked down and Jack called an end to the bidding. He read the name of the winner of the first item and Lily went to the front to escort the winner to the showroom to pay for his item. Everything went as it was supposed to, and Lily returned to her area.
Several people had risen to their feet and were chatting quietly with acquaintances, although quite naturally the noise level would rise as the next buyer was announced.
One by one, Lily escorted the buyers to the payment table until Jack called her own number. She was the last bidder to be called, and received polite applause.
“Congratulations, Miss McGregor,” the dowager Duchess of Camden said when she neared her. “I’m so pleased it was you who won the Qing vases. You were among the few who recognized their value, so it’s only right that you take possession of them.”
“Thank you, Your Grace. You don’t mind that they went to me?”
“Not at all. It was important that they go to someone who appreciates their worth.”
“I definitely do.” Lily paused for a moment. “May I ask what prompted you to part with the vases?”
A sad smile crossed the dowager duchess’s face.
“The truth, please,” Lily encouraged. It was obvious that it was difficult for the dowager duchess to explain her reason for selling the vases, but at last the woman lifted her gaze and looked at Lily. Her eyes were damp.
“I would never have sold them if I hadn’t been forced to.”
“I don’t understand.”
The dowager duchess reached for Lily’s hand and drew her to a quiet corner. When she was certain they couldn’t be overheard, she leaned close.
“I possess several priceless artifacts that are particularly dear to me. Quite expensive pieces, of course. I have four nephews, and unfortunately, more than one of them has indicated a desire for ownership of certain pieces.”
“Like the Qings?”
“Yes,” the dowager duchess answered. “And I refuse to allow earthly possessions to cause a rift in my family. I therefore intend to sell as many of those pieces as possible to eliminate any future conflicts.”
“I’m so sorry, Your Grace. Is Jack one of the nephews who has shown a desire for the vases?”
“Unfortunately, no. Jack is too considerate of me to demand that I leave him the finest of what I own.”
“Then—”
Lily wanted to ask more but before she could say anything further, Jack stepped up beside Lily and his godmother. “Are you pleased that Miss McGregor is the proud owner of your vases, Your Grace?”
“Yes. I couldn’t have chosen a more perfect caretaker for them.”
“I knew you’d feel that way, Your Grace.”
Jack’s last word was barely spoken before his gaze lifted beyond Lily’s shoulder. The smile faded from his face and his eyes narrowed, then hardened to an angry black.
“Russell,” he said. “And Wesley. What a surprise.”
Lily turned in time to hear a low growl from the shorter of the two fellows.
“I had no intention of coming until Wesley informed me that Her Grace was selling the Qing vases.”
The stranger’s angry glare hardened when he shifted his gaze first to Lily, and then to the dowager duchess. “Why didn’t you inform me that you intended to auction them?”
“I wasn’t aware I needed to inform you, Russell.”
“You didn’t, Your Grace, but you knew I was interested in possessing them.”
“Which is why I put them up for sale,” she answered with thinly veiled indignation. “You could have bid on them if you wanted them so badly.”
“You know I could never afford to buy them.”
The man’s gaze turned harsher and he focused his bitter emotions on Lily.
“You were the final bidder, were you not?”
“I was,” Lily answered.
“Excuse me, Miss McGregor,” Jack said stepping forward. “Allow me to introduce you. Lily McGregor, my cousins, Russell Broadmoore and his brother, Wesley Broadmoore. Russell and Wesley, Miss Lily McGregor.”
“Miss McGregor,” they both greeted, although their greeting was strained.
“Do you live in London?”
“Miss McGregor is visiting her brother,” Jack answered for her, then turned his attention to his aunt. “Would you prefer to sit, Your Grace? You look tired.”
“I am, Jackson. Would you be so good as to find a seat for me?”
“Of course. I think Russell and Wesley were finished, weren’t you?” he asked, glaring at his two cousins.
“Of course,” Russell said, then he and his brother left as Jack escorted Her Grace to a chair.
It seemed odd to Lily how easily the cousin’s anger had been defused. But then, she didn’t know him. Perhaps that was just his manner.
“Are you all right?” Lily asked when she sat down beside the dowager duchess. The color had drained from the woman’s face and when Lily held her hands, she noticed a slight trembling.
“I’m fine, Miss McGregor. Fine. I simply wasn’t prepared to have to face my nephew so soon over the sale of the vases. Russell took me by surprise.”
“I have to admit that your nephews aren’t the most cordial young men I’ve ever met.”
“No, they aren’t. They’ve had far too much handed to them and don’t know what it’s like to have to work for something they want.”
“Like your godson has?” Lily said letting her gaze rest on Jack.
“Yes. Like Jackson has.”
“Will they cause any trouble do you think?” Lily asked as she watched Jack’s cousins leave the area.
“They had better not,” Jack answered, “or they’ll have to answer to me.”
“Promise you won’t involve yourself with Russell and Wesley,” the dowager duchess said. “Wesley isn’t devious enough to be dangerous, but the same cannot be said of Russell. He harbors a mean streak and possesses a temper that he hasn’t learned to control. One look at his poor wife and you can see who he takes his anger out on.”
A knot formed in the pit of Lily’s stomach. That was behavior she battled in Whitechapel, but it was appalling to even think such things mi
ght happen here, in this genteel society. Was it possible?
The dowager duchess motioned for one of her footmen to help her to her feet. “I think it’s time I made my way home. It’s been a long day.”
“Yes,” Jack agreed. “It has been a long day, but it’s been a very good day.”
“Yes, it has,” the dowager duchess added. “I will speak with you tomorrow, Jackson. We must discuss what to do about Russell and Wesley. Somehow, I’m sure your cousins have already plotted their next move.”
“I’m afraid you’re correct. But, as we did tonight, we’ll stop them from taking advantage of you.”
Jack reached for his aunt’s hand and brought her fingers near his lips for a respectful kiss. The dowager duchess squeezed his fingers in reply before walking with him to the edge of the large room where the auction had taken place.
Lily watched them go, the elegant dowager dwarfed by her godson. The longing to stand in the rarefied air that dwelt between them startled her. She’d only just discovered she had family, and it had changed her entire outlook. Everything she’d known had recently become skewed by the sense of support and inclusion that she now knew family could provide. She was selfish to want more of it, but looking at those two and the obvious love they shared, how could she not crave it?
In the space of a heartbeat the sensation turned to one of guilt. She had no right. No right at all to harbor thoughts of belonging in Jack’s world. Millie and Liam were enough. More than enough. She was lucky to have them.
Lily had no sooner thought of them before Millie and Liam appeared at her side.
“From the looks of it,” Liam said, “you had a successful evening.”
“Yes,” she smiled. “For the most part.”
As she turned to Liam, Jack rejoined them.
Lily saw the lines of fatigue on his brow. But there was also a glow of success. She hated to be the one to wipe the happiness from his face but there was no way around it.
“Liam, why don’t you take your tired wife home,” Lily said. “I’ll be along later.”
“Do you want me to send the carriage back for you?”
“That won’t be necessary, Liam,” Jack said. “I’d be pleased to deliver your sister when we’re finished with our business.”
“If you don’t mind?” Liam said hooking Millie’s arm through his.
“Not at all.”
“Then I bid you both a good night,” Liam said, then left with his wife.
When they were gone, Lily beckoned Jack to walk with her to the table where the Qing vases sat. Silently he helped her place them in their custom-made velvet-lined boxes.
“I take it you’d like to speak to me in private,” Jack said.
Lily nodded.
Jack cupped her elbow and escorted her to his office. When he closed the door behind them, he turned to face her.
Lily held up the boxes. “These are fake.”
Lily watched the color fade from Jack’s face. “What?”
“The vases,” she repeated. “They are fake.”
BEHOLD THE THIEF by Laura Landon
Chapter Seven
Jack had heard her the first time, but he forced her to repeat her words because he couldn’t believe she could possibly be serious.
“How do you know?”
“The colors. They’re not as bold as the originals. And some of the smaller details are missing.”
“But…are you saying that someone stole the original vases at some point during the auction and replaced them with fakes?”
“I can pinpoint the time of the exchange even closer than that. Someone exchanged the vases after the bidding was finished and I had started escorting the winners to the cashier.”
Jack’s mind worked at a fever pitch. Maybe someone saw something. Maybe someone noticed a stranger looking at the vases. Someone who picked them up. “Come with me,” he said, then opened the office door. “We need to ask if anyone saw anything. And we have to do it fast. Before any of the workers leave for the night.”
Jack escorted Lily from the room and together they walked to the auction hall. Sadly, all the bidders were gone as well as the people who’d only come to watch. The only people left in the room were the workers Jack had hired to assist him with the auction.
Jack walked to where the workers had congregated. They were enjoying a well-deserved glass of champagne.
“I want to thank you for a job well done,” he said when he reached them. “You all made the evening go remarkably well.”
The crowd of workers all muttered their appreciation and Jack reached for two glasses and filled them with champagne. He handed one to Lily, and kept the other for himself.
“I have a question to ask you,” he said after he took a sip of his champagne. “Did any of you see anyone loitering around the two Qing vases at the end of this row?”
“Lots of people spent time looking at the vases. Jenny here said one of the people looking at them said they were real valuable.”
“Shouldn’t I have said that?” a pale-faced Jenny asked. It was obvious she was afraid she’d done something wrong.
“No, Jenny. You didn’t do anything wrong. The vases are quite valuable. Everyone knew that.”
“Did something happen to the vases?”
“No, no. I just want to know if anyone spent time studying them.”
“Like I said,” a young man named Clive spoke up. “Lots of people looked at the vases. Some even put bids on them.”
“What I’m asking is if any of you noticed anyone studying the vases after the bidding was over?”
Several of the workers shook their heads, or mumbled that they hadn’t seen anyone. Then, a soft female voice said, “I did. I saw a man looking at the vases after all the bidding was finished.”
“Come here,” Jack said. “What’s your name?” he asked when the young girl stepped forward.
“Mary, Mr. Broadmoore. Mary Jennings.”
“Can you describe the man you saw?”
Mary thought for a moment, then described the man she’d seen looking at the vases. “He wasn’t very tall. Not nearly as tall as you, Mr. Broadmoore. And he wasn’t very big. In fact, he was kind of scrawny. Like he didn’t eat regular.”
“How was he dressed?” Jack asked.
“He had on a fancy black suit, the same as the titled blokes wear, but I don’t think the clothes were his. Anyway, I don’t think he was used to wearing them.”
“What makes you say that, Mary?”
“He kept pulling at the collar of his shirt like it was choking him. The same as my brother Billie does to stretch the collar of his Sunday shirt. He keeps telling Mother that it’s choking him, but Mother tells him he’s just not used to wearing his church clothes.”
“What color was his hair?” Lily asked.
“It was red. Not a fiery red like Jeffrey’s,” she said pointing to one of her fellow workers. “But a brownish red.”
“Was he wearing gloves?” Lily asked.
“Now that you mention it, no, he wasn’t. He had gloves, but he took them off and put them in his jacket pocket.”
“Is that important?” Jack asked.
“I’m not sure,” Lily answered. She turned her attention back to Mary. “Did you get a good look at the man’s hands, Mary?”
“Sort of.”
“Did you notice anything about them? Any rings?”
“No, Miss. They were just hands.”
“No markings or scars, then, on either of his hands?”
Mary’s eyes lit. “Now that you mention it, I did see a mark on his…” Mary paused as she first held up her left hand, then her right. “…his right hand. Right here,” she said pointing to the area at the base of his thumb.”
“Could you tell what the mark was?”
“Not really,” Mary answered. “It looked sort of like a knife.”
“Could it have been an arrow?”
“Yes! It was an arrow!”
Lily looked at
him and Jack could tell by the expression on her face that she had an idea who the man was, although how she knew he had no idea.
“Thank you, Mary,” she said. “You’ve been a great help.”
Jack saluted them all with his glass of champagne. “You can all go home for the night. Make sure all the candles are snuffed, and divide the leftover sandwiches among you so there’s nothing left. Charlie,” Jack said to his foreman, “lock up the front when you leave. I’ll lock up the back.”
“Very well, Mr. Broadmoore. Have a good night.”
Jack nodded, then placed his hand around Lily’s waist and escorted her to his office.
“Are you all right?”
Jack could see the worry on her face. He could see the toll that tonight had taken on her. He knew she was trying to come to terms with the theft of the vases. “What are you thinking?”
“None of this makes sense. Why would someone wait until the Qing vases were sold instead of stealing them before the auction? Why risk taking them in the middle of such a crowd?”
“Perhaps to prove to someone how vulnerable they were.”
Jack moved closer, drawn to Lily by her look of concern and the worried hand she rubbed across her forehead. Without thought, Jack wrapped his arm around her shoulders to comfort her. In one short week he’d come to know this woman for the brilliant, caring, strong individual she was. But now that she was distressed for him, she seemed almost vulnerable. The combination of his own concern and her obvious compassion affected him like nothing else ever had. He wanted to comfort her. He wanted to keep her close. He wanted her to know how special he thought she was.
“Lily—”
She turned toward him so that she stood with his hand still on her shoulder. Her eyes softened and her lips parted slightly. If a question was poised there, he never heard the words. Without considering the ramifications of his actions, Jack drew her close and lowered his mouth until his lips touched hers.
At first he sensed she might pull away from him. Her initial reaction was to stiffen slightly as if she didn’t want him to kiss her. But almost immediately her body gave in to his caress. She turned closer into him and wrapped her arms around his neck, accepting his kiss with a soft utterance of approval.
