Going, Going, Gone

by Samantha A. Cole

  Going, Going, Gone

  Bid On Love: Bachelor #2

  Samantha A Cole

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Other Books By Samantha A. Cole

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  “Please! If I could only have a few minutes with Mr. McBride, I’m sure I could convince him to—”

  The real-estate developer’s secretary frowned at Vanessa Adams. “I’m sorry; I told you he’s not available to see anyone this week. You’ll have to make an appointment.”

  Her ire rising, Vanessa crossed her arms and glared at the bleach-blonde sentry. “I did make an appointment. He cancelled it, and the one I made after that.”

  The other woman, Tara Beale according to the nameplate on her desk, shrugged. “I have no control over that. Now, you can make another appointment or not, but you’re not getting in to see him today or any other day this week.”

  Vanessa never thought it would be so hard to get five damn minutes with the man. She had to talk to him and try to convince him to withdraw the proposal that would result in an ugly mini-mall being built on a historic site; at least, Vanessa believed it was. She’d been trying for the past two years to prove that the property in question, just outside the Norfolk, Virginia city limits, had been a stop along the Underground Railroad during the early to mid-19th century. Her goal was to get it listed as a nationally designated historical landmark. But so far, all she had was circumstantial evidence, and that hadn’t been enough to get her application to the National Park Service approved. If it did, grants would be available to restore and preserve the centuries-old house, barn, and property. However, her chances of proving it before Dylan McBride and his company knocked down the buildings to make way for another coffee franchise and dry cleaner—or whatever else they planned on putting there—were quickly fading.

  Frustration pooled within Vanessa. As a history professor at Tidewater Community College, she hated that a site with such an influential past could be torn down. She just needed a little more time to complete her research, but it was running short.

  She opened her mouth to plead her case to see McBride once more when the door to the reception area behind her swung open. In walked a pretty woman in her thirties, with short blonde hair and sparkling hazel eyes that lit up her face. Dressed in a tailored gray suit with a red blouse, she had an air of confidence around her that was noticeable as she strode toward the secretary. “Hi, Tara. Whoops, I’m not interrupting, am I?” She glanced back and forth between the two women.

  “Not at all, Nadine,” the secretary responded, giving Vanessa a dismissive glance.

  “Great. I just wanted to drop this off to Dylan.” She handed over a manila folder. “He needs to fill out what his date will consist of for the bachelor auction, and there are other things in there he needs to read through. Also, tell him not to forget he needs a tux. I want those women bidding high for a date with him, not that they will know it’s him until he takes off his mask.”

  Tara grinned. “I already know what his planned date will be—a ride in a hot-air balloon followed by a picnic.”

  The other woman clapped her hands. “Ohhh. I like that! How the heck did he come up with something that good?”

  Placing the folder on a stack of others, the secretary rolled her eyes. “He didn’t; I did. You know he’s not thrilled with you conning him into this. He said he feels like a piece of meat being auctioned off to the highest bidder. If I let him set up the date, it would include the McDonald’s drive-thru, followed by an hour at the gym to work off the calories. The man’s a paradox when it comes to fast food and staying in shape.”

  Nadine walked backward toward the door. “As long as he looks hot in his tux, he can eat all the Big Macs he wants. I gotta run, but I need the date details by Friday. That’ll give me a week to put them all together in the brochure. Are you coming to bid on someone?”

  “My boyfriend would shoot me if I did, and I think an engagement ring is coming, so I’m not going to rock the boat.”

  “Oh, good for you. Tell Dylan I’ll see him next weekend, and he better be smiling! It’s for charity!” The mini tornado left in the same flourish with which she’d entered.

  After the door shut again, the secretary looked up at Vanessa, her smile and friendliness from moments ago gone. “Now, what day did you want to make an appointment for?”

  “The earliest time I can get.” It didn’t really matter because she was sure it would be cancelled again. But maybe there was another way to corner the man—in a place he couldn’t escape from without a parachute.

  “How did you get caught up in all this again?”

  Dylan handed the menus back to the waitress after she’d taken their lunch order, before frowning at Emma Conklin, who was sitting across the table from him. She had the same dark-brown hair and mocha-colored eyes he had, and many people mistook them for siblings instead of cousins. In fact, since they’d been born a week apart thirty-six years ago, some had asked if they were fraternal twins.

  “I don’t have a clue. No, scratch that. The chick running the event is a reporter. She did me a favor last year by doing an extra piece on Wendy’s Place to push our annual fundraiser, so, apparently, my payback is to do this stupid auction for her fundraiser. At least it’s for another good cause.” Wendy’s Place was a shelter for abused women that Dylan’s mother had founded after one of her best friends had been beaten into a coma fifteen years ago. During the six weeks that’d followed, she’d never regained consciousness before passing away. The woman’s husband was now serving a life-term in prison for her murder. Janet McBride had tried to talk her friend into leaving the abusive relationship but hadn’t been successful. She was now determined to help other women who found themselves in the same situation. Dylan was on the charity’s board which is how he ended up owing Nadine Marx.

  Emma picked a roll out of the basket sitting between them on the table. “What cause is that?”

  “Healing Heroes is a non-profit that rescues dogs from shelters and trains them to be service dogs for veterans with PTSD or physical injuries. All the proceeds from the auction will help a few veterans get their dogs.”

  “Oh, I’ve heard of them. I think one of Mark’s friends at the American Legion got his service dog through them.” She grinned. “So, you want me to go bid on you, so you don’t have to go out on a blind date with some woman who paid a few pennies for you.”

  Dylan snorted. “I’m worth more than a few pennies, you brat.”

  She shrugged. “Okay, fifty cents.”

  Knowing from experience he’d lose the battle, he let the snark slide. “All you have to do is bid whatever it takes to win the date with me. I’ll pay for it. Then you and Mark can take the hot-air balloon ride and whatever else Tara put together for my ‘date.’”

  “Hmmm. I’ll have to think about that.”

  “C’mon, Em. Help me out here. I’ve got too much shit going on right now to go out with anyone, especially a blind date I got stuck with. I wish Nadine would just let me write a check, damn it.” He leaned forward. “Please, Em. I’m begging you. It’ll be easy. Even though I have to wear a stupid mask to hide my identity until the bidding is over, you’ll be able to recognize me. And if not, you know what the date is, so you just have to bid on that. Once it’s over, you can stay for the party or leave.”

  “Party?”
>
  “It’s just drinks and passed hors d'oeuvres, I think, with a silent auction for non-human prizes.”

  Emma choked on the sip of water she’d been taking, spraying him. When she could speak again, she dissolved into a fit of giggles. “Oh, my god! I’m sorry, but that was your fault! I can’t believe you said that!”

  Her laughter was infectious and soon Dylan joined her as he wiped his face, arms, and shirt with his napkin. “Thanks for the shower. In the future, remind me not to use sarcasm when you’re drinking.”

  Their waitress returned with their lunches, and Dylan waited until she left again before pinning Emma with a pleading stare. “Please say you’ll do this for me.”

  She popped a grape tomato from her salad into her mouth, then chewed and swallowed, before answering him. “Fine. I’ll do it. What time do I have to be there on Friday and what’s my bidding budget?”

  “Seven o’clock, and I don’t care what it costs me as long as you win.”

  Chapter Two

  “This is so cool,” Faith Holland said as she scanned the auction brochure they’d received at the door. Vanessa hadn’t needed to twist her best friend’s arm to accompany her to the fundraiser tonight. All that’d been necessary was to mention “bachelor” and “auction,” and Faith had been all in. “Look at all these awesome dates we can bid on, Nessa: a trip to an amusement park with dinner at the top of a Ferris wheel; parasailing; dinner at a winery followed by a tour of the zoo; and, ooh, a secret surprise date. I wonder what that is. Too bad we don’t get to find out who the guy is until after the bidding is over. Then again, rumor has it that all the guys are hot looking.”

  Vanessa didn’t care about any of the other guys up for bid. All she wanted was to win the date with Dylan McBride, then get him 2000 feet off the ground in a hot-air balloon where he would have no choice but to listen to her pleas or jump. She just had to save the old Coldrick Farm from becoming a strip mall and parking lot. After Elise Coldrick had died two years ago, at the age of eighty-eight, with no heirs, her will stated she’d bequeathed the property and her estate to the local library where she’d served on the board of trustees for years. Needing the money more than the property, the board had decided to sell the land, which is where McBride’s company came into play. He was the person she had to convince to stall the listing and subsequent final sale of the property until she could find the evidence she needed to prove it’d been part of the Underground Railroad. She’d sent letters to several museums and historical societies, trying to find evidence that Elise’s ancestors had aided escaped slaves to reach the North where they could live free.

  Vanessa’s grandmother, who died a few years ago, had been good friends with Elise, and Vanessa had often joined the two older women for afternoon tea. It was during that time, Elise had regaled Vanessa with stories of her ancestors, that’d been passed down through generations. She’d been certain her family had hidden the fugitive slaves in their basement until it’d been safe for them to move on. Now Vanessa was trying to prove that, so the history could be preserved.

  “What auction number is the hot-air balloon date?” she asked, while carrying the #207 bid paddle she’d been given and glancing at the table numbers, trying to find the one they’d been assigned. She’d been lucky after finding the information about the auction online. When she’d called to get tickets, the woman who’d answered the phone had originally said it’d been sold out, but had then called Vanessa back within minutes, stating someone had just canceled. Without hesitation, Vanessa had snatched up the two $100 tickets. Now she just had to pray the bidding for McBride didn’t go over $2000 because that was all she had in her savings account at the moment. Maybe if she acted confident enough, she could scare off other bidders.

  “Um . . . the second one. An adventurous, hot-air balloon ride followed by a picnic lunch in the countryside.”

  “Here’s our table.” Vanessa took a seat facing the stage, so she wouldn’t have to turn her chair around when the auction started.

  Faith sat to her right, still perusing through the brochure. “Hmm. I’m not bidding on this one—it’s a weekend of boot camp and self-defense training. If I’m going to get all sweaty on a date, it’s not going to be for that! Oh, listen to this one—a night in a haunted hotel.”

  Vanessa eyed her friend. “Sharing a room? I wouldn’t share a hotel room with a guy I don’t know, even if I did spend a lot of money to win him—well, not exactly him, but the date.”

  “It says the winner and bachelor will be staying in adjoining rooms.”

  “Still . . . well it doesn’t really matter since I’m not bidding on him.” Her eyes narrowed. “You’re not considering that one, are you?”

  The other woman’s eyes twinkled as she lifted her gaze. “I’ll have to see what he looks like first.”

  “Aren’t they all wearing masks?”

  “So . . .” She shrugged. “If he’s got a nice body . . . and like I said, they’re all rumored to be hotties. A haunted hotel might be fun. I could pretend to be scared and need him to hold me.”

  “Who, the ghost?” Vanessa teased, as several other women took seats at their table.

  Faith rolled her eyes but didn’t respond to the joke. Vanessa glanced around the room and her nervousness returned. There was a larger audience than she’d expected. Counting the number of tables, she figured there were over 150 women present and hoped a lot of them were there for the silent auction items instead of the bidding on the bachelors.

  A half-hour later the bidding was climbing higher and higher for Bachelor #1, who had donated the surprise date. On the stage, a masked, tuxedoed man stood between Nadine, who was grinning and gesturing to the bachelor’s fine physique, and the auctioneer who was calling out the bids. As the amount went over $1000, the bidding slowed, but continued. Finally, at $2000, the gavel came down, and the date was sold. Vanessa sighed. At least if that had been the date she was bidding on, she would have been able to afford it—barely. Nadine made a few announcements before the bidding on Bachelor #2 started. A phone sitting on the table to Vanessa’s left vibrated and the woman next to her picked it up. She’d sat down alone about ten minutes before the start of the auction and had been typing away on Facebook until the bidding started.

  “Hi, babe, what’s—” She paused. “Oh, no! What happened?” Wide-eyed, the pretty brunette listened to whoever was on the other end, then stood and grabbed her purse. “All right, I’ll meet you at the emergency room.”

  Without a backward glance, the woman hurried toward the exit. Vanessa thought it was odd she’d been at a bachelor auction while she had a “babe” somewhere. Maybe she’d just been there to bid on the silent auction items that’d been donated, not that it mattered.

  “All right, ladies,” Nadine said into the microphone she was holding. “Here we go with Bachelor #2! Get your paddles ready to bid!”

  Dylan McBride strode onto the stage, dressed in the tuxedo and mask she’d been expecting. Had she not known what he looked like and known he was the bachelor for the balloon date, she probably wouldn’t have had a clue who he was. McBride was a handsome man—his photo was on his company’s website and had been in the local newspaper a few times—and Vanessa had to admit she’d definitely be checking him out if he walked by her one day. The tuxedo he was wearing looked like it had been tailor-made for him. His dark-brown hair looked like silk and probably felt like it too. She couldn’t really see his eyes between the mask and the distance, but she knew from the photos that they were brown. Too bad he’d been annoying the hell out of her since she’d first tried to contact him about the Coldrick property, because she might have actually enjoyed herself on their “date.” That is, if she managed to win.

  After Nadine reiterated what the date consisted of, the male auctioneer started the bidding. Quickly, it climbed from $100 to over $1000 before slowing a bit. Whenever another woman placed a bid, Vanessa lifted her paddle and upped it, trying to show she wasn’t going to give up. McBride
didn’t seem happy about it either—not just her bidding, but everyone’s. He wasn’t exactly frowning, but he also wasn’t smiling. Vanessa recalled the conversation between his secretary and Nadine—they’d said he’d been conned into being here, and Vanessa wondered how. Did the auction organizer have some dirt on him she was using for blackmail? If she did, Vanessa would love to know what it was, so she could use it to get him to push back the sale date if her begging didn’t work.

  “I have $1800 . . .” The auctioneer scanned the room, his rapid and enthusiastic words ringing out. “. . . . who’ll give me nineteen? Anyone? Bid is eighteen-hundred. Whose got nineteen? Come on, now, it’s for a great cause! Bid's at $1800, will ya give me nineteen?”

  Vanessa bit her bottom lip, silently praying no one raised their paddle.

  “Eighteen-hundred is the bid, looking for nineteen. Eighteen-hundred going once. Eighteen-hundred going twice. Eighteen-hundred gone!” He slammed the gavel down on the podium, then used it to point at Vanessa. “Sold to bidder #207 for $1800. Congratulations, little lady! That’ll help one of our veterans get a service dog.”

  Applause came from the audience as she breathed a sigh of relief. Dozens of gazes looked in her direction, but they were all blocked out except one. Dylan McBride was still standing on the stage and was staring at her—he had been for the last few minutes of the bidding. She could almost feel the heat directed at her, and she didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing. She swallowed hard under his scrutiny. A small smile appeared on his partially hidden face, and he dipped his chin once, before taking off his mask. Damn, the man was even better looking in person.