by Joss Wood
She had to calm down.
She was going to see Jaeger again. Her one-time lover, the father of her child, the man she’d spent the past eighteen months fantasizing about. In Milan she hadn’t been able to look at him without wanting to kiss him deeply, madly, without wanting to get naked with him as soon as humanly possible.
Jaeger, the same man who’d blocked her from his life.
Piper sucked in as much air as she could. She had to pull herself together! She was a few months shy of thirty, a mother. She was not a gauche girl about to meet her first crush. She had sapphires to sell, her house to save, a child to raise. She was being utterly ridiculous! This meeting had nothing to do with Ty or Milan. This meeting was about her gems and her need to raise the cash to keep her home. Ty’s home.
Unable to sit still, Piper walked down the hall to examine another painting, this one by Crouch. Not his best work, she decided. Piper turned when male voices drifted toward her, and she immediately recognized Jaeger’s deep timbre. Her skin prickled and burned and her heart flew out of her chest.
“Miss Mills?”
Piper hauled in a deep breath and looked at Jaeger. His hair was slightly shorter, she noticed, his stubble a little heavier. His eyes were still the same arresting blue, but his shoulders seemed broader, his arms under the sleeves of the black oxford shirt more defined. A soft leather belt was threaded through the loops of black chinos.
The corner of his mouth tipped up, the same way it had the first time they’d met, and like before, the butterflies in her stomach took flight and crashed into one another. Heat ran up her neck and into her cheeks and she bit her bottom lip, frantically telling herself she couldn’t, wouldn’t, throw herself into his arms and tell him that her mouth had missed his, that her body still craved his.
He held out his hand. “I’m Jaeger Ballantyne.”
Yes, I know. We did several things to each other that, when I remember Milan, still make me blush.
What had she said in Italy? “When we meet again, we’ll pretend we never saw each other naked.”
Oh, God! Was he really going to take her statement literally?
Jaeger shoved his hand into the pocket of his pants and rocked on his heels, his expression wary. “Okay, skipping the pleasantries. I understand you have some sapphires you’d like me to see?”
His words instantly reminded her of her mission. It shouldn’t—it didn’t!—matter that he was being a hemorrhoid. She’d spent one night with the Playboy of Park Avenue and he’d unknowingly given her the best gift of her life, but that wasn’t why she was here. She needed him to look at her stones and, ideally, confirm they were valuable. She needed him to buy the gems so she could keep her house.
Piper nodded. “Right. Yes, I have sapphires.”
“I only deal in exceptional stones, Ms. Mills.” Jaeger told her, his expression guarded.
Tired of wasting time, and feeling like an idiot, Piper reached into the side pocket of her tote bag and hauled out a knuckle-size cut sapphire.
“This exceptional enough for you, Ballantyne?”
Two
Jaeger lowered his loupe and looked at the sapphire he held between his thumb and index finger. It was a small stone, barely four carats, but its color and quality, like those of the rest of the ten stones, were off the charts.
Like the woman who owned them.
Jaeger turned his head to the right and looked toward the window where she stood, watching the traffic on the famous street below. Like the stones, something in her called to him. She wasn’t beautiful, precisely, but she was...dazzling. With her naturally curly hair and cat-like green eyes, her stubborn chin and long, lean swimmer’s body, she was exotic, interesting. Utterly feminine...
And majorly pissed off with him.
Jaeger knew women. He should—he’d had enough experience dealing with them. He knew when they were moody or sad. He could recognize manipulation and desperation from a mile away, could see calculation and greed with one glance. He could read body language like other people read text, and Piper Mills was five feet seven inches of pure pissiness.
Directed at him.
He wanted to ask if they’d met before, but he knew that couldn’t be possible. Apart from those two months last year, his memory was impeccable, and he knew they’d never crossed paths before that. The probability of them meeting during his lost months was slim indeed. Credit cards, air tickets and a private investigator had filled in the blanks for the majority of the time he’d lost.
He’d spent July in Burma and Thailand, on the trail of a fantastic ruby he’d subsequently lost in an auction held in the back rooms of Bangkok. From Bangkok, he’d flown to Milan, where he visited Ballantyne and Company and examined and purchased some inexpensive art deco jewelry. He’d spent some extra time in Milan, not unusual since it was his favorite city, but the visit had ended badly. On his way to the airport, the taxi he’d traveled in was T-boned by a delivery truck, and he’d become the human filling in a vehicular sandwich. He’d sustained a broken clavicle and bleeding on the brain.
They’d stabilized him in Milan. Then Linc sent their private plane and a team of doctors to Italy, and Jaeger was transferred back to New York. After operating to stem the bleeding on his brain, they’d kept him in an induced coma until the swelling in his brain subsided. He woke up to the news he’d lost ten weeks of his life, and his beloved uncle, the man who’d raised the Ballantyne siblings, was dead.
Jaeger pulled his eyes from the long-legged beauty at the window and turned back to the stones. Kashmir Blues...why did that phrase keep jumping into his brain? Jaeger picked up his desk phone and punched in a number, impatient for Beckett to answer. His brother had a computer-like brain and remembered most of their uncle’s many stories. From the age of ten, he, Beckett and Sage, along with the housekeeper’s son, Linc—who Connor adopted along with the rest of them—listened to Connor’s gemstone-related tales. Beckett always remembered the finer details.
“You’re calling because you can’t handle the hot chick and you need my help?”
Jaeger scowled at his brother’s greeting. “Yeah, that’s why I’m calling,” he sarcastically replied.
“Thought so. Hang on, sweetheart. I’ll be right there to rescue you.”
If he’d been alone, he would have told his cocky younger brother exactly what he thought of his comment. Because he wasn’t, Jaeger just asked him what jumped into his head when he heard the phrase Kashmir Blues.
It took Beckett less than ten seconds to respond. “Great-Grandfather Mac called a cache of sapphires he saw in the London store the Kashmir Blues. Fifteen brilliant stones. Because other gem dealers, like Jim Moreau, also saw them, we know they definitely existed and weren’t just a figment of Mac’s whiskey-soaked imagination. Strangely, they’ve never, as far as I know, turned up again.”
Until, maybe, today. Could these ten stones be part of the original fifteen? If they were, Jaeger was staring at a hell of a find. He placed the handset back into its cradle. Good God. Could he really be looking at the biggest gem discovery of the last fifty years?
“Well, are they worth anything?” Piper demanded, her hands on her slim hips. Jaeger couldn’t help noticing the sun shone through her thin silk blouse. He could see the curve of her breast, the lace of her bra. He wanted her stones but, by God, he also wanted her with a ferocity that roared and clawed.
Pull yourself together, Ballantyne. This is not the time to think about sex.
“Yeah, they are worth something,” Jaeger slowly replied. “But how much, right now, I’m not sure. I need to do some tests. I’d like other experts to look at them.”
“I thought you were an expert.”
“I am. But with stones like these—” magnificent, important, breathtaking, expensive stones “—I like to make doubly sure.”
&nb
sp; “I’d prefer to keep this between us,” Piper said, lifting a stubborn, sexy chin.
“My other experts are my two brothers, Linc and Beckett, and my sister, Sage. They are all Ballantyne directors, and we don’t discuss our clients with anyone else.”
Piper folded her arms across her chest and stared down at the floor, lifting one hand to hold her riotous hair back from her face. When she looked up at him, her expression was fierce. “No games, no lies...if I wanted to sell them right now, what would you offer me?”
“Do you need the money?” She didn’t look like she did. Her clothes were fashionable, her shoes new.
Piper dropped her hand and sent him a hard stare. “I know you might not realize this, but some people do.”
Jaeger held her hot eyes, not bothering to tell her he’d seen more poverty on one trip to Southeast Asia than she could ever comprehend. He knew what people would do for money; he’d witnessed what people would do for money.
He couldn’t help that he was the heir to a dynasty, that he was wealthy beyond belief, but he worked damn hard every day of his life. He didn’t lie or cheat people out of their stones. He paid good prices for good gems. He didn’t deal in blood diamonds, and he boycotted mines and miners using child labor. Like his parents, like Connor, he operated ethically, dammit!
Annoyingly, the urge to explain was strong.
What was it about this woman? And why did he care what she thought about him?
“Give me a number,” Piper demanded, but he heard the fear in her voice, and her hope that the gems would solve a very big problem.
“I’d give you a million,” Jaeger said, just to test her. Actually, he’d consider paying her double, but he wanted to see what her reaction would be.
Her shoulders slumped and she bit the inside of her lip. So a million was short of what she needed.
“Three?” Piper asked.
So three was what she needed. For what?
“Maybe two,” Jaeger said, pretending to think about her offer.
Again, there was a flash of disappointment in her green eyes. God, such beautiful eyes. Eyes that tempted him to cut her a check for the full three mil and then kiss her senseless before ripping off her clothes.
“Can I think about that?” Piper asked, placing her thumbnail between her teeth.
Jaeger slowly rolled up the velvet, capturing the gems inside. “Sure, but I’m not making the offer today, Ms. Mills. Or tomorrow.”
Because, despite the party in his pants, he wasn’t a novice dealer who could be swayed by a pretty face, a rocking body and sad, possibly desperate, eyes.
Piper’s luscious mouth fell open, and he wondered what she tasted like, whether her lips were as soft and plump, as sweet, as they looked. He knew her smile would be dynamite. He wanted to see it, feel it on his skin. God, Ballantyne, get a frickin’ grip.
“But...but...you said—”
Jaeger stood up and placed his hands on his desk, leaning down so their eyes were level. “I’m not making a million-plus offer on gems I know next to nothing about. I do that in the field when I have nothing to rely on but my gut. But I’m not prepared to do that now when I don’t need to take the risk.” Jaeger stood up and pushed his hand through his hair. “I’ll make you a solid offer after I’ve done some research—”
“What type of research?” Piper asked, obviously frustrated.
“We use various databases, including those set up by Interpol and the FBI, to check whether any similar gems are reported stolen. I want my siblings to look at the stones.”
“How long will it take?”
Jaeger shrugged. “As long as it takes.”
“I can always take them to Moreau’s.”
Ballantyne and Company’s biggest competition.
“That’s your prerogative, but you won’t,” Jaeger said, watching her eyes, watching frustration chase fear through all the green. “You won’t because you want me to buy these stones. For some reason you want me to have them. Why?”
Piper tried to dismiss his statement, but he saw the flash of agreement in her eyes. Why did he think there was so much more happening here than her wanting to sell the stones? He felt like she had a story and he was part of it.
“You have two weeks to make me a solid offer,” Piper told him, picking up her bag and pulling it over her shoulder. “After that, I start shopping around.”
Jaeger nodded. “I need your contact information. If you’ll give me a little time, I’ll enter the details of the stones into our database and print you a receipt, stating that they are in our custody.”
“I’ll give you my card. Just send the receipt. I know you won’t steal them or swap them.”
Her instinctive trust in him made him feel warm.
“All I need is for you to keep my name, and the fact that I have these jewels, confidential. Can you do that?”
Why was she so concerned about privacy and confidentiality? Could these sapphires be stolen? God, he hoped not. If they were, he’d have to report her, and he did not want to see Piper arrested and jailed for handling stolen property.
The only thing she should handle was him.
Jaeger gave himself a mental punch to the head. It was time to act like an adult, a partner in Ballantyne and Company, like the hard-ass gem hunter he was reputed to be.
“You did hear me say I’ll be running these stones through the Interpol and FBI databases, didn’t you?”
Piper’s only response was a searing look. Shaking her head, she pulled a business card out of her bag and handed it over.
Jaeger looked down at the card and flicked the edge with his finger. “You’re an art appraiser?”
Piper shook her head. “You really did take my words to heart, didn’t you?”
Jaeger frowned. What did that odd comment mean? From the moment she’d walked into his office, he’d seen half-formed statements on her lips, in her eyes. She’d start to speak, but then she’d bite the words back, acting as if there was something she needed to say but wouldn’t. What was going on behind those pretty eyes?
Mind your own business, Ballantyne. She’s a client, nothing more.
But there was definitely something odd about the very gorgeous Ms. Mills, Jaeger decided as he watched her walk across his office and yank open the door. She turned back to look at him and lifted her index finger to point at him. “I’m trusting you to look after my stones. Trusting you, after everything that’s happened, is a very big deal for me, Ballantyne.”
Before he could reply, she walked out of his office. Jaeger stared at his half-open door, feeling like she was leaving him with just a few pieces of a puzzle.
He’d find the missing pieces, he thought, sitting back down behind his desk. He’d start by running her name through as many databases as he had access to and see what popped up.
Because, he was damn sure, something would.
* * *
Why hadn’t she called Jaeger on his BS?
The question played on repeat in her head, like nails on a chalkboard, since she’d hurried out of Jaeger’s office eight hours before. Why hadn’t she mentioned their past to get it out in the open? Why did she go along with his I’ve-never-met-you-before attitude?
Piper turned the corner onto her street, her tote over one shoulder and her arms around two brown sacks of baby food and diapers. And chocolate... After a day like today, she needed chocolate. Baby food, diapers and chocolate... God, her life was so exciting.
Not.
Well, it had been! Back when she was with that six-foot-something slab of sexiness... No, that wasn’t what she meant to think! Dammit! So why didn’t you say anything about the time you spent together in Milan, Mills? What was with that nonsense?
Piper shifted her sacks and tried to blow a curl out of her eye. Pride.
..pride was a factor. She’d wanted him to mention Milan, to be the one to go there, to say how nice it was to see her again. She’d wanted him to ask if he could take her to dinner...to bed. She’d never thought, not once, not even after he’d shut her out completely, that she’d be so utterly forgettable.
And, man, it killed her—in a dagger-to-the-heart way—that he didn’t remember her. Spending the night with him was a highlight of her life. Conversely, she was, for him, a forgettable experience in what was obviously a long line of sexual encounters.
And Jaeger forgetting her, forgetting about Milan, made all her feelings around her father and his neglect bubble to the surface. She was an adult, and she should have been over feeling hurt by Mick’s actions, but she couldn’t help remembering the times she’d opened the door to him and watched him struggle to remember her name. Her mother and whatever she gave Mick were important to him, not Piper. When her mom died, her father stopped visiting the house in Brooklyn altogether, and the only time he’d spoken to Piper after the funeral was to demand she give him the sapphires.
She’d lived with rejection all her life. Jaeger not remembering her was just another version of the same thing.
That being said, Jaeger’s actions still didn’t make sense. Why the pretense? They’d agreed to keep it businesslike when they met again, so why not take her calls right after Milan? Why did he go to such lengths to ignore her and then pretend not to remember her?
What game was he playing?
Maybe she should’ve avoided Jaeger altogether and gone directly to Moreau’s. Why hadn’t she?
Jaeger paid better, according to Mr. Hendricks, than all the other gem dealers. She’d also, in Milan, promised Jaeger she’d bring the stones to him. Thanks to her father being a thief, it was important that she kept her promises. Piper strongly believed in keeping her word, in doing the right thing.
So, was not telling Jaeger about Ty the right thing to do?
The thought slammed into her, holding all the power of a rogue wave. Of course it was. Meeting Jaeger again changed nothing! She knew, everyone knew, that Jaeger wasn’t daddy material. He’d openly admitted a wife and kids weren’t part of his plans.
