Meet Your Mate (A Good Riders Romance Book 1)
Page 22
Well, all right, he admitted, not all of her parts fit the elementary school image, but enough of her bits and pieces meshed together for him to recognize a traditional woman with children and domesticity on her mind. Not at all the sophisticated, career-driven type he usually found appealing. The kind of woman who looked for hot and bothered temporary sex more often than a hearts and flowers emotional commitment.
The fire-shot opal sparkling on the third finger of Molly’s left hand didn’t look like a wedding or engagement ring, but if she wasn’t married, he’d missed his guess by a mile. Although her earlier choice of reading material indicated things might be rocky on the home front. Still, someone who looked that sexily domestic should definitely be married and making some lucky bum ecstatic in the bedroom.
“There are twelve flawless rubies, at least a carat each. Valuable in their own right, but combined with the authenticity of the jade and its partner—” James took a handkerchief from an inside coat pocket and mopped his brow, letting the suspense build. “Individually, the two pieces have similar values. The pink is slightly more valuable than the green due to the unusual coloring and the size of the jewels. But here’s the exciting part.”
The appraiser picked up both jades. A sly smile lifted the corners of his mouth. The tension in the air ratcheted up another notch. A crowd had gathered on the perimeter of their set. “If you fit the components together like so...” James paused for a dramatic moment before he placed Molly’s rose-hued swirling petals of jade inside Gabe’s hollowed out base. The appraiser then gave a slight twist of the wrist, and Gabe would have sworn the hair on the back of his neck stood up in some kind of weird anticipation.
“Voila!” James said with a flourish. “It’s unusually subdued for a piece of this sort, especially from this era, but do you see what we have?”
“Oh my goodness, it’s beautiful.” The Molly-person’s warm voice flowed over Gabe like honey. “It looks like a flower. A lily, maybe, or a ... a lotus blossom?”
Puzzled, Gabe leaned in to peer more closely at the object.
“It’s what Asian art collectors call a Sleeping Lotus,” James enthused. “It’s very uncommon to find a set that was created in the twelfth century, by Li-Wang, the Emperor’s Imperial carver, intact and undamaged.” The appraiser beamed, looking like a man ready to kick up his heels. “My heart nearly pounded out of my chest when I saw the two pieces. I’ve dreamed of handling both the stalk and petals of a Lotus in such pristine condition for my entire career, but I’ve never had the privilege.”
“Never?” Molly’s eyes widened with delight.
Gabe rubbed his palms together beneath the table. Oh, yeah, this could be good. Very, very good.
“None that have come close to this one in quality, condition, and beauty,” James amended.
“Why are they so rare?” An unprecedented spark of hope flared inside Gabe’s chest.
“Despite the curses often attached to such artistry, the pieces get—”
Uh-oh. Gabe clamped a hand over the back of his neck where the hairs definitely bristled. He hoped his sister, Sierra, didn’t hear anything about a possible curse. She lapped up that kind of mystical claptrap with a spoon.
“Curses?” Molly’s shoulders jerked back, and she straightened from her study of the object. “What kind of curses?”
“We can’t know what curse is attached to this particular piece without more research,” James told them. “But generally the curses predict infertility, impotence, death, dismemberment, unrequited affairs of the heart, any number of personal disasters.” He shrugged them all away with a lift of a shoulder and a flick of an elegant hand. “All myth, of course, but a powerful incentive for anyone inclined to superstition.”
Gabe trained his attention on the conjoined pieces. Tipping his head from side to side, he tried to discern the beauty Molly claimed to see. He saw only the hint of a flower. In fact, the form reminded him of a man and a woman.
Intertwined in a very intimate act.
Pornographic, in fact.
He looked closer.
Yes, by God, from every angle, all he could detect was the linked image of a couple enjoying a pretty enthusiastic round of sex. He fought the urge to drop a cover over it before the suddenly irresistible Molly Webber realized her beautiful “Sleeping Lotus” depicted nothing more artistic than a complicated Kama Sutra pose.
“Are you sure it’s a flower?” He cleared his throat. “Isn’t it... Isn’t it...?” He really wasn’t sure how to phrase the question without jeopardizing the program’s family rating.
“Yes, it’s subtle, isn’t it?” James stuck his thumbs into his vest pockets and preened. “It’s the finest piece of twelfth century Chinese erotica I’ve ever handled.”
The delectable Molly gasped and leaned in, tilting her long slender neck this way and that. Gabe knew the instant recognition fell into place for her by the flood of color highlighting her cheeks. With her newfound awareness, her gaze remained riveted on the piece.
“Are you allowed to show this on the air?” she blurted. “There might be children watching.”
“Of course,” the appraiser assured her. “We’re public television. It’s educational.”
“It is now,” Gabe muttered. “For anyone under the age of ten anyway.”
“But what does all this ancient Chinese artistry mean in regard to value?” Bless her heart, Molly returned to the crux of the matter more quickly than Gabe.
“Because there are only a few complete sets by this artist known to exist, these are highly sought after by a number of different collecting groups.” The appraiser’s eyes glinted with avarice. “For a Sleeping Lotus of this quality, a serious jade, Chinese and/or erotica collector would pay as much as four to five hundred thousand dollars. Maybe more.”
Acknowledgments
For many writers, their most important resource is the virtual community surrounding them. For me, this includes all of the inspiring and talented women of The Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood, The Pixie Chicks, The Lucky 13s, The FiveCorners, The Golden Network, and the members of OVRWA who go back with me all the way to the beginning of this crazy endeavor. I am so grateful to have all of these outstanding women in my world.
Special thanks to my daughter, Sarah. I could not have accomplished this goal without her encouragement and technical expertise. She gives me great joy in the midst of a challenging world.
Thank you to my son Evan, for doing what he can to make my life more fun and keep me current.
I’d like to thank my families, both bloodline and in-law, for their continual support and for always providing me with a place to call home.
Additional thanks to my editor, Annie Oortman, cover designer; Kim Killion of The Killion Group, Inc.; excellent Beta Readers, Annie Woerner and Sarah Patrick; Leslie Lynch for patiently advising me on the details of self-publishing; and Darcy Woods, for her creative brilliance on Twitter tags.
Last and most importantly, I must thank my amazingly handsome husband, Goble, for sticking by me and encouraging the fulfillment of this dream. He is my hero, my love, and my partner for life.
About the Author
Jacie Floyd believes the Midwest is the best and most under-appreciated place to live, except for the uncertainty of the weather. Believing she was an island girl in a past life, she struggles with the bitter cold winters of Southwest Ohio and yearns for a view with crystal blue waters. From the time she read her first Nancy Drew mystery, she’s been an avid reader and writer. After many years as a wife and mother with a nine-to-five job, the desire to create her own stories took over. While learning her craft as an unpublished author, she was honored to be named a six-time Golden Heart™ Finalist, and two-time Golden Heart™ winner by the Romance Writers of America. Finally giving in to the inevitable, she ditched the day job in order to self-publish the kind of stories she likes to read and write. She likes fresh, flirty, and fun contemporaries about strong women who deal with relatable situations in famili
ar settings. She hopes you like them too.
Jacie is happy to connect with readers at www.jaciefloyd.com, on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. She also welcomes you to sign up for her newsletter.
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Meet Your Mate: ©2014 by Jacqueline Floyd.
Cover Design: Kim Killion of The Killion Group, Inc.
Digital Edition 1.0
All rights reserved.
In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the author constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from this book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the author.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
EPILOGUE
Thank you!
CURSED BY LOVE Excerpt
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright