Taken by the highest bidder

by Jane Porter

  Upstairs, Sam checked the bedrooms and discovering Johann still passed out facedown on his bed, she quickly packed, know­ing they didn't need much for their trip—clothes, yes, and Gabby's favorite toys but there weren't many toys, there hadn't been money for toys in the past year.

  Quietly Sam opened the drawers in Gabriela's dresser, scooped up the small shirts and skirts, tucking them into the smaller of the two suitcases Sam had brought with her from her last job in Seattle.

  Then Sam went to her room—she and Johann had never shared a bedroom—and packed her own suitcase. It would be cold in England this time of year, far colder than it was in Monaco and the south of France, but it would be safe. Cristiano wouldn't know to look for them there.

  Suitcases packed, Sam double-checked that she'd put all her documents in her purse, their passports and the other things she'd need once they reached England, then called a taxi.

  Inside the door to Gabriela's bedroom, Sam paused, glanced one last time around the room that had been a nursery when Sam had arrived three and a half years ago.

  The room was still pale green, and white, a scheme that should have been garden fresh but just looked severe thanks to Johann selling the carpet, furniture and artwork out from beneath every­one's feet whenever money grew tight. And with Johann's gam­bling problem money always grew tight.

  But now Johann and his problems would soon be behind them. In less than an hour she and Gabby would be on their way to a new life far from Johann's drinking, indifference and abuse.

  By the time Sam had finished packing, it was time to meet Gabby. On her way out the front door, Sam set their two suit­cases just inside the door, ready to be carried to the taxi the mo­ment it arrived*

  Sam spotted Gabby as the little girl skipped down the school's front steps and Sam lifted a hand in a wave. Gabby waved back eagerly- Bless the child. What a love she was. In all her years Sam had never met anyone—child or adult—so ready to love, and be loved. Gabby's heart was pure gold.

  Gabby burst through the school gate, threw herself at Sam's knees.

  "How was your day, my pet?" Sam asked, hugging her.

  "Very good. But I forgot I had sharing today. I didn't take any­thing." Gabby's eyes, a lovely green-gold, darkened briefly with emotion before brightening. "But then Mademoiselle said we could tell a story, and I told a very funny story about a mouse that lived in Daddy's pocket and the adventures the mouse has at Le Casino."

  Sam blanched, set Gabby on her feet. "You told a story about your papa at the casino?"

  "No, Sam, not Papa, but the mouse in Papa's pocket."

  "And did the mouse stay in your papa's pocket?"

  "No. He played cards with Papa at the casino. But he was a very clever little mouse and he didn't lose.

  Not like Papa. And everyone wanted the mouse because the mouse won so much money he bought us a big new house and a car just for you and me so we could go driving whenever we want." Gabby took a breath and beamed up at Sam. "Isn't that a good story?"

  Sam felt sick inside. "You are a very clever girl, Gabriela Grace, but you know that, don't you?"

  Gabby just laughed, and they walked hand in hand back to the villa, but the closer they came to the villa, the more Sam worried. How was she going to break the news to Gabby that they were leaving? How was she going to tell her they were going to live apart from Johann in a country Gabby had never even been to?

  Oh God, none of this was easy.

  And reaching the old town villa not far from the Place de Casino, it only got harder, as parked in front of the villa was Cristiano's red sports car.

  Cristiano, dressed in the same black slacks and thin cashmere sweater he'd worn earlier, appeared as they entered the house. "Good afternoon, Baroness."

  Gabby looked at him, not at all shy. "Who are you?"

  Sam struggled to think of an answer and it was Cristiano who smoothly replied, "A friend of the family" He extended his hand to Gabriela. "I'm Cristiano Bartolo. What's your name?"

  "Gabriela Grace van Bergen,"

  "A big name," he said dryly.

  "I'm a big girl," she answered smartly.

  Cristiano's smile turned wry. "Out of the mouth of babes." He turned to Sam, "I see you've packed."

  Again her heart sank. "Yes, but I—"

  "Is Papa here?" Gabby interrupted, tugging on Sam's hand.

  "He's upstairs sleeping," she answered woodenly, as Gabby dropped her hand and charged up the stairs. How could Cristiano persist with this? Maybe he wasn't a gentleman, and maybe he wasn't merciful, but cruel?

  With Gabby gone, Sam took a step toward Cristiano, drop­ping her voice. "You can't do this to her. Please think it through, please try to see it from her perspective. I'm the closest thing to a mother she knows."

  Suddenly Gabby was running down the stairs again, her long dark braids flying. "Sam, Sam! Papa's gone. He's not in his room. He's not even here."

  Sam wasn't sure if she felt fear or relief. Unbuttoning her coat she faced the stairs where Gabby was charging down. "Maybe he went for a walk."

  "No, Sam, he's gone. His clothes, his coat, everything's gone." Gabby jumped down the last three steps, going forward to her knees before catching herself with her hands. She righted herself, stood. "He must have gone on a trip without us,"

  Relief, fear, hope, panic—they pummeled Sam one by one. If Johann was gone, then Sam couldn't leave Gabby behind- But if Johann was gone, and Cristiano didn't want Gabby, then Gabby would be placed in government care until Johann was found .

  Stricken, Sam looked up, straight into Cristiano's face. This was his fault, Cristiano Bartolo's fault. He was the devil him­self, smiling, playing cards, buying drinks for Johann* Sam knew he'd deliberately gotten Johann drunk, too, upped the stakes, challenged Johann, pushing him out of his comfort zone until Johann was playing over his head-But then, Johann always played over his head, Sam couldn't look away from Cristiano's hard impassive fea­tures. He looked perfectly neutral, even indifferent. And she may have disliked him before, but she hated him now. Hated his con­fidence, his arrogance, the power he thought he had over them,

  "Isn't that amazing," she spit contemptuously. "You sit down to play cards and next thing you know, you've inherited some­one's family."

  He said nothing, just looked at her with his hazel eyes, so fo­cused, so alert, so watchful.

  "It doesn't make sense. None of this makes sense!" Sam crossed her arms over her chest, knuckles pressed to her ribs. "What do you want with us?"

  "Maybe I'm a generous man with a sympathetic heart." "Heart?" Sam heard the word burst from her lips, cold, icy. "No, I don't think that's it at all. There's something else happen­ing here, something far more—" She broke off, bit back the word that crowded her mind. She couldn't say sinister in front of Gabby, couldn't alarm Gabby. Instead she shook her head, swallowed her fury and fear and reaching out, placed her hand protectively on the top of Gabby's head.

  "I'm going to go upstairs," she said more calmly. "Check and see if Johann left me a note. I'm sure he did. I'm sure he'll have us join him as soon as he reaches wherever he's gone." Cristiano's eyebrows lifted. "If you think so."

  "I think so," she snapped, but of course she didn't think any­thing of the sort. She wouldn't be surprised if Johann had just fled. It was in his nature to run from problems.

  Cristiano pursed his lips but held his tongue. He didn't think Johann was coming back. Not now. Not ever.

  Sam hurried up the stairs with Gabby scampering at her side. Johann's room was dark and empty. Sam opened the closet, the four wide bureau drawers, and finally the small drawer in the night table but everything was empty save for a drawing Gabby had made him lying in the middle dresser drawer.

  Sam took the crayon drawing out, looked at the picture which was one of the childish drawings where everyone is a stick fig­ure either wearing a triangle dress or rectangle pants. The pic­ture was meant to be Johann, Sam and Gabby all down at the beach, as if that was the way they w
ere. A family.

  They were no family. They'd never been a family, despite Sam's best efforts.

  Sam didn't hear Cristiano come up behind her and when he spoke she jumped. "That's a lovely picture of the van Bergens on holiday," he said.

  Eyes burning, face flushed, Sam quickly folded the picture and put it in the pocket of her lavender cardigan. It was that or cry, and she wouldn't cry, hated crying, having spent far too many years as a little girl in tears. If she'd learned anything, it was to present a confident face to the world. No one needed to know what she was thinking, or feeling. No one needed to know the truth. "Cabby's a very talented artist,"

  "And optimistic," he added mockingly.

  She was just turning to walk out when she spotted an enve­lope on the bed, propped against Johann's pillow. Her name was written on the envelope.

  Her hand shook ever so slightly as she ripped the envelope open and shook the papers out. Birth certificate and a paper-clipped set of legal documents slid out. The birth certificate and papers were Gabriela's.

  He was leaving her, Sam thought, suppressing honor even as it mixed with hope-She unfolded the note, read Johannes wildly slanted scrawl.

  Sam, I'm finished, gone, going home to Vienna. I thought to­gether we had a good chance to heat Bartolo, but the game's up. Bartolo plays to win, and he's won. If it's any consola­tion. Gabby's yours.

  You know better what to do with her than me; I've lost it all now. Best of luck. You'll need it, Johann van Bergen,

  "What is that?" Cristiano asked.

  A miracle, Sam thought, heart racing, eyes stinging. She blinked, turned the note around, held it up for him to see. "Read it."

  He did, then silently handed it back.

  "She's mine." Sam said quietly, fiercely, heart so full of emo­tion she wasn't even thinking. Just feeling. Gabby, gorgeous lit­tle Gabby was finally safe, finally hers, finally out of harm's way.

  All these years...

  All the worrying, the struggling, the praying. She'd prayed for a miracle and she'd finally some one.

  Gabby was hers. Johann had left and left Gabriela Grace to Sam.

  "So what happens now, Mr.Bartolo?" she asked, knowing this had to change things, knowing he couldn't possibly take both of them. It made no sense. He wouldn't want them both. Obviously other plans had to be made.

  He shrugged. "We have tea."

  "Now?""

  "Then we'll get you settled at the Hotel de Paris until we make more permanent arrangements."

  "So Gabby goes with me?"

  His eyes narrowed fractionally. "For now."

  Sam shot Gabby a protective glance but the little girl had left the room, wandering down to her own bedroom. "She's mine "

  Sam's voice dropped, her inflection hard, flinty. "We stay to­gether. Like it or not"

  They had tea at the Hotel de Paris restaurant, Cote Jardin, a virtual indoor garden and terrace with a spectacular view of the harbor.

  The service wasn't slow, but for Sam every moment felt end­less. It didn't help, either, that their meal was interrupted repeat­edly by strangers who stopped at their table to wish Cristiano well.

  Although polite, Cristiano didn't encourage conversation and when the strangers moved on, didn't explain what he'd done to earn such enthusiastic well wishes. But after the last couple moved on, Sam wanted to know more.

  "So you live here in Monaco?" she asked, stirring milk into her tea.

  "I have a penthouse here, yes."

  "But this isn't your primary home?"

  The comer of his mouth curled. "I split my time evenly among my different residences."

  She glanced at Gabby who was glued to the window watch­ing the boats enter and leave the harbor, "How many resi­dences?"

  His smile deepened. "Enough that I never get bored."

  Sam set her spoon in the saucer with an irritated clink. "Do you enjoy being enigmatic?"

  "Not at all. I don't know what you want to know."

  "I want to know everything,"

  "Everything?"

  He was smiling again and she didn't understand it. Everything she said seemed to make him smile. How could she possibly be so amusing? "Yes, everything. I want to know where you live. I want to know what you do. I want to know who you are, how you spend your free time, the kind of friends you have,"

  "A character assessment."

  "Yes."

  He shrugged, leaned back in his chair, the sunlight playing across his features, intensifying the green in his hazel eyes. "I can't do that for you. You'll have to use your own judgment re­garding my character, but I can tell you basic things. I live here and on the Cote d' Azur. I have a home in Brazil on the coast but I don't go there often anymore. I have my own company. I'm suc­cessful and financially solvent. Is that what you want to know?"

  No. That wasn't what she wanted to know. She didn't care about his things, she wasn't the least bit materialistic, and it an­noyed her how easily people were impressed by money.

  Money was useful, bought things, made certain decisions easier—even more convenient—but money as an end to a means? No. Never. Money ruined people. Changed everything. Sam didn't know if it was greed or a weakness in human nature, but too many people respected—admired—the wealthy simply because they were wealthy and had fatter bank accounts. But fat bank accounts don't make a person interesting and fat bank ac­counts don't make a person kind, considerate—valuable.

  Sam glanced at Gabriela who was now talking to the wait­ress and pointing out something she'd seen in the harbor. "It's not your bank account that interests me, Mr. Bartolo, it's your heart. And that's what worries me. I don't know if you have one."

  "I don't know, either," he agreed mockingly. "But hearts are overrated. Far better to be coldly pragmatic, to do what needs to be done, rather than what one feels like doing."

  Sam's head shot up. "And what does that mean?"

  "You feel attached to Gabby, so you've laid claim to her, but think about it: you've no legal claim to her, no biological tie—"

  "Johann wants me to raise her."

  "Does that make it right?"

  "Yes,"

  "What about her mother's family? Wouldn't a blood relative be better than a stepmother?"

  "Love isn't about biological ties."

  "No?"

  "No." Sam stared at him, hating him. He had a beautiful face,

  A face of a fallen angel, and yet his heart was so black and self­ish- "I love Gabriela and she loves me. Love is a gift. You can't buy it, win it, or barter it I wouldn't trade her love for anything in the world."

  "Not even three million pounds?"

  "Are you trying to be funny? Because I find that rather insen­sitive considering our situation."

  Cristiano's hazel eyes narrowed, lashes dropping, concealing his expression but from the tilt of his lips she could see he was amused- "You know. Baroness, there are many funny people in England- The greatest comics are all British and I've watched every Monty Python movie that exists. But you, sadly, lack a sense of humor."

  "What about our situation do you find amusing?" She de­manded tersely, refusing to acknowledge that he'd hit a sore spot She 'd never been able to laugh at herself- There hadn't been a lot of fun in her life growing up, or many occasions to tease and play. Life for an orphan was serious. "Our lives are changed forever and you're making jokes!"

  "Not all change is bad. Baroness."

  "In this case it is." Sam clasped her hands together in an ef­fort to stay calm. "Please don't move us from the villa. Please don't take Gabby from the only home she knows."

  "It's not much of a home,"

  Sam's cheeks burned, her temper spiking. "That's not the point"

  Cristiano looked at her, long and level. "Then perhaps it should be." Abruptly he signaled to the passing maitre d'hotel that he wanted the bill. "Let me see you to my suite and then I'll work on locating Johann,"

  Still feeling feverish, her gaze met his. "And just what do you intend
to do with a woman and her little girl? Use us as a tax write-up? Fight some archaic inheritance law?"

  "I think you're actually trying to be funny." He dropped cash on the table and stood. "Shall we go?"

  "You didn't answer my question."

  "I don't think I have to."

  She wasn't going to budge, wouldn't leave until he gave her a straight answer. She was sick of being pushed and pulled and jerked around. "What are you going to do with us?" she re­peated in a low. unrelenting voice.

  He stood over her, gazed down at her. "I'm going to find Johann—"

  "Why?"

  "I want to make sure everything's legitimate,"

  "He gave me her papers, wrote a note—"

  "And I can't help wondering if it's all legal? Can one just really give away a child like that?" Cristiano's brow creased, his eyes narrowed. "First he tries to gamble Gabby, and then he abandons her. Seems highly suspect if you ask me."

  His answer stayed with Sam, haunted Sam as he led them to the elevator that whisked them to his hotel suite.

  It didn't matter what Cristiano found out. She wouldn't give Gabby back to Johann. She wouldn't give Gabby to anyone. Gabby was hers. She needed someone who loved her. Period.