Czytaj książkę: «One Little Indiscretion»

One

Carrick Murphy heard the snick of the lock on the bathroom door and turned his head to bury his face in Sadie’s sweet-smelling pillow.

Hell.

When he left his historic Beacon Hill house last night, his intention had been to check up on Murphy’s new art investigator. Because, as he told himself repeatedly on the drive to her apartment, he only needed her in a professional capacity. He needed her skills to authenticate a painting so that the possible lost Homer could be included in their much-anticipated, once-in-a-generation auction happening in the spring. He’d brought her flowers—they were still on the floor in the hallway, probably dying—as a gesture from a client to a consultant, desperately trying to convince himself that his visit had nothing to do with Sadie being sexier than sin.

Great snow job, Murphy. Not your usual style, dude.

Releasing a frustrated huff, Carrick looked around for his clothes. The least he could do to make this morning less awkward was to be dressed when Sadie eventually decided to leave the bathroom.

He found his underwear by the door and pulled on his boxer briefs. They’d started shedding clothes in the hallway, a minute after their lips collided.

Not seeing any more of his clothes in the immediate vicinity, Carrick followed the garment trail through her apartment and plucked one of her socks off the frame of a black-and-white print and picked up her yoga pants and thong off the hallway floor. He found his shirt by the gray couch and his pants behind it.

Carrick pulled on his pants and then his button-down shirt, leaving the shirt open as he pulled on his socks, then his shoes. He eyed the door, wishing he could just slip out. But Sadie wasn’t some woman he’d never see again and he wouldn’t do that to her.

Since he was no longer a kid, he didn’t leave without at the very least a “thank you,” and even if it wasn’t world-rocking sex, an “it was fun.”

But it had been world-rocking sex and he would see Sadie later since he was paying her an exorbitant figure for her expertise to authenticate a painting. He needed her...

But only on a professional basis.

He’d trained himself not to need anyone anymore.

Since divorcing Tamlyn, he always thought long and hard about whom he slept with and the potential fallout—would the woman take her story to the press? Would she spread a rumor or four about the way he treated her? But his need for Sadie had drowned out all his fears and considerations.

He’d wanted her. She’d wanted him back. His brain had shut down after that...

But man, he hoped she didn’t think this was the start of something special, that they were going anywhere. The worst outcome would be her catching feelings, wanting or expecting more from him than he could give.

Because he didn’t have it in him.

He’d lost too many women he loved and cared about—his real mom, stepmom and sister-in-law to death, another sister-in-law to divorce—and his own divorce had drained him of any hopes and dreams and trust he had in a happy-ever-after, in having a family, a partnership, a wife he’d grow old with.

The closer someone became, the more they could hurt him. His ex was proof of that.

Carrick rubbed his hands over his face.

Yep, Tamlyn had soured him so he didn’t bother dating, preferring an occasional, discreet, low-key one-nighter here and there. Sure, the sex was never as good as it could be in a committed relationship with a solid emotional connection...

Yet, it had been. With Sadie.

With Sadie, he’d forgotten that he hardly knew her, that this was their first time. Making love to her was as natural as breathing; his body—dammit!—recognized hers. There had been no awkward fumbling, no indecision, no do-you-like-this?

She’d murmured her approval whenever she could speak, either by her breathy moans, low do-that-again groans or one-word sentences. The words yes! and more! had fallen from her lips with regularity.

The hell of it was, Sadie was the best he’d ever had, better even than those first heady days with Tamlyn.

Sadie, and their night together, exceeded all his expectations and set the bar space-high for his next one-night stand.

If he ever had another one of those again...

Carrick stood up and headed for the small galley kitchen on the other side of this open-plan, generic, boring-as-hell apartment. The least he could do was get the coffee started.

Carrick changed the filter on the machine, dumped in some coffee and topped up the water. After flipping the switch, he walked back into the living room and picked up her shirt from the pile he’d made on her coffee table. He lifted the soft fabric to his nose, inhaling her scent. She smelled like sunshine and warm wind and, underneath it all, a scent he couldn’t identify. What he knew for sure was that it was a scent designed to make his head swim.

“Are you actually sniffing my shirt?”

Crap. Busted. The only option was to go on the offensive.

“What is this scent?” he demanded—casually, he hoped—dropping the shirt to the pile. “It’s driving me crazy.”

“Jasmine and orange blossom,” Sadie replied. She’d showered; her wet hair was raked back from her face. In faded jeans and a loose cranberry-colored sweater, she looked younger than her years.

“Remind me to buy you ten years’ supply.”

Sadie smiled, reluctantly charmed. “I wish you could. But the perfumer refuses to make big batches and only opens his shop in Montparnasse when he’s in the mood. And he’s frequently not in the mood.”

Her eyes flickered over his bare chest, bracketed by his open shirt. He started to button up, but suddenly dropped his hands, and Sadie suspected he was enjoying her appreciation. He was a smart, experienced guy, and he’d obviously noticed the desire in her eyes, the heated flush on her cheeks.

There would be no round two—why complicate this further?—and he probably assumed that a little mutual appreciation couldn’t hurt anyone.

He was wrong; this type of thing could lead to lots of pain down the line.

Play it cool, Sadie, and for goodness’ sake, resist the urge to touch that wide chest. Find something else to do with your hands!

Breakfast. She could make breakfast...

Smart thinking, Slade.

“I understand you have an apartment in Paris,” Carrick said, following her to the kitchen, watching as she pulled croissants, butter and jam from the fridge.

“I have a rabbit’s hutch in Montparnasse, a tiny one-room apartment just big enough for me and my clothes and my reference books.” Sadie gave him an up-and-down look. “You would look like Gulliver in Lilliput in it.”

“Gulliver? Lilliput?” Then his face cleared and the penny dropped. “Right, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.”

“Sorry, I’m a book nerd. And an art nerd. And a useless facts nerd.”

“I like nerds. They are some of my favorite people,” Carrick said, looking at her like she was the hottest nerd he’d ever seen. But that had to be her imagination...

“My brother Finn is the king of obscure references and trivia. I’m used to hearing odd bits of useless information,” Carrick told her.

Noticing that the coffee was nearly ready, Carrick looked around the kitchen and asked where she kept her cups. After opening the cupboard she directed him to, he pulled out two mugs and filled them while Sadie placed warmed croissants on plates and pulled flatware out of a drawer.

She gestured to a stool on the other side of the island and Carrick sat down, immediately reaching for a warm buttery pastry.

Look at her, being all adult about this. And yeah, it wasn’t as awkward as she’d expected it to be.

But as sophisticated as she was acting—presumably Carrick, having the morning-after-the-night-before routine down to a fine art, was being his normal self—she needed to say something, anything, to make it clear that they were on the same page, that this was a onetime deal.

But Sadie was so out of her comfort zone. She didn’t routinely jump into bed with strange men. And she never slept with people she worked with. And she never, ever slept with men—like her ex and, supposedly, Carrick Murphy—who treated women, and sex, like playthings...

That thought was obliterated by Carrick’s next sentence. “So that shouldn’t have happened.”

That was her line!

Carrick popped a piece of strawberry jam-smeared croissant into his mouth, chewed and swallowed. He took another big bite, obviously enjoying the flaky pastry and tart jam.

“I came around to check up on you, but obviously we got a bit carried away,” Carrick said in that genial tone that set her teeth on edge. “I hope it won’t affect our working relationship.”

What exactly did he mean by that? Did he think that, in her mind, sex equaled a relationship? She was a modern woman, fully capable of separating sex and emotion, carnality and commitment. She was in no danger of falling for him after one night of fantastic, mind-blowing sex. She’d heard that he’d left a trail of broken hearts and disappointed damsels throughout Boston, but she wasn’t that weak.

Not anymore.

“I’m sure we’ll be just fine,” Sadie stated, her tone firm. “As long as you realize that nothing but the evidence will affect my findings on the Homer.”

Carrick placed the corner of his croissant on his plate, reached for his coffee cup and she saw the flash of temper in his eyes. “Why the hell would you think that I’d expect you to fudge results on the painting, to tell me what you think I’d want to hear? The art speaks for itself. It always has and it always will.”

That hadn’t been true for her ex. Dennis’s moral line was exceptionally fluid and he hadn’t hesitated to use any means to influence the outcome of a deal, or a relationship, to benefit himself. Sure, it was only one brief sentence, but in this regard, she believed Carrick Murphy wasn’t like her ex.

It shouldn’t be a relief but...yes, it was.

From a business standpoint—the only standpoint that mattered—his integrity made her job easier.

But getting back to why he was in her kitchen in the early hours of a Monday morning...

“Well, going forward, I suggest we forget that last night happened. It was fun—” so much fun! “—but I have a job to do and a repeat performance isn’t in the cards.”

“It would just be too complicated,” Sadie blithely added, hoping she looked as casual as she sounded.

Carrick took another sip of coffee and tightened his fingers around the handle of the mug. “Okay, if that’s how you feel.”

No, it wasn’t! Yes, it was... Arrgh! She didn’t know what to feel! All she knew was that the last time she’d hopped into bed with a charming man, she’d had her life torn apart. She could never, ever let that happen again.

Sadie pulled apart her croissant and nibbled the inside of her cheek. God, she wished he’d just leave, give her some space, some time to make sense of nearly losing her life and having great sex and a hot guy in her kitchen at still-dark o’clock.

Reaching across the island, Carrick gripped her wrist, his fingers tan against her paler skin.

“Sadie, look at me.”

Sadie tossed her damp hair and sucked in a deep breath before obeying his soft order. Her eyes slammed into his and she had to remind herself to breathe.

Carrick’s smile was gentle, as sweet as a tough, masculine man could make it. “Thank you for an amazing night. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.”

She had. Best night spent naked...ever.

“I should be off. Murphy International won’t, unfortunately, run itself.”

Sadie knew she should feel relieved, or even happy, at hearing that he was on his way, but she only felt disappointment. Which was stupid because not a couple of minutes ago she’d wanted to be alone.

Carrick released her wrist and started to do up the buttons on his shirt. Standing, he tucked his shirttails into his pants and popped the last piece of croissant into his mouth. “Damn, these are amazing.”

Walking around the island, he looked down into her face and Sadie held her breath as he lowered his head, aiming his lips at her mouth. Catching himself, he jerked back.

“I’m really glad you are fine after your choking incident.”

Thank God for his sister Tanna’s quick thinking or she wouldn’t be here, home from the hospital and exhausted after a night of being well loved.

Very well loved indeed.

Carrick used his knuckle to tip up her chin and look at the sterile gauze low down on her neck. “Is it painful?”

Sadie shook her head. “The cut is tiny and it’ll heal fast.” Sadie pulled a face. “Though I am considering becoming a vegetarian.”

Carrick smiled at her dejected tone. “It could’ve happened as easily with a piece of carrot as it did a piece of steak.”

“Point taken, but it might still be a while before I feel brave enough to swallow down another piece of rare Kobe beef. Or any meat at all.”

“Completely understandable.” Carrick looked at his watch and winced at the time. “I need to get going. I have a nine o’clock meeting and I still have to get home and shower.”

“You could take a shower here,” Sadie quietly offered. “If that saves you some time.”

She waited while he thought about it, knowing that if he made the slightest suggestion that she join him, she’d find it incredibly hard to hold herself to her have-touched-him-for-the-last-time decision. And if he stayed longer, she might just pull him into the shower herself and do several things to him she hadn’t thought of last night.

Hot, carnal, X-rated things...

“Thanks, but I’m good. I’m going to head straight for the office and hit the showers in the company gym. I keep a change of clothing and toiletries in the executive bathroom I share with my brothers, so fresh clothes won’t be a problem.”

Sadie followed him as he walked toward the hallway, taking a moment to admire the tight butt that now knew the shape and feel of her fingertips.

“I take it you’re not coming in today. You probably need time to recover.”

“I spent the night making love to you, Carrick, so I can hardly pull the ‘I’m sick’ card,” Sadie replied with a touch of tart. “But I am going to work from home today, trawling the net for anything I can find on Homer’s time in Virginia. And then I’m heading to an art gallery on Charles Street since Isabel Mounton-Matthews did a lot of business with the previous owner. I’m hoping to find something about the painting in the sale catalogs or records.”

Carrick asked her the name of the gallery and she told him, comfortable now that they were talking art.

“I’m aware of the gallery. The grapevine has it that both the past and the present owners haven’t always been on the up and up. Apparently, they have the reputation for fudging provenances or filling in the missing information with a little creative wording.”

“Thanks. I’ll keep it in mind.”

“I wouldn’t call them shady, but they aren’t honest, either. I don’t think you have a hope in hell of seeing their records, if they keep decent records at all.”

It was a fair point, but she needed to check. Just in case. Besides, she thought they could both do with some distance, time apart to get their heads on straight before they laid eyes on each other again.

With a little space they—she—would stop thinking about a repeat bedroom performance.

“So I’ll see you again when I have a solid update. That might be days or even weeks from now,” Sadie told him.

Carrick picked up her now-bedraggled and sad-looking bunch of flowers and laid them on the hall table. “I won’t feel offended if you toss these.”

It was obvious Carrick seemed to want the same distance she did and she should be glad. There was absolutely no reason to feel disappointed or frustrated. She had to cut this crap out.

Carrick’s expression was implacable as he bent down to brush his lips across her cheekbone. She took the gesture for what it was, a polite thing to do, a small thanks-for-a-great-evening. It didn’t mean anything more...couldn’t mean a damn thing.

“I’ll see you when I see you,” he told her.

His cashmere coat was an expensive heap on the floor and he picked it up and pulled it on. He jammed his hand into the inside pocket and pulled out his phone. Then he winced.

“I’ve missed a dozen calls already. See you around, Sadie.”

Sure. But not for a day or two. Or seven.

Sadie had five minutes to make her meeting in the conference room, a sleek, edgy room at the end of the hallway of the iconic, international and world-renowned auction house of Murphy International. It would only take thirty seconds to walk down the hallway, so she could hide out here in the bathroom for a little longer.

She’d do anything to avoid being alone with Carrick Murphy.

Sadie looked at her reflection in the mirror above the basin and rubbed a tiny speck of lipstick off her teeth. She’d spent the past week avoiding Carrick and, because they hadn’t spent any time alone since the evening he’d stayed over, she knew he was avoiding her, too.

And that suited her just fine.

When she opened her door to Carrick hours after her near-death experience, she should’ve stripped the roses of their thorns instead of stripping the Murphy boss man of his clothes.

She wanted to blame her uncharacteristic behavior on seeing a white light or hearing angels sing except that she hadn’t seen God or heard celestial choirs so that was a weak excuse.

Fact: Carrick Murphy was a great-looking man with a rocking body and she’d felt reckless and impulsive, desperate to celebrate being alive.

And, yep, doing Carrick Murphy, and having him do her, was exceedingly life-affirming. So were the multiple orgasms...

She couldn’t be blamed for spending a few hours each night reliving that amazing evening, wishing he was with her again, touching her with those broad, long-fingered hands, kissing her with his sinful mouth.

But...

Like sailing to Antarctica on a tall ship, or catching the Orient Express, sex with Carrick was an indulgence, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Stunningly wonderful but never to be repeated.

Pity.

But she’d done this before and, as a result, knew that she had to slam her foot on the brakes. She’d fallen into the arms of a sexy man and, within a few weeks, fallen in love. She’d wanted to believe that Dennis was a good man, a man worth marrying.

Five years later, a marriage and ugly divorce later, she was stronger and wiser and fully understood that the same man who made you quiver and sigh could also make you cry. A pretty face could easily hide a cold heart, and malice could live under a charming facade.

Dennis had a lovely face and buckets of charm but under it all, he had the personality of a psychopathic honey badger. And from what she’d heard from Carrick’s ex-wife and Beth, one of Sadie’s oldest friends and her virtual assistant, so did Carrick.

Sadie hadn’t been believed when she tried to tell her friends and family that Dennis was verbally abusing her and subjecting her to emotional torture that was both cruel and cunning. So when women she respected talked about their men, she listened.

But damn, why was she a magnet for bad boys?

And she wasn’t talking about those cute, trouble-finds-me-but-I’m-a-good-guy-at-heart men. One of those she could handle. No, Sadie was attracted to bad bad boys. The ones who played games, lied, used...

Abused.

As had happened with her ex, nobody would suspect Carrick Murphy—a business phenomenon and a hell of an operator in the art world—of being a dick, but she’d heard enough from Tamlyn via Beth to understand that women should go into any relationship with him with their eyes propped open.

Not that that was what she was doing.

Sadie glanced at her watch again and, after readjusting her bag on her shoulder, she headed out, her heels clicking against the tiled floors. This was the first time she would be meeting Carrick’s important clients and she wished she could definitively tell them that the painting was a lost Homer.

Not only because that news would set the art world alight—authenticating a “sleeper,” a previously undiscovered painting, would be a kickass star on her résumé—but also because her job would then be over and she could remove herself from the temptation that was Carrick Murphy.

But she was many weeks, possibly months, away from submitting her final report. There was still so much data outstanding, including the results of the paint analysis. She was tracking down leads with regard to the labels on the back of the painting and she’d yet to receive any replies from the many galleries where Isabel and her family routinely bought art.

Establishing an artwork’s authenticity took time. Sadie hoped Carrick’s clients understood this.

Reaching the door to the conference room, Sadie lightly knocked and stepped inside. Because she was currently enjoying the luck of a blind mouse in a cattery, the room was empty except for Carrick, who stood by the large window, looking down onto Boston Common. He turned, that lethal smile flashing, hinting at that shallow dimple in his left cheek, and Sadie’s heart kicked up a beat. Yep, there went her blood to that special place low in her womb, and heat meandered through her body.

Chemistry was a hell of a thing.

“Sadie.”

Her name, rumbling out of Carrick’s mouth, had never sounded sexier. Sadie sighed and just managed to stop herself from putting her hand on her heart.

Pulling her eyes off him, she placed her bag and her folders on the conference table and managed a quiet “good morning.”

“Isabel’s heirs are running late. They should be here in fifteen minutes or so.”

Damn. What would they talk about while they waited? The weather? The painting? How amazing, strong, powerful and masculine he felt when he slid inside her...

Slade! So not helpful!

Thinking that she had to aim for sophistication or, at least, to act her age, Sadie walked over to the window, keeping a healthy distance between her and Carrick. Because, you know, chemistry...

Sadie saw him cast a glance over her outfit as she walked across the room and wondered if her boldly patterned red and orange dress was too arty and too bohemian for the conservative, upmarket offices of Murphy International.

She didn’t care. She wasn’t a black-suit-and-white-shirt-wearing type. She was an art lover and connoisseur, someone who needed color like other people needed to breathe. Carrick would get used to her clothes and if he didn’t...

Tough.

She’d changed for one man, toned down her clothes, swallowed her thoughts and opinions and designed her life around a man who’d repaid her by having numerous affairs with everyone from her cousin to her masseuse. She would never dim her shine again, not for anyone.

Sadie looked past Carrick’s very broad right shoulder to his stupendous view. The afternoon sun was starting to sink and the light held a touch of the same rose-pink Degas used for the dancers’ tutus in his work Dancers in Pink. Or was it closer to the color of that rose Renoir painted in Gabrielle à la Rose?

Ooh, now she saw a hint of orange...

Carrick’s knuckles rapping on the window brought her back to the present. She expected him to look annoyed, so his amusement was a surprise.

“Something happening on the common I should know about?”

Sadie took a moment to make sense of his words. She shook her head and waved at the window. “I have this habit of seeing colors in terms of art.”

Confusion flashed in those grape-green eyes. “I don’t understand.”

Normally, she didn’t try to explain, but for some inexplicable reason, she wanted Carrick to understand her obsession with color. Maybe if he did, they’d have something in common, a connection.

Something other than sex...

Seeing his interest, she looked down onto the busy street, trying to find an object to make her point. A woman cut across the common, wearing a yellow coat.

Sadie gripped Carrick’s sleeve, her fingertips digging into the corded muscle of his forearm. She wanted to let go, but she could feel his heat, smell his clean, fresh skin.

“That woman, the one wearing yellow, do you see her?”

“Yeah.”

Her fingers remained on his arm, as if stuck there with superglue. “Name the first painting that comes to mind where the artist used that color.”

Carrick didn’t hesitate. “Van Gogh’s Sunflowers.”

“Too easy. Try again.”

“Andy Warhol’s banana on the sleeve of The Velvet Underground’s record?”

“Nope, try again,” Sadie suggested.

“Jeez, you’re tough.” Carrick’s brow furrowed in concentration. “Gustav Klimt’s Adele Bloch-Bauer?”

Okay, that was a really good answer. “Better,” she reluctantly admitted.

Carrick’s laughter was low and rumbly. “Think you can do better?”

Please. “It reminds me of that untitled Mark Rothko work sold in New York a few years back.” She cocked her head to the side. “Or maybe it’s the color of The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis by Rembrandt.”

She felt Carrick’s eyes on her profile, and she couldn’t look at him, not sure if she wanted to see whether he was impressed or not.

“You know your art,” Carrick said.

“I have a PhD in art history, so I should,” Sadie replied, her tone crisp. Then she realized that she was stroking Carrick’s arm like he was a cat with a particularly luxurious coat. She looked down at her hand, blushed and yanked it away.

“Sorry, along with color, I’m also a textile freak. And your suit is so soft, so...touchable.”

Yeah, sure, the fabric was wonderfully soft, but that wasn’t the real reason she was touching his arm.

Stop thinking about that night, Slade, and take your hand off his arm.

Sadie moved away from Carrick, folded her arms and hauled in a deep breath, telling herself to act like a professional.

Carrick stared down at the Common and they silently watched the Boston residents taking advantage of the cold, clear afternoon. After a minute of silence, Carrick pointed to a woman dressed in a fuchsia-colored coat and walking two elegant, very well behaved Great Danes.

“The pink coat of the woman walking the Great Danes is the same color as the floor in Matisse’s The Pink Studio,” he said.

“Or the pink in O’Keeffe’s It Was Yellow and Pink.”

They could talk about art, thank goodness. It was a neutral subject, something they were both passionate about. And far safer than their other mutual interest: their fascination with each other’s bodies.

“I also think it’s the same color as your nipples after I lave them with my tongue.”

It took Sadie a few seconds for his words to sink in and she flushed, immediately catapulted back to that night and the shooting, aching ribbons of pleasure running through her, heating her from the inside out. Sadie couldn’t look at him; she knew that if she did, if she saw the passion in his eyes, she’d fly into his arms and curl herself around him.

Not exactly appropriate behavior for a conference meeting. His clients might feel slightly in the way.

Sadie placed her hands on the glass and stared down at the small cars and tiny people. The dog walker was gone but the pedestrians below often tipped their faces to the weak sun, enjoying the little heat on offer.

“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about that night.”

Sadie groaned and placed her forehead on the glass between her hands. She couldn’t stop thinking about it, either, but she didn’t want to admit that, didn’t want to continue this conversation because Carrick’s observations both bemused and befuddled her.

The only thing she was sure of was that she couldn’t talk art and paintings and forensics while memories of that night swirled around her overheated brain.

“Carrick, please stop talking about it.”

Carrick moved closer, and Sadie could feel his heat. “Why? Because you regret it or because talking about it makes you hot?”

This wasn’t the behavior of a man intent on avoiding her. After he left and didn’t call or text, she’d assumed he considered her as just another casual hookup and had moved on. His comments suggested he wouldn’t mind a repeat.

Neither, dammit, would she.

But that would be foolish and Sadie wasn’t generally a foolish woman. Except she had totally lost her head when she allowed Carrick Murphy to push her up against the wall in her apartment and kiss her senseless.

She could lie to herself and say she wished she hadn’t slept with him, but she couldn’t force herself, even mentally, to issue such a whopper. She didn’t regret what they’d done, the hot evening they’d shared, but she had to move on. Now, immediately.

But man, when she looked into those light green eyes and saw his blatant desire, she felt foolish and reckless. The urge to strip was strong.

Nope, not happening. “It’s best if we just forget about that night,” Sadie said, pulling her hands off the glass. She gripped her hands behind her back and stepped away to put a solid amount of space between her and Carrick.

“I don’t think that is going to happen anytime soon,” Carrick muttered, his deep voice rich with frustration. “I want you, Sadie. God, I know we shouldn’t, that it’s a crap idea, that we said it was a onetime thing, but then you walk into the room and all I can think about is being inside you as soon as possible. And judging by all that blue fire in your eyes, by the way they keep going to my mouth, racing over my body, I think you want that, too.”

He was spot-on, dammit.

But you can’t go there, you have to be sensible, Slade. “I also want to find out who modeled for Da Vinci in La Belle Ferronnière. I want to own one of Manet’s bride paintings, find the Russian amber room. But I’m a realist and I know that none of the above will happen, just like I know that a repeat of that night is a solidly bad idea.”

Also, because the last time I was this attracted, I ended up marrying the guy and he made my life hell.

Carrick, so she was told, was cut from the same cloth. Initially charming and attentive and then turning into a monster at the first hint of something deeper.

“Screw good ideas. They aren’t any fun,” Carrick muttered, jamming his hands in the pockets of his suit pants, pulling back his jacket to reveal his broad chest covered by a mint-green shirt.

His suit was designer—maybe Armani?—his tie Hermès and perfectly knotted. To anyone else, he looked like a ridiculously successful Boston businessman, but Sadie was beginning to see past the implacable facade he presented the world. Beneath his layer of perpetual cool, red-hot lava churned.

And damn, those contrasts, seeing the passion beneath the surface, made her hot. And horny.

What could happen if she spent one more night with him? Except that one night probably wouldn’t be enough and, in another week, maybe two, they’d be back in the same position again, yearning and burning.

Nope, it was better to be resolute now, to nip this in the bud.

Sadie opened her mouth to say no, fully intending to tell him there wasn’t the slightest chance that they’d hook up again.

“I’ll think about it.”

Sadie almost turned around, convinced that some other woman had uttered the words she’d never meant to say. Or maybe she’d imagined saying them, but then she looked at Carrick’s face and saw the flash of excitement in his eyes, the twitch of pleased lips. Oh, crap.

What in the world was wrong with her and since when did her mouth act independently of her brain?

Carrick cupped her cheek with his hand and placed his lips on her temple. Sadie forced herself to keep her hands at her sides, bunching her fists so she didn’t grip his hips, run her hands up that wide chest.

“Think hard. And think quick,” Carrick murmured.

Two

Carrick stepped away, buttoned his suit jacket and moved to the door of the conference room. He pulled it wide and stood aside to allow two women to enter the room. Sadie watched as the small blonde returned Carrick’s hug, conscious of the streaks of jealousy coursing through her body. Annoyed with herself—there was nothing to be jealous about; she and Carrick had shared their bodies, not their souls—she turned her attention onto the second woman casually dressed in black.

The woman was of Indian descent; Sadie could see that in her lovely, light brown skin and the shape of her luminous gray eyes. They were, Sadie decided, eyes that would change with her mood or with the color of her clothes, the gray-blue of Sisley’s fog or the green-gray of a Whistler sea. Her nose was perfectly straight and her cheekbones could cut glass.

Man, she was gorgeous.

Carrick ushered the women into the room and gestured to Sadie. “Keely, Joa, meet Dr. Sadie Slade. She’s the art detective we’ve employed to work on your painting. Sadie, Keely Mounton and Joa Jones.”

“Hi, Sadie, nice to meet you,” Keely—the blonde—said, shaking Sadie’s hand. She looked at Carrick, her smile small but infectious. “And it’s Ju-ah, not Jo-ah.” Keely dropped her bag on the conference table as Sadie and Joa shook hands. “She never corrects anyone, but I know it drives her mad when people mispronounce her name.”

“I am standing right here, Keels,” Joa replied with a wry smile. “Sorry, Keely has been bossing me around for half my life and I don’t see her stopping anytime soon.”

Joa’s smile took her from stunning to exquisite. Sadie darted a glance at Carrick, expecting his tongue to be on the floor, but his expression was inscrutable and he looked completely unaffected.

Well...huh.

After exchanging small talk—mutual acquaintances and the horrible winter weather—Carrick gestured for them to take a seat. When they did, Sadie took the seat opposite his clients.

Sliding his hands into the pockets of his suit pants, Carrick looked every inch the corporate CEO of an international company. “Sadie, Isabel Mounton-Matthews was a valued and important client of Murphy’s. I think she bought her first painting from us over forty years ago. She and my stepmom, Raeni, were great friends and she passed away about—” he raised his eyebrows at Keely “—a year ago?”

Keely nodded. “Fourteen months to be precise.”

“Keely and Joa jointly inherited her estate,” Carrick continued.

Lucky, lucky girls. Gorgeous and wealthy and now owners of one of the best art collections in the country.

“Keely and Joa have decided to sell the bulk of the collection through Murphy International and donate the proceeds to Isabel’s foundation, which supports various charities on the east coast. Her collection will be the sale of the decade. If you want a comparison, think of the Rockefeller collection that was sold a few years back. Isabel’s collection more than competes. She collected masterpieces, porcelain, jewelry, Native American art, Asian art, silver, furniture, textiles.”

“My aunt was a magpie with a lot of money,” Keely cheerfully agreed.

“My brother Finn is cataloging the collection, which is extensive, but he doesn’t have time to delve into the mystery of your paintings, ladies. And that’s why I hired Sadie,” Carrick said. “And Sadie has already determined that two of the three paintings are Homer copies.”

Keely pulled a face and Joa sighed. “I’m not that surprised. I’m sure I recall Iz mentioning that she wasn’t fully convinced they were all by Homer. She had a gut instinct for art and a fabulous eye. And pedigree wasn’t important to her, she liked what she liked,” Keely said, resting her forearms on the table. She turned to Sadie. “So what makes you think the two paintings are copies?”

Carrick looked at Sadie, and she explained. “While the paintings are by an artist with talent, the execution simply isn’t good enough to be a Homer. They lack his energy and verve. The signature is wrong and the colors are off. They simply aren’t accomplished enough to be a Winslow Homer. But the third painting is exceptional.”

“Are we talking about the one that’s unsigned?” Joa quietly asked. When Sadie nodded, Joa continued. “If it is by Homer, shouldn’t it be signed? Isn’t that what artists do?”

“Not necessarily. There are lots of reasons an artist didn’t sign their works. Sometimes they thought the work wasn’t good enough. Sometimes they never completed it. Sometimes they simply forgot.” Sadie divided her glance between Keely and Joa. “How emotionally invested are you in this being a Homer?”

A small frown pulled Keely’s dark eyebrows together and those deep brown eyes reflected her confusion. “I’m not sure what you mean?”

“Was the painting one of your aunt’s favorites? Is it a favorite of yours? How disappointed will you be if it’s not a Homer?”

Keely exchanged a quick look with Joa, who simply shrugged. Keely answered her question.

“The unsigned painting always hung in the small sitting room at Mounton House, adjacent to what was Isabel’s bedroom. All her favorite paintings hung there so I know she liked it. She obviously had her doubts about the other two because I found them in her cupboard in her bedroom when I was up there doing inventory with Mr. Snooty Pants—” Keely glared at Joa “—and you owe me for doing that, by the way.”

“Mr. Snooty Pants?” Joa asked, puzzled.

“Wilfred Seymour.” Keely uttered the name as if poor Wilfred was an all-powerful wizard who shouldn’t be named.

“Are you talking about Dare?” Carrick asked. When Keely nodded, he released a low chuckle.

“He’s the least snooty guy I know,” Carrick stated.

Sadie didn’t know Keely, but she instantly recognized the woman’s stubborn expression. Possibly because she’d seen it on her own face a time or two.

“I have, obviously, seen a totally different version of the man than you have.”

“He’s a pretty cool guy, Keely,” Carrick protested. Points to Carrick for defending his friend, Sadie thought.

“We’ll have to agree to disagree on that subject,” Keely retorted. Sadie met Joa’s eyes and caught her small smile. Yep, she knew what Joa was thinking because Sadie was thinking it, too...something along the lines of the lady and protesting too much.

“Moving on from annoying lawyers...” Keely waved away the subject of Dare Seymour.

Sadie sympathized. It was exceedingly annoying to be attracted to a man you didn’t want to be, or couldn’t afford to be, attracted to.

Joa pulled them back to the subject at hand. “Just to be clear, we are talking about the painting of the African American woman with her two children in the fields, right?”

Sadie nodded. “Let me explain...”

Sadie pulled her iPad toward her and flipped open the cover. Powering up the device, she waited until it connected with the big screen behind Carrick. When the painting appeared on the screen, Carrick moved to sit next to her so his bulk didn’t block their view. He immediately pressed his knee against hers and Sadie lost her train of thought.

Sadie knew they were waiting for her to speak, to tell them how she spent her very expensive time—time they were paying for—but nope...

Her brain had ceased to function. Ground to a halt. No blood flowing.

Mostly because she was remembering the way Carrick spread her knees open, the way he looked at the most intimate parts of her, his expression as he dipped his head...

Complete shutdown...

Sadie jumped when Carrick filled the increasingly awkward silence. “So Sadie is going to take you through what she’s found and you’ll both have a better idea of what we are facing.”

Sadie gave herself a mental slap, told herself to get with the program and do her job. But just to minimize distractions, she stood up and moved away from Murphy and his addictive touch.

“So, you’ll contact me as soon as you have some news?”

“Because I’m contracted to Murphy’s, I report to them, but if Carrick is happy for me to liaise with you directly, I’m happy to do that.”

“I have no problem with Sadie doing that, Keely.”

Carrick Murphy’s deep voice drifted over to Joa, who stood in the hallway outside the conference room. She mentally urged Keely to hurry up. Joa loved her best friend and non-blood sister but damn, she never stopped talking. Joa had come directly from the airport to this meeting and she was jetlagged, tired and hungry. Keely had promised to whisk her back to Mounton House as soon as possible.

Joa swallowed down a huge yawn, thinking that she instinctively liked Sadie and appreciated her professional, shoot-from-the-hip approach. She wouldn’t make them any false promises or raise their hopes unnecessarily. Joa, who was above everything else a wide-eyed realist, appreciated that.

Joa rocked on her feet, feeling, like she often did, that this, her life, was all a dream. She was still unable, so many months after Isabel’s death, to believe that she was a beneficiary of Isabel’s great fortune.

The fortune comprised of a historic house in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, a stupendously healthy stock portfolio, various bank accounts and one of the best art collections in the world.

Windfalls—a tame word for such an enormous inheritance—didn’t happen to people like her.

It was right for Keely to inherit; she was a blood relation of Isabel’s. But Joa had no such connections to the Mounton-Matthews family. She’d only met Isabel at fourteen when the Boston doyenne visited a shelter that had been a stopgap after Joa ran away from her latest foster home.

The very next day Joa had found herself living at Mounton House with the eccentric Isabel and her great-niece Keely. For the first time since she was shoved into the system at ten, Joa had felt loved. But better than loved, she’d felt secure.

Safety. So many people took the concept for granted, but to Joa, there wasn’t any better feeling in the world. And she’d always be eternally grateful to Isabel for making her feel that way.

Man, she missed the old lady with an intensity that threatened to drop her to her knees.

“Are you sure Isabel didn’t say anything to you about where she acquired the paintings?” Sadie asked Keely.

Right, Joa would have to wait a little longer for her bed.

“Not that I recall,” Keely answered. “Maybe she didn’t buy them. Maybe they were given to her. Iz was exceptionally popular and had many...friends.”

Why didn’t Keely just come straight out and say that Iz had numerous lovers over the years? Joa doubted Sadie would fall over in a heap upon hearing that Iz liked men. And sex.

“Ah, got it. Any idea who she was seeing when she received the paintings?”

“It was way before my time,” Keely replied. “Her diaries talk about her visitors—” Joa rolled her eyes at the euphemism “—but she doesn’t name names.”

Mainly because Isabel had affairs with very prominent men and they would not be happy if their liaisons were exposed. Their wives wouldn’t be too thrilled, either.

“Damn. I might’ve been able to trace a sale through a name,” Sadie said. “Are we talking the cream of Boston society?”

“Yep,” Keely cheerfully replied. “She was universally adored, on both sides of the Atlantic. She was as popular in London and Paris as she was in Boston.”

Keely so easily spoke of people in Isabel’s milieu, high-society Boston. Keely had stepped into her grandaunt’s shoes rather well in that respect. Joa had no interest in spending time in that rarefied society.

She never felt more like a runaway, like a girl from the wrong side of the tracks, than when she was faced with people with more money than God and a pedigree they could trace back to the Mayflower. No thanks; she’d stay in the shadows where she felt most comfortable.

This wasn’t her world; these weren’t her people. Well, Keely was, obviously. Though Joa had to admit that Sadie Slade seemed rather nice and, more important, very down-to-earth.

And if Joa wasn’t wrong, and she seldom was, Sadie and Carrick Murphy had something hot and sexy happening.

Lucky girl, because the guy was super-fine.

Joa walked down the hallway to look at a collection of old photographs on the wall opposite, smiling at a photo of three teenage boys crowding a much younger girl. She knew enough about Boston society to identify the Murphy brothers and their sister Tanna.

They looked like a happy family and, while Joa was sorry their parents were dead, she thought the siblings lucky to have had the experience of being part of a supportive and close family.

Some people, her included, had never had that experience.

Joa heard masculine footsteps and turned to watch a tall man with unruly brown hair, heavy stubble and tired eyes walking down the hallway toward her. Her heart bounced around her chest as she clocked the real-life version of the man she’d briefly seen when Keely Facetimed him shortly before their meeting.