The Painter's Passion

by Dr. Rebecca Sharp

  “I just think I preferred the sweater.” Especially in public, to keep everything about her hidden from everyone except himself. “But, I guess it will do. Considering.” He smirked at her.

  Ana just rolled her eyes at him and turned back to Tony. “Thank you,” she said, giving the other man a small smile, one that he could see didn’t quite reach her eyes.

  Even though he knew that she didn’t feel anything for Tony, he couldn’t stop the jealousy that raged through him. His deep voice drawled into their conversation again, “I’ve been looking forward to our date tonight.”

  After the emphasis on ‘our’ he glanced at Tony, silently willing him to take the hint that he should ‘bugger off.’ Maybe if he said that, the damn Brit would get the message.

  He could practically see the smoke coming out of Morgan’s ears, but he didn’t care.

  “Really?” she asked with a sarcastic smile. “When you left without telling me the other day, I’d wondered if you’d even show up.”

  So, that’s how this was going to go. “I would never dream of standing you up, Your Majesty.” He raised an eyebrow, silently asking how far she was going to go with this.

  “Oh, wouldn’t you?” She crossed her arms over her chest and Pierce bit back a groan the way her breasts moved under the black, sheer fabric.

  “Of course not.” He smiled in the way that made her breath catch in her chest.

  “Pierce,” Morgan interjected. “If you’re done being an ass, we should probably get going.”

  He held Ana’s stare for a moment longer, before she broke away to address her brother.

  “Ok. Tony, Gino, we’ll see you guys there.” She nodded to her two agents and made for the door.

  They were going to be the first to arrive to assess the situation. If nothing was suspicious, then he and Ana would enter, followed by Morgan and Tash.

  When Ana made a move to follow them, he stepped in front of her, sending her his most seductive smile.

  “Allow me to escort you, Your Highness,” he rasped softly, extending his arm out to her. She hesitated only a moment before placing her hand in the crook of his elbow and allowing him to walk with her out of the house.

  Even the slight touch of her hand on him was enough to put his body into full-fledged arousal. Thankfully, his suit jacket kept most of that hidden. His body pulsed from where she touched him and the only thing that he could think was that the past two days had just delayed the inevitable.

  Tonight, she was his.

  The room was fairly crowded already but that had nothing to do with why she was struggling to breathe. They’d shared a cab over to the Shard with Morgan and Tash, which meant that nothing had been said. However, once they’d entered the venue, the couples had split ways, which meant that she and Pierce were now alone.

  In the middle of a crowded room.

  How was this going to work? This wasn’t a good idea, she couldn’t help but thinking. Men and women dressed extravagantly continued to fill into the space with their faces shielded in one way or another. How was Pierce ever going to find the one person that they were looking for?

  “You look nervous,” he asserted, his dark gaze glancing to hers underneath his mask. “Worried about what’s going to happen?”

  “No,” she replied calmly. “Just worried that you aren’t going to stick to the plan.”

  “I told you that I would.” He handed her a glass of white wine that he’d just ordered. They’d stationed themselves near the bar, figuring that most of the guests would make their way over here at one point or another.

  “And then you left.” She wished her tone hadn’t let on how upset it had made her, but there was nothing she could do about it now.

  “Ana—” he began hoarsely.

  “Now’s not the time,” she interrupted him, purposely looking towards the other side of the room. “Do you see her? Or anyone that might resemble her?”

  There was a brief pause and she assumed he was scanning the guests again, except when she peeked over to him, he was only staring at her.

  “Not yet,” he said tightly. “Although, I would have a lot easier time focusing if you had decided to wear the damn sweater.”

  She frowned. “I thought you didn’t like the dress,” she said softly.

  He chuckled and then those dark eyes left hers, dropping slowly down the length of her body, caressing her with his gaze. He leaned in closer to her ear, “No, Princess. I like the dress too damn much.” And then she felt the slightest touch of his hand on her bare back, his fingers tracing along the edge of the dress. Her hand tightened around the wine glass as a shiver ran up her spine from the heat of his touch. “But I’m not the only one,” he growled.

  She sucked in a breath and followed his stare to where Tony was casually making his way around the right side of the room.

  Her gaze continued around to the left side of the room where the table was that had photos of most of the items that were available to bid on. It was where Morgan and Tash were standing, conversing with an elderly gentleman in a very nice, white suit, who seemed quite taken with Tash. Morgan, on the other hand, was waiting for her gaze to meet his, his eyes narrowing suspiciously on her and Pierce.

  “So, do you recognize anyone?” she asked again matter-of-factly, trying to focus on the mission, if for no other reason than her brother was watching.

  Again, silence. But this time, he was actually glancing around the room. She watched as he pushed away from the bar, taking a few steps forward in order to get a better look. Just as he went to turn back to her, a man in an all-black suit walked between them. The space wasn’t really wide enough for him, so he ended up ramming into Pierce on his way through, the wine in Pierce’s glass sloshing up the side.

  “What the…” Pierce swore, looking after the man who didn’t even bother to stop, acknowledge, or apologize. Instead, he grabbed two waiting glasses of liquor off of the bar and continued on his way.

  Her gaze narrowed on him, following him as he walked towards Tony.

  “Fucker is just lucky he didn’t make me spill wine on my suit. Velvet is a bitch to clean.”

  She just nodded, watching as the rude man stopped next to another gentleman similarly dressed and handed him the second glass of alcohol.

  “Ana.” Pierce put his hand on her shoulder and drew her attention back to him. “Do you know him?”

  She started to shake her head when she felt someone trying to squeeze behind her.

  “I’m so sorry. Excuse me,” a soft voice spoke with a hint of an accent – French, maybe?

  Turning her head over her shoulder, Ana saw a woman trying to pass behind her to the bar.

  “Of course,” she replied lightly, stepping closer to Pierce, making more room for her to pass. He responded naturally, his arm reaching around her and pulling her against him. Instantly, her senses were consumed with the heat of his body as it pressed flush against hers. Her gaze quickly focused on the hard chest in front of her and her mouth watered, remembering and wanting the feel of those bare muscles against her.

  Her eyes slowly peeled up to his face, expecting to meet something similar in his stare, only Pierce wasn’t looking at her at all; he was completely focused on the woman she’d just let go by them.

  Her eyes narrowed and immediately she wondered if he was really checking out another woman while she was right there in front of him – in his arms.

  Rational Ana quickly intervened, remembering exactly why they were here.

  “Pierce,” she whispered his name, her eyes darting over to the woman again. The petite brunette had paused at the bar, waiting for a drink. She was wearing a simple, deep purple halter-dress that had a very low-cut back. Even though she may have appeared calm to any guest who happened to see her, Ana could tell that she was on edge. One hand clutched her purse, her knuckles white with the effort. The other hand tapped lightly and impatiently against her leg. Her head kept glancing from side to side, pausing back on the bartender during
each travel to see if he had finished with her drink yet. Finally, Ana watched as the woman picked up what looked like either a very large glass of vodka, or simply a glass of water.

  They both continued to stare from beneath their masks as she thanked the bartender and then turned back towards their direction, thankfully not noticing their stares, but providing them with a front view of her face – even though it was partially obscured by her black half-mask.

  As she walked by them, Pierce finally returned his gaze to her. He didn’t say a word, only gave her a slight nod and that was all she needed.

  This was the woman they were looking for – the one who had the painting.

  Before she could move or direct him to, Pierce grabbed a glass of red wine from the bar, stopping a passing waiter and instructing him to deliver the glass to Tash and to tell her that it was ‘compliments of the lady in purple.’

  The waiter seemed slightly confused since Ana wasn’t wearing purple, but as soon as Pierce slipped him a twenty, he strode off to get the job done.

  “Are you sure?”

  His eyes were as hard and as dark as coal when he responded, “I may not remember a lot about that night, but I will never forget that face.”

  Even though nothing had happened up to this point, now that they had located her, Ana suddenly felt more anxious. Pierce returned his hand to its former position on her back as if he knew that she needed assurance. She sighed against its warmth as he gently led her a few steps to the side of the bar where they could discreetly watch what was about to unfold.

  “From the lady in purple, sir,” the waiter addressed him, handing him the glass of red wine. He nodded and as soon as the man moved on, Morgan immediately scanned the room for the woman in purple.

  He didn’t need to look for long.

  His eyes locked on a petite brunette walking in their direction. She was so tiny that his gaze should have passed right over her, except that for some reason it didn’t. Instead his chest tightened as he watched her small frame move gracefully through the crowd.

  Her short brown hair was in loose curls around her face and just barely through the mask could he make out rich, brown eyes. She was tiny and while Tash was petite too, this woman was thin and fit where Tash still had ample curves. Her tight dress showed off her small, pert breasts, narrow hips, and overall slender frame; its lack of sleeves and thigh-high slit showed off her toned arms and legs – legs that he could immediately envision wrapped around his waist as he took her up against the wall.

  What the fuck, Morgan!

  He shook his head, getting back in the game.

  “That’s her,” he said softly to Tash who followed his gaze over to the woman.

  “Well, what are we waiting for?” And with a brave smile, she led the way over to the other woman.

  “Excuse me,” Tash said sweetly, placing her hand gently on the woman’s shoulder.

  The petite vixen jumped slightly and Morgan swore under his breath; she was afraid. Immediately, his hero instincts kicked in.

  “Yes?” the woman replied, her voice like a soft velvet.

  “I’m so sorry,” Tash gushed, giving her a large, warm smile. “We’ve never been to one of these before, but a friend of ours told us there would be a specific piece made privately available for sale tonight. I was wondering if you might know who we need to speak to.”

  Well, she certainly didn’t beat around the bush.

  Morgan watched as the woman’s eyes narrowed speculatively on Tash before her mahogany gaze turned to him.

  He felt like he’d been electrocuted and, from the looks of it, she did too. The collected expression on her face broke and her mouth parted.

  “How rude of me,” Tash exclaimed, placing her hand on his arm. “This is my husband, Morgan.” As soon as the words were out, he saw the other woman’s expression freeze back over. Dammit. He didn’t want her to think that, but he had no choice; it was their cover. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name…” Tash continued sweetly, trying to coax any information from her.

  Her gaze broke from his and returned to Tash. “Raine.” Her “r” had small lilt to it, her accent showing through. “What exactly are you looking for again?”

  “A Monet,” he replied, his warm voice rumbling over the dialogue of the room. He felt Tash grip his arm. He knew he should have stayed quiet, but he wanted her eyes on him again. He wanted to feel the burn through his body. Those almond eyes turned to him from underneath her mask and even though the room was now full of people, even though there seemed to be some shuffling going on next to them, all Morgan could see was her.

  Chapter 23

  “Fuck,” he swore. Ana’s head jerked towards his; her gaze broke away from her brother and Tash to look up at him, quickly following his stare to see what he had seen.

  The two men. No. Now it looked like there were three.

  The man who had plowed through him earlier and the other man he’d brought a drink to were shoving their way intently through the crush of people towards Morgan and Tash. Only, it was unlikely that they were their target – their target was the woman; these were the men that Loury had warned him about

  “Pierce, no…” She exhaled his name as a plea as he started to pull away. “Don’t even think about going over there; she’ll recognize you. Look, Tony and Gino are heading over there.” Her words came out hurriedly to try to talk him down, but they were ineffective. Her men would never reach them in time.

  “They’re too far away, Ana.” His head turned to stare at her. “Something is going to happen.”

  And then before he could think the better of it, he pulled away from her and pushed his way through the crowd, hoping that his assessment was right – that he would make it to their friends before the other men did.

  “Excuse me,” he repeated over and over again, his tone rude and forceful, not caring who he upset as he pushed through them.

  He could see the backs of Morgan’s and Tash’s heads and heard a vaguely familiar, accented voice say, “What exactly are you looking for again?”

  He came up behind Morgan a moment later and familiar eyes behind an unfamiliar mask glanced at him as he approached; she almost looked away, but then recognition dawned on her.

  Pierce watched as the woman’s hand came up to cover her mouth in shock. Morgan spun to face him, to see what she had seen.

  “What the fuck, Pierce—”

  He ignored Morgan, seeing the woman about to turn and run. “Wait!” he roared and tried to lunge past Morgan.

  He was too late; she turned to flee right into the men who were looking to do her greater harm than he was. Thank God for Morgan, who reached out and grabbed ahold of her arm, tugging her back just as she realized who she was running into. Unfortunately, he hadn’t acted fast enough to completely spare her. Pierce just caught the glimmer of a blade before it was lost in the woman’s dress; its original destination had been much more lethal, but because of Morgan, it only caught her in the side.

  He watched as if in slow motion, hearing her scream as Morgan pulled her harder towards him, her free hand coming to clasp her side, red liquid quickly covering her fingers.

  Morgan caught her as she stumbled backwards, putting himself between the woman and the assassins, hoisting her up into his arms as her legs gave way.

  At that moment, Tony and Gino arrived; Gino quickly and effectively put a gun to the second man’s side, ordering him to drop any weapons. Tony stood back next to Morgan, partially shielding him and the woman in case the man with the knife decided to attack again.

  Gasps and screams spread through the crowd as everyone began to bolt for the door. Only their team, the thief, and the two men remained.

  The one with the knife still stood poised to attack, even though the attempt would be pointless since he was outnumbered and his partner was currently being handcuffed.

  “Care to rethink that?” he asked casually, smirking at the assailant. He shifted his gaze slightly to Morgan. “Get out
of here,” he instructed his friend. “She needs to go to the hospital.” Morgan nodded; the woman in his arms was losing a lot of blood as well as consciousness; her head lolled against his chest. He backed up a few steps and then turned and carried the woman out of the room to where she could get medical help.

  “We’ll find her one way or another.” The burly man laughed smugly as he sheathed his knife, an evil smile on his face.

  “Pierce…” Tash’s strangled gasp from behind him drew everyone’s immediate attention. She looked like she’d seen a ghost – her face was ashen and her eyes barely met his before they began to roll back into her head.

  Before Pierce could act, Tony stepped back to catch Tash as she passed out. He looked back at the assailants who were now looking to each other, wondering if they had seen Tash before.

  Then reinforcements arrived as a handful of bobbies rushed into the room, quick to assist Gino in securing the two men. Pierce watched through narrow eyes as the men were escorted under arrest from the room, the man with the knife trying to get a good look at Tash on his way out.

  This was not good.

  Once the threat was gone, he could finally turn his attention to Tony, Tash, and Ana.

  “Are you ok, Tash?” Ana asked softly.

  “Sorry…” Tash mumbled softly. “I don’t know…”

  “Shh.” Ana comforted her. “I think that was a bit more excitement than you signed up for. Thankfully, both of the men are gone. Why don’t we get you home?”

  She stood, still ignoring his presence.

  “Ana,” he interrupted hoarsely, grabbing her arm. “There were more than two of them.”

  Her eyes widened at his assertion, but after a quick glance over at Tash who was still resting on Tony for support, she didn’t question him further. He had a feeling that he knew why Tash had passed out, but now was not the time to talk about it. The fact was Tash might be in danger and their house could be compromised.