“Glad he was your client and not ours,” Beckett cheerfully stated.
“I’m sure you are,” James wryly replied. “Ballantyne and Company definitely dodged a bullet. Shuttle’s Colombian honey flew south the night before he was arrested. With, I presume, my diamond choker.”
“Judging by his long list of creditors, you’ll be lucky if you get money back from his estate,” Jaeger commented.
James placed his elbows on the table and tapped his finger against the bloodred tablecloth. “And that’s what I can’t understand. Thirty years ago, my father bought two stones off Shuttle, two exceptional sapphires my father paid top dollar for. Shuttle boasted he had many more and, no matter what happened, the rest of the stones were his backup plan.”
Jaeger felt his heart stop, start and bump against his rib cage.
“My mother sold two stones thirty years ago to give him the capital to start his business.”
Piper’s house, he remembered, was owned by her father through a company, and the reason she had to sell was because it was part of his estate. The cash raised would go toward repaying her father’s debts.
Piper Mills was Mick Shuttle’s daughter.
That was a hell of a secret and raised the question: Why hadn’t she told him?
And what else was she holding back?
Eleven
Piper wasn’t surprised when Jaeger pushed the button to her intercom sometime after midnight. The message she’d left on his phone was intriguing. He’d want to know more, want to know everything.
She stood and placed her hand on her stomach, pulling in a deep breath. Silly of her to think they’d have a little more time before the situation detonated. In Milan, they’d hurtled from dinner to breakfast to dinner to bed in record time, and over the past week she’d reconnected, slept with and fallen in love with Jaeger.
Everything with Jaeger happened at warp speed.
Piper walked to the kitchen to buzz him up. God, she was tired and pissed and so in love with him it hurt.
Ask him about the interview, tell him about Ty and get it done. Throw your cards on the table and stop second-guessing him and yourself.
Honesty is always better than sugar-coated BS.
Honesty was the foundation of trust, and she’d shortchanged Jaeger by not being totally up-front. About everything.
But she had to be prepared for him to be honest back. Maybe he meant every word he’d said to that television presenter; there might be nothing more between them than a bit of great sex. Jaeger might genuinely not be interested in Ty, and she’d have to deal with that.
She was stronger than she felt; she had to be if she was going to survive the worst consequences of this conversation. She’d survived her father’s lack of interest; she could survive Jaeger’s, too.
Straightening her shoulders, she walked to the hallway, unlocked her front door and there he was, his hand raised to knock. Jaeger sent her a cool look and walked past her, shrugging off his thigh-length coat and tossing it over the back of the nearest chair. His tuxedo jacket followed, and he ripped his tie from his neck and snapped open the top button of his shirt.
Piper folded her arms and watched as he rolled back the cuffs of his dress shirt in short, snappy movements. His eyes were ice blue, his shoulders tense, his jaw rock-hard.
Jaeger looked as out of sorts as she was. But she had no idea why.
“Why didn’t you answer your phone?” Jaeger demanded, slapping his hands on his hips.
Piper tipped her head to the side. Her rugby jersey reached to midthigh. Woolen socks covered her feet. She looked ridiculous and wished she was better dressed.
“I needed some time alone,” Piper replied.
“Why?” Jaeger asked, as if talking to him was the beginning and end of her existence. It was, but he didn’t need to know that.
“Well, I’d just heard you tell the world there was nobody special enough in your life to take to Moreau’s Ball. Considering you’d spent the last night making love to me, your statement made me feel cheap and inconsequential.” Piper perched on the arm of a chair and crossed her legs. She looked up at him, keeping her face blank. “I was trying to work through my hurt and anger so we could have a rational conversation.”