Jaeger ran an agitated hand across his jaw. “You saw the interview?”
“I did.”
Jaeger’s curse bounced off the walls of her apartment. “I never, for one moment, thought you would see that. You don’t even watch television!”
“And that makes what you said okay?” Piper heard her voice rising and reached for control. She pulled in a calming breath and linked her shaking hands around her knees. It didn’t escape her notice that he’d yet to deny the truth of what she’d said.
She couldn’t help that a little sarcasm leached through her rationality. “Silly me. I’d started to think I might be more than a warm, willing body and a source of some very fine stones.”
“That’s not fair. I’ve never treated you that way.” Jaeger jammed his hands into his pockets and scowled at her. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Piper. I never discuss my love life with the press.”
That wasn’t a denial, either, Piper thought as she moved to sit in the chair. “What are we doing, Jaeger?”
“Right now? Having a fruitless conversation.”
Despite her questions, he hadn’t said anything to make her think there was anything serious between them. She wasn’t going to beg him to be with her. And she couldn’t stay with him, vacillating between love and hope, waiting for him to become bored with her, waking up each day wondering how much time they had together.
It was better to live without him than to live in limbo. She was better, stronger than that.
She was not her mother.
Piper stood up, found her bag and pulled his check from her wallet. She handed it to him, ignoring the fire in his eyes. “I don’t need this anymore. My uncle’s diary will prove that the stones are from Kashmir, mined in the late nineteenth century. I’ll get the diary tomorrow and I’ll drop it off at your office on Monday morning. Ballantyne and Company can cut me a check.” She sucked in a deep breath. “I would be grateful if you’d contact the lawyers administering my father’s estate. With your assurance that I have funds coming in, they might not sell my house from under me.”
Piper opened her mouth to tell him about Ty when he spoke again. “Who is your father?”
Those were the last words she’d expected from his mouth. Why was he asking her that? And why now? Piper felt a prickle of unease dance up her spine. “Why is that important?”
“Is your father Michael Shuttle?”
How had he found out? Piper forced herself to hold Jaeger’s demanding stare.
Jaeger pointed his index finger at her. “Don’t even try to lie to me! I know he’s your father, Piper.”
“How?” Piper asked.
“Because Shuttle sold two Kashmir sapphires to Moreau’s thirty years ago to fund his business and said he had more. Your mother sold two sapphires to kick-start your father’s business. Your father’s estate is in administration and in debt. So is Shuttle’s.” Jaeger paced the area between her living room and hallway.
“Yes. He’s my father.”
Jaeger stopped pacing, and his direct look pinned her to her seat. “Okay, so why is that such a secret?”
“You’re kidding me, right?” Piper heard her voice rising and thought, To hell with control and rationality. Jaeger was a big boy. He could handle a little shouting. Oh, damn, she couldn’t shout, she had a baby in the house. “Why would I want to tell anyone about him? Why would I want to invite the attention and the scrutiny?”
“I’m not talking about telling the world. I’m talking about telling me!” Jaeger shot a look at the stairs and kept his voice low as well. “What else aren’t you telling me? What else have you lied to me about?” Jaeger closed the gap between them, and his hands gripped her biceps. “What else, Piper?”
Piper wrenched herself from Jaeger’s grip and wrapped her arms around her waist, feeling cold and hot at the same time. “You and I met in Milan and yes, we did go out a couple of times. What I didn’t tell you is that we slept together.”
She risked a peek at Jaeger’s face. As she expected, he looked confused. “Okay. Why not tell me? It’s not a big deal.”