‘Don’t,’ she said quickly. ‘I mean you’re right. I came straight home too. And I only know that Sam’s fine becaus
e I was on the phone to him earlier, when you buzzed. Apologising as well, funnily enough.’
Bella thought she heard him mutter something like ‘bloody games’ but then he pulled himself together and visibly relaxed. ‘Did you hear they’re going on a date together?’
‘So I understand.’
One corner of his mouth hitched and Bella’s stomach flipped. ‘A couple of regular little cupids, aren’t we?’
‘Aren’t we just.’ She wrapped her hands around her cup of coffee, took a sip and reminded herself that Cupid had no business popping up anywhere where she and Will were concerned.
The facts, on the other hand … Bella set her cup back down and forced herself to concentrate. ‘So why are you here, Will?’
‘I need your help.’
Her eyebrows shot up. ‘Oh? With what?’
‘Remember my jewellery collection?’
‘How could I forget it?’ she said dryly.
‘Quite. Well, I need to get the fake stones replaced with real ones.’
‘Why?’
‘Because the collection is to go on display.’
For a moment there was utter silence. Bella opened her mouth then shut it and stared at him as he calmly buttered his croissant. ‘But it can’t,’ she said, appalled.
‘I know.’ He shrugged and added a dollop of jam. ‘However, it is. In approximately three weeks.’
Three weeks? ‘How?’ she said, her head swimming with questions and bafflement. ‘Why?’
Will took a bite, swallowed and sighed in appreciation. ‘If you remember the collection,’ he said, ‘then I imagine you’ll remember my aunt.’
Bella tried to focus. How could he eat at a time like this? Her own appetite, which had previously been enormous, had vanished. ‘Of course.’
Will sat back and looked at her. ‘I discovered last night that she promised the director of the Grayson Museum that they could exhibit the collection.’
Bella frowned. The Grayson was one of the finest private museums in the country. Under any other circumstances it would be a major coup. For both parties. Under these circumstances, however, it was a disaster of epic proportions. ‘Why on earth would she do something like that?’
He raised an eyebrow. ‘She has bouts of questionable judgement.’
Don’t we all, thought Bella darkly as she briefly reviewed her behaviour ever since she’d met Will. ‘She certainly does.’
‘And apparently he was extremely persuasive.’
Will’s tone left Bella in no doubt about the nature the man’s persuasion had taken, and she fought back a blush at the memory of how persuasive he could be. ‘Can’t you say she made a mistake?’
‘Unfortunately not. The deal is already done, and to withdraw now would invite questions I really wouldn’t feel comfortable answering.’
‘Yet you’d feel comfortable with dozens of experts lining up to take a look?’
‘Not particularly.’
‘Good. Because you do realise they’d know, don’t you? In a second.’
Will nodded. ‘That thought did occur to me, which is why I’m here. With you repairing the dodgy pieces, I figured we might just get away with it.’