Bella frowned and told herself to focus on the facts and not the bubble of delight spinning through her at his appreciation of her expertise. ‘Maybe you could just not show the fakes. I don’t know … Say they’re lost. Or stolen or something.’ Because personally she wasn’t sure she shared his confidence in her abilities.
Will shook his head. ‘Impossible. Caroline already told the director the collection’s complete, and to have a last-minute robbery would simply invite more of those questions I’m not too comfortable answering. Not to mention a whole host of other problems.’
Bella bit her lip. ‘But replacing the stones will cost a fortune.’
Will lifted a shoulder. ‘The cost doesn’t matter. Discretion, however, does. Which is another reason why I’ve come to you. The fewer people that know about this, the better.’ He tilted his head and gave her a penetrating look that she felt right down to her bones. ‘So. Can you do it?’
Bella blinked as her brain churned with so many questions that she couldn’t pull out a single one to formulate. It was all too bizarre. Too much of a coincidence. On the one hand would Caroline really have promised the collection to a museum knowing the risk she’d be running? On the other, if she’d really thought she could get away with switching the gems in the first place, then her judgement was definitely questionable.
Whatever had brought it about, and frankly Bella’s brain was beginning to hurt at trying to work it out, one thing was certain. The collection couldn’t go on display as it was.
Slowly she nodded. ‘I can.’ With a little help. And then she frowned. ‘When exactly does it all have to be ready?’
‘The opening night is two weeks on Friday, so ideally that morning at the latest.’
Bella gulped as her stomach twisted with nerves. It would be tight, but if she sidelined her principles and all her other projects she should be able to do it. In fact, the increase in workload would no doubt make her forget the fact that the Friday he was talking about was her birthday, which would be a bonus. ‘OK.’
‘Good,’ he said with a quick smile as he got to his feet and put the plates and cups in the sink. ‘Then I’ll bring the pieces over tomorrow.’
Oh. Bella stared up at him as he plucked his jacket off the back of his chair. That didn’t sound so good. It was one thing trying to move on with her life and her goals when Will was nowhere to be seen, quite another if he intended to carry on popping up unexpectedly.
Never mind, she thought, trying not to notice the sliver of taut tanned abdomen between the bottom of his jumper and the waistband of his jeans that the shrugging on of his jacket revealed. Once he’d brought over the jewellery and she’d started to work on it, there’d be no reason for him to pop up anywhere, unexpectedly or otherwise. She could keep him updated on her progress by email and courier the pieces directly to the museum.
‘Fine,’ she murmured, standing up, heading for the front door and opening it, taking care to plaster herself against the wall so that no part of him could touch her.
Will stepped out onto the landing and fished his car keys out of his pocket.
‘No Bob?’ she said, letting out a breath before glancing down and then back up at him.
‘Sadly not. Sunday is his day off. Sundays I have to fend for myself.’
At the look of distress in his eyes, Bella couldn’t help laughing. ‘Poor baby.’
Will went still and Bella’s laughter died in her throat as the distress vanished and something hotter, darker, flickered in their navy depths. Her mouth went unaccountably dry and her pulse began to hammer.
‘I know,’ he said softly. ‘I don’t know how I cope.’
For a long second everything seemed to stop. All Bella was aware of was a kind of throbbing electric tension vibrating between the two of them. His gaze dipped to her mouth and she thought he leaned forwards a little.
Her heart thumped and her blood heated. Oh, God. Was he going to kiss her? What would she do if he did? Slap him across the face? Or wrap her arms around him and kiss him back? Or maybe both … Because as much as she’d tried to convince herself otherwise, and as nuts as it would be, she did want another taste of him, another long slow taste of that passion that he’d shown her last night.
And then just when she was wondering what would happen if she gave into the madness and threw herself into his arms, Will was drawing back and giving her a little smile, and Bella felt as if she were the one who’d been slapped in the face.
‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ he said gruffly, turning on his heel and disappearing down the stairs.
CHAPTER TEN
BY THE time the opening night rolled around Bella was a jumble of nerves and exhaustion and a whole lot more besides.
The last three weeks had been testing to say the least. Not only had she been working flat out to get the pieces ready for tonight, but the memory of the kiss that Will hadn’t given her outside her front door had been haunting her dreams.
In her dreams, however, he didn’t stalk off and leave her quivering on the landing, desperate and frustrated. In her dreams he whisked her back inside her flat and carried her into her bedroom. In her dreams he peeled her clothes off and tied her to her wrought-iron bed-head and then used his mouth and hands and body to torment her until she was shaking and quivering and delirious with pleasure.
Sometimes the journey from her door to her bed varied: sometimes they went straight there, sometimes they detoured via the shower. Sometimes she changed the colour of the silk scarves and who was doing the tying up. But the outcome was always the same, and night after night she woke up hot and bothered and trembling with desire.
And as if the nights weren’t bad enough, Will had invaded her thoughts during daylight hours as well. She’d lost track of conversations, mislaid bits of jewellery and frequently drifted off, gazing into the distance, until something snapped her back to her senses and she’d discovered that half the morning had gone.
It didn’t help that he’d taken to dropping in on her every other day or so to find out how she was getting on. When she’d protested that he really didn’t need to bother, he’d pointed out that the integrity of the collection was at stake and he was spending a small fortune on the replacement stones, so why wouldn’t he want to bother? She hadn’t had an adequate comeback to that, so she’d had to bear his visits as coolly and stoically as she could manage.