“Treasure? You mean gems and…” She was flustered, too distracted by his eyes and lips. Was it crazy that she was picturing him leaning down and kissing her right now? Yeah, super crazy. Had she had too much caffeine today? Not possible—she’d only just had her fifth cup from the cafeteria. If anything, she was due foranother.
He nodded, and his eyes now watched her with the same intensity he’d given the jewels. Her entire body flooded with awareness like some kind of sixth sense. Every hair on her arms seemed to rise, and her blood began to pound in her ears. A slow wave of heat started from her face and moved down to her toes. Her body rebelled against her, all because this dark stranger was staring at her in a way that reminded her she was a woman, making her think of all the things that a woman wanted from a man in the dark ofnight.
Whispers, sighs, limbs entwined and bodieswrithing…
Piper came back to herself with a jolt and tried to remember what they were talkingabout.
“I’m a gemologist. My job is all about treasure.” She couldn’t help but use the word he had. Funny, she never thought of gems and precious stones as treasure, but they were. This amazing new discovery was by definition a treasuretrove.
The man cocked his head and leaned toward her. His nostrils flared as he inhaled deeply. The predatory move into her personal space made her tense and try to move back, but she was too close to the jewel case. She’d bump into the glass and set off the alarms. The corner of his mouth twitched up as though he almost smiled at her realization of beingtrapped.
Whatthe—?
“Agemologist.” He tested the word, making it sound decadent on hislips.
“Yeah,” she answered, a little breathless, trying to regain her composure. “I’ve been hired to appraise the gems of this collection before they go toauction.”
A sharp gleam in his eyes made her freeze inplace.
“Have you now.” It was a statement rather than a question, and for some reason that unsettled her. When she met his eyes again, the green seemed to melt into liquid gold. She jolted and he blinked, the yellow glint vanished. There was something predatory about him that made her both excited and uneasy at the same time. She’d always been into men who were dominating, but she’d never been around a man who actually put off those dominant vibes before. Her skin flushed at his dark, knowinglook.
“I should leave you to—” she said, now trying to sidestephim.
“My name is Mikhail Barinov,” he announced, stopping her. There was a touch of pride in his tone, but it lacked the arrogance that she expected to go with it. It was almost as though he expected her to know of him, but she obviously didn’t. Which begged the question, who the hell washe?
“I’m Piper, PiperLinwood.”
Mikhail raised her hand to his lips and gave her a chivalrous kiss. His lips were warm and soft on the backs of her fingers. She shivered. It was impossible not to imagine his lips touching other parts of her. The wicked thought filled her with a wild rush of excitement and a hint of panic. She never thought about strange men like this. Was it because Mikhail was insanely gorgeous? Or was it because at the age of thirty she was still a virgin and her hormones were finally kicking into highgear?
“Will you be attending the reception at the Thorne Auction House tonight?” he askedher.
Surprise fluttered through her. “Why yes. How did you know about that?” She didn’t think the reception was open to thepublic.
There was a flicker of hesitation before he replied. “I shall be there as well.” His lips curved into a small crooked smile that sent her heart racing. “I shall look forward to seeing you again, Ms. Linwood. And thejewels.”
Before she could reply, the mysterious and sexy Mikhail Barinov slipped into the crowd and disappeared. He hadn’t even told her how he’d known about the privatereception.
Her friend Jodie Harkness joined Piper at the display case. “Who wasthat?”
The emerald clock and the scattered pearls lay on the velvet cloth. They were beautiful and enchanting, but now when she looked at them all she could see were Mikhail’s eyes. She remembered what he’d said:The pearls…they used to be so beautiful. They gleamed like moonlight trapped in frozen drops ofdew.
It was as though he’d seen the original jewels before they’d been lost beneath an old inn for five hundred years. But that was impossible. She must have misunderstood him. He was clearly Russian, and English was not his first language. Yes, that was it—he’d gotten his tenses mixed up and hadn’t meant to make it sound like he’d seen them before, but rather that he was sad to see them not looking brand-new.
“Hey, Earth to Piper,” Jodieteased.
Piper finally drew her scattered thoughts together and looked at her friend. “What?”
“Who was Mr. Tall, Dark, and Devastatingly Handsome? Tell me you’re finally exploring that kinky side you mentioned you had. He looked like he was intoit.”
Jodie tugged the ends of her gray suit jacket down and leaned against the wall next to the display case. Piper sighed with more than a little envy. Jodie was tall and slender, with dark hair and pretty brown eyes. She looked like she’d come out of aVoguefashionad.
Piper, on the other hand, was only five foot four and too curvy to look good in most off-the-rack outfits. Her hair was that boring color somewhere between brown and blonde, and her eyes were a light, almost washed-out blue. The only thing she really liked about herself was her face. It wasn’t model caliber, but pretty enough if she put some makeup on. Not that she did that very often. When she was examining gems through her tools and viewing scopes, heavy makeup on her eyes posed aproblem.
“I don’t know him. At least, not before two minutes ago. He said his name is Mikhail Barinov. I believe he’sRussian.”
Jodie’s eyes sparkled. “Russian? Oh, they are thebestin bed.” Piper laughed, but her friend continued, her tone earnest. “I’m serious! They are dark and brooding and more than a little kinky. This could be good foryou!”
Piper’s heart jumped in her chest. “Kinky?” Although she was a virgin, she’d had plenty of fantasies, and she knew what turned her on. She’d begged her past boyfriends to experiment, but none of them had been into it, so she’d never been that interested in handing over her V-card. She wanted her first time to feel explosive, to blow her away, to fulfill herfantasies.
