Darcy braced her feet on the floor, wishing she ever knew what was happening in her life more than a few days in advance. He didn’t say anything else though, and the reeling sensation had faded by the time that someone knocked a few minutes later.
Rose opened the cracked door and peered into the room.
Darcy eyed her clothing with interest: a jewel-toned sheath dress, small pearl earrings, high block heels. Rose had one of those figures that was as hard as Darcy’s to dressprofessionally—lots of chest, lots of hips and stomach—yet she always looked like she was ready to present the nightly news, not a hair out of place. It was easier for Darcy to imagine herself dressed like that than poufy and feminine like Sloane.
“Nora’s here,” Rose said, one accusatory eyebrow delicately arched. “With a guy from Sotheby’s. She said they want to inventory the whole collection, everything not out on loan.”
“What?” Teagan said, face stating that this was an unpleasant surprise.
“Was this on your calendar?” Rose asked.
“No. Was it on yours?” Teagan said.
“No.”
Teagan gave her a stern look.
“No!” Rose reiterated, tossing her small pink hands in the air. “No, Teagan, I am not scheduling meetings with our directors behind your back.”
“I didn’t say you were,” Teagan said, and the two of them stared off like rival alley cats.
“Do you want me to come to the meeting?” Rose asked.
“No, I’ll handle it,” Teagan said, standing up and pulling his jacket off the back of his chair. He took a red tie out of his desk drawer and began rolling it on.
Rose made a frustrated sound in the back of her throat and spun on her heel, stalking off.
“You know, if you think she’s out to get you, you probably need to fire her before she starts setting leg traps in the hall,” Darcy said. She wasn’t sure the other woman really was out to get Teagan though. It seemed like Rose might consider that beneath her dignity.
“I can’t fire her. Nora likes her. Besides, she’s not required to like me,” Teagan said.
He paused in the doorway on his way out of his office,visibly gathering his courage. Darcy didn’t know what could really go terribly wrong in a high-rise conference room, but Teagan’s face said that he was contemplating several different disaster scenarios.
“Hey,” Darcy said. “Do you wantmeto come to the meeting?” Her hands itched to wrap themselves around Teagan’s chest, but this was the middle of the workplace, and she thought he might consider that inappropriate.
He shook his head. “I’ll handle it,” he said again. Then he left.
Darcy waited alone in Teagan’s office for a few minutes afterward, but she found that she was unable to concentrate on her movie. So she got up and wandered out to the lobby.
She wasn’t surprised to see Rose pacing there, nor Adrian, Nora’s redheaded artist fiancé. But she was surprised to see them speaking with each other—she supposed they knew each other through the foundation. Adrian was pretending to leaf through a glossy home design magazine as Rose vented to him.
“I will get with the strategy—I don’t evencarewhat the strategy is, just let’s have a strategy, you know?” Rose said, arms animated. Her high heels clicked on the tile as she turned in place.
Adrian grunted without much interest, but they both turned to look at Darcy as she entered the room. The receptionist was off bringing refreshments to the boardroom, and the lobby was otherwise empty.
Rose spun to focus on Darcy.
“What’s Teagan’s issue with selling the art?” she demanded. “We don’t have to sell anything that’s hanging at his house.”
“No, I think he’s fine with selling some of that stuff,” Darcy said, thinking of the titty painting in the living room.
“He won’t tell me what he’s willing to let go of,” Rose said, grimacing at the boardroom.
“Letting go is... not Teagan’s strong suit,” Darcy admitted.
Rose twisted her mouth in consternation. She took a step closer to Darcy and pitched her voice so as not to carry quite so far. “Is it just the issue with using Nora’s gallery? Because we could use an independent broker. We don’t have to let Nora do the sales.”
Darcy lifted her palms in supplication.
