An Irresistible Bachelor(34)

He put his hands into the pockets of his fine suit. "Why don't you want me to protect you?"

"Because I shouldn't get in the habit of relying on you when it comes to dealing with your mother." She paused. "Although it was a nice gesture on your part."

"I'm sorry—did I hear that right? You actually approve of something I've done?"

"Don't let it go to your head," she replied, hiding her smile.

He laughed. "With you around,! don't think either of us have to worry about that."

She lifted her eyes and was taken aback when he looked at her grimly.

"Tell me something, Callie, what's it going to take to get you to like me?"

"Why do you care if I do?" she asked, surprised by the question and his intensity.

"I like a challenge," he said, that grin of his returning.

"Then go climb a mountain."

He laughed again. "I think you're far more interesting and I'm not crazy about heights. Now answer my question."

"Why don't you take a shot at mine for real, first?" she tossed back.

"Okay." The smile stayed in place, but his eyes grew somber. "When I showed you to your new bedroom you were delighted, but I know you would have quite happily stayed in the back rooms. You haven't once asked me about paying you the money we discussed. And my dog loves you."



"So maybe I'm laid-back, fiscally irresponsible, and have kibbles in my pocket."

"Mostly, though, I'm fascinated by you."

The elevator came to a stop.

"You can't possibly be serious," she muttered, trying to ignore a sudden pounding in her chest.

As the doors opened, he held them at bay while she walked out.

"But I am," he said, falling into step beside her. "You are one very unusual lady."

She could feel the heat hit her face.

"Where's the office?" she asked pointedly.

It was a relief when he walked ahead and stayed quiet.

She wasn't in a big hurry to tell him that in order for her to like him he'd have to morph into something other than a devastatingly handsome and wealthy man who'd kissed her like she'd never been kissed before.

He'd have to go from being an Aston Martin DB-whatever to a Chevy Chevette.





Chapter 9





They walked through a rabbit warren of offices that was broken up by floor-to-ceiling shelves filled with a jagged, colorful array of books. When they came to a set of double doors, Jack rang a bell on the wall. Moments later, the metal panels were opened to reveal a small, older man. Under his sparse, graying hair, his face was surprisingly young looking, mostly because of the enthusiasm in his eyes.

"Jackson, how are you?" The man's voice was high and lilting, marked with a subtle French accent, and the hands that reached up and removed a pair of tortoiseshell glasses from his nose were beautiful enough to have been a woman's.

So this was Gerard Beauvais, Callie thought as she shook one of those hands after Jack introduced them. She tried not to get swallowed by hero worship.

Beauvais smiled at her as he motioned them inside. "Come in, come in. Please."

There were six workstations in the room and at each one a person dressed in a smock was leaning forward toward the surface of a breathtaking work of art. She saw a Pissarro and a David held upright in vise grips and several paintings lying on tables. The place smelled like chemicals, and as her nose tingled, she thought back to her days at NYU.

Only this was no classroom.

This was where Beauvais had carefully repaired the Fra Filippo Lippi that had been splashed with acid. It had taken him two years to find a way to mitigate the damage and conserve what was left of the paint, but the wait had been worth it. He'd also stabilized one of da Vinci's rare self-portraits in the lab. Da Vinci's experimentation with paint mediums meant that his exquisite labors could sometimes be ravaged by fading and flaking. Beauvais's work on the chemical composition of the master's oils had been revolutionary.

"Your mother is being so generous," Gerard said to Jack. "As always."

Jack cracked a dry smile. "I can only imagine."

"I mean, loaning the Walker painting to us after conservation, how gracious. It will look stunning next to Copley's Paul Revere. They are perfect companions." Beauvais smiled. "We will throw a party, yes? Something to properly welcome Nathaniel back to Boston."