He's Here
“No, that’s okay.” She managed a smile. Placing her hand on his chest, she pressed into him. “Just… enjoy yourself. I’ll see you later.”
He looked disappointed, or maybe like he was going to protest, but he simply nodded and then waved as Juliet headed across the room to the back where Tucker was handling the collection of bids, wishing there was an easy way to make sure Lloyd Sinders didn’t get the piece without having to outbid him herself. She didn’t want to spend that sort of money on a painting if she could help it, but she definitely didn’t want Teresa to have it. Thoughts of slicing through the canvas so that no one could buy it came to mind, but she couldn’t do that either.
Tucker was very busy, but when he saw her coming, he hurried over to meet her. “Is everything all right, Ms. Montague?”
“I need to speak to you in private,” she said, keeping her voice low.
She saw his eyebrows arch as his eyes widened and realized he thought he had done something wrong. “Of course, Ms. Montague.”
Juliet attempted to force a smile as she hooked her arm through his and led him somewhere more private. There was a hall in the back that led to a few smaller rooms. Rather than pulling him completely away from where he was working, she stopped near the hall. “Listen. Tucker, I need to make sure that Lloyd Sinders does not get that Vinune.”
Again, her assistant seemed shocked. “Really? He, uh, is bidding quite aggressively.”
“Yes, I know,” Juliet said with a nod. “I don’t care what you have to do, just make sure that he isn’t the winner--and that it’s legal.”
“Well, uh… I’m not sure I can do both of those things.”
“Figure it out.” She was definitely using her stern Juliet voice and not her kind, sympathetic Ella voice now. Her phone buzzed in her hand. Normally, she would ignore it, but something told her to look down. It was a text from Rome. “Make it happen, Tucker.” She met his gaze, and he nodded.
Stepping away, Juliet read the text. “Do you know that your dad is here?”
She blew out a hot breath. “Yes, I know. Teresa wants the Vinune.”
“Really? Why? How did he even get in here?”
“Henry.” She wasn’t going to bother to try to respond to the question of why. It didn’t matter. He was here.
“Shit,” Rome replied. Then, “I’m going to talk to him.”
“What? Why?” Before Rome even had a chance to respond to her texts, she was calling him. It took him a moment to answer, and when he did, it was so loud where he was, in the middle of the show, she couldn’t hear him well. “Why would you do that?” she practically shouted.
“Calm down.” He didn’t use her name, but he didn’t need to. He was talking to Ella, not Juliet. “Why wouldn’t I? He’s here, in a public place. Nothing bad can happen.”
“Plenty bad can happen!” She knew her father better than he did and knew that her father was capable of making a scene just about anywhere.
“It’ll be fine,” he assured her. “Just… go do your thing, and let me do mine.”
“But your thing is acting, and talking to my dad has nothing to do with pretending anything, Rome.”
“It just depends upon what I want to talk to him about,” her husband countered. “Hey, I love you. I’m not going to do anything to hurt you. You know that.”
“I know.” She did know that--even though it seemed like he was about to do something that might counter that statement. He hung up, and she did, too, taking a deep breath and heading back to visit with some of the art buyers, thinking, if Rome was speaking to Lloyd, at least he wouldn’t be wandering around where she might run into him. She just hoped he didn’t mess things up even worse than they already were because, at the moment, things seemed very much out of control.
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