Page 20 of Temptation at His Door

“I call her that because she reminds me of one of those feisty Jack Russell dogs who think they are a lot bigger and scarier than they actually are.”

Oh, God, Joa shouldn’t laugh, she really shouldn’t...

When Keely sent her a fulminating, you’re-dead-to-me look, Joa realized she hadn’t managed to hide her amusement. She winced and shrugged. Unfortunately, Dare’s characterization was spot-on.

But she’d rather die than admit that to Keely.

“Can I offer you something to drink? I’ve just opened a bottle of merlot.”

“I can’t stay,” Dare said, shaking his head.

“Hot date?” Keely asked, in a super sweet, sarcastic voice.

“As a matter of fact, I do,” Dare smoothly replied.

Keely opened her mouth to say something, then flushed and snapped her teeth shut. Keely turned her head away from Dare and stared out of the floor-to-ceiling windows at Ronan’s tree-filled backyard, where snow gathered on the bare branches.

Dare stared at Keely’s profile, exasperation on his face. Wanting to avoid blood on Ronan’s furniture, Joa sat down on the chair opposite them and leaned her forearms on her knees. “So, what’s up? What did you come to talk to me about?”

Dare rested his arm on the sofa behind Keely’s head. Joa noticed Keely stiffen, then relax fractionally, as if unable to help the back of her head brushing his wrist. Awareness jumped in and out of Dare’s eyes and Joa knew that if she got up and left, that sofa might see some action.

Of the “I don’t like you but I’m going to kiss the hell out of you” variety.

“I received a letter from a film director this afternoon. He’s arriving in Boston at the end of this week to start filming a turn-of-the-century horror.” Dare said.

Joa wrinkled her nose. She liked action movies with sexy heroes but horror films gave her nightmares. And how did any of this concern her?

“Isabel rented Mounton House to him shortly before she died,” Dare said. “He paid her an extraordinary amount of money to rent the mansion and its furnishings for the film. According to the correspondence between him and Isabel he forwarded to me this afternoon, Isabel was planning on spending the next three months at her villa in the south of France.”

She’d forgotten that she and Keely owned a French villa.

Joa looked from Dare to Keely. “And this arrangement is binding?”

Dare nodded. “I saw the contract. She accepted his money and his entire crew is already in the city. If you two don’t agree, he can sue the estate for monies paid, for breach of contract and for loss of profits.”

“That’s absurd,” Keely muttered.

“I never said he would win, I said he could sue. And that would garner some press attention since he’s very well-known and influential—”

“As a director of horror films?” Keely scoffed. “Sure he is.”

Dare ignored her. “My point is that you do not need bad PR, as the publicity for the auction is starting to gather traction. And this would be bad PR.”

Joa looked at Keely, still staring out the window, her expression stubborn. Joa knew that Keely hated the idea of strangers in their house. She’d even objected to Isabel’s open houses and tours, thinking they were a security risk. “You’re not keen on the idea, are you, Keels?”

Keely eventually looked at her. “No, I hate the idea of strange people in our house, touching our stuff. While the most treasured items have been moved to the storage facility at Murphy International, there are still some very valuable items there. And if someone stole something, we’d never know because there’s so much.”

“We have an inventory from the estate, and Derek has agreed to employ security and to put systems in place to negate any theft and damages.” Dare said. “I will review those arrangements and if I’m not satisfied, I will insist on more security.”

“They can’t guarantee that nothing will be stolen or damaged, can they?” Keely demanded.

Dare shook his head. “There aren’t any guarantees in life, Keely.” He thought for a moment. “Maybe we should hire an additional security company I trust and we’ll pass on the cost to the production company.”

“That’s a good idea, Dare, thank you,” Joa said.

Joa widened her eyes at Keely, silently reminding her to use her manners. Keely wrinkled her nose and her next words sounded like they’d been pulled out from under a fifty-ton boulder. “Good idea.”

“I have them occasionally,” Dare dryly responded. Dare turned his attention back to Joa. “Another thing... Most of their filming will take place at night because it’s a horror film. That means that you’ll both have to move out.”

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