Page 46 of Temptation at His Door

Joa placed the pendant on the table and stepped up to him, wrapping her arms around his hard waist. She rested her forehead on his chest. “There’s no point in looking back, Ro. It’s not a pretty picture, so that’s why I don’t.”

Ronan gathered her close. “I get it, Ju. I do. But I am sorry you went through that.”

Joa snuggled in, happy to be held. It wouldn’t last and, in a few weeks, she’d move on. But right now, he was here, solid and stable.

Ronan dropped a kiss into her hair. “Did you ever look at the list of items from Isabel’s collection that are going to auction?” he asked, his deep voice warm in her ear.

Joa shrugged as she pulled back. “Sort of.” It had been a long list and she’d been busy. “Why?”

“Isabel did own a miniature Fabergé pendant egg.”

Joa pulled back and frowned at him, not sure if he was pulling her leg. “You’re kidding!”

“It’s silver, covered with gray guilloche enamel. Studded with diamonds. Circa 1910. Do you want to see it?”

“Hell, yes!”

Eleven

Later that night, Ronan jogged up the stairs to his third-floor master suite, feeling a hundred and four instead of thirty-four. It had been a long day and, thanks to spending two hours in the vault going through Isabel’s treasures with Joa, he’d had to work late to catch up with reports, market research and various publicity campaigns.

It was now past eleven, the boys had been in bed for hours and Joa had retired to her suite shortly after dinner. She’d been quiet for most of the evening, pushing food around her plate, a million miles away. He knew the day had taken an emotional toll on her. He understood how difficult it was to open up, to talk about the past.

She was trying to plot her future, was dealing with her past and how best to protect Isabel’s legacy. He remembered Isabel as being acerbic and imperious but he’d always feel grateful toward her for giving Joa a home, for allowing her to feel safe. Every time he considered Joa, young and alone on the mean streets of Boston, his heart sputtered and stuttered.

The thought of an adult man entering her room and sexually assaulting her made him want to punch a wall. At various times over the past few hours he’d thought about checking in on her but he knew, better than most, that sometimes the kindest thing you could do was give people the space to be alone, allow them to work through their own issues in their own way.

So he was surprised to see Joa standing in the doorway to her guest suite, obviously wanting to speak to him. It was obvious she’d been doing yoga, maybe in his gym downstairs or in the living room area of her suite, because she was dressed in matching white skin-tight pants and a crop top and her skin glowed from exercise.

His cock, polite as always, rose to the occasion.

Stand down, dude, she’s had a hard day.

Right then, Ronan realized he didn’t want her to leave, not now, not next week, not ever. She fitted in his life, in his boys’ lives; she made it better, brighter...

He liked her and, given some time, he might even come to feel more for her. The thought no longer scared him as it once had.

Serious food for thought...

“Ronan?”

Joa calling his name jerked him back to the present, to the fact that he was standing in the hallway, looking like an idiot. He rubbed his jaw and took a deep breath. “Yeah, sorry, I zoned out. What’s up?”

Joa leaned her shoulder into the door frame and crossed one bare foot over the other. Her feet were long and delicate and tipped with fire red nail polish.

Sexy feet...

“If I wanted to, could I withdraw Isabel’s egg pendant from the sale?”

Ronan nodded. “Sure, with Keely’s approval. Are you thinking about doing that?”

She’d held on to the silver pendant egg the whole time they were looking at the more expensive items in Isabel’s collection, like the Modigliani, the Degas sketch, the Vermeer. She’d appreciated Isabel’s treasures but it was obvious that she adored the egg pendant. It resonated with her as a concrete link between her past and her real-life fairy godmother.

“I’m not sure.” Joa bit the corner of her lip. “I’d like to, but I also feel like I should allow the pendant to be sold. It’ll raise a lot of money.”

“Honey, it might raise twenty-five thousand dollars, maybe more. Say it raised fifty thousand, a hundred thousand. That’s a drop in the ocean compared to the many, many millions that will be raised overall. You could make a donation for the equivalent amount, if you wanted to.

“I heard you’re pretty wealthy now,” he added, teasing her. He liked the fact that she didn’t take her wealth for granted. Or flash her cash around.

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