Page 90 of Hearts of Stone

“The reality is that their competitive need to win helps to ensure that the charities that help women in crisis, that seek to build more women’s shelters, get a lot more support than they would otherwise.”

“Gimme that,” I said, snatching the paddle out of his hand before consulting the program Deidre had given me at the start of the event. “Now, which items are for charities that are worth supporting?”

Chapter 50

Jade

Mellors’ background information helped me make sense of how the auction proceeded, though, as the first item was paraded past, I still found the zeal in the eyes of the women bidding to be a little unnerving. Like, what did they care about a hand-painted silk scarf by a reputable local artist? None of them needed more stuff. They all wore the subtle, refined clothes of those with an abundance of inherited wealth. What’s more, a king’s ransom in jewels adorned their assorted wrists, necklines and ears. But as the bidding was finalised for the first item, I realised it was exactly as Mellors had said. What was up for auction wasn’t important. The real game was all about bumping up your status to show that you were better than everyone else.

When Corinne Savoy-Draper walked away with the scarf, the look of triumph on her face said everything. She posed elegantly for a photo, draping the scarf over her shoulder, with a representative from the charity that did horse therapy with kids squeezed into the edge of the shot. It was obvious that the charity side of things was just a pretext for good old-fashionedclout-chasing. And whatever Jasmine had ‘won’, it was soon dismissed as they bid for the next item, and the next.

“So,do I want to bid on this one?” I asked Mellors, as I peered at the program to try to work out what was coming up.

“And, next up, we have an amazing item,” the compere gushed, her teeth gleaming as she regarded the room. “A very eligible bachelor.” She gestured to a suave looking man in a suit, like he was Henry Cavill’s hotter, younger brother. “Bid on him for your daughters, nieces—”

“I’m bidding for myself!” one old duck shouted.

The titters around the room had me cringing, especially when I looked over to check out Suit Guy.

Ick.

He stood there with a smug smile on his face. The little fucker looked like he was born with a silver spoon right up his nose, and he was lapping up all the female attention like it was his birthright.

“OK. I take that back,” I told Mellors. “I don’t want to win that. I’m pretty sure my vagina just shut up tight like one of those underwater clams.” The lawyer’s eyes went wide, right as he let out a most ungentlemanly snort. “Like, I would pay for him to go the fuck away. Can I make a donation instead?”

“You could.” Mellors recovered very quickly. “Or you could do something else that might be more effective.” I glanced up to see a wicked gleam in his eyes. “You can see how competitive these women are. Imagine how they’d react if you started bidding?”

“OMG, so I’d force them to bid higher and higher, but then lose, because, damn…” I glanced back at Mr Suit. “Not even with someone else’s vagina.” I shot Mellors a sidelong look. “But if you were interested…?”

I had no idea if James actually liked guys, but I figured it didn’t hurt to ask.

“Far too vanilla for me, unfortunately,” he replied dismissively.

“And why is it I think you have first-hand knowledge of that?” I smirked as I waved my paddle around. “Hidden depths, Mell Mell, hidden depths.”

“And we have ten thousand dollars over here with Ms Whiteley,” the compere said smoothly, pointing in my direction.

“Shit…” I hissed. “Shit!”

“Twenty.” That ancient crone in couture who’d been sitting across from me at the table now peered across the room, then lifted her damn nose like some kind ofDowntown Abbeywannabe.

“Thirt—” someone started to say.

“Fifty.” I managed to bid the right way.

“It’s customary to go up by five or ten thousand,” Mellors murmured into my ear.

“Fuck it. Go hard or go home,” I muttered back, before bidding against myself. “Sixty!”

“Ah…” The compere looked flustered. “We have sixty thousand over here.”

“Eighty!” a woman said, in a huffy voice. I was pretty certain it was the woman who’d tried to bid for thirty thousand.

“One hundred thousand.”

Mr Suit looked positively chuffed. It was probably the first time he’d ever had women battle over his bland charms. Prunella glared at me with glittering eyes as though daring me to continue, and I realised I knew exactly how to bait the old bat.

“One hundred…” It felt like the whole room hung on my every word. I looked directly at my adversary as I raked my nails across the mating mark that Adam had worked so hard to mask. Prunella’s eyes narrowed down to slits. “…and fifty thousand.”

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