Page 19 of Savage Prince
My phone buzzes with a text.
Keira:Auction is starting. Where are you?
Crap.
I tap out a reply.
Temperance:On my way.
I rushto the elevator and ride it up to the top floor. When I step out, I hear the bidding frenzy in process for the first piece.
Standish is shit out of luck, and I’m not taking the blame.
Numbers roll off the auctioneer’s tongue like water off a duck’s back as I weave through the crowd to find my boss and explain why Gregor Standish’s sculpture isn’t on the auction block first.
When I glance up at the stage, I halt in mid-step.
Oh sweet Lord.This is not happening.
There’s a sculpture on the stage, but it’s not the melty yellow blob.
No.
It’s mine.
Chapter 8
Temperance
“Do I have twenty thousand?” the auctioneer asks, and paddles pop into the air as bids are called. It rises to thirty. Then forty. Then forty-five.
All the blood must have drained from my head, because I feel like I’m going to pass out. The bids slow and the auctioneer calls it.
“Sold... to bidder number thirty-seven for $50,000. Congratulations, sir. Next up, we have—”
My ears tune out the rest of what he’s saying as I search the crowd for number thirty-seven, but I don’t see the paddle anymore, or people congratulating the victorious bidder.
Who in the world would pay fifty thousand for my sculpture? This can’t be happening.
My stomach tumbles like it’s full of hopping bullfrogs, but I push forward through the crowd to find Keira. She’s standing off to the side of the stage, and her tall, dark, and handsome husband stands behind her.
When she sees me, her expression is pained.
Oh shit. Shit. Shit. Now I’m going to get fired.
“I don’t know what happened,” I whisper as soon as I get closer. “Standish called, and I was trying to track him down, and ... I have no idea how that got up there.”
Instead of giving me a disapproving stare, Keira winces. “I am so, so sorry.”
“What?”
“It’s my fault. The auctioneer told me we were missing the first auction item, so I told the crew to get the last sculpture, whether Standish was here or not. They brought up the one from your office, and I didn’t realize their mistake until it was already onstage and the auctioneer launched into bidding. Maybe we can get it back? Explain the situation and cancel the bid?”
“Are you joking? If someone wants to pay fifty thousand dollars for that, do you really think I’m going to stop them? Especially when it goes to such a good cause?”
“Are you sure? I’ll pay to replace it for you. I swear.”
My head jerks back in shock, but before I can reply to Keira’s offer, a gorgeous woman with long black hair taps her on the shoulder.
