The Concubine's Tale by Jennifer Colgan

she’d screwed up.
    “Are you ready?” Jeri asked after a polite knock on Cait’s half-open door. “They’re here.”
    “Who’s here?” Cait’s heart began to thud. Would Grant have the audacity to show up at the auction now? Would he have some half-assed excuse for not calling her? She whipped out a makeup mirror and reapplied her lipstick under Jeri’s scrutiny.
    “There are at least five clients in the auction room. Greer is strutting around like a peacock. You’d better get in there and keep him from losing his feathers.”
    “Right.” Cait smoothed her skirt and scooped up the newly printed auction catalog from her desk. Head high, her shell of professional aloofness intact, she headed for the auction room with Jeri on her heels.
    Grant sat in the chair nearest the display case, his dark head bent, studying his catalog. Cait remained at the back of the room, her eyes boring holes in his skull. The nerve of him to show up without even saying hello!
    Matthew Greer stepped up to the small podium from which he conducted his auctions. He nodded to Cait, who dimmed the lights in the room, and he began his spiel.
    “Normally I would leave the most exotic object on the roster for last, but since several of you have other pressing engagements, I’ve decided to begin the bidding with our newest and most interesting item.” While he went into a brief but detailed description of the scroll, Cait zoned out, her mind on the evening she’d spent with Grant. He hadn’t even turned his head in her direction.
    A tap on her shoulder startled her when the bidding began, and she turned to see Mack, one of the gallery’s independent auditors, standing at her side.
    Tall and rugged, he resembled a blond Indiana Jones more than a buttoned-up bean counter. Cait liked him, especially his crisp Australian accent.
    “G’day, love. You’re looking pensive this morning,” Mack said, his slate blue eyes sparkling.
    “This is a big sale for the gallery. If it doesn’t go well, I’m sure I’ll get some flack for it.”
    “No worries, love. You’ve got some players out there.” Mack leaned casually against the wall, taking in each of the clients that had begun bidding on the scroll. Cait noticed Grant seemed to be holding back. He hadn’t made a bid yet.
    “Players is an interesting choice of word,” Cait mumbled. Fortunately Mack didn’t seem to have heard her. His attention seemed to be on a dark-haired woman in the front row who had jumped into the bidding with a vengeance. Cait tuned into the price war, scanning back and forth as different clients raised their hands or nodded to Mr. Greer. The bidding had reached several hundred thousand dollars when Grant finally raised his hand. The other clients seemed shocked that he’d joined in, and Mr. Greer seemed pleased that someone was going to jack up the price even further. In the end, to Cait’s dismay, it was the dark-haired woman who won the bidding after pledging an exorbitant sum. Mack nodded his approval and left Cait at the back of the room. She watched him congratulate the beautiful young woman, holding her hand just an instant too long. Grant smiled ruefully as he shook hands with Mr. Greer, and the two men exchanged a few words while Mack led the new owner of the scroll to the back where she could pick up her purchase.
    Grant still didn’t look in Cait’s direction, and finally she left the auction room, annoyed at herself for caring what Grant Pierson did or didn’t do.
    Jeri appeared at her office door again half an hour later. “That was the fastest auction ever. They’re all gone.”
    “All of them?” Cait tried to sound casual.
    Jeri nodded. “We must have made a mint, because Mr. Greer is ordering lunch for everyone. Do you want Thai chicken or Tandoori beef?”
    “I’m not hungry.”

    The soft knock on her door at half-past seven that night startled Cait out of a deep reverie. She’d been half asleep, her arms around a fat pillow, the