Once Upon a Dream by Kate Perry Page B

people.”
    She shook her head, her jaw tight and unyielding. “I don’t believe that he steals. You have the wrong person.”
    “His boss hired me to investigate him because he has a suspicion that Huber is embezzling.”
    She paled. “His boss?”
    “Yes.” He leaned in. “This is an important case, so stay out of my way.”
    “You seem awfully invested for a man who’s just hired.”
    Jon heard himself say, “I’m paying a debt to a friend.”
    She was silent. He thought the conversation would be over but then she said, “Ryan’s boss is your friend, isn’t he?”
    He crossed his arms and glared at her.
    She pointed at his face. “The answer is yes. There’s the tell again.”
    “I don’t have a tell.”
    “Yes, you do.” She crossed her arms. “What if you’re wrong and you ruin a man’s life? Someone needs to defend Ryan.”
    “Why don’t you let his girlfriend do that?”
    She recoiled, as though he’d lashed out.
    He immediately regretted saying it, but he kept his stance. Better that her feelings were hurt than her ending up in jail because she got mixed up with Huber’s embezzling schemes.
    She turned on her heels and went, leaving him with that extraordinary view. A cold comfort, he thought, hands in his pockets.

Chapter Twelve
    The kiss had knocked her for a loop.
    Jacqueline had gone home, directly to her room after Declan’s onslaught. She hadn’t been able to talk or think. She’d crawled into bed and huddled there until the morning.
    That one kiss had been a punishment.
    He’d made his point, and there was no reason to belabor it. Although she doubted that the point he was trying to make was the one she got, because she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it.
    She hadn’t been able to stop feeling it. Quite frankly, she’d let him punish her for hours if that was his choice of torture.
    It was the next day and she was still contemplating what to do about Declan when a loud crash followed by a loud oath came from down the hall.
    It sounded like it came from the gallery. Jacqueline frowned, hurrying down the last couple steps of the staircase. The only person who would be in the gallery was Sebastian. She winced, thinking of the row Fran would cause if Sebastian had destroyed anything, no matter how accidental.
    She walked into the hall where all the Summerhill family paintings hung and stopped abruptly when she saw Sebastian kneeling on the floor next to Portia, who was laughing.
    Portia had clamored the hardest for her father’s love, so naturally she’d been the most devastated by his death and betrayal. She was the most Summerhill, through and through, knowing the history of the entire line and all the artifacts by heart. Of any of the girls, Portia would be least likely to welcome Sebastian. He stole the title, after all.
    To see her laughing with him was shocking to say the least. Carefully, Jacqueline asked, “Is everything all right here?”
    They both looked up. Portia flushed guiltily, the way she always had, ever since she was a little girl, when she’d done something she was sure she’d be punished for. “I was just telling Sebastian about Jocelyn Summerhill.”
    “Except her reenactment of Jocelyn running off with the Black Pirate got out of control,” Sebastian added, holding out shards of a broken vase to show.
    Laughing, Portia stood. “Fortunately it wasn’t an heirloom.”
    No, because Bea had made her sell most of their valuable belongings right after Reginald’s will had been read. Those heirlooms had saved her from having to depend on her daughters for support. Every time she passed this hall, she gave a silent thanks to all the past Summerhills, for their foresight in collecting expensive knickknacks.
    She cleared her throat, bringing herself back to the miracle in front of her. “So you two have met?”
    Sebastian nodded, dropping all the broken china pieces into the wastebasket her daughter held out. “Portia’s been telling me about our