Hi guys! This is my first short story; I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing. And nope I do not own Shane and Mitchie; my only dream has been crushed. :(
Buuuhtt
I'm gonna stop sulking and gonna let you read. :)
Rosa – Chapter One
No! No! No!
Although she hadn't articulated the words out loud, they echoed in Mitchie Torres's brain like cannon fire.
When the auctioneers gavel finally came down on the bid, she stared down at the wooden paddle in her hand in trembling disbelief. While the murmur of voices around her grew into a virtual crescendo of approval for the successful bidder, Mitchie was filled with disappointment and sorrow as she contemplated her failure at not achieving the goal.
The whole reason she was in this intimidating London auction house was to procure a particular painting on behalf of her ailing elderly employer. Godfrey would be heartbroken that she hadn't succeeded. Mitchie hardly knew how she was going to break the news. The exquisite portrait that his childhood sweetheart had so adored meant so much to him. It had always hung in the hallway of his family's Georgian mansion – until the Baillon clan had fallen into hard times and had to sell it.
When Godfrey had heard that it was up for auction after all this time, he had almost been beside himself with excitement. It was practically the first instance in three whole years since Mitchie had started working for him as a companion and housekeeper that she had seen him so animated. And now he had been robbed of his joy by the smug-looking individual who had easily outbid Mitchie. A man who – judging by his immaculately tailored suit, glinting gold handcuffs and arrogantly handsome profile – clearly had money to burn.
Mitchie hadn't had a cat's chance in hell of outbidding him. As it was, Godfrey had sold practically everything valuable he owned to raise the funds for the painting. As she turned to regard the man that had outbid her, their gazes collided and for a long breathless moment, Mitchie found herself trapped by his almost taunting, brown-eyed gaze. Disturbed by the totally inappropriate heat that his glance had wrought inside her, Mitchie forced herself to concentrate. What if she spoke to him? Her mind raced feverishly? What if she could tell him just how much the portrait, Rosa meant to Godfrey? How it had been in his family for generations, and how it would bring him such pleasure to be able to have it back where it belonged?
People around her were moving and the auction clearly was at an end. Rising shakily to her feet and leaving the paddle on the plush velvet seat pad, Mitchie saw with alarm that the man that had brought the portrait was leaving too.
Tall and broad-shouldered, something about him suggested a strong belief in his own superiority and that immediately rankled her. He just seemed too self-satisfied for words. Probably because he'd been able to purchase the painting and she hadn't.
"Excuse me."
"Yes?"
Once again that un-settling brown-eyed glance locked with hers and Mitchie couldn't help but think that diamonds would not glint with such impenetrably hard sheen. His haughty gaze would have repelled royalty! Garnering all the her courage and thinking of only Godfrey's heartfelt disappointment, Mitchie reached out and touched the sleeve of his flawlessly tailored jacket.
"Might I have a word with you?" she began, quickly withdrawing her hand when he looked down at it almost distastefully.
"What about?" the man gave her a thorough once-over and Mitchie quickly squirmed in her slightly small burgundy suit, which she'd borrowed from her cousin Sierra. She tried to hear herself think over the roar of her heartbeat. Refusing to be diminished by the arrogant assessment of her "assets" that she'd seen reflected in that belittling gaze, Mitchie let her dislike of man override any nerves she might have.
"I need to talk to you about the portrait you've just bought,"
"You lost the bid Ms –"
"Torres."
"You lost the bid Ms Torres, and I'm sorry if that is disappointing for you but I outbid you fair and square. As far as I'm concerned there's nothing to be said."
As he began to turn his back on her, Mitchie touched his sleeve again. He considered her as though astounded that she had the temerity.
"What is it this time Ms Torres?"
"Perhaps I could buy you a coffee and we could talk?"
"I'm sorry… this may be hard for you to hear, but pretty as you undoubtedly are – you really aren't my type."
Appalled at his deliberate of her understanding to buy him coffee, Mitchie felt outraged heats suffuse her cheeks.
"I wasn't trying to proposition you!"
A woman brushing past her in a waft of Dior perfume smirked and Mitchie glared back. Directing her attention back to the man she was talking to, she continued passionately, "you know perfectly well I wanted to talk about the painting! I wanted to ask you to please consider selling it to someone who has been searching it for years – the man I work for – Godfrey Baillon."
"Once again I find myself in the position of having to disappoint you, Ms Torres. Now, I have to go and sign some documentation before making my way to another appointment in Kensington, so my answer has to be an unequivocal no. please do not try and delay me because quite frankly, you are wasting you are wasting your time and mine!"
"What if I told you that my employer is ill? That buying this painting would go a long way to speeding up his recovery?"
The man smiled and even though they made his ruthlessly handsome features even more devastating than they already were, Mitchie couldn't conclude that a cat playing with a mouse would not taunt so cruelly. He hardly needed to utter a single word to let her know that he was mocking her. When he did speak, she was left in no doubt.
"Then I would say I think that you are a very devoted employee if you would resort to emotional blackmail to get me to sell you back the portrait. Unfortunately I am impervious to that sort of sentimental plea-bargaining. I did not get to where I am today by being a pushover. Learn how to be a good loser, Miss Torres that is my advice to you. Goodbye."
Learn how to be a good loser? Mitchie almost glanced around to find something handy to throw at him…preferably something heavy. But two seconds later he was gone, moving purposefully through the well-healed clutch of interested buyers that had attended the auction with arrogant ease, his mind clearly on his next appointment and having already dismissed the hazel-eyed, rather "desperate" brunette.
She turned away in frustration to see an official collecting the wooden paddles that people had left on their seats.
"Excuse me… do you know the name of the man I was just talking to? The man that made the winning bid on the last portrait?"
"Yes miss," the elderly official smiled courteously. "That's Mr. Shane Gray. His business supplies cars and property to visiting dignitaries from abroad. A real connoisseur of art he is, too, by all accounts."
"Thank you."
So the man clearly owned several desirable paintings. Why should it matter if he sold one to Godfrey? And one that held so much poignant meaning for her employer? It really wasn't fair!
But even as she took umbrage at Shane Gray's rather callous dismissal of Godfrey's understandably great desire to repossess the portrait, Mitchie was already making concocting plans to make a dent in that hard bitten armor of his and win him around.
End of chapter one, there is seven more left.
Shane told Mitchie to learn to be a good loser. ;)
Why do you think Shane is refusing to sell the portrait?
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Diamond Dweller
I'm just new. :)
Love, Bella