Chapter 1
"BUGGER!" Yelled the very disheveled blonde as she put another run in what was her last pair of tights. Wool tights they said, can't put a run in them they said. Well, she proven them wrong hadn't she. Ripping off the black skirt that she had originally put on, Serena ran to her closet to pick out something to wear only to discover mostly empty hangers. Groaning she realized the important errand that she had forgotten to do last night was to pick up her dry cleaning. Looking at her laundry basket, she straightened her shoulders, sucked in a breath, let go of her pride and dove right in. There had to be something clean in here.well, cleanish at least. Aha! A pair of black trousers with..a grease spot on the front of them. Sod it, she thought as she pulled them on, stain or no stain, she could hardly waltz into the office in a pair of knickers and a top. Glancing at the clock, she hurriedly put on a pair of socks and dug through a shopping bag to retrieve the red sweater she had bought yesterday. At least she had clean underwear and top on. Glancing at her watch as she walked out of her room, Serena realized that she would be about 10 minutes late to work despite having woken up late and more than a little hungover. Feeling something rub up against her, Serena looked down and saw her very hairy and very white cat winding herself around her legs and she realized that Daisy wasn't being affectionate. The little beast was trying to deposit as much fur as she could on that lovely black material. Nimbly side stepping her cat, Serena grabbed her coat and bag and ran out the door.
Walking towards the subway station that would take her to her office at the Sotheby's Auction house, she felt what suspiciously felt like a raindrop fall on her face.
"No..no..nooo.this is not happening."
Sure enough, as if to prove to her that what she was experiencing was indeed occurring, the rain began to fall in earnest.
"Filthy, lying weathermen. Wednesday will be sunny with a cool of 30 degrees my arse." Serena muttered to herself as she quickened her pace to a run towards the subway station. Wedging herself into the already crowed train, she let her mind wander for 10 minutes that it would take to get to her stop. She still couldn't believe that she was in New York having transferred to Sotheby's London to the New York branch. Even after 6 months the novelty of being in this great city hadn't worn off. Of course, it helped that Mina Westing, her best friend from London had moved out here 3 years ago and was doing her damnest to make sure that Serena experienced all that New York had to offer. Hence, the hangover this morning. Looking over the events this morning, Serena was convinced that the Gods upstairs had decided that today was "Play with Serena Saunderson Day." Praying that they were done with her, she stepped out of the train and started to walk out of the station. Standing at the doorway of the station she saw that the rain had turned into a full-blown storm. Gritting her teeth and shooting a dirty look at the heavens she ran for all she was worth towards the office.
Carol the receptionist looked up to greet the person who had just entered the office only to have her smile falter. Standing before her was their normally calm and cheerful Assistant Director of Auctions dripping water onto the carpet with a scowl on her face. Deciding that the best thing for her to do was to keep quiet, she watched as Serena stomped down the hallway to her office. Intent on making her way to the safety of her office, Serena didn't notice the man who suddenly stepped out of the company kitchen. That is to say that she didn't notice him until she was wearing the coffee that he had held in his hand. Perfect, just perfect. Ready to blast the idiot to hell and back, she looked up only to stop in mid- sentence at the sight of the most gorgeous pair of blue eyes twinkling down at her. She had always been a sucker for pretty eyes and as she continued her appraisal, she realized that the rest of him was just as nice. Thick black hair, high cheekbones and a body that Mina would have given a 10 on her scale. She realized that she had never seen him before and IDLY wondered what he was doing in the office.
"Yoouu.err." stuttered Serena. She gave herself a mental whack on the head in an effort to get her synapses going again. Wait a minute, that blasted man wasn't grinning down at her because he was happy to have met her. He was LAUGHING at her!
" Hey look at it this way, with your runny mascara and red skin, nobody's going to notice the coffee stain."
Whaaaat? Red skin? What the hell was he talking about? Glancing down at herself Serena realized that her lovely new, red sweater had bled all over her, staining her skin with the red dye. Growling softly she turned back to the moron only to find that he was laughing out loud. Curtailing the impulse to send her foot between his knees and turning that laughter to tears, she did the only other thing she could think of and ran. Past her startled assistant and into her office. Dumping her coat and bag onto the floor, she walked to the corner where her gym bag was and where she knew that the towel she kept in there would be.
"Serena? Ummm.are you alright?"
Serena looked up to see Maggie, her assistant standing in the doorway.
"Yes. Other than being wet, cold and RED, I'm just fine." Seeing Maggie's eyes widen at her tone, she took a deep breath and sighed. "Sorry Mags, didn't mean to snap at you. It just seems that somebody up there is trying to prove Murphy's Law with me as the example."
Waving aside her apology, Maggie sat down on the sofa next to her and pulled her black sweater over here head. Straightening the white shirt that she had on underneath, Maggie handed her the sweater. "Here, you look like you need this more than I do. I'll ask around and see if anybody has a spare skirt or pants that they could lend you."
Shooting her assistant a grateful look as she walked out, Serena peeled off her own sweater and grimaced at the red dye on her arms.
Half an hour later, in a pair of borrowed trousers two sizes too big but feeling decidedly more human, Serena walked towards her supervisors office. Today she was going to meet the new Appraiser. Pat, the current Appraiser had handed in his notice to move to Seattle to be closer to his fiancée. While she was happy for him, Serena could help feeling a little bitter. She and Pat had established a solid relationship that was needed in their business. As the AD of Auctions, her role was to set up the auctions, collecting the pieces of art that were to be sold. The Appraiser's role was to go with her and authenticate the art, discerning what was real and what was fake. The two roles worked closely with each other and it was a stroke of luck that she and Pat had struck up an actual friendship. She hoped that she would be just as luck with the new Appraiser.
Knocking on her boss' door, Serena waited until she heard "Enter" before opening the door. Charles Knowles, her boss resembled a teddy bear with the personality to go with it. With a wide grin at her, he motioned for her to sit down. They talked about the upcoming Renoir auction for and then moved on to the subject of the new Appraiser.
"His name is Darien Johns, Serena. He comes highly recommended having worked with Christie's and some private galleries. I'm sure that the two of you will get along marvelously."
A knock at the door interrupted Teddy.
"Enter." Teddy boomed. "Good, good. Darien, come in my boy."
Serena turned in her seat, ready to greet her new partner, only to stop short. It was him! The buffoon who had laughed at her, the one she had wanted to reduce to tears. Even now, her right leg twitched as still wanting that chance to make him cry. She closed her eyes and counted slowly to ten.
Yup, the Gods were definitely playing with her today.
"BUGGER!" Yelled the very disheveled blonde as she put another run in what was her last pair of tights. Wool tights they said, can't put a run in them they said. Well, she proven them wrong hadn't she. Ripping off the black skirt that she had originally put on, Serena ran to her closet to pick out something to wear only to discover mostly empty hangers. Groaning she realized the important errand that she had forgotten to do last night was to pick up her dry cleaning. Looking at her laundry basket, she straightened her shoulders, sucked in a breath, let go of her pride and dove right in. There had to be something clean in here.well, cleanish at least. Aha! A pair of black trousers with..a grease spot on the front of them. Sod it, she thought as she pulled them on, stain or no stain, she could hardly waltz into the office in a pair of knickers and a top. Glancing at the clock, she hurriedly put on a pair of socks and dug through a shopping bag to retrieve the red sweater she had bought yesterday. At least she had clean underwear and top on. Glancing at her watch as she walked out of her room, Serena realized that she would be about 10 minutes late to work despite having woken up late and more than a little hungover. Feeling something rub up against her, Serena looked down and saw her very hairy and very white cat winding herself around her legs and she realized that Daisy wasn't being affectionate. The little beast was trying to deposit as much fur as she could on that lovely black material. Nimbly side stepping her cat, Serena grabbed her coat and bag and ran out the door.
Walking towards the subway station that would take her to her office at the Sotheby's Auction house, she felt what suspiciously felt like a raindrop fall on her face.
"No..no..nooo.this is not happening."
Sure enough, as if to prove to her that what she was experiencing was indeed occurring, the rain began to fall in earnest.
"Filthy, lying weathermen. Wednesday will be sunny with a cool of 30 degrees my arse." Serena muttered to herself as she quickened her pace to a run towards the subway station. Wedging herself into the already crowed train, she let her mind wander for 10 minutes that it would take to get to her stop. She still couldn't believe that she was in New York having transferred to Sotheby's London to the New York branch. Even after 6 months the novelty of being in this great city hadn't worn off. Of course, it helped that Mina Westing, her best friend from London had moved out here 3 years ago and was doing her damnest to make sure that Serena experienced all that New York had to offer. Hence, the hangover this morning. Looking over the events this morning, Serena was convinced that the Gods upstairs had decided that today was "Play with Serena Saunderson Day." Praying that they were done with her, she stepped out of the train and started to walk out of the station. Standing at the doorway of the station she saw that the rain had turned into a full-blown storm. Gritting her teeth and shooting a dirty look at the heavens she ran for all she was worth towards the office.
Carol the receptionist looked up to greet the person who had just entered the office only to have her smile falter. Standing before her was their normally calm and cheerful Assistant Director of Auctions dripping water onto the carpet with a scowl on her face. Deciding that the best thing for her to do was to keep quiet, she watched as Serena stomped down the hallway to her office. Intent on making her way to the safety of her office, Serena didn't notice the man who suddenly stepped out of the company kitchen. That is to say that she didn't notice him until she was wearing the coffee that he had held in his hand. Perfect, just perfect. Ready to blast the idiot to hell and back, she looked up only to stop in mid- sentence at the sight of the most gorgeous pair of blue eyes twinkling down at her. She had always been a sucker for pretty eyes and as she continued her appraisal, she realized that the rest of him was just as nice. Thick black hair, high cheekbones and a body that Mina would have given a 10 on her scale. She realized that she had never seen him before and IDLY wondered what he was doing in the office.
"Yoouu.err." stuttered Serena. She gave herself a mental whack on the head in an effort to get her synapses going again. Wait a minute, that blasted man wasn't grinning down at her because he was happy to have met her. He was LAUGHING at her!
" Hey look at it this way, with your runny mascara and red skin, nobody's going to notice the coffee stain."
Whaaaat? Red skin? What the hell was he talking about? Glancing down at herself Serena realized that her lovely new, red sweater had bled all over her, staining her skin with the red dye. Growling softly she turned back to the moron only to find that he was laughing out loud. Curtailing the impulse to send her foot between his knees and turning that laughter to tears, she did the only other thing she could think of and ran. Past her startled assistant and into her office. Dumping her coat and bag onto the floor, she walked to the corner where her gym bag was and where she knew that the towel she kept in there would be.
"Serena? Ummm.are you alright?"
Serena looked up to see Maggie, her assistant standing in the doorway.
"Yes. Other than being wet, cold and RED, I'm just fine." Seeing Maggie's eyes widen at her tone, she took a deep breath and sighed. "Sorry Mags, didn't mean to snap at you. It just seems that somebody up there is trying to prove Murphy's Law with me as the example."
Waving aside her apology, Maggie sat down on the sofa next to her and pulled her black sweater over here head. Straightening the white shirt that she had on underneath, Maggie handed her the sweater. "Here, you look like you need this more than I do. I'll ask around and see if anybody has a spare skirt or pants that they could lend you."
Shooting her assistant a grateful look as she walked out, Serena peeled off her own sweater and grimaced at the red dye on her arms.
Half an hour later, in a pair of borrowed trousers two sizes too big but feeling decidedly more human, Serena walked towards her supervisors office. Today she was going to meet the new Appraiser. Pat, the current Appraiser had handed in his notice to move to Seattle to be closer to his fiancée. While she was happy for him, Serena could help feeling a little bitter. She and Pat had established a solid relationship that was needed in their business. As the AD of Auctions, her role was to set up the auctions, collecting the pieces of art that were to be sold. The Appraiser's role was to go with her and authenticate the art, discerning what was real and what was fake. The two roles worked closely with each other and it was a stroke of luck that she and Pat had struck up an actual friendship. She hoped that she would be just as luck with the new Appraiser.
Knocking on her boss' door, Serena waited until she heard "Enter" before opening the door. Charles Knowles, her boss resembled a teddy bear with the personality to go with it. With a wide grin at her, he motioned for her to sit down. They talked about the upcoming Renoir auction for and then moved on to the subject of the new Appraiser.
"His name is Darien Johns, Serena. He comes highly recommended having worked with Christie's and some private galleries. I'm sure that the two of you will get along marvelously."
A knock at the door interrupted Teddy.
"Enter." Teddy boomed. "Good, good. Darien, come in my boy."
Serena turned in her seat, ready to greet her new partner, only to stop short. It was him! The buffoon who had laughed at her, the one she had wanted to reduce to tears. Even now, her right leg twitched as still wanting that chance to make him cry. She closed her eyes and counted slowly to ten.
Yup, the Gods were definitely playing with her today.