Gift of Gold

then she remembered the scene she had just witnessed. She jumped up again and went across the room to the chair, taking deep breaths to steady herself.
    “Oh, God, Jonas, that was the worst one yet,” she whispered. Her hands twisted together in her lap. She tried to still them between her jeaned legs.
    Jonas went over to stand beside her, his hand moving soothingly in her hair. “Maybe it was bad for you because there was a woman in it,” he suggested. “You’ve never seen a woman in one of those images before.”
    Verity shook her head desperately. “It wasn’t just that there was a woman. It was the fact that I know her.”
    “What?” Jonas’s hand stopped making gentling movements in her hair. He caught her chin and lifted her face so that he could look at her. “You think you know her? Verity, I’ve never seen anyone I know in those images.”
    “Since you’ve only recently started seeing contemporary images, that’s hardly surprising,” she muttered.
    “Well? Don’t keep me in suspense. Who is she? Or should I say who was she?”
    “I’m not sure. There was just something about her I recognized. I just had a feeling I knew her, that’s all.”
    “Honey,” he said gently. “I don’t think that’s possible. She may have resembled someone you’ve met at some point in your life, but that’s all.”
    Verity surged to her feet. “I know what I saw. Jonas, this is awful. How can I sleep here tonight? I won’t be able to close my eyes without seeing that horrible picture of that poor woman. She’d been raped. She might have been dead. I couldn’t tell for sure. I can’t possibly sleep in this room.”
    “That problem is easily solved,” he said firmly. “You’ll sleep with me. Now come on. Get your jacket. We’re going for a walk down on the beach. It will clear your head. Exercise is good for stress.”
    For once she was grateful to have Jonas take charge. Verity didn’t argue. She got her jacket and meekly allowed him to lead her down to the sea. On the way down the steep trail that led to the beach she decided he was right. She would be the one sneaking down the hall tonight. The hell with social niceties. She was not going to sleep alone in that terrible bed.
    “Jonas?”
    “Yes.”
    “Remember what Caitlin said about her house having once had a reputation for wild orgies?”
    “I remember.”
    “Everyone has a different definition of what constitutes an orgy. It’s easy to see where the locals might have exaggerated things for the sake of a good story.”
    “True,” Jonas agreed neutrally.
    “But now I wonder.”
    “Yes.”
    Neither of them said anything else for a long time.
     
    Verity could not get either the rape scene or Tavi’s demands out of her mind after lunch. Caitlin seemed not to notice her guest’s uneasiness. Throughout the midday meal, which was served by a grimly silent Tavi, the artist talked incessantly about her plans for the evening and about the auction she intended to hold the next day.
    Lunch was served in an alcove off the kitchen because the rest of the bottom floor of the house had been taken over by caterers and decorators. Caitlin was sparing no expense to recreate her Renaissance salon scene in the huge room that fronted the house on the ground floor.
    Verity covertly studied her friend’s too-brilliant eyes while she ate. As she listened to the unrelenting excitement in Caitlin’s voice, she wondered for the first time if Jonas might have been right when he implied that the woman was into drugs. Verity had never seen Caitlin like this. She was simmering with a barely restrained tension. Her movements were too quick at times and she radiated a strange, hungry sense of anticipation.
    Verity sliced into a ripe, red tomato on her plate, watched the juice run, and thought of vampires preparing to feed.
    “I have specifically told all the guests to arrive after seven this evening,” Caitlin was saying. “No one will be admitted without an authentic-looking costume. The six people who will bid on the painting are the only exception. They will be staying the night in the house and they have been given permission to arrive a bit earlier, if they wish. The bedrooms have all been prepared. One thing this ugly old house has is plenty of bedrooms. Sandquist must have had an active social life.”
    “I’ll be glad to help Tavi with the buffet,” Verity said quickly. The silent woman gave her a sharp glance but said nothing.
    “That’s