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He returned to the hotel to see Meili sitting in the lobby

She clearly didn’t fit in with the wealthy business croho frequented the Conrad She looked like a beautiful,a pseudosophisticated suit he suspected she’d bought secondhand, and trying to act natural—as if she belonged there Sipping at a glass of wine, she kept one hand on the canvas of a painting she’d propped up against the chair

Wallace would have approached her, but she approached him first

“Excuse lish “But I understand you’re an A here I’d be interested in selling It’s a Rothberg” She held out the painting, which Wallace recognized as one of Rothberg’s earlier works It wasn’t worth a fortune now—but it could be in the future

That is, if it was genuine

Wallace doubted that was the case This had to be a con Had Wallace not seen the desperation in the young wogested she wait in the lobby while he went up and spoke to his partners to see if they were interested

Of course they were interested, even though they, too, were certain this was a hoax

It turned out not to be Matthew had the painting authenticated, and it was indeed a genuine Rothberg

The group had argued Wallace didn’t agree with the strategy they caal, but it was da wo on so’s worth but was clearly hungry for cash

Wallace was outnumbered, and the offer was made

Meili knew they were offering her tens of thousands of dollars less than the value of the painting She’d told them so in no uncertain tero home and think about it

She’d called the next day to say she’d gotten a better offer And that was that

Except that Wallace couldn’t stop thinking about her

He’d called her the next day at the phone nuy over the group’s behavior, she’d grudgingly accepted his dinner invitation

If there was such a thing as instant, head-over-heels love, this had been it There’d been an instant cheravitation to fill the very different, yet equally real, emotional holes in each of their lives