Joy to the Wolves (Red Wolf #1) - Terry Spear Page 0,67
lunch.”
“I’m feeling…Chinese. I’d love some beef and broccoli.”
“I’ll pick up an order later. What are you going to do in the meantime?”
“I’ll work on some more boxes. The break from customers helps. Though selling the merchandise does, too, so I have more room to put out the rest of the stuff. Good luck.”
“I might need it.” He kissed her before he left, and he knew this was becoming a habit he didn’t want to give up. She seemed to enjoy it just as much as she deepened the kiss. They didn’t have to stand under the mistletoe to get into the spirit of things.
Then her shop door opened, the jingle bells jingling, and she pulled away from Josh. They both smiled and greeted the two women who entered the shop. After that, Josh took off to check out the other store videos, hoping he’d get what he needed to locate the second intruder.
Chapter 16
Brooke was excited to get so much done and still sell lots as she checked out her next customers. She was even happier that Josh had barged into her life. What a strange twist of events. He had enriched her life already, just through her getting to know him and enjoying his company. If she hadn’t met him and his brother, Adam, and Ethan, she wouldn’t have known what to do about all the trouble she was having. She was certain she would have been more at risk.
After one of her customers bought a couple of oil paintings and left, since no one else was in the shop, Brooke brought her laptop out on the counter. Then she retrieved the old Chinese vases she’d found in the trunk from the office safe, which had her thinking about Chinese food and fortune cookies. She was already getting hungry, feeling great about the finds they’d already identified in her great-aunt’s attic, and she was ready to discover more treasures!
That made her wonder again where the treasure list her great-aunt had left for her was hidden. She told herself she might as well enjoy what she had to do for the next three years while keeping her great-aunt’s shop going, but she had to admit this was like opening Christmas packages and finding some real treasures.
When she was low on inventory, she’d have to go on some garage sale and estate sale hunts. And truthfully, she was looking forward to it. She suspected some of her change of heart was due to finding a hunky wolf to date.
She began to examine the first of the vases and saw it was decorated with images of deer and cranes, beautifully painted, and it appeared to be from the Qianlong period—an imperial vase made for Emperor Qianlong during the Qing dynasty. It couldn’t be. It was probably a replica. Yet it looked old, eighteenth-century, and perfectly preserved. She looked at the base of the vase and took a deep breath. The family rose was marked on it, which meant it would have gone to one of the emperor’s palaces.
Her heart was already beating faster, her hands shaky as she put the vase down on the counter. She kept telling herself it was probably a replica that could be worth a couple thousand dollars. Not bad. Yet the rose on the bottom of the vase made her believe it wasn’t. That it was the real deal. She could have in her possession millions of dollars in that one little vase. And her great-aunt hadn’t even put either of the vases in a safe! Knowing her great-aunt, though, Brooke thought Ivy had probably put them in the trunk years ago, maybe when the vases weren’t fetching as much of a price, and had forgotten about them. Maybe she never knew they were that valuable. As far as Brooke knew, the value for the emperor’s china had only gone up in the last decade or so.
She glanced at the other vase. Different painting, yet it was very similar in age and artwork. And on the bottom of the vase, the Chinese emperor Kangxi’s family rose. She couldn’t wait to tell Josh, even if it wasn’t for sure. That was something she hadn’t had for a long time—someone to share something important with.
She took numerous pictures of the details.
Her door opened, the bells jingling, and having been engrossed in the business of the vases, Brooke jumped, startled. “Hi, welcome to Cerise’s Antiques and Gift Shop. Let me know if you need anything.”