1 Witchy Business Read Online Free PDF

more…”
    “Romantic?” Niall suggested.
    “Worthy of it,” I corrected him, “but the truth is that until I find it, we won’t know.”
    “And you will find the woodcut?” Niall asked, reaching out, his fingers just brushing my arm.
    I nodded. “You can bet on that. I’m very good at my job.”
    “Oh, I guessed that,” Niall assured me. “You are a true art aficionado and a very interesting insurance investigator. I don’t often meet women as clever as you…Elle.”
    I liked the way he said my name. It sent a wave of warmth through me.
    “Thank you. On that note, I should finish my investigation and go back to my office.”
    He smiled and nodded to a plate at the center of the table. “Yes. You should. Although not before you try the shortbread.”
    I finished my coffee and tasted it, just to be polite. I finished it with a wide smile on my face. “This is good. You should pass on my compliments to your cook.”
    Niall shook his head. “This is one small triumph I can call my own.”
     Okay. This man baked? “Thank you, Niall. You are a man of many talents.”
    “Well, you can’t eat art, now, can you?”
    I laughed. “You are an amazing baker. Do you make art, too?”
    “I do.” Niall gestured in a way that seemed to take in the piano, the shortbread, the whole room. “I try to explore all the ways there are to touch the emotions of those around me. So far, my art is not very good, but it pleases me.”
     “So, is there a room like the other one, a gallery, except filled with only your own art?”
    Niall smiled like he might not answer, but then nodded. “There is. Only the staff know of it. And one or two close friends.”
    That sounded like an invitation. “Maybe another time, after I solve the case of the missing Escher, you’ll show me some of your own artwork.”
    “I’d like that,” he said warmly. “Very much so, in fact. Perhaps I will even have to work on some etchings, just so I can say that I have shown you them.”
    It was an old joke, but the promise behind it seemed real. A thread of joy spiraled through me and I cloaked my reaction carefully, so I could return to being a professional insurance investigator.
    “I think I’d better get on with interviewing your staff now,” I said, reluctantly standing.
    I caught a thread of something that was almost disappointment, coming from Niall, as if I had failed some sort of test by shutting the conversation down like that. Even so, he stood with me. His eyes were latched onto mine and warmth bloomed in my body. Embarrassingly so.
    “My staff will offer any assistance you require,” he assured me. He opened a drawer of a side table and handed me a business card and uncapped a gorgeous Waterman fountain pen. He turned over the business card and wrote a phone number. His script was very artistic, with grand loops and the European hash mark through the number seven.
    “This is my private number. You can contact me anytime. Day or night.”
    I tried not to think too hard about the images that last word conjured up, of Niall having to get out of bed to answer the cell phone. Would he be wearing paisley silk pajamas and a red velvet smoking jacket? Would he be wearing anything?
    “I will call if I find anything to report about your missing Escher,” I promised.
    I made my way out through the house then, looking for Niall’s assistant, finding her in a small library that seemed to double as an office. She was young and dark-haired, very pretty but, as it turned out, completely unable to help me.
    “I’m sorry,” she said, after I had asked her a few questions. “I feel so stupid, not having seen anything. Mr. Sampson went out for his meeting with the Durham backers, so it was just the three of us—the staff—in the house. I was mostly in here, trying to ensure that some of the contracts were in order, although I might have gone through to the kitchen once or twice for tea. I really didn’t notice anything until Mr. Sampson