“No. That’s fine. I know you’re busy getting settled, but I just wanted to get these boxes out of the house.” Elizabeth bit her lower lip again and looked away.
Elizabeth’s vulnerability hit Amanda squarely in the chest and her professional demeanor slid away, replaced by genuine concern. “That’s okay. I understand how these things are. Divorce is never easy. You’re ready to start your new life and this is a part of the past you need to deal with and clear away.”
“That’s exactly it.” Elizabeth motioned to the boxes, a tremulous smile on her lips.
“There are several hundred books, but I’m not sure if any of them are valuable. I got half of the library in the settlement. I picked out the books I wanted to keep, but these…”
Elizabeth waved her hand toward the boxes, “…these are the ones I really don’t want.”
Amanda nodded, crouching on the floor. “That’s why you have me. Let’s see what we have here.” Pulling the smaller box down in front of her, she folded back the flap. The familiar excitement coursed through her. The smells of paper and ink rose up to hit her nostrils.
She sensed Jonah just before another box appeared beside her. She didn’t look at him when he turned and left, even though she wanted to. That was one good-looking man.
One by one, she pulled the hardback books from the box. Most were of minimal value—first editions of popular fiction authors that would sell from anywhere between five and twenty dollars. But at the very bottom was a gem.
Amanda picked up the book carefully and gently pulled back the cover, examining the endpapers before turning to the copyright page. It was as she suspected. “This is an original copy of A Clockwork Orange.” The cult classic by Anthony Burgess was worth a pretty penny to collectors.
“Is that good?”
“You betcha. I can easily get you between five and six for this. Maybe even a bit more.”
“Five or six hundred dollars?” Jonah laid another box on top of the ones he’d already brought in.
She turned, ignoring the way his long hair framed his remarkable face and the cynical gleam in his eyes. “No, not five or six hundred dollars.”
“I didn’t think so.”
She cocked an eyebrow at him. “That would be five or six thousand dollars.”
Amanda heard Elizabeth gasp, but she couldn’t look away from Jonah.
Even though she was sitting on the floor, the pretty little shopkeeper still managed to look down her nose at him. Damned if she didn’t make him want to grin. Jonah’s cock jerked in agreement and he willed it back into submission. This was not the time or the place. He was here to help his sister and to make sure she didn’t get swindled.
Not that the curvy redhead looked like a con artist. The smattering of freckles on her face and her open smile made her look—he searched for the right word—innocent. In his experience there was no such thing, and women who looked harmless were usually the most venomous of all, able to sneak past a man’s guard with seductive smiles and soft promises.
She was wearing jeans and a green cardigan sweater that hid more of her than it showcased. Not exactly a femme fatale. Yet his body responded anyway. From the moment she’d opened the door, he’d had the urge to push her up against the wall, strip her naked and bury himself in her sweet warmth.
He was so cold and it had been so long.
His blood chilled as he remembered the last time he’d gotten involved with a woman—beautiful, sexy, mysterious Darla. She’d played him like a fish on a line while trying to get him to spill military secrets. And he’d fallen for it, if only for a short time.
She’d never discovered anything of importance, but not for lack of trying. The day he’d come home early and caught her in his apartment hacking into his computer had clued him in to the fact that she wasn’t what she seemed. The fact that she’d tried to shoot him had also been a dead giveaway. That had been five years ago.
Jonah swore beneath his breath. Amanda Barrington was no enemy spy and Darla was no longer a problem. He had to get his mind out of the past and into the here and now.
A quick, hard fuck against the wall wasn’t going to happen with this woman.
Amanda had commitment written all over her and that wasn’t the kind of woman he needed in his life. He had enough problems without adding a woman to the mix.
“Five or six thousand?”
He winced at the excitement in his sister’s voice. Elizabeth was starting over again after a long, failed marriage, and although she’d gotten a decent deal in the divorce settlement, the extra money certainly wouldn’t go astray.
Amanda nodded. The motion sent a profusion of cinnamon-colored curls bobbing up and down. Her hair hung halfway down her back and was pulled back in a terrycloth wrap of some sort. What did his sister call it? Oh yeah, a scrunchie. Jonah wanted to strip the holder away and watch her curls bob around her face.
Swearing under his breath, he got a grip on himself. Concentrate. “What about the rest of them?”
Her moss-green eyes were cool as she turned back to him. “That remains to be seen.
In this box, most of the books are worth five or ten bucks apiece, but this one…” she picked up the book in question, “…this one is a gem.”
Amanda pushed to her feet. She was standing so close to him, he could smell her—a combination of lemon cleaner and dust from where she’d been working—but underlying it all was the alluring scent of woman and lavender soap.
The top of her head rose to just past his chin, putting her at about five-foot-six. She reached out and grabbed another box, the movement pulling her sweater tight against her and accentuating her curves. No doubt about it, Amanda had some sweet curves. Her breasts would be a handful, no more, no less, but they appeared to be firm and ripe.
His hands fisted at his sides as he wondered what color her nipples were. Pink or beige? Jonah took one look at her hair and grinned. He’d bet on pink, verging toward red.
“It will take me a few days to go through all the boxes and work up a list for you.”
Amanda was sitting on a box next to Elizabeth, a receipt book in her hand. “Do you know how many books you have?”
Elizabeth shook her head. “No, I just packed them in the boxes.”
“That’s okay, we can count them and I’ll give you a receipt. In a few days, I’ll have a complete list of the books and what price I will be asking for them. As I said on the phone, I take a commission on every book I sell.”
“That’s fine. Whatever I can get for them.” Jonah wanted to shake his sister. She was asking to get taken advantage of.
“We’ll look at the list and review your commission before my sister agrees to anything.” He had to speak up before Elizabeth just gave Amanda the damn books.
Amanda’s back stiffened, but her expression remained friendly, if slightly aloof.
“That’s fine. I can also provide you with references from past customers if you’d like.”
“That would be—”
“Jonah.” His sister cut him off abruptly as she jumped to her feet. She turned to Amanda. “I’m terribly sorry about that. Jonah tends to be a bit overprotective. I trust you to be honest with the boxes I’ve brought. With just the first box you went through, I’ll get more than I even imagined I would for the lot of them.”
“Don’t worry, Elizabeth. I understand completely. You’ve been through a hard time and he is your brother.” Amanda turned away and quickly began opening boxes. In a swift, methodical fashion, she counted books, not seeming to pay any attention to their titles. When she was done, she wrote up the receipt. “You’ve got two-hundred-and-fifty-seven books.” Ripping the paper away from her receipt pad, she handed it to Elizabeth.