him, to tell somebody.
Another part of her wanted to show him—tell him that she wasn’t the ditsy, silly, crazy child who bounced from job to job, wafting her way through the world. Well, she did waft, but she worked as well. Being an art ‘picker’ took determination, time and a good eye. And hours and hours of studying jewellery, art, sculpture.
Maybe he could respect that—respect her?
Was it so wrong to want a little affirmation, a little admiration from a super-smart man? From anybody?
‘Criminal trouble? No. Financial trouble? Oh, yeah. And to make you understand I have to show you something,’ Rowan said, and walked out of the room to fetch her baby sculptures.
FOUR
‘I love this one,’ Seb said, holding the chubby, joyful figurine of a Buddha in the palm of his hand. ‘Simply stunning.’
‘It’s a Hotei, also called a Laughing Buddha, symbolising contentment and abundance and luck.’ Rowan’s finger drifted over the Buddha’s cheek. ‘I love him too. I think he’s the prize of the collection.’
After Seb had spent at least fifteen minutes looking at the tiny ivory netsukes, pointing out details that she hadn’t noticed, Rowan rewrapped the carvings and put them back into their box. Closing the lid, she wrapped her hands around her coffee cup. She wondered where to start. At the beginning, she supposed...
‘After six months in Thailand I left and headed for Hong Kong, I had a job teaching English and was barely scraping by. One day, after I’d just been paid, I was on my way to buy groceries, and there was a little shop I passed every day, full of...curiosities, I suppose. Mostly junk, to be honest. I had some time and I went in. I was browsing through a box of costume jewellery and I found a brooch. I knew right away that it was special. The craftsmanship was superb. The owners thought it was paste but I knew it wasn’t. Don’t ask me how. I just did.’
Seb leaned his arms on the table, listening intently.
‘I went straight to the Causeway District and found an antique shop.’
Seb’s mouth kicked up in a smile. ‘Don’t tell me... It was solid gold and studded with diamonds.’
‘Better. It was Fabergé and worth a freaking fortune. I was lucky. The owner paid me a fair price. He could’ve ripped me off. I didn’t know what it was. The profit on that funded my travels for the next eighteen months, but I was hooked on the chase. I started studying antiques, jewellery, art. I realised I had an eye for spotting quality and, while I never found another Fabergé brooch, I did find Lalique glassware, Meissen pottery, minor works of art. I made some money.’
Well, that explained the deposits and withdrawals. Smart girl, Seb thought. Smart and gorgeous. A very dangerous combination.
‘Most of my capital is tied up in a house I co-bought in London which I am planning on...’
‘Flipping?’
Rowan tipped her mouth up. ‘It’s what I do.’
‘So, coming back to these...’
Rowan told him what Grayson had said and waited through his resultant thoughtful silence. ‘So, basically, you need to know whether these are previously undiscovered, undocumented netsuke or whether they’ve been stolen?’
‘They aren’t stolen. I’m pretty sure of that. But no one is going to buy them at the price I want without further information.’ Rowan rested her chin on her fist. ‘And obviously it also means that I’m going to be broke for a lot longer than I anticipated.’
Seb waved her money troubles away. Easy for him to do, Rowan thought.
‘So, what’s the next step?’ he asked.
‘Research. Lots of it. I don’t know nearly enough about netsuke.’
‘But you know that they are quality pieces? Do you need my computer skills?’
‘I don’t think so... I just need to trawl through databases of documented netsuke and see if I can find any of them.’
‘Well, if you need to get into places that you can’t get into...’
‘Is that what you do? Poke around in
Another part of her wanted to show him—tell him that she wasn’t the ditsy, silly, crazy child who bounced from job to job, wafting her way through the world. Well, she did waft, but she worked as well. Being an art ‘picker’ took determination, time and a good eye. And hours and hours of studying jewellery, art, sculpture.
Maybe he could respect that—respect her?
Was it so wrong to want a little affirmation, a little admiration from a super-smart man? From anybody?
‘Criminal trouble? No. Financial trouble? Oh, yeah. And to make you understand I have to show you something,’ Rowan said, and walked out of the room to fetch her baby sculptures.
FOUR
‘I love this one,’ Seb said, holding the chubby, joyful figurine of a Buddha in the palm of his hand. ‘Simply stunning.’
‘It’s a Hotei, also called a Laughing Buddha, symbolising contentment and abundance and luck.’ Rowan’s finger drifted over the Buddha’s cheek. ‘I love him too. I think he’s the prize of the collection.’
After Seb had spent at least fifteen minutes looking at the tiny ivory netsukes, pointing out details that she hadn’t noticed, Rowan rewrapped the carvings and put them back into their box. Closing the lid, she wrapped her hands around her coffee cup. She wondered where to start. At the beginning, she supposed...
‘After six months in Thailand I left and headed for Hong Kong, I had a job teaching English and was barely scraping by. One day, after I’d just been paid, I was on my way to buy groceries, and there was a little shop I passed every day, full of...curiosities, I suppose. Mostly junk, to be honest. I had some time and I went in. I was browsing through a box of costume jewellery and I found a brooch. I knew right away that it was special. The craftsmanship was superb. The owners thought it was paste but I knew it wasn’t. Don’t ask me how. I just did.’
Seb leaned his arms on the table, listening intently.
‘I went straight to the Causeway District and found an antique shop.’
Seb’s mouth kicked up in a smile. ‘Don’t tell me... It was solid gold and studded with diamonds.’
‘Better. It was Fabergé and worth a freaking fortune. I was lucky. The owner paid me a fair price. He could’ve ripped me off. I didn’t know what it was. The profit on that funded my travels for the next eighteen months, but I was hooked on the chase. I started studying antiques, jewellery, art. I realised I had an eye for spotting quality and, while I never found another Fabergé brooch, I did find Lalique glassware, Meissen pottery, minor works of art. I made some money.’
Well, that explained the deposits and withdrawals. Smart girl, Seb thought. Smart and gorgeous. A very dangerous combination.
‘Most of my capital is tied up in a house I co-bought in London which I am planning on...’
‘Flipping?’
Rowan tipped her mouth up. ‘It’s what I do.’
‘So, coming back to these...’
Rowan told him what Grayson had said and waited through his resultant thoughtful silence. ‘So, basically, you need to know whether these are previously undiscovered, undocumented netsuke or whether they’ve been stolen?’
‘They aren’t stolen. I’m pretty sure of that. But no one is going to buy them at the price I want without further information.’ Rowan rested her chin on her fist. ‘And obviously it also means that I’m going to be broke for a lot longer than I anticipated.’
Seb waved her money troubles away. Easy for him to do, Rowan thought.
‘So, what’s the next step?’ he asked.
‘Research. Lots of it. I don’t know nearly enough about netsuke.’
‘But you know that they are quality pieces? Do you need my computer skills?’
‘I don’t think so... I just need to trawl through databases of documented netsuke and see if I can find any of them.’
‘Well, if you need to get into places that you can’t get into...’
‘Is that what you do? Poke around in
Similar Books
